Its dye day! My first one in my new home – my studio stuff is finally unpacked and set up, fresh dye stocks are cooling on the table and I’m in the midst of skeining up lace weight yarn.
Oh happy day!
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Tags: dye days
Happy Labor Day!
I’ve “celebrated” this unofficial end of summer in the dye studio. The weekend couldn’t be more perfect for dyeing. Its gorgeous out – temps in the mid 70s, sunny, dry and breezy. Weather that feels like a gift from the universe. Perfection. I’ve spent the last 2 solid days dyeing. Between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, I dyed 8 pounds of BFL roving.
Sunday afternoon, I finally got around to dyeing the yarn for my Sweet Pea Coat. Its drying in the sun on the deck this minute. Before: 
After:
These first couple of skeins look like they may be a little lighter than my original test skein, but we’ll see when its all dry and I swatch it. And the reason there’s 2 undyed skeins drying? I ran out of dye 3/4 of the way through dyeing, after it was prepped and soaked. I don’t even have any more of the powder in my base color. Oops! I managed to get the 6 skeins I need for the coat – I’ll dye up the 2 extras later on, as a little insurance. I can’t wait to play with this. The plan is to knit up a swatch and then hopefully send it off to Moving Mud, so that they can make up buttons for me.
I’m debating more dyeing today. All that I have left is lace weight yarn. I need to skein it off before I start dyeing. My arms are already protesting, though I may just push through it. Its too beautiful out not to take advantage of another perfect day.
A quick update on Allegoro – I put it through the washer and dryer on hot settings. It shrank quite a bit. I haven’t measured it to see how much. Its still big – more on the side of “flowy” than “tent” now but not wearable yet. I’ll run it through the wash again in a couple of days, to try to shrink it more. For now, its out of site in the closet. Can’t look at it.
I’m off – if I’m not in the dye studio today, I’ll be on the deck with a glass of wine and my knitting. Enjoy this glorious day!
Tags: dye days
The dyers out there know that this set up can only mean one thing – dye day is coming! I’m spending the first part of my day mixing up dyes and winding off skeins of sock yarn. Later today, its play time!
And for those of you who are curious, I’m trying something new — the white things lining my table are “chucks” – AKA “pee pads”. At the RI workshop we tried these out, after someone suggested using the puppy-training version to line the tables. We ended up with the chucks instead. I visited the incontinence aisle at my local CVS and for about $8 bought a 10 pack of these 30″x36″ chucks. They create a nice smooth surface and are super absorbent, with a plastic lining on the back. Rumor has it that they are reusable too – just put them outside to dry for a bit, fold them and store until the next dye day. Ingenious!
I’m off to skein yarn! Happy Friday!
Tags: dye days, eye candy friday
…since my house stinks of wet wool, dye fumes and vinegar – and I couldn’t be happier about it. 
I spent the evening in my dye studio. After work dye sessions are a rarity for me. The morning person thing makes it nearly impossible – I’m typically awake at 5 and up shortly thereafter, so I crash by early evening. With Guild coming and a new stock of base fibers arriving very last minute (try 3 pm today), dyeing was a must. Not a lot, mind you but enough to restock my BFL a bit and dye up a special order.
It was a perfect evening. It was breezy and mild, I had the house to myself and I was able to focus all of my energy on being creative. There is no better stress reliever than pouring pretty colors and hefting dye pots around. Just what I needed.
Pictures to come – I’ll be up with the first light to wash out all that yarn and roving.
See you at the Nutmeg Spinner’s Guild meeting on Saturday – as usual, 9 to 3ish at Asnuntuck Community College in Enfield.
Tags: dye days
Drying on racks,
in a pile, waiting to be “foofed”
and in a box, finished – ready for an Etsy update and/or the April Guild meeting.
Needless to say, it was a very productive weekend. That’s 10 pounds of BFL rovings that I dyed up yesterday and today. Its great that its still light out on Sunday evening and they’re all done. On Saturday, I dyed up a lot of varigated colorways – bold, bright colors with lots of spring tones. Today, I focused on shaded solids and some of my new Subtle colorways. Both days were great fun and just what I needed – by far the best parts of my weekend.
I’ll be finishing these up over the next few days. I’m holding off on labeling them and may not list them on Etsy quite yet – we’ll see what happens. After that, its onto yarn. The plan is to dye up Painted Sock Too, Shimmer and Lambie next weekend.
More pictures to come!
Tags: dye days
A peek at what’s to come – 3 pounds of soft, creamy white merino superwash lambswool roving. Destined for the dye pot this weekend, by Sunday night they’ll be dyed up spot style in vibrant colors.
