Time Flies.....When your Froggin'

Hello All,

It is about time I post something new here.  You probably figured I fell off the edge of the earth.  But I did not and I do have a bunch of new stuff to tell you about.  Today, However, is all about my FINALLY finishing the Spearmint Tea Shawl.  Its beautiful, I wore it at the North Jersey Fiber Festival this past weekend. It will definately get all sorts of usage. Soft and colorful, it drapes nicely and will go with all a bunch of different outfits.

Of course the pictures are taken on an ugly and ripped old PINK towel down in my basement but ladies, I'm proud that I even remembered to take the pictures before I took it off the blocking board.   I was so anxious for it to be dried so I could take it with me.  It was the day I was going to wear it before I wove in the ends.....

The colors are just about true in these pics.  Its bright and it looks like an upside down sunset.

The lace pattern at the bottom gave me a bit of troubles, but after a bit I figured out what the designer was attempting to achieve and was able to keep up the flow.  It would have gone easily if I had maintained the correct stitch count in between each set, but noooooooo that would have been too simplistic.  I had miscounted and was unwilling to frog out the lace yet again.  yes, I said again.  I frogged it a total of three times before I just said "Nope, it is what it is" and kept going, hoping no "helpful" customer would point my mistake out to me.  Oh, believe me it happens.

Problem is I get distracted.  Trying to fit in a few rows before the patients start, or at lunch or during a lull.  But then the people show up or I get mayonaise on my hands or the damn phone starts again.  Then I put it down and pray that I can remember where I was.  Most times I can't so I just guess and keep going.  Then of course the stitch count is wrong but I would muddle on too lazy to frog or even tink.

Honestly, I just wanted to finish, to have the pretty knitted item I could point to and say "I made that".  

I FINALLY FINISHED SOMETHING!! WOOT!

Next week, It's all about my newest favorite designer Toby Roxane, check her out on her website http://tobyroxanedesigns.com/. Just met her at the North Jersey Fiber Festival. She is lovely and fun and very talented.

Later!  Happy Knitting

DD

The KAL Begins.......

Hello All,

The lovely ladies who follow my shop have started a KAL (knit along for those of you not in the know) using my sets of mini-skeins.  As most of you know I an horrible at these things.  I don't know if it's my time management or ADHD but I can never seem to get them done.  Refer back to the SAL/KAL blog post.  I still haven't finished the scarf!!

So here we go again, the things I get talked into.

I have chosen to dye "Flame" on my Saunderstown Sock Line.  It's a MCN base (Superwash merino, CASHMERE!!, and nylon) Yum!  I've chosen the Spearmint Tea Shawl by Kateryna Golovanova. It's a simple knit, that I should be able to finish.  Cross your fingers.

Flame!  I will start with the palest color and work out to the dark red.

Here are my balls (tee hee) all ready to be used. I am using a project bag that Jenn made for me to keep them all tidy. 

Now, I'm not proud of this but I cheated......shush......stop gasping, they will hear you!!  I'm a SLOW, a very slow knitter. I HAD to.  Started on my birthday, just 3 days early, to get cast on and etc all set. I also had to spend a large chunk of time on the phone with Lia trying to understand what "KYOK" was.  Told ya, not very good at this.   But practice makes perfect, blah, blah, blah.  

Here is the very beginning at the end of 4 HOURS of work on the first day.

Woo Hoo! Finished the first ball and was able to start with the next yarn WITHOUT knotting them together, like I was gonna..really.......until Lia said that wasn't the way big girls knit and to suck it up and stop whining and *ah yea*....you get the idea.  So second color on and knitting, after last night I am 11 whole rows into the orange.  Pattern says it should only be 19 so I'm close.....

OK I didn't understand what all the "accomplished" knitters were talking about when they said it would be a boring knit, and they could do it in the dark and they'd have to fall on their DPN's if they knit this, but now I do.  Really.  The only time it actually takes my attention is to do the last three stitches. Then its back to mind less knitting or purling depending on what side I'm on.  It is giving me a chance to really keep an eye on my gauge and perfect my stitches.  It is also a FANTASTIC pattern to show off the wonderful dye job, so don't get me wrong I'm not complaining.  I am, however, looking forward to the boarder, which looks to be a bit more detailed. (And it will be closer to being finished:)

More later!

Happy Knitting!

