Oh my...

...Gosh! My daughter has this fascination with the color blue. Everything needs to blue, she has this favorite blue shirt and pulls it out of the hamper again and again. Well, today she thought it would be fun to be blue! And she did! She got into my blue yarn dye!

Just kidding!! It's washable magic marker! 

David had some fun, too.

Off to the bathtub they went after that fun, eye make up and all.

Sublimity...

...is the name for my new lace weight yarn. Merino/Cashmere/Silk. I think it's perfect and fits right in with the other names I have for my yarns. Thank you Spinster Beth, email me for your prize! $10.00 off anything in the shop, no expiration date!  Email Angela

Slowly...

...but surely I'll get these socks done. I couldn't wait to get these started knowing I had a ton a yarn to dye for the upcoming fiber show, knitting a sweater for David, and too many other things to list here! I really love how the yarn is knitting up. I'm so glad I kept a skein for myself! I have the toe done, plus a few more rows and I'm sure my friend doing the green socks is almost done with the first sock by now! She's awesome and very speedy! Thank you Judi!

Oh, oh, I didn't mention that this is my October Phat Fiber contribution. I'm doing yarn and fiber this month, as well as last month.

Steampunk is the theme and I did this colorway on yarn first with some left over dyes and I loved it so much and it fit right in with steampunk, so I did it again on another yarn base and this fiber, all turned out fabulous. I'm so pleased with it.
One more photo, David's sweater, I saw this book when I was pregnant with him and said, I'm going to make that for a son someday, I just loved the pattern and still do. Fair Isle is, well,  let's just say tangley!  I'm not sure that is even a word, spell check doesn't have it...

 

Almost every afternoon when David is napping, I stop everything I am doing and sit down on the couch, (knitting in hand) with Katya. It's our time together, just her and I, because before David was born that's what we had all the time and she loves it, we read books; I read to her or she likes to "read" to me. Sometimes we'll watch a movie, Cinderella being her most favorite. Sometimes if I'm lucky Katya will fall asleep, too! It's getting rare that they take naps at the same time anymore, since Katya doesn't nap much anymore anyway. It is a very refreshing time and keeps me going for the rest of the day, I have come to really enjoy it and look forward to it, despite all the things that need to get done. They can wait and are not going anywhere, unfortunately!

A few side notes of the day:

David is now almost 17 months old and he can get the child safety locks open, you know the one's that are suppose to keep the kids out of the bathroom cupboard doors and drawers? Yes, he sticks his little finger in there and pushed down just right and is so pleased with himself, I can't help but smile. I can't get the darn things open most of the time! 

Today we were at the park and I always bring a snack a long, but leave it in the car or bike trailer and we go and get it after we've played a while. So, we went to the car, got the snack and Katya is running back to the picnic table waiting for us slow pokes, David and I. On the way back, I told David: "We have to go and sit by Katya so we can have our snack". He stopped, and carefully sat himself down right in the middle of the blacktop parking lot and wouldn't move! He wanted his snack! He was sitting after all, this is a house rule, we sit at the table or on the kitchen floor to eat, not running around the house. He's learning fast, too fast sometimes!  

Congratulations...

...ZoePaige for your wonderful photograph of the Saskatoon Berries. It was my pleasure to dye this yarn because purple is one of my favorite colors. I think it turned out really wonderfully, first try, too! Lately this has been very challenging when I'm going for a certain colorway.

Since I wanted to do a semi solid I narrowed in on the dark purple/blue and the yarn is very rich in color; I just love it! Here is a sneak peak and it is listed in the shop.

Special Limited Edition...

...Tea and Yarn for December only. Treat yourself with a little Christmas gift! I'm sending out my favorite tea with this one, Swiss Vervaine Melange Herbal. I've done this colorway before, but this one is completely different. The yarn base has never been sold in my shop before, either. Find more details here.

Coming soon to my shop is...

...LACE weight! At least one base anyway, I have plans for one more that is even more luxurious than this Merino Cashmere and Silk. 80/10/10 to be exact. It comes in at 800 yards and 125 grams. It is very beautiful, soft and shiny, I love the silk for giving it a touch of luminosity. I have two of each colorway. More is coming, just not sure when; it's time to do the colorway contest next! In fact I did the winner's this morning,  it's cooling in the dye-pot and I can't wait until tomorrow morning to rinse it and hang it out to dry; hopefully we have good weather. Then I can really see how I did!

I don't have a name for this line up yet. Any ideas? I love the other names I have for my yarns, Resplendence, Sumptuosity, Opulence, etc. I would like something similar in the same arena as these. I have to get my thinking cap on! 

Most of these are one of a kind colorways, I go for a certain color, and I just add the primary colors to the pot until I get what I want. Sometimes I get better results by doing this and not being so calculated and organized. There is one exception and that is the top right skein, it is called Wine and is repeatable,  a favorite of mine; it goes quickly in the shop! They are all a very subtle semi-solid and will be gorgeous in your lace knitting!