Mother nature is gifting us with a weekend of weather that’s great for dyeing – it’ll warm up just enough to be perfectly pleasant in the studio.
I can’t wait to get through today and get into my studio. Its time to PLAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tags: dye days, eye candy friday
There is one very happy dyer!
Its been a painfully long time since I’ve played in the dye studio – Memorial Day weekend was the last time. I ache to play with colors and fibers again. Good thing too – the stock in my Etsy shop is extremely low. As you can see, I have plenty of fun stuff to play with now! I will finally be restocking both of my sock yarns, along with my alpaca blend roving, merino superwash roving (that’s the pile of “skeined” stuff in the back right – its all ready to go) and BFL. The shiny cone of yarn in the right front is one of two new yarns that I’ll be stocking – a sport weight 50/50 superwash merino/tencel that I’m calling Shimmer. Its lovely yarn – it’ll take color the same way my merino/tencel fiber does, with that amazing sheen. The other new yarn is a 60/40 blend of merino and bamboo, in a DK weight (yet to be named). I can’t wait to sample this one – its so soft! If I can make it work this week, I’m going to have an evening dye session. All that white wool begs for COLOR! The Painted Sheep needs to play!!!
Tags: dye days
One of the highlights of this weekend was Sweet Caroline – both the colorway and the plant that inspired it. There’s a story behind both. And of course, the thought of this gets the song running through my head – sing along with me and I’ll me explain.
Of all the flowers in my gardens, Sweet Caroline is my favorite. And when I refer to gardens, I mean all those I’ve had – in our current house and the house in Baldwinsville. My first attempts at gardening were at the house in Baldwinsville. I had no idea what I was doing. I got lucky and found a fabulous local place, Phoenix Flower Farm, that specialized in perennials. The owner was so helpful to me, showing me all kinds of wonderful things that I could plant and inviting me to come visit the farm frequently to wander the gardens and see things as they changed during season, picking out things here and there for my garden. He was especially good at helping me choose things that would both do well in our snowy climate and that would add a special touch to the garden. On one of my mid summer visits, I fell in love with a bright pink hibiscus, with a beautiful yellow center and deep green leaves – Sweet Caroline (of course, named after the Neil Diamond song). It looked like something that belonged in Hawaii – not the middle of snow country. The owner was encouraging and adamant that I would make it work in the garden and that it would make a perfect centerpiece. Still skeptical, I planted it mid summer. The next year when everything but Sweet Caroline came back in the spring, I returned to the farm, explaining that I needed a replacement for my beloved hibiscus. I was sent home empty handed and told to be patient – that it would come back bigger and better. It took its sweet time, but it came back. I was rewarded with a beautiful show of those bright pink flowers every summer that we lived in Baldwinsville.
Our move to CT in 2005 meant leaving our garden and all of the wonderful plants. I kept detailed notes and pictures of my favorites. The first spring in our current house, we planned our garden and started looking for our favorite plants. The one thing that I just couldn’t find was my Sweet Caroline. I looked for it in every garden shop, asked about ordering it – no one had and no one could get it. I planted a couple of other varieties of hibiscus instead – pretty but not so pretty as Sweet Caroline.
During a dye day sometime last summer, I recreated Sweet Caroline from my memory of the flowers in a colorway of the same name. Bright pink with bits of yellow and deep green, just like Sweet Caroline in bloom. And yes, I sing the song every time I dye it!
A couple of weeks ago, I stopped at a local garden center. I stopped dead and squealed when I spotted them – my Sweet Caroline! I found it!!! At last! I picked up one for me and one for my Mom for a Mother’s Day gift. It made my day. They’re little shoots still that Ev planted them in the flower bed in front of the living room window this weekend:
In late July or early August, I’ll have the floral version of this:
Sweet Caroline on merino/tencel. While Ev planted, I dyed up the colorway inspired by my favorite flower. Can’t wait to see the two side by side!
Dyeing: done!
Melody: finished!
Garden: planted!
Me: sore all over but so, so happy!
All that was finished since Saturday night (not to mention that Ev painted the bathroom ceiling while I was gone Saturday). It was a very productive weekend. Here’s a rundown and pictures of what we accomplished this long weekend.