DD

Funky new Craft for Leftovers

Hello all,

A little while back my wonderful mom, sent me a link with a notation "what to do with the stuff that dosen't sell".  At first I was sorta offended, what me?  Not sell all of my lovely yarns?  What was she thinking???  But then I started looking around, I had bits of yarn EVERYWHERE!  Mini balls of hand spun or hand dyed yarns.  Beautiful bowls full of colorful balls.  And then it hit me, my mom could be right. God help me.

What she had sent me was a link on how to make yarn bowls.  Not the bowls that hold your yarn when knitting, I think I CAN make one of those, but more onthat later, more like bowls made out of yarn.  Lacy or solid, colorful or plain....hmmm could be fun.

This is how it goes.  You take white glue, not all white glues are the same, I found out the hard way, so before you buy in bulk try a small bottle, mixed with a bit of water to loosen.  Now, don't go crazy here, just loosen it, it will take FOREVER to dry if you add in too much water.

Cut (or Don't) the strips of yarn and saturate them with the glue mixture.  Cover SARAN WRAPPED BOWLS. Please don't wrap it tightly, I thought a cleaner single layer would be best but NOPE, its harder to get off, so be messy, lots of layers with wrinkles works best.  Then wrap the yarn around these bowls and let stand to dry.  Takes about a day in warm weather. and you get the coolest bowls.  They are light and sorta fragile but beautiful.

Here is my work box.  The knitted bowl was there to soak with the starch and get it to stand up straight.  Worked wonderfully, while messy, but worked. I'll post a picture another time.

See all the different yarns?  Thick or Thin dosen't matter, you will need a TON of glue tho......and by the way the glue you see did NOT work I had to go get a bunch of good old Elmer's Glue.  Stick with the classics my friend.  ha ha A pun "stick" with the classics....get it? 

This was my first attempt, a commercially dyed and spun Dk weight I got during a yarn crawl 2 years ago, it was a shawl at first but was WAY too small, I repourposed it into this cool bowl.   Pretty huh.  Too me forever to take off the bowl, because I only used one layer of saran wrap.  Almost broke it trying to remove it.

I love how lacy it looks with the sun coming thru it.  The inside isn't as textured, like a true bowl would be.

 This one is a yarn I dyed and had a bit left over.  Again it was glued as a solid bowl, isn't the striping a neat effect?

This was one of the last I did, before I ran out of glue.  Its a commercial spun hand dyed that I was trying to do as a lacy "art bowl"  once I got it off,  I learned WAY too late about multiple layers,  It looks really really cool.

Check out other images of yarn bowls made by the rest of the world

https://www.google.com/search?q=yarn+bowls+craft&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=PEOuUbGyFPS90QG-s4DwCg&sqi=2&ved=0CDAQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=527

And here are some instructions for those of you who need them:

http://spoonful.com/crafts/spaghetti-yarn-bowl

http://sugarsnips.com/?p=2136

http://www.crafty-crafted.com/festive-crafts/yarn-bowl/

Hope you will think outside the "bowl" with your left over scraps of yarn and enjoy this craft as much as I did.

Happy Crafting,

DD

The Bump to My Grind

Hello All,

Now that the spring show season is over, Jenn and I regroup, relax, and re-stock.  I was able, for the first time, to purchase what is called a "bump" from our fiber supplier.  This is 22 POUNDS of fluffy, soft, wonderfulness.  I chose BFl for my first bump.  Easy to dye, beautiful to spin and well liked by our customers.

I thought I would share my babies, first pictures.....  Here she is fresh from the postman.  I honestly thought it was gonna be a HUGE box, but alas, no it was a normal/average sized container.

See what I mean, it's sitting in the dry sink so it can't run away as I put out its guts, normal in size.  No fork lift needed to drop this guy off.



I started breaking down this bad boy into 4 ounce balls....... After about  5 pounds and not seeing a dent in the box, I stopped for the evening.  The rest of the bump was placed in it's own snug rubbermaid container to wait until I needed more.

I was attempting to clean stuff up in expectation of my new arrival, remember I was thinking this was gonna be HUGE.  Look how tidy and all the empty bins.....  Since this picture was taken I have removed the gray cabinet (left hand side of the picture) and moved it to another room,  to give myself space for another countertop.  Jenn and I are looking at doing some wholesale, and I wanted to make sure I had enough room to dye in bulk.  Sweet huh? 

Thanks for looking at my baby's pictures ;)
Happy Spinning
DD

Spinning to Knit!!!

Hello All!

