Going to yarn shows is really crazy making. I try to sit down and plan out my time. No, not happening. Dye until your colors look at the same to you. Or until your boyfriend says,"Can we call this one Rainbow Disco?" ARG! I am having fun, but we are trying to move at the same time and my Army Boyfriend is "in the field" this week, so basically he is gone all week. Sigh. This seems so much slower when he isn't around.
I have been trying all week to post about colors I have been thinking about and ideas I have had. I have some yarn that I think looks really subtle, but will consumers think it is boring? I think a lot of what I consider "basic" color combos to be boring. On the other hand you can't be too "artiste" and have colors that people look at and say,"I think its beautiful, but I would never buy it." I hate it when people say that. :(
Anyways my mitered square project is coming SLOWLY. I have one square finished. Only a million more to go. I was going to take a picture and put it up, but i have been trying to do that every day this week and it just is not happening. Maybe next week. Sigh. With Adam's schedule I tend to fall asleep around 9 pm and get up at 5 am. So I have about an hour left. :( but that's ok. Although I am a WoW player, I am not so good at other video games I ascertained today. We tried to play Splinter Cell and Adam didn't know whether to be irritated or fall off the couch laughing. So he can play XBOX and I will knit squares. Hmnt. So there.
;) More to come later.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Early Morning
I had an early morning this morning because I had to drive Adam to work at 4:00. Instead of going back to bed I decided to dye up some samples for my WoW inspired yarn of the month. I got out to the new house and mixed up some dyes and dyed my first color Firey. After it went through the cook and rinse I decided it has too much orange and not enough black.
So instead of using orange as one of my colors again I just made my red and yellow overlap more. Looked way better to me. The other ones are still nice, but they didn't look to me like I had in my head. For those of you who don't play WoW I googled Felsteed and put up a picture of one.
Then I did the Winterspring. Using "white" or rather natural is always a bit
difficult especially when you are only dyeing one skein like I did hereAnyways now that I have started dyeing WoW inspired colors of course everything seems WoW colored to me. I have to remember to dye "normal" colors as well. My problem is once I start something getting em to stop is like trying to stop a freight train. I just have to make sure to remember my other interests and hope that will inspire me for more "normal" colors. I have been thinking about dyeing things the colors of my horses. I am not sure how that will look. It will either go over really well or totally bomb. I will get back to you on that one.
As far as knitting goes, I am making several things. I need to make mates for some glittens. I feel like I am over glittens, because now that I have figured them out they just don't seem as cool as they used to. Instead I would rather work on mitered squares in stockinette I found a pattern on rav for how to do them now I would be tickled pink if I understood the math behind how they worked. However they may be less cool then and maybe I wouldn't be so excited about knitting a million little squares. Meh.
Gotta go send out some orders (8lbs of roving!) and dye some more yarn for stitches. I am trying to dye sock yarn in small sweater making amounts. CTH has this beautiful simply supersock sweater and we all know how good I am with sweaters, but OTHER people can knit it and I will have the pattern. Other people with better sweater knitting gumption.
I might try and check out some local yarn groups this evening. There is a yarn shop near me in Lakewood and I thought I might try and go. However. I do have to pick Adam up so... we'll see....
Happy Knitting/ Dyeing!
Jenna
Friday, October 17, 2008
Blog Time
I know I seem to hardly ever update my blog, and I have decided to try and make an effort a couple times a week to write in it. I always want to write in it, but after a go-go-go day, it always seems like by the time I have a moment, all I want to do is spend time away from my computer. Anyways, so for those of you who like to check on it I will try to carve out an hour or to in the morning before I start running around like a crazy person to write something.
Moving on. I got back from Ally Pally and I had a lot of fun, did a lot of sightseeing and knitting. At yarn shows is when I have the WORST cravings to knit. All the cool garments and the yarns and the standing around waiting for people to come buy yarn. Yeah, so I picked like 6 new things I want to try. I learned how to do some mitered squares and now I can't seem to stop. I am one of those people (and I get this impression from a lot of indie dyers) that I just want to know the concept and work with it myself. I had a lot of frustration trying to knit the pattern for a garter mitered square with stockinette stitch. I come back to rav and read up and find out the right pattern. I prolly knitted about 10 wrong ones with little different variations to no success. ARG! Oh well. I dyed a bunch of ends (skeins that aren't full skeins) various colors for an emulation of the CTH mitered afghan. I am going to make a baby blanket for a friend. It's really a toddler blanket but whatever. The first blanket I made was out of cotton.