Dyeing – the Guild’s order is done and my shop is restocked. After yesterday’s record-breaker, I woke up this morning and immediately thought, “I should just do a couple of extra pounds of BFL for the shop while I’m at it”. No doubt I was still fuzzy from the muscle relaxants! In spite of my sore muscles, I did indeed do 2 pounds of BFL for the shop, in addition to finishing up the last 5 pounds of BFL for the Guild. Grand total for the weekend: a whopping 25 pounds of roving. Holy shit! Its a LOT of roving. Here’s a picture of just yesterday’s 12 pounds of dyeing:
Once its all piled up, the weekends’ dyeing will cover my 6 foot table – at least 18 inches deep. As you can see, I played with colors! I did a lot of my more popular colorways and experimented a bit with the merino/tencel. Here’s pictures of my favorite stuff from the weekend:
Merino/Tencel Rovings 
Alpaca Blend Roving
Merino Superwash Roving
Here’s the sad news: this was just a tease, unless of course, you come to the Coventry Regional Farmer’s Market on June 1 or the Nutmeg Spinner’s Guild meeting on June 7. No Etsy update until after June 7. In all fairness, only the merino/tencel and the superwash are ready yet – the rest (including the Guild stuff) needs to be pre-drafted and packaged yet. The good news, for me at any rate, is that the dyeing is done. The rest will come in bits of spare time over the next week or two.
Melody: finished this afternoon! Woo hoo! I did two things absolutely against my knitter’s better judgement: I dropped a whole lot stitches and then cut. Melody is now a fringed rectangular shawl, as she was meant to be. Right now, she’s getting a good soaking in some warm water and Eucalan, then I’ll pin her out to dry. Pictures of every step and the finished product tomorrow. If you catch me in the right mood, I might even model her…
Garden: we planted our herbs and our vegetable garden today. Well technically, Ev planted. My back would have none of it. Believe me, I tried. I’ve been aching to play in the garden. I “supervised” – meaning I placed plants where they should go, Ev moved them around before planting them and I kept my mouth shut. Say hi to my hard working hubby! 
We kept things simple this year, planting only what we know does well and that we will eat every last bit of: tomatoes and peppers. Same varieties as last year in the tomatoes – Roma, Big Boy and cherries and like last year, a total of 6. In the peppers, we did red and green bell and a jalepeno. And as usual, we did our herbs in pots on the deck. Nothing like walking outside to snip fresh herbs for dinner. I can’t wait for summer! While Ev worked, I walked around the yard and took a few pictures of the gardens on the front and sides of the house. 
This rose bush (one of three that have been at the house for years and years) is about to bloom. As usual, its loaded with buds. 
The Siberian Iris is just starting to bloom and my day lilies are taking off. 
Both of the Fairy mini-roses that I planted last year are doing well – in fact you’d never know that I pruned them way back around Easter. 
We planted 3 lilac bushes (3 different varieties) during our first spring in the house. For the first time, all three bloomed this year. This one’s my favorite. 
This is the “problem child” of our yard. We didn’t plant this forsythia, nor did we plant the hydrangea to its left or the climbing rose to its right and for the life of me, I can’t figure out why they’re planted this close together. The forsythia is doing well – so well that its threatening to choke out both of its neighbors, especially the rose. Much as I love forsythia, I’m trying to figure out how to get rid of it without taking out both of the other plants. Ev wants to “prune” it. I see a battle in our future. A decision for another day. I’m ticked that everything is doing so well in the yard.
I’m exhausted, sore and I still need to finish washing out some of today’s dyeing. More pictures of the weekend’s activity over the next few days. Hope you had a great weekend!
That would be pounds of roving in the dyeing marathon I’m in the midst of. I dyed 5 pounds of BFL last night. Today: 5 more pounds of BFL, 3 pounds of merino/tencel, 2 pounds of alpaca/silk/merino blend and 2 pounds of merino superwash. That’s 12 pounds of roving in one day. I blew my old record of 8 pounds of dyeing in a day right out of, well, the dye pot. May not have been the wisest move in the world – I’ll be getting comfy thanks to my friend Mr. Muscle Relaxant tonight. I’m exhausted – as soon as I’m finished with this post, I’m crashing. It was fun, though. I made pretty colors and I played. And the end is in sight: just 5 more pounds of BFL tomorrow morning and I’m done with the Guild’s order and restocking my shop in time for my upcoming events.
The end is near on one more thing – Melody! I worked on her in the car during yesterday’s road trip and a bit on a break this afternoon. I weighed the skein – just a 1/4 ounce left. Two more rows and I’m binding off! Then I get to cut So close.
No dyeing pictures today – no way are my hands steady enough to hold a camera right now. Tomorrow, I promise. There’s some really fun stuff coming out of the dye pots…
Tags: dye days
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