 

We have been spinnning like crazy for this kit.  Let me give you some back ground on what I've been doing.

 

This is the green section of my scarf kit.  I've ripped it into sections and laid them out from darkest to lightest.

 

Then I stack them into a large plastic bag from darkest to lightest.  If I can keep them tidy this should lead to a seemless gradiation of color.  Should.......

The same thing was done with the bright pink.  I was kicking myself all thru this process.  See, I threw together this kit at the last minute.  I was so busy dyeing for everyone else I forgot I needed to spin one also.  SO, I was not very careful to get the gradients smooth and there was A LOT of mottling.

 

Normally I don't mind mottling.......it leads to a fantastically tonal yarn, BUT in this instance I needed clean clear non-mottled colors.  Bummer......  That's what I get for rushing the job.......

The yarn singles themselves came out OK.  There was more middle/medium color than anything else.  Because I had to pull the roving apart alot more than normal to get the same colors together.  After the singles were spun, clockwise, I plyed the singles in a Chain Ply, or Navajo Ply, counter-clockwise.

Navajo Plying is the greatest plying technique I've learned.  It allows you to keep colors clean, if that is what your going for, and to make a fluffy well spun 3 ply yarn from just one bobbin.  Don't get me wrong, I love using my lazy kate, my youngest son made it for me.  It stacks one on top of the other and there are tension nuts to keep the yarns from getting tangled.  He even stained the base to match my wheel.  Its just lovely, BUT working from one bobbin to another gives me the freedom of having multiple projects going at once.  Instant gratification and all that.

Here is the green all spun up. Not sure if you can see with this picture how the gradient is heavier on one end.  It's still pretty and soft and squishy and came out to be a little bit bigger than a large DK.  That's a big step for me.  I have difficulty getting the single small enough so that when I 3 ply it, it's not HUGE.  I think it will look beautiful against the bright pink yarn.

OK next step is knitting!!!!! 

Happy Spinning.
DD

SAL Has Begun!

Hello All,
Our First Annual SAL has begun.......well it actually began on the 1st but you see what I mean.  Did you get your scarf kit?  What will you be spinning?  Merino Tencel?  BFL?  Oohhhh something exotic like Yak?  That being said, Jenn and I are talking prizes now.  We think first will be a beautiful set of project bags, second price will be some fiber and thrid will be a cool set of stitch markers.

The winners will be picked by their FO pictures by the other contestants.  If, gasp, we have very few people joining us, then as long as they send us a picture of the finished scarve they will probably get something.......  It's so hard getting the word out when your a little fish like us. 

Enough "woe is meing".  This is going to be great!

Here is my newly cleaned and oiled wheel.  Isn't she a beaut?  I love this wheel.  Louet made some mighty fine spinning wheels.  This S10 is a very hard worker.  I've decided to spin up here instead of the basement, where the TV is.  No Arrow to disrupt my concentration.  Him with that flat stomach and the brooding Viking good looks, no not gonna do it.  I'll sit up here, all alone, in the natural light and spinn for 2 hours every day. 

You can see the package of ripped and ready roving all set to be spun in my basket. Along with my fingerless mitts, made for me by my friend, Lia.  I use them when its chilly but I still need to be able to feel the yarn. 

Ready.....set......spin

Happy Spinning
DD

Spin to Knit A-Long

Hello All,
It's almost time for our Spin and Knit a-long!  7 days until we start.  Ohhh getting excited!  Do you have your kit?  You can get into our shop and order one ASAP and I will make sure you have one in your hot ready hands by the time we start.  This will be such fun people!!
Below is the kit I spun up for my dear friend Lia.  Poor, poor Lia does not have a wheel.  She claims she does NOT need another hobby (liar, she craves the wheels freedom). She is, however, and extraordinary knitter.  She can do anything.  I swear, hand to God, she ROCKS!!  So she will be joining along in the knitting portion of our program. :)

Palest of blues out to dark royal blue. 

I Navajo plied this (3 ply) to keep her colors crisp, NO barber poleing. Is that a real word?

It came out to be about 98 yards (?!?!) I thought it was gonna be a bit longer.  But with the red should make a decent size scarf for TRHM (the red haired man) her wonderful boyfriend.  Yes, we love him too.

Here is the other half of the scarf.  Palest of blush pink out to a very strong scarlet.
Again just about 98 yards (arggh) 

Look how cool they look together.  They will accent each other nicely and look fine on a man. 

