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I <3 Corgi Hill!

April 11, 2012 in April 2012 | 2 comments

Just popping in for a minute to give a little shout out to Corgi Hill Farm.  They’re having an anniversary coming up – 3 fabulous years of providing gorgeous hand dyed fiber and yarn.  AnnaMarie is having a fun little contest to promote the big event – details are over in their Ravelry group.

Thanks to Jenni and Jacie and Dr. Al, I discovered Corgi Hill a couple of years ago and fell in love!  AnnaMarie does wonderful work – her colors are rich and vibrant and beautiful.  Her reds are particularly amazing – I’m still trying to figure out her secret.  Not only do I love her work, I have tremendous respect and admiration for her as a fellow indie dyer – she has built an incredible thing in just 3 years.

This is one of my more recent purchases from Corgi Hill: Its BFL/Tussah Silk in the Firefly colorway.  Stunning, isn’t it?  Every time I look at it, I envision a simple shawl with those long color repeats maintained in the yarn and that pop of pink right up near my face.  I can’t wait to start playing with it (as soon as I empty all 9 of my full bobbins).

I will admit that there’s 2 more braids of roving sitting in my Etsy cart right now, tempting me to press the “buy” button.  So far, I’m resisting – that could change at any given moment.  There’s also an update every Friday, usually perfectly timed for that moment at 3 pm when you throw in the towel for the week but can’t quite get away with bolting just yet.  AnnaMarie’s clever that way – providing us with a opportunity for a little retail therapy when our resistance is low ;-)

In short, CHF has become my favorite indie dyer in the last few years, for good reason.  Happy Anniversary Corgi Hill!

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Color!

February 7, 2011 in February 2011 | No comments

We’re in the midst of the gray days of winter here in the Northeast.  The sky, the ground, the snow banks – everything is muted shades of gray.  We’ve had a couple of days of glorious sunshine here and there, which helps a bit.  Still, gray predominates.  I find myself wishing for either a stretch of warmish weather that causes it all to melt away or a nice coating of fresh white snow to make the world pristine again.

I crave color at this time of year.  I’m itching to get into my dye studio to make pretty colors (the reasons for the lack of time in the studio recently are another story all together).  I fight the urge to dive into my yarn stash to cast on something in fair isle, with some fabulous combination of bold, contrasting colors.  I reach for color when I pick out my outfit in the morning, even if its just a touch here and there – something, anything to add a little color to my world.

It should come as no surprise then, that I came home from Guild with the little pile of color above.  The bright, intense pink caught my eye in the middle of Deb’s, aka Dragon’s Wool’s, booth.  Then of course, I put my hands in them, and it was all over.  These mini batts are a half ounce each of superwash BFL, nylon, bamboo rayon and mulberry silk dyed in variations of fuschia.  Bold, bright intense shades of pink!  It occurred to me that the fiber blend would make wonderful sock yarn but I can’t bear to hide that color in shoes.  No, these practically beg to become a cowl or a small scarf – something worn close to the face, to perk up a pale winter complexion and add some much needed color to my world – a perfect antidote to a gray winter day.

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Va Va Voom!

June 10, 2010 in June 2010 | 3 comments

merino/camel/tussah roving and my favorite black heels – little black dress optional

Sexy.

That’s the first thing that came to mind when I opened my order from Corgi Hill Farm.  I thought I ordered a bit of red fiber – a pretty blend of 50% merino, 25% camel and 25% tussah silk.  I was enabled into it by Jacie, Al and Jenni while we waited for Sex and the City 2 to start (who knew a Blackberry, a quiet movie theater and a few fiber loving pals could be such a dangerous combination?).  I thought it would be nice for the Tour de Fleece – the Two Tails Group on Ravelry is doing a Corgi Hill spin along on our new spindles.  Then this arrived.

Sexy!  Even the colorway name – Crimson Lipstick.  Its not just red – its red, red. Hot red, almost scarlet, with the slightest shimmer from the silk.  It screams little black dress, high heels and a hot date.

