Spring means...

No leaves on the trees yet, but nice weather, sun and a breeze - perfect conditions for hanging newly-finished handspun yarns out to dry. All of these guys - plus lots of Woolarina Handpaints - will be for sale at the Cloverhill Yarn Shop booth at Maryland Sheep & Wool next month.

dye day - march 08

This is the first bunch of dyeing I've done in the new year, and I took advantage of hauling out the supplies by getting a dozen skeins and three bunches of roving dyed up. I tried to do some spring-friendly colors, but as always, things tended toward the deeper, darker colors most of the time. Included in this batch of dyeing was about 700 yards of merino/silk, destined to become my next Clapotis.

dk superwash added

One new category, six new yarns -- check out the DK superwash yarns at woolarina.com!

January 07 colorways

January 07 colorways
Originally uploaded by kismet09.

The bad news is, I fell down a flight of stairs, and my left thigh took most of the damage, so sitting down is not the most comfortable position right now.

The good news is, since I can't sit much, standing over my dye pots was an attractive activity, and I've finally returned to dyeing, just in time for the upcoming launch of a new woolarina.com storefront (which should be coming in the next few days).

I couldn't resist giving a peek at the new yarns, 'cause I love 'em. Only the valentine colored one has been reskeined so far - the rest I hope to do today or tomorrow, as soon as they're dry enough to play with. I also did a bunch of roving, and have returned to spinning, after a brief hiatus.

Winter has definitely reawakened the fibergeek in me. Now if only my bruise would heal...

Accomplishments

My back gets stupid amounts of tired when I have dyefests these days. Tim says he felt it in the weeks after turning thirty (which I just did, less than two weeks ago), and I can't disagree that the pains feel more pronounced, annoying as it is.

Anyway, I got a bunch of dyeing done this weekend. I admit that I fell back, largely, on my favorite color combos, which means more purple than you can shake a stick at (unless you really want to shake one, but really, it'll look pretty silly):



I also had a special order request from Maia for some yarn similar to one that I've dyed before, but in a larger batch. It was fun to work from someone else's inspiration, and hopefully the yarn will do it justice:



I have a fan full-blast on the yarn right now, so hopefully it'll be dry in time to send off to Crafty Bastards. I think if it goes out tomorrow, priority mail, it'll work out...

hat madness

I have a big head, as heads go, and I think that it makes me automatically knit big hats. I just finished a hat with Takhi Baby that's even too big for me, which means I know it won't fit most of the populace. I'm hoping to felt it just a little bit, and call it normally-sized.

I have also done quite a lot of Kool-Aid dyeing recently:


All of the skeins are right around 100 yards, and will go into felted bag kits for the craft fair. Me, my giant bottle of vinegar, and my packs of Kool Aid have been banished to the basement and an extra microwave, as the smell gets a little overwhelming.