So, I wanted to add something else to my shop. Hand dyed roving. I’ve been saying I was going to try it for some time now, but hadn’t had the chance… or the bare roving. Today was the perfect day to give it a whirl! And the perfect time to try out my new “green” dye. This dye is more environmentally responsible, but a bit more expensive than the dye I’ve been using. I’m curious to see how it will turn out.

Above you see a bare merino/silk blend, presoaked in a vinegar/water mixture. It’s shivering with excitement about being a different color. It really is, you’ll just have to trust me.

And here it is, relaxed and soaking in the color. It’s hard to tell from the picture, but the darkest color is actually purple, and then there’s red, yellow and green. Let me tell you, this was not easy. I used a syringe to apply the dye, and even though it looks like it’s soaked all the way through the fiber, it’s not. At all. In fact, when I peeked underneath, the entire bottom was still mostly white.  Even after I added more dye and pushed and pressed and manipulated, the dye had a hard time spreading to the bottom. But after enough gentle prodding, it seemed good. And it blended to make a much better color combination, which is what I was hoping for. When I was sure it was saturated, I folded the roving in the saran wrap lining the plate, placed it in the colander and steamed it for 30 minutes.

Here it is after the rinse. I meant to take a picture of it being steamed, but I forgot. The water was clear right from the start. The roving sucked up ALL the dye. I still rinsed it a ton, not to get rid of any excess dye, because there wasn’t any, but to get rid of the smell of the vinegar. I even use a little Burt’s Bees Baby shampoo. (This is how I rinse my yarn too.)I did this all VERY carefully, as I’ve been told it’s quite easy to accidentally felt your roving. When I say “rinse”, I mean gently lowering the roving into clean water and then lifting it out. Then lowering it into more fresh water, pushing on it gently, then lifting it out again. I do this maybe 10 times or more.

And here it is, drying on the rack. So far so good! I can’t wait to see what it looks like when it’s dry.

I also finished another slouchy hat for a friend. It’s the same one I made for my mother in law for Christmas, the Slouchy 2-Way Cabled Hat. And now I’m going to start it again for another friend!

And today I sold my 8th skein of yarn! Say bye bye to Crime Scene. It’s the 2nd skein I’ve sold to someone who didn’t actually know me! He asked me to wind it into a ball, so I thought I’d take a picture of it before and after. It’s always so cool to see the skein turn into a ball. It gives you a better idea of what the yarn will look like when it’s knitted up.

So tomorrow I might post again, I have some Baby Alpaca drying next to the roving, and I can’t wait to share with you!

Hi All! I’ve been keeping busy as my real job has been really slow. I finished another Gaptastic cowl for a friend’s wife. I knit it up in red Baby Alpaca. After knitting with Baby Alpaca, my fingers may never be satisfied with wool ever again. It was so soft and silky, warm and stretchy…aaahhhh….I’m hooked. Here’s the finished product, all packed up and ready to be given. I want to keep it. 

And I dyed a skein of wool/silk for my friend who asked for a yellow skein. I love how it came out….I call the colorway “Bode”, after the sunny, happy, little blonde cutie it reminds me of.

Unfortunately, once again, the photo doesn’t do it justice. There are some darker orangey tones running throughout it that didn’t get picked up in the photo.

I started my very first toe-up sock!

It’s not hard at all! I just started the sock the same way I start my hexipuffs. It’s coming along slowly, but surely. It’s knit in the round on 2 needles, like the hexipuff. I find it to be a little fiddley, but I’m getting used to it. I love the color I’m using. It’s one of the Sanguine Gryphon skeins my sister bought me. The colorway is called Roja.

And now I’m about to start another commissioned project, yay!! 2 different friends have asked for the cabled slouchy hat I made my mother in law for Christmas. So tonight I will start the first one. I wish I could make my whole living knitting and dyeing yarn. This having a real job stuff just gets in the way!

I leave you with a picture of two super cuties who got to see each other for a playdate this past weekend. Emmet and Jack.

Here’s a quick Saturday morning update. I’ve only made 4 hexipuffs so far for the BeeKeeper’s quilt. They’re quite adorable, and I really need to be more disciplined and try to make at least one a day, or this quilt may take 20 years to finish! Each one takes me about an hour, although I think I’m getting faster. My friend Maiya came to visit last weekend and she fell in love with the quilt and she’s now going to make it too. And the best part about that is she bought 2 skeins of my yarn (Atlantic and Pacific) and she ordered 2 more from me which I have to start dyeing today (she wanted two different yellows, and I sold my only yellow skein.) That makes 6 skeins sold so far!!

The second project I’m knitting is another Gaptastic cowl for my friend’s wife.

