Extravayarnza

Did you ever wake up with an amazing headache? The kind where all you can figure out is that your body went to some fab all night party and didn't invite you?
Wow... I didn't know my eyes and temples could throb visibly!
Thank Goodness for Motrin... a perfect sunny day...and a cat that is too cute for words~

Plus one of my handdyed yarn stopped by for a visit. Freshly knit into a lovely pair of socks!

Thank you Lisa for bringing these by. I was quite worried that this colorway would pool, but check it out! This is Amber in the Rainbow colorway (I think there is still one more in the shop...). I have lots of sock yarn winging it's way here... keep your eyes open for more of the Wool/Nylon, plus two new yarns Merino/Tencel & 100% Merino (Gems Merino Pearl...yum!)
A super neat new yarn did find it's way to the shop today.

Not impressed? Yep it's a big ribbon yarn...It is mostly merino wool.... still no?
How about this normal unsuspecting yarn knit up~

Who'd have Thunk?
There is a special technique for knitting this yarn that creates big waving ruffles. I think it's the coolest thing since sliced bread. I already have a gorgeous sweater design in my head that tastefully uses this for trim...
The Secret?
You knit through the yarn!
If you always knit through the same side you leave the opposite color free to ruffle along in a giant purl ridge. Super easy, super quick, super results!

Okay, I know this is already a big post, but Bezzie asked for some Dragon pics. He's getting a bit big on the needles to spread him out for a full shot, but here's the beginning of his head plus his body with wing join & an almost finished wing!

I'm now on the four page wide chart... sigh...
I managed to track the dragon down in his natural habitat so you can all see why this shawl is taking so long...

Two end tables to hold the full chart... a huge strait line so I can follow along (and the all important pen to mark off a tally of the rows)... my true color light so I can see the stitches...a third end table to hold my drink (this was made necessary after my mom spilled red wine all over one of the charts)... and a fourth end table to hold the written instructions & chart legend (and a snack). What you can't see is the go knit pouch to hold the ball of yarn so my cats don't run off with it. Usually it hangs off the arm of the chair.
That's a lot of required equipment!
I'll be so happy to finish this shawl and start on the Peacock Feathers Shawl (but more on that tomorrow... hint hint...)

Okay, I have a huge smile on my face right now!
I can't tell you the biggest reason because it's still classified. Trust me, it's wonderful news & I'll be blabbing all about it as soon as I'm allowed...

Next, I found out I got a 4.0 in my technical writing class. Not only does this instill a new confidence in my writing, but it means I can finally apply for my degree. Big weight off my shoulders there.

As a bonus I dyed some totally awesome lace yarn last night that turned out better than I ever imagined.

Yep, it's the peacock feather inspired lace yarn. Trust me in person the colors are dead on.
If you want to see some great peacock pictures & learn about their colors I recommend this site.
For example peacocks are actually black! The colors are caused by interference in incandescent light.

I'm so excited to start knitting this shawl. I might swatch it to show you all the colors, but I promise not to really get going on it till the dragon is finished.

In one day at the store 4 skeins are already spoken for! Luckily I dyed 8 so there are still some available online over at The Boutique.

I think these will go fast, so act quickly!
(I will be dying this colorway again, in fact I had some requests for sock yarn in this color)

This is a big week for sock yarn (now notice I didn't mention sock knitting... that's just not happening right now...)
First up, Monday I received the first of two new sock yarns I'm going to be dyeing, Gems Pearl from Louet. I was so excited to finally be working with this yarn that I dyed it the same day it arrived. I love how this just slurped up the dye. The colors are so vibrant!

I ended up dyeing two new colorways, Peacock & Lillypond.
Peacock you all got introduced to with the last batch of lace yarn.
Lillypond is similar to a color way I dyed for my Dyeorama pal. It's random splotches of leafy green & pond blue with points of red & purple. When knit up it does look quite a bit like an impressionistic painting of a waterlilly pond (or so my pal told me & since that's what I was going for I'm happy with that!) I did keep a skein of this colorway so one day I may get around to knitting it up.
The other two colors are Dahlia & a colorway I've dyed quite a bit, but before I really started naming colorways... it's greens, blues, and purples. (click on the pic for a much better view...)

Today (Tuesday) more sock yarn arrived! Two big boxes brought me my wool/nylon sock yarn & the second new sock yarn merino/tencel. I'm totally in love with tencel. Just mix tencel in with anything & I'm happy. I'm still working up a design to use Alpaca with a Twist Punch (Alpaca/Tencel boucle) in a sweater.
Oh, back to the sock yarn...
The pattern I have chosen for my Lace Swap Pal uses fingering weight & I think this yarn is perfect for lace. It's just a great blend of bounce & drape.  So, to get my feet wet I decided to dye her yarn first!

In person it's cyan & this bright blue/purple. She likes jewel tones so I think it will make her happy!

Last big sock yarn news... word is Blue Moon quite possibly shipped our big box of Socks That Rock last Friday! So, theoretically it should be here before the week is out! I'll let you all know when it gets here....

This week was my brothers 20th birthday. We had a bit of trouble all getting together at the same time, so tonight Nick & I decided to break into the cake.
He was feeling a bit neglected, so we tried to make it up with candles...

Yes he managed to blow out all 35 candles in one try!

I finished a fun little project last night, (to be honest I both started & finished it in one day).

The new FiberSpace felted Seahorse pattern came in & I just had to knit it up~

I used a single skein of Nature Wool color 53 & a ball of Cashmerino Astrakhan 07. Fun pattern to knit, and I think I'm getting my own little sea hanging on the store's ceiling. Maybe I'll make a turtle next...