I think Chase will probably want something a little studier this time. Especially if he might drag it everywhere. This way I can use up some leftovers as well.
I have been knitting A LOT lately. I wish there was a way to knit and drive, it makes driving some like such a wasted chunk of time. My boyfriend and I have gotten to where we fight over who has to drive and I always point out that if I am driving and he is not knitting then it is a wasted chunk of time. He doesn't see it that way oddly enough.
Anyways, I have some new dye ensembles up on my site including Fall Festival (for those of you enjoying Fall) and Tropical Paradise (for those of you that hate winter).
Time for more knitting!
Moving on. I got back from Ally Pally and I had a lot of fun, did a lot of sightseeing and knitting. At yarn shows is when I have the WORST cravings to knit. All the cool garments and the yarns and the standing around waiting for people to come buy yarn. Yeah, so I picked like 6 new things I want to try. I learned how to do some mitered squares and now I can't seem to stop. I am one of those people (and I get this impression from a lot of indie dyers) that I just want to know the concept and work with it myself. I had a lot of frustration trying to knit the pattern for a garter mitered square with stockinette stitch. I come back to rav and read up and find out the right pattern. I prolly knitted about 10 wrong ones with little different variations to no success. ARG! Oh well. I dyed a bunch of ends (skeins that aren't full skeins) various colors for an emulation of the CTH mitered afghan. I am going to make a baby blanket for a friend. It's really a toddler blanket but whatever. The first blanket I made was out of cotton.
 |
| Chase's Baby Blanket |
I think Chase will probably want something a little studier this time. Especially if he might drag it everywhere. This way I can use up some leftovers as well.
I have been knitting A LOT lately. I wish there was a way to knit and drive, it makes driving some like such a wasted chunk of time. My boyfriend and I have gotten to where we fight over who has to drive and I always point out that if I am driving and he is not knitting then it is a wasted chunk of time. He doesn't see it that way oddly enough.
Anyways, I have some new dye ensembles up on my site including Fall Festival (for those of you enjoying Fall) and Tropical Paradise (for those of you that hate winter).
Time for more knitting!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Cobble Gobble
Hey
I just got some new dyes! Great colors! Blue Wisteria, Avocado, Apricot, Bright Green, Midnight Blue, Spicy Plum, Pagoda Red.
So Adam and I broke out the new Supersock DK Select and had a little dyeing party. He had never dyed before and wanted to see what it was like. We had a lot of fun. I love new colors.
He had me start knitting with his yarn right away so he could "see how it knits up." So I decided to make Glittens for my little sister Rae.
Here is his second skein. I am loving these Glittens so much I think I will make some more.
Then I did a little dyeing.
This one is Cobble Gobble.
This is Niagara.
The select takes the color so nicely, any colors appear clean. I love love love it. Next I think we will play with some Sockittome/ Kraemer Jeannie Select. I am excited, I only got to try out half my new colors and only Adam got to play with the red.
I just got some new dyes! Great colors! Blue Wisteria, Avocado, Apricot, Bright Green, Midnight Blue, Spicy Plum, Pagoda Red.
So Adam and I broke out the new Supersock DK Select and had a little dyeing party. He had never dyed before and wanted to see what it was like. We had a lot of fun. I love new colors.
He had me start knitting with his yarn right away so he could "see how it knits up." So I decided to make Glittens for my little sister Rae.
Here is his second skein. I am loving these Glittens so much I think I will make some more.
Then I did a little dyeing.
This one is Cobble Gobble.
This is Niagara.
The select takes the color so nicely, any colors appear clean. I love love love it. Next I think we will play with some Sockittome/ Kraemer Jeannie Select. I am excited, I only got to try out half my new colors and only Adam got to play with the red.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Hello Again!
What a whirlwind tour! I just arrived home from Stitches, and it was fantastic! The
Alpaca Bulky sweater that I was working on at the show is coming along nicely now I that I remembered that it needed a button band. The fiber content is 65% Wool / 35% Fine Alpaca, with 8 oz / 370 yds. It is a great warm bulky yarn for a variety of projects. I put up 12 skeins. If it sells well or I receive requests for it, I can get more.
At the fashion show, Knitter's magazine entered the
Alpaca Bulky Coat, you can make this coat with between 4 and 6 skeins of the alpaca bulky yarn and I will be bringing several matched sets of the dyed yarn to Stitches East as well. The pattern is in the fall issue of Knitter's. This yarn is very easy to dye. If you dye it yourself, I would recommend dyeing it in semi-solids to highlight the pattern work in this coat. I am using 3 skeins and a free sweater pattern I found on Ravelry to make my super simple sweater (pictured above). I dyed it in "colorways" since I am not using any pattern stitch.