So, I have 2 questions for you:
1. What name do you suggest for this line?
2. What other colors would you love to see in this lace weight?

Tweet, tweet...

...I've got another bird inspired yarn. Thanks Amanda! I think it turned out well.

Look what I got...

...in the mail today! Fun mail lately. I'm going to make a RoseRed hat for myself with this one! It is from Corgi Hill Farm on Etsy. It is 75 Merino Wool and 25 Silk with Firestar for Sparkle. It is one of the softest merino batts I've ever felt, granted I've not touched that many in my short days of spinning, but a few. I can't wait to get this on my spindle! It might be a little while, I'm working on David's sweater, not much progress yet, just got the dark brown in the mail yesterday. And my brown socks, the toe is almost done on one sock. Slow progress. I need to dye more yarn, the fiber festival is coming up too fast! Oh, I got something else at her shop, but I can't show it yet, because it's a gift for someone, she's mostly likely going to read this, but it will just keep her guessing! It is just as gorgeous, pictures later!  (HeHe-HaHa Tawtaw!)

AnnaMarie also sent me these little samples, the left one is silk and the right is superwash merino and cashmere, way so soft!! What a sweetheart she is!

~ Angela

I got my Phat Fiber...

...box in the mail today! It is so deliscious this month! The theme is Farmer's Market, absolutely gorgeous! Before we even opened the package Katya says: "Is it fiber Mom?" She was just as excited to open it as I was. We both had lots of ohhhs and ahhhs!

 The packaging this month was above and beyond!

 The colors are glorious!

 Katya claimed this little basket as her baby bed and it even has a blanket!

 I got 2 silk samples! I'm so excited, I've been wanting to try my hand at spinning silk lately!

 David, my little farmer boy got into the action, too!

More...

...pretties! I need to photograph each of them, get them listed in the shop and label them. I still have a door full of yarn to re-skein, too! It's a never ending task, I just keep dyeing more, what do I expect really.
Here is Nogi 90/10 Superwash Merino/Nylon, a whopping 475 yards of pure softness!  I've been waiting for this base since May, it's been on back order that long! These are one of a kind colorways, though there are more than one skein of each. I do write down what dye I use, it's just highly unpredictable what they will look like the next time, similar, but not exactly the same. I really feel like I'm coming into what I really love in yarn. I've never been a big fan of pooling or flashing. I love color, but want it more sporadic, throughout the knitted piece, not blotches of color. This technique will give us this look. I've got some being tested out to see. I'm going to cast on some socks today (I hope) and I'll show my progress as we go, remember the green and brown cakes?  I'm doing the brown and sent the green one away. 

This next one is Lublu Sock  80/20 superwash merino and nylon, this base has been filling in for Nogi while it's been on back order. It too is just as soft, coming in at 400 yards.

These are a few different bases, two on the left are Opulence 80/10/10 Merino/Cashmere/Nylon. The middle jet blue one Lublu Worsted. The purple one is Sumptuosity 70/20/10 Baby Alpaca/Cashmere/Silk and then Sun-oak in Resplendence 50/50 Merino/Silk.

These last skeins photoed are not one of a kinds and can be re-produced. There are some great colorways coming to the shop just in time for fall!

Oh, the pretties...

...are coming. Not so good weather lately to get the yarn dry. I'm not looking forward to winter!
Remember the pretty picture that Whit2Pearl2 submitted for the July colorway contest? Well, I've been meaning to dye some yarn just like it and finally did. (bad photo -- need to get rid of that gray background!)

 I used the same technique as I did for the August winner, Halifax Shore. It's hand painted, but more randomly, not so organized. The chances of pooling are greatly minimized in this technique, which I much prefer. I'm going to be knitting one of these skeins into a pair of socks and the other I'm going to send off to be made into a pair for me. I just don't have time to do them both myself and the sweater for David and a rose red hat for my sister and one for myself, oh, did I mention I need to spin the yarn! Yeah, spin the yarn, yikes! How will I ever get that done, maybe I should find a spinner, too! Ha Ha!
So, which one should I do, and which one should I send off? The real question is which pair of socks do you want to see first? That will be the one I send off!!

The brownish red one is Victoria and it's in the shop, the green one is still nameless and isn't in the shop yet.

I have 1 skein...

...of the September Tea and Yarn club for sale in the shop. For those of you who really wanted to purchase the entire club, but just couldn't. This is for you! This month's colorway is very likely not repeatable, I have only 1 skein left for sale with the tea. It took me 3 tries to get it right this month, I like a very good balance; I like it represent the tea as best I can and also be a pleasant colorway, especially when knitted into a garment. It is a delicate balance and very challenging sometimes! It is so satisfying when I put the package in the mail to my customers knowing that this is the best, which represents the tea and the yarn alone is beautiful, tea or not!