The intense part of my class teaching season in coming up. I have several classes starting over the next few weeks. Some of them I've taught before & just need to refresh the class notes, some are new for this fall & require a bit more work...

I spent most of this evening getting ready for my class tomorrow, Easy & Simple Yarn Dyeing. I guess it's easy for the students, not as much for me. I had a lot to do to prepare for tomorrow.

Yarn in cones needed to be in skeins, weighted, labeled, and priced... I had to gather supplies from my dye studio, make sure I had all the colors I needed of Wilton icing dye, and go purchase a few things (especially vinyl gloves, a few students are allergic to latex & I know I sure like the vinyl ones better).

Then I wrote up 6 pages of dyeing and color theory. They came out surprisingly well. The big test will be tomorrow I suppose.

I also am managing to keep up with my thrummed mitten class. The mate for the striped mitten is knit to the point where the cuff hem is knit in (where the class picks up).

I made up a mountain of cashmere thrums & knit the first thrummed mitten to the thumb.

There are still a few spots left in the Sunday Yarn dyeing class. I'm running both a 1-3 & a 3-5 session. Give me a call at 517 336 YARN if you'd like to join us.

I've been very busy tonight!

I dyed 3 pounds of Superwash Merino Wool roving (yum!) & we recently got in a shipment of 12 colors of solid feltable merino roving. I made a big dent into breaking all those one pound bundles into 1 oz bundles...

So, I've got to get that dyed roving on the drying rack & keep on skeining up that solid merino...

See you all tomorrow!

I've made a big update over at my shop.

You can now find Superwash Merino Roving

My new 100% Merino wool Sock Yarn

And a limited time colorway  of 'A Good Sock'

Please click on the big Orange button to the right to go to the shop!

Okay, My camera drama continues today with dead batteries....
So please use your imagination, or pop over to the shop (orange button on right) to see what the last dyelot looked like. I got way closer to the  last dyelots than I expected!

First up, I mentioned in my Iris Garden sock pattern than one of the colors was similar to my 'A Good Sock' yarn, but wasn't dyed by me. It was from the dye-o-rama swap & my pal dyed it on a machine knit blank in a workshop.
So, if devised a new way of skeining my yarn to get super long repeats and dyed up some super striping yarn in the color of my sample sock.
I'm calling this color 'Iris Garden' & I'll post a photo asap.
As far as my Amber sock yarn goes I think I covered all the colors you asked for...
I now  have Amber, Petunia, Brick, and Rainbow in stock.

Check the second half of this post for my SP9 questionnaire if you want to see the answers to the surprisingly probing questions...

So,
It was a long wonderful weekend. The type of vacation you need a couple more days off to recover from.

Lynn & I headed out fairly early Friday morning to make the 5 hour drive to Toronto. For the first time in my memory I actually ran into construction in Canada. Major construction, this stuff made MI highway construction season look like a kid playing with legos. We didn't get into Toronto until after 4. On the positive side I got some amazing practice driving a stick (that mostly stopped highway backup can teach you how to get into first really well).

It was so worth it though!
Just look at the crowd at Indigo~

As usual Stephanie was charming & funny making sure we were well informed of the presence of CHOKE (they are everywhere) & the need for knitters to be proud and represent.

Plus, unlike any knitting event I've attended before we got to gather at The Spotted Dick and partake in the dangerous mix of drinking and knitting. (For us American's the whole Spotted Dick thing will never get old... I delighted in getting to ask the male employee at Indigo "So, Stephanie tells me you're the man who knows about The Dick", minds out of the gutter people, I was only attempting to get directions to the pub).

After luckily making it back to the hotel for the night and getting in a much too short nights rest, Lynn & I hopped on a street car and made our way to the Naked Sheep (is it just me or does this trip sound risqué so far?)

Can I just say right off the back that every shop we visited was just lovely & I was lucky to have only come home with a modest stash enhancement. My rule for the day was simply that I could only purchase yarn that I couldn't easily get in MI.

Our next stop on the tour was a shop that was new to Stephanie (Thanks Amy for the recommendation), Americo.
Americo was the most unique yarn shop I've ever been to, no Debbie Bliss or Rowan for them, nope only hand spun yarn here.
Funky Wool Hand Spun

Dreamy Cotton Hand Spun

And for me to bring home, Precious Hand Spun Cultured Silk in Lace Weight (about 800yd)

Our next stop of the day was Romni Wools. Cleverly chosen to be the stop before lunch because we easily could have spent a week in there & not have found our way out yet. Stephanie figured calling us all to lunch would be our only hope of ever leaving. She was most likely correct on that point.
Well, Romni is where I found my goal of the day. A skein of Fleece Artist Sea Socks!

A couple of skeins of their Angora/Silk blend also followed me home.

A short Street Car trip & we found ourselves at Kensington Market for lunch & to visit Lettuce Knit. I can hardly believe how amazing Lettuce Knit was, especially since it's only 200 sq feet!
Here's the whole gang infront of Lettuce Knit...

I'm easy to pick out of all the group photos! Just look for the only knitter wearing sunglasses (I have transitions so I'm never in risk forgetting my sunglasses).
Some stash building happened here too...
Some Smooshy for Mum~

And some BFL braids for Me~

After a long wait for a street car (all of 20 min, I'm told that's long in Toronto. Also it's long enough for Knitters to wonder how many of us will fit in a bus shelter... You'll have to go to Stephanie for that answer)
we then headed to AlterKnit...
There were sock Monkeys knitting!

And a skein of Sea Silk that just called for me to bring it home...

So, I'm home again, and my stash has grown to take up even more of my home.

Plus during my days off I started an Etsy Shop! Some of my hand dyed yarn is up there. My patterns will be joining them soon, but in the mean time they're available on my webpage by clicking the link over on the right.