There’s only one thing to do with this – spin it fine and knit it up into a gorgeous lacey wrap.  Something sexy.  Something for that hot date.

And so it shall be – Anna at Corgi Hill is very kindly getting another bit of this for me so that I’ll have plenty for a wrap.  I’ve abandoned my plans to spindle spin it and instead plan to make this my summer spinning project on my wheel.  I’m thinking a lace weight two ply, probably spun using my high speed silk flyer.  Then I’ll knit it up into Juno Regina to go with my favorite dress and heels.

A perfect little something…


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Random Thursday

May 6, 2010 in May 2010 | 2 comments

Sorry for the silence for the last few days.  Life has been unexpectedly busy.   There’s nothing particularly big going on.  Work stuff mostly – it is still “grant season”, after all.   I’ve been putting in some long hours, taking stuff home with me and honestly, stressing about work a lot.  The end is in sight – typically its over by mid-June or so.  The other reality – much as grant season is stressful, I love to write and to plan new things for my programs, so its not all bad.

Other than work, there’s a bit of random fiber-y stuff going on:

  • my latest obsession is working on my Crazy Woman socks.   Since I started them in the fall, its probably about time I finished them up already!  The pattern isn’t bad – its just doesn’t do anything for me either.  I’m through the cuff and heel on the 2nd one, so I’m in the home stretch.  Its motivating me to finish them.
  • The other obsession – what socks to do next.  The pattern is definitely Anne Hanson’s Holidazed, but the yarn choice is up in the air – its between 4 skeins of Silkie Socks that Rock and STR Mediumweight – I have one of each in high contrast colorways and more blended ones.  I can’t decide.  They’re all gorgeous and what I want to right now.  I may decide by putting them in a bag and pulling out a random winner.
  • I still have not seamed my Blankie.   Its turning into A Really Big Thing – I keep thinking about how I need a whole day in front of me to seam the whole thing at once so that I don’t have to keep pulling it out and putting it away to do it a little at a time.  It finally occurred to me yesterday that I could put up a folding table in my sunroom and work on it a little at a time.  As soon as I find a spare hour or so (ha!), I’ll do just that.  I need to get on with that too.
  • My case of finish-up-itis continues – the urge to finish up my old WIPs remains.  The problem is, its quickly becoming replaced with start-itis (having my yarn stash in full view in my dining room does not help things).  I keep reminding myself, other than a sock to replace the Crazy Woman ones when they’re done, nothing new!  yet…
  • I’ve just scheduled a trip to Buffalo for early June.  Its a quickie – driving out there in the afternoon, workshop the next day, home the day after.  However, its my first chance in almost 5 years to go to Syracuse and Baldwinsville – including some of my favorite yarn shops in the area :)
  • One of my favorite festivals is this weekend – NH Sheep and Wool.  I’m going, with my mother.  Its her first festival.  She has no idea what she’s in for.  I’m hoping to indoctrinate her into the fibery cult ;)

Happy Thursday!

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Have you hugged a bfl today?

March 10, 2009 in March 2009 | 1 comment

BFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have!  OK, so not an actual BFL but a half bump of buttery roving.  After almost 2 years, I’m still compelled to let myself fall into it every time an order of BFL arrives on my doorstep.  It just feels good.  BFL as my alternative to Prozac?  Perhaps.

On a sort-of positive note, I’m forced to leave work a little early today to meet the boiler guy at home (no, not the sink but another repair.  I’m thrilled).  Its positive because it means that I will have some time on my hands – time to turn that 10 pounds of BFL into 40-ish 4 ounce rovings to dye up this weekend.

Horray for the BFL!

PS – also in that order — merino superwash & alpaca blend rovings and bases for Painted Sock Too, Shimmer and Lambie.  :)

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Updates Galore!

December 2, 2007 in December 2007 | 1 comment

Check out the online shop and the Etsy shop – I’ve just added tons of new items to both sites. The Painted Sheep is now very well stocked with all 5 of our yarns (and yes, sock yarn is back!) and almost of all of our fibers.

Happy Shopping! Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

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