I have updated my dyes web page so that you can get an idea about what the colors will look like when they are dyed. The yarn samples are Supersock DK and the dyes are mixed at "full strength". Currently I showing 20 of my 37 colors, I will put the rest up when I get a chance.
I will have these samples available for you to see and touch at Stitches East as well. People seemed to enjoy being able to see the colors in person. Raspberry became my new best selling color (though kiwi and Iris were a close second).
In other blanks news, I debuted my Supersock Select at the show and it sold out the first 2 days! The select means that the wool comes from only the best low micron count merino fleeces. Low micron refers to the kinks in the wool and the lower the count, the finer and softer the wool. It means the wool can be spun more tightly and thus wears well too. I have other customers tell me that they think the colors are better and cleaner. I find it is easier to dye, personally. So on that note I went looking for some more. I am getting 40 each of the Sockittome Select (80% Select Superwash Merino/ 20% Nylon- fingering weight) and the Supersock DK (100% Superwash Merino- DK weight). I don't think I will be getting anymore so the Supersock (fingering weight) Select in this year, only 50 kgs are made at a time. Cheryl (at Cherry Tree Hill) usually has the entire allotment sold before it gets to her. You will want to get these select yarns while they are still available.
I have over 30 pounds of high quality merino roving IN STOCK and ready to ship as well. I will post the next set of blanks in the next week or so.
You can expect to see two new Silk and Mohair blends: 54% mohair/ 23% silk and 18% wool with a nylon binder. One is a boucle: 8 oz / 422 yds, the other is stranded:4 oz / 322 yds, and both with be offered at $16. The boucle is shown in the pictures, as you can see the silk gives it a wonderful sheen. I will be bringing it dyed to Stitches East as well.
I am going to have some pattern support for many of my yarns as well. I am doing a sock pattern for the Supersock/ Louet Gems/ Kraemer Jeannie/ Supersock DK. Also a hat and scarf set for the boucle and possibly a drapey sweater for the stranded version. You can buy your own blanks and dye them for the pattens or just buy an indie dyed one at the show. Either way I am sure the colors will be fabulous! These will make great gifts to your knitting friends, yarns you dyed your self, along with a pattern for the yarn.
Well, we enjoyed Stitches Midwest and we are looking forward to Stitches East. We hope you enjoy the new blanks. On another note I am looking for some more indie dyed yarns to take to Stitches and to the Ally Pally show in London. Please email if you are interested.
Happy Knitting and Dyeing!
:)
Jenna
Indie Dyer
What a whirlwind tour! I just arrived home from Stitches, and it was fantastic! The
Alpaca Bulky sweater that I was working on at the show is coming along nicely now I that I remembered that it needed a button band. The fiber content is 65% Wool / 35% Fine Alpaca, with 8 oz / 370 yds. It is a great warm bulky yarn for a variety of projects. I put up 12 skeins. If it sells well or I receive requests for it, I can get more. At the fashion show, Knitter's magazine entered the
Alpaca Bulky Coat, you can make this coat with between 4 and 6 skeins of the alpaca bulky yarn and I will be bringing several matched sets of the dyed yarn to Stitches East as well. The pattern is in the fall issue of Knitter's. This yarn is very easy to dye. If you dye it yourself, I would recommend dyeing it in semi-solids to highlight the pattern work in this coat. I am using 3 skeins and a free sweater pattern I found on Ravelry to make my super simple sweater (pictured above). I dyed it in "colorways" since I am not using any pattern stitch. I have updated my dyes web page so that you can get an idea about what the colors will look like when they are dyed. The yarn samples are Supersock DK and the dyes are mixed at "full strength". Currently I showing 20 of my 37 colors, I will put the rest up when I get a chance.
I will have these samples available for you to see and touch at Stitches East as well. People seemed to enjoy being able to see the colors in person. Raspberry became my new best selling color (though kiwi and Iris were a close second).In other blanks news, I debuted my Supersock Select at the show and it sold out the first 2 days! The select means that the wool comes from only the best low micron count merino fleeces. Low micron refers to the kinks in the wool and the lower the count, the finer and softer the wool. It means the wool can be spun more tightly and thus wears well too. I have other customers tell me that they think the colors are better and cleaner. I find it is easier to dye, personally. So on that note I went looking for some more. I am getting 40 each of the Sockittome Select (80% Select Superwash Merino/ 20% Nylon- fingering weight) and the Supersock DK (100% Superwash Merino- DK weight). I don't think I will be getting anymore so the Supersock (fingering weight) Select in this year, only 50 kgs are made at a time. Cheryl (at Cherry Tree Hill) usually has the entire allotment sold before it gets to her. You will want to get these select yarns while they are still available.
