Indie Dyer Has Arrived

We have just received some brand new hand dyed sock yarn. It is Super Sock by Indie Dyer who is actually the daughter of Cheryl Potter of Cherry Tree Hill.

The colors are deep and rich, the yarn has a tight twist and a lovely sheen and it is an assortment, so there are no two colors the same. I envision a lovely shaded wrap or shrug besides socks. So much to do and so little time!

As some of you know, we lost one of our precious dogs to cancer several months ago. Wednesday Rick went to the animal shelter and brought back a new baby.

She is a pit bull mix, 5 months old and not a speck of white on her. She has the sweetest face and the brindle markings make her look like she is always smiling. She loves to jump in our laps (hopefully she won't get much bigger!) and is very klutzy. Any ideas for names?

Upcoming Workshops

As a result of our last yarn tasting, one of our fantabulous customers came up with the idea of using the yarns from the tasting to make a pair of socks, which we called Orphan Moya Socks, after the customer who's name is Moya. These have now morphed into Orphan Moya Fingerless Mitts, which are shown below along with the socks and the cards of yarns that are available as a kit. We also do the Mitts as a workshop, the next one coming up on July 9th.

Our dyeing workshops continue to be very popular and we are finding numerous projects to make with these yarns. This is Carrera, a 50/50 merino silk fingering weight that I dyed last weekend.
I have started Shetland Shorty from knitty.com with it. It is much brighter than the pattern is done in, but I am really liking it. And I can't begin to describe the sheen this yarn has. Lovely! Our dyeing workshops this month will be on July 13th and July 27th.

I really zoomed through my Intarsia Christmas Stocking. There is just something very satisfying about working with your own hand dyed.
Here it is complete except for the heel, which was done as an "after thought" heel.

And here it is finished. What do you think? It will be offered as a workshop again on July 26th but the pattern will be available on July 5th for purchase.

And, of course, no post is complete without mentioning the furry friends in our lives. On any given day that you drop in you might be treated to one of Bonnie's adorable MiKis, such as Antoinette. Isn't she precious in her stylish coat?
Or you might meet Precious, shop-cat-in-training. She is deaf but it doesn't keep her from "feeling" when someone comes in and going to meet them, if she is so inclined. Looks like she is getting the hang of it, doesn't it?

Hope to see ya'll soon!

Some Ideas for Using Hand Dyed Yarns

I continue to be hooked on dyeing yarns but the problem remains of what to do with it when you are only doing 1 or 2 skeins at a time (in other words, non-professionally). I have begun to look at patterns with an eye to using some of my hand dyeds.

This is Tempest from Spring 08 Knitty.com using 2 skeins of hand dyed Trekking. I really like the contrast and it will be fun to create some beaded or polymer buttons to go with it. I think next I will dye some fingering for Shetland Shorty from Knitty Summer 08.

This weekend we are doing an Intarsia Christmas Stocking and I decided to use some of my hand dyed in this pattern.

The first color is Aracania Nature Wool in a kettle dyed red.

The contrast is my hand dyed Licorice Twist in shades of green (you know I can never do anything in all solid colors!).
And here is the beginning of the pattern. I'm really liking the way it is coming out and there will probably be enough of the Licorce Twist to do something else, maybe a hat.

I have some other dyeing pictures to post but I did want to show my first effort at dyeing 100% silk. This is a boucle from Henry's Attic and I was very pleased with the way it took the dyes.I think there is enough to make a lacy shrug so I will be looking for a pattern to use for this.

Can't wait to dye again now that I am finding some great uses for them! Would love to hear from others as to what they are using their hand dyeds for.

Entrelac Projects

OK, what are your thoughts about Entrelac? And who the hell ever thought it up? I design basic things but this is convoluted! Having said that, I do love the process once I get the rhythm going.

So, this is our Entrelac Messenger Bag that we do as a class every few months. The same process can be used for a scarf or wrap as Tiernie demonstrated beautifully using black & white cashmere from Jade Sapphire. Very Stunning! Anyway, this is a technique that is very fun to learn and we hope you will join us.