He asked for one in red to give to her for Valentine’s day. What a perfect gift! (It’s my second commissioned project!)  I went to the local yarn store to buy the yarn and I picked out Baby Alpaca. She won’t be able to wash it very easily, as Baby Alpaca has to be VERY gently washed by hand and air dried, but Alpaca is not itchy, and warmer than wool, and it feels like heaven! It’s so luxurious! I’m falling in love with Baby Alpaca, and I bought 4 skeins of it to dye. The problem is, I kinda want to keep it instead of selling it. Anyway, I’m more than 2/3rds done with it and it should be completed within a couple more days.

That’s all for now folks! It’s a snowy morning, and I should really get off this computer and take a shower and start dyeing a yellow skein of yarn. I will leave you with a picture of two cuties, because blogs are more fun with pictures. Here’s Emmet and his buddy Cooper at the Seacoast Science Center last weekend.

Have a great day everyone!

I’m sitting in a warm house, with leftover tacos and a chocolate chip cookie in my belly. The snow is still falling outside and I get to have a long 2 hour lunch break. The house is semi-clean, I just finished another knitting project last night, and I’m enjoying the anticipation of starting a new one. My family is healthy, and aside from a small case of sniffles, so am I. For whatever reason, as I sat here next to a fake fire, sipping a cup of tea, I felt suddenly overwhelmingly thankful to God for EVERYTHING. The big things, the small things, and everything in between. My life has been a blessed one since the day I was born, and I’m so undeserving, and so thankful.

This is what I’m spinning.

I’m in love with the colors and I’m going to try to dye some yarn with these variations.

This is what I finished last night. It’s the Gaptastic Cowl. It can be worn in different ways. See?

My brother in law, Chip, picked out the yarn for this. Good choice Chip! If I haven’t mentioned it before, Chip is a leatherworker, and sells his wares on Etsy too. You can check out his shop here. He is the owner of Hawk Studio. Crazy talented, and has great taste in yarn too.

I think I would like to start the Juneberry Triangle next. My sister bought me the yarn for it last year, and it was supposed to be my February project for this year. I’m a little ahead of schedule, but no doubt, it will take me longer than a month to complete. I will need help with the edging, I can tell already, but the incredible ladies in my knitting group will help me there.

I’m very lucky to have become friends with a group of ladies who get together on Sunday nights at Starbucks, all of them way more experienced than me, and soooo nice, as I find most knitters are.

Vicki, our fearless leader, (third from the left) is knitting a sweater on SIZE ZERO NEEDLES.  A sweater! I would not believe it if I haven’t seen her doing it each Sunday. She is the one who inspired me to spin on a drop spindle. I watched her do it for 2 hours the first time I met her, and I couldn’t wait to give it a try myself.

I’ve had two sales so far in my Etsy shop! That makes me very happy.  Taking the pictures and trying to get an accurate representation of the color has proven to be the hardest part so far. Below, you will see my photography studio. (Otherwise known as our bedroom with a white fleece blanket.)

The yarn is very well behaved, each quietly waiting its turn. (The red gets a little uppity, but it’s red, and that’s how red is.) It’s the lighting that gives me problems. And my horrible camera. But I can’t complain about the subjects.

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Well, now it’s late and I’m going to bed. I wrote this blog at lunchtime today but had to wait until tonight to upload the pictures. Goodnight everyone…my bed and my book are calling to me.

I did it! I’m in business! I dyed almost all my yarn and finally managed to get it uploaded into my Etsy shop. If you’d like to see the shop, go ahead and click here.

It’s taken a longer time than I thought to get off the ground, but I blame the holidays and a suddenly incredibly busy work schedule filled with lots of overtime. I’m hoping life will calm down now and I can make some more (and sell some too!)

Christmas was wonderful. Christmas with a four year old boy is just magical and FUN!

I made the Bella mittens for my sister for Christmas. They were a pretty quick, fun knit, and I might do them again sometime.

The pattern can be found here. Emmet liked them.

And remember the Ribbed For His Pleasure hat I was making? My friend Ben received it from his wife on Christmas morning and he loved it! Here he is showing it off 

I’ve also almost finished knitting the Gaptastic cowl and I’ve started the BeeKeeper’s quilt. Yes people, I’m knitting a quilt. I expect to finish it in a couple years. It’s a great idea really. You use all your leftover sock yarn to make it…I have lots of that! Nothing goes to waste.

Well, it’s late. I’m tired. I’ve been staring at this computer ALL day and I just want to go read my book now (A Game of Thrones…I love it.) I’ll try to be better about making more frequent posts now that life is calming down. Really.