I have over 30 pounds of high quality merino roving IN STOCK and ready to ship as well. I will post the next set of blanks in the next week or so.
You can expect to see two new Silk and Mohair blends: 54% mohair/ 23% silk and 18% wool with a nylon binder. One is a boucle: 8 oz / 422 yds, the other is stranded:4 oz / 322 yds, and both with be offered at $16. The boucle is shown in the pictures, as you can see the silk gives it a wonderful sheen. I will be bringing it dyed to Stitches East as well. I am going to have some pattern support for many of my yarns as well. I am doing a sock pattern for the Supersock/ Louet Gems/ Kraemer Jeannie/ Supersock DK. Also a hat and scarf set for the boucle and possibly a drapey sweater for the stranded version. You can buy your own blanks and dye them for the pattens or just buy an indie dyed one at the show. Either way I am sure the colors will be fabulous! These will make great gifts to your knitting friends, yarns you dyed your self, along with a pattern for the yarn.Well, we enjoyed Stitches Midwest and we are looking forward to Stitches East. We hope you enjoy the new blanks. On another note I am looking for some more indie dyed yarns to take to Stitches and to the Ally Pally show in London. Please email if you are interested.
Happy Knitting and Dyeing!
:)
Jenna
Indie Dyer
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
STITCHES MIDWEST
Thank GOD! I got everything packed for Stitches Midwest. My booth is 831 & 829.
I brought A LOT OF BLANKS. I have everything from wool to silk to alpaca to possum. I also have the last 30 hanks of Supersock Select. It is a low micron count Supersock. I will have 20 blanks and at least 10 dyed. I have some beautiful mohair and silk boucle, and silk and mohair stranded as well. I will be bringing all my dyes, and Synthrapol, and some Citric Acid.
Also I am bringing several different types of 4 ounce blanks all suitable for sock/ hats, etc: Superwash DK, Fingering weight wool, Worsted worsted and bulky wool. Some of these yarns I have some free patterns for.
What I am most happy about is the other indie dyed yarns! I am bringing three different indie dyed yarns.
Unwind Yarns by Khetala (Rav) Shannon sent her yarn from British Columbia. She sent me a cute little Shrug pattern that her daughter looks adorable in to go with her worsted yarn.
Fire Lizard Yarn's Cara sent a great batch of sock yarn. She is from Huntsville, AL and does a variety of things, NOT JUST YARN! :) Her blog is here.
Last, but certainly not least is Ancient Thread's Lynda(blog) from Syracuse, NY has brought her unique touch to the party. Lynda only uses plant dyes for her yarn.
Finally, I am bringing 200 Superwash Manifesto DVDs, I have little guide booklets to go with them and I will be signing them at the show. I have a bunch of low cost getting started projects that are fun and easy and COST EFFECTIVE.
At least come by and say Hi I would love to meet you.
Jenna
I brought A LOT OF BLANKS. I have everything from wool to silk to alpaca to possum. I also have the last 30 hanks of Supersock Select. It is a low micron count Supersock. I will have 20 blanks and at least 10 dyed. I have some beautiful mohair and silk boucle, and silk and mohair stranded as well. I will be bringing all my dyes, and Synthrapol, and some Citric Acid.
Also I am bringing several different types of 4 ounce blanks all suitable for sock/ hats, etc: Superwash DK, Fingering weight wool, Worsted worsted and bulky wool. Some of these yarns I have some free patterns for.
What I am most happy about is the other indie dyed yarns! I am bringing three different indie dyed yarns.
Unwind Yarns by Khetala (Rav) Shannon sent her yarn from British Columbia. She sent me a cute little Shrug pattern that her daughter looks adorable in to go with her worsted yarn. Fire Lizard Yarn's Cara sent a great batch of sock yarn. She is from Huntsville, AL and does a variety of things, NOT JUST YARN! :) Her blog is here.
Last, but certainly not least is Ancient Thread's Lynda(blog) from Syracuse, NY has brought her unique touch to the party. Lynda only uses plant dyes for her yarn.
Finally, I am bringing 200 Superwash Manifesto DVDs, I have little guide booklets to go with them and I will be signing them at the show. I have a bunch of low cost getting started projects that are fun and easy and COST EFFECTIVE.