What a day...

...what a day it was today, a busy day indeed. It started out with dyeing 18 skeins of yarn, 7 different colorways. They are wet and messy and don't look so great yet.

Guess what? Three of these are lace weight! My first shipment of lace came yesterday and I immediately got some soaking; I couldn't wait to get some dyed. It's merino, cashmere and silk. So very, very nice!

I also did my weekly 3 loads of laundry (clothes), cleaned the house and made pork chops, potatoes and green beans for supper! And I'm still up, I have a lot of energy lately, just not tired yet, I would lay in bed and think of what I should do next.
I've been waiting to post this gorgeous little girl in her pretty little hat! It's been blocking the last few days. I finished it in  7 days, when I started I was hoping to have it done by hat wearing weather (a few months).  It was such a joy to knit, the pattern was awesome, best written pattern I've ever used.

I'm not sure about the blocking job, I don't like that you can see the rim where the plate was; I might do it again without the plate, but then again I'm not sure how that would work either. We'll see. Katya can't wait until it snows, I practically had to bribe her to put it on for me. She kept saying it's not snowing...it's not snowing...
My sister wants one now and so do I! It was wonderful to knit with my own handspun yarn, too.  A few short months ago I would never have believed it if someone told me I would be knitting a beautiful hat with yarn that I spun.  I'm really hooked!
I do need to get up early tomorrow and start re-skeining this hanging pile of yarn. I'm getting behind, so I must get to bed pretty soon! I have no more hooks left to hang the wet stuff when it is dry. I need to get it listed in my shop, too...

September top 5...

...photos are chosen. I plan on doing semi-solids this month on a luxurious yarn base. I'm so excited to be doing this, because semi-solids are some of my favorites!

Hydrangia
Submitted by: Dina
I'm envisioning a beautiful periwinkle color, just between blue and purple.

Cliffs of Moher
Submitted by: Dobbylrr (ravelry name)
I would love to do two colorways from this photo, blues and greens.

Saskatoon Berries
Submitted by: ZoePaige (ravelry name)
I see a pinkish purple leaning toward blue yarn coming from this photo.

Rosa "Easy Does It"
Submitted by: Janet
This will make a beautiful rosy coral/pink. 

Golden Lilies
Submitted by: Jennifer
Gold/yellow orange, just in time for fall, at least where I live.

The winner of the P.I.T.A. skein...

...of gorgeous red yarn is Ann Marie who commented:  Wow! What a pretty red!  and who is ammorley on Ravlery. Please email me within one week and I'll get your yarn out to you ASAP! Congratulations Ann Marie and thank you all for wanting to take this off my hands!
~ Angela

Worsted weight lovers...

...the first two batches are in the shop tonight.

Here's what has been...

...keeping me busy lately. I've been having more fun knitting and planning future projects than dyeing lately. I have been at the dye pot, but just not as much as I should be! I absolutely love knitting Katya's hat; yes I found an adorable pattern, called Rose Red. The instructions are so easy and organized to read; by far the best written pattern I've ever knitted. Here's my progress so far:

I'm also trying to design a neck warmer - cowl/scarf all in one to match my beanie hat. This is my second attempt, and I already have to rip the beginning ruffle out and add a few garter rows, too much curling, not enough ruffle to stop it. We'll see how it turns out when I'm done before I do that, though. I find with children scarves are not so practical for me so I want something almost tight around my neck and longer and fuller in the front to tuck inside my coat. I couldn't find anything like what I have pictured in my mind, so I'm really hoping this turns out!

I have plans for this Merino/Cashmere/Nylon that I dyed, it's called Victoria. I want to make socks with it since it will go with so many things. I love the colorway, it was sort of an accident, but the best thing is I wrote it all down and can dye it again. This colorway is my October Phat Fiber sample contribution. Victoria is also on 100% Superfine 19 Micron Merino Top and yarn Soleful, 40 Alpaca/40 Merino/20 Nylon.

This one is also going to be something because it matches this shirt I have perfectly. It was a happy accident as well! When I was re-skeining it, I was thinking to myself, this looks so familiar to me, then it came to me, my shirt!

I immediately went to my room and pulled the shirt out of my drawer and couldn't believe it; I couldn't have done it better if I tried to match it. In person it looks so much better and the sheen from the silk also matches the texture of the shirt perfectly.

It's one of those skeins I just used up some left over dyes and a few primaries and wallah, it's a gorgeous one of a kind and it's mine this time!

I've never made socks out of 50/50 Merino/Silk, what do you think? Will it be too slippery for socks? No doubt it will feel fantastic on my feet, but is it really appropriate for my feet? Hmm...