Here is the kit I will be spinning.  As you can see it will NOT be for one of my three men, this will be for MEEEEEEEEE!  Woo Hoo finally making something for myself.

I dyed this and it is called "Spring is Here!"  Whadda ya think?

Looking forward to seeing what YOU will spin.  Remember we start March 1st.

Happy Spinning
DD

Spin to Knit Scarf Kit

Hello all,
We are going to do our very first SAL and KAL.  For you not in the know that is Spin-a-long and Knit-a-long.  We have these killer scarf kits that were just recently featured in the "Get This" section of Spin Off Magazine. Thank you very much and Jenn and I thought we would attempt to prolong our 15 minutes of fame and have some fun at the same time.  Hence the SAL/KAL.

Here's what ya do.  Buy a kit.  Please, really, I've been dyeing a bunch just for you!
But if you have a ton of fiber stash, we understand and you can use that instead.  We have the pattern on sale in the shop so you can follow along.  Next, stop by our Ravelry Group and show off what you intend to spin and knit up.  Gotta show it off so that when we are all done and voteing on the best (for a PRIZE) we can see where you started.  Prizes, yes, everyone loves prizes!

Jenn, because she is wonderful, will be sending out a heads-up on when certain parts of the SAL/KAL need to be done.  We start March 1st spinning and then we end......umm not to sure.  I'll get back to you on that.

Here are some pictures to get you drooling and wanting to join in!

Morning Coffee, its a brown gradient against a YOR (yellow, orange, red), this could go for a guy or a girl. 

 
Sun and Sea, its a blue gradient against an orange one.  Simple and fun.

 

This is the way the scarf works out.  Cool Huh?  Once spun up you knit the two different yarns dark end against light end and you get this great stripy effect.  This scarf is Garden Wall, our Fieldstone Wall colorway against our Plums and Berries Colorway.  Jenn spun and knit this one up.
Gott be truthful, I'm not looking forward to the knitting part.  But Jenn assures me that I'll be able to do it, and, believe me, if I can you can!!

Look forward to seeing everyone March 1st!!

Happy Spinning (and Knitting!)
DD

Mama Wanna Mawata?

Hello all,

We have some new fiber in the studio,  Mawata or silk "hankies".  These are silk cocoons that have been de-gummed, their glue has been removed, and then stretched out to a gossamer thin square on a form and set to dry.  Each layer of the mawata square is one cocoon.  Layers and layers of them make up the hankie.  I've been playing with the color and how much dyes are needed to get a nice rich final product.  Now that the little amounts (12-16 grams) have come out well, I'll move on to a larger batch.  This stuff is super fun, you can knit straight from the hankie, a God send for those of you who don't spin, and it felts easily also.

Here is what I do......  this is the beautiful pile of silk hankies as they come from Ashland Bay.  Ohhh pretty.

You can see all the light and airy layers.  Be sure to use hand lotion, any little scratchy piece on your hands/fingers will catch on the silk.  What a pain in the butt!

 I soak them in pans with water and a wee bit of vinegar.  Gotta make sure the pretty dyes strike like they are supposed to.
 

Adding the dye is the fun part.  I pour it into the pan and gently lean the whole thing to get the dyes to spread out and mix together. 

Here is what it looks like when I'm done.  I'll let it sit for a few hours to soak up the dyes and begin to set. 

 
Then the sections of hankies (16 grams ususally) are wrapped in plastic, rolled into a big cigar and put into the steamer to finish setting the dyes.  No one wants silk that bleeds into their knitting or felting or paper or what have you. 

 

Here is what they look like after the dyeing and the drying so pretty!
 

 

 Hope this has inspired you to either, dye your own, or use a mawata to knit!

Happy creating!

 

DD

 

Merry Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas all,

Hopefully this posting is finding you happy, healthy and tired after a night of reveling. 

 

These are just a couple of quick photos to share my Holiday with you.

 

My front room and Christmas tree, the night prior to the kids opening rampage.

 

Father Christmas hanging on the tree, watching the action.

Our "Peace Dove" keeping an eye towards the coming year.

Isn't this a cute miniture reindeer?  Its made of wood and comes apart for easy storage.  I keep trying to get my guys to make me some full scale ones for the front yard.  Ah, mabie next year..........

Thanks for taking a minute check out my Holiday pictures. 
Wishing you a Happy, Healthy and SAFE New Year.
See you in 2013!

Spin faster, I'm dyeing here!
DD