At least come by and say Hi I would love to meet you.
Jenna
Friday, July 18, 2008
And they are up!
Hello
I know I have been quiet, not my fault I swear!
New Yarns up :D
I have gotten good response to my dye ensembles and I will be making more soon. I have put up several new yarns for your dyeing pleasure.
Suri Alpaca Laceweight
100% Suri alpaca, 50 grams/ 466 yards This laceweight yarn is unbelievably soft. It dyes a little more muted then the superwash. Dying recommendations: Citric Acid 2 tbsp/ half gallon, Heat Set.
Orenburg Laceweight
20% Silk/ 80% Kidd Mohair, 50 gm/ ~600 yds This yarn is handspun in Russia, and hard to find. This yarn could be considered a cobweb or gossamer weight yarn. Often it is used for formal shawls like would be worn at weddings and such. The bit of silk gives this yarn a hint of sheen that gives the yarn a little depth. Dying recommendations: Citric Acid 2 tbsp/ half gallon, Heat Set
PlainJane Wool
100% Wool, 2 oz / 200yds, For all you purists out there who want just plain wool sock yarn or a nice fingering weight for other projects this is the straight up, real deal. This is good yarn to start on if you are tired of the superwash, it is easy to dye and easy to work with, and it has a nice feel to it. Dying recommendations: Citric Acid 2 tbsp/ half gallon, Synthrapol 1-2 drops in the dye, Heat Set
Simply Roving
100% Merino wool roving, This is the softest roving I have ever felt and it is very high quality. It comes clean and ready to be dyed. When I dye roving, I lay it out in a pan just like I would any other yarn. Cut to your specifications, I am sure you will be satisfied with this product. Dying recommendations: Citric Acid 2 tbsp/ half gallon, Synthrapol 1-2 drops in the dye, Heat Set
The other offering I have recently put up is my new video The Indie Dyer Experience: The Superwash Manifesto which is available for preorder and will debut at Stitches Midwest. I spent an entire day in the studio to bring you this one hour DVD that will show you step by step how to dye yarn. I dye 3 sample hanks, with the very dyes that I sell so you can see how to get colors lighter, make colors darker, how to reuse your dyes, and make mixing more dye efficient. Also we will show you many of the tips and tricks that can really save you time and money.
Happy Dye-ing!
Jenna
www.indiedyer.com
I know I have been quiet, not my fault I swear!
New Yarns up :D
I have gotten good response to my dye ensembles and I will be making more soon. I have put up several new yarns for your dyeing pleasure.
Suri Alpaca Laceweight
100% Suri alpaca, 50 grams/ 466 yards This laceweight yarn is unbelievably soft. It dyes a little more muted then the superwash. Dying recommendations: Citric Acid 2 tbsp/ half gallon, Heat Set.
Orenburg Laceweight
20% Silk/ 80% Kidd Mohair, 50 gm/ ~600 yds This yarn is handspun in Russia, and hard to find. This yarn could be considered a cobweb or gossamer weight yarn. Often it is used for formal shawls like would be worn at weddings and such. The bit of silk gives this yarn a hint of sheen that gives the yarn a little depth. Dying recommendations: Citric Acid 2 tbsp/ half gallon, Heat Set
PlainJane Wool
100% Wool, 2 oz / 200yds, For all you purists out there who want just plain wool sock yarn or a nice fingering weight for other projects this is the straight up, real deal. This is good yarn to start on if you are tired of the superwash, it is easy to dye and easy to work with, and it has a nice feel to it. Dying recommendations: Citric Acid 2 tbsp/ half gallon, Synthrapol 1-2 drops in the dye, Heat Set
Simply Roving
100% Merino wool roving, This is the softest roving I have ever felt and it is very high quality. It comes clean and ready to be dyed. When I dye roving, I lay it out in a pan just like I would any other yarn. Cut to your specifications, I am sure you will be satisfied with this product. Dying recommendations: Citric Acid 2 tbsp/ half gallon, Synthrapol 1-2 drops in the dye, Heat Set
The other offering I have recently put up is my new video The Indie Dyer Experience: The Superwash Manifesto which is available for preorder and will debut at Stitches Midwest. I spent an entire day in the studio to bring you this one hour DVD that will show you step by step how to dye yarn. I dye 3 sample hanks, with the very dyes that I sell so you can see how to get colors lighter, make colors darker, how to reuse your dyes, and make mixing more dye efficient. Also we will show you many of the tips and tricks that can really save you time and money.
Happy Dye-ing!
Jenna
www.indiedyer.com
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