Sunday Afternoon Dyeing with Poms

I used dried pomegranite skins that i had saved. Unfortunately, some molded so i ended up throwing almost half of what i had saved away. the dye vat started out yellow and got quite orange but produced no red shades. I got yellows and browns.

Top right: basic yellow--silk w/ alum

bottom right: silk w/ copper

top middle: ammonia and a second boiling of the dye stuffs

bottom middle: second dyeing in ammonia/poms

far left: vinegar added to the original dye vat

For those of you interested...

Here's our new store blog for "Good Yarn @ Smatterings"!
We've gotten our new shipment of yarn from Berocco! OMG. the colors. the feel. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMmmmm.

You need to come on in...we're next to Staple and Spice on Mt. Rushmore Rd.

http://rapidsmatterings.blogspot.com/

tutorial

I have been asked often how to wrap a batt into a little roll...here's a quick pictorial tutorial.

all done...on to new horizons...as it were!

sunset...in progress!

Yarn store ...

We're meeting with a big yarn rep tomorrow morning! i'm so excited!

Home

No time to post...i've got a new harp to play!

New Yarn

I finally got some yarn done! I've been working madly on dyeing yarn for Boucle Yarn Studio--they had custom done colors, and it's beautiful! I shipped off 12 skeins yesterday and have 13 more skeins to finish and ship! It's sort of aqua, darker blue, leaf green and black.

It's my first MAJOR custom order and i'm thrilled with how lovely the colorway turned out and how great it looks all wound and ready to go!

I did have two skeins of handspun silk to put up! YAY! I love how they both turned out.

This is called Hearts & Roses (for obvious reasons)

This one's called Muted because the colors are lovely and muted.

They're both beautiful, soft, finely spun yarn with about 500 yards in each skein!

What do you think?

2007

is over. A whole 'nother year of my life. I have actually started making business a real business...and a successful one at that. So...high points?

These lovely socks were my best BEST knitting project of the year. I love them. I wish i had had the good sense to buy somewhat better sock yarn...but i've fixed that. These are knit picks Peruvian (which i do NOT care for). It pills. But, it is very soft, and I love how the dye turned out. And i love how the socks turned out. I love them!



These lovely socks run a close second. I love them. I love the colors, i love the way they look, but i stupidly knit them two strands at a time, and as a result they are just not as comfy as the others. Oh well...live and learn!


This yarn is my favorite yarn that i have kept and have yet to make into something. I cannot decide what to make. I LOVE how it spun up and it is lovely and soft and beautiful, but quite fine and 50/50 wool/silk, so i'm just not sure. Perhaps a lovely scarf later!

The most beautiful yarn of the year? i'm just not sure...i love several skeins... perhaps this gorgeous stuff?
Maybe this instead? Which i gave to Stephanie when i went to hear her talk.
Or perhaps this lovely stuff--it took forever to sell and i'm still regretting not keeping it!



Or one last option...it sold quickly and i loved it! I still love it....

What's your vote?

Gradiating Yarn

I had this idea to create gradiating yarn that was in the colors i saw on Route 66. I'm not sure the colors are completely what i intended, but i LOVE the yarn so I guess that's good enough! It is 50% merino/50% silk. Soft and lofty and lovely!

You can see it gradiates from black at one end through sky blue to purple and then a pink on the other. I think it would make a lovely scarf!

More Gorgeous Harp pictures

She is almost ready to come home. William put the strings on and is slowly getting her in tune. I feel just a bit like an expectant mother! Jittery, but ready!

new harp pic

this is herself! i can't wait for her to arrive...

1/2 price yarn

all the sock yarn in my etsy store is half off for until midnight dec. 18! tomorrow handspun yarn is half price! priority shipping is $5.00 for 3 skeins of sock yarn! come on over and get some great deals!

http://castleman.etsy.com

More Scarves

i'm madly weaving this year...don't know why, just got in the mood i guess. I've gotten two more done...these are already taken tho!

Winter in Ernest

Yes indeedy. Winter seems to have set in here in South Dakota. We have 4-ish inches of snow on the ground. It was 20 degrees F when i got up this morning. And it is Dec. 10! So I am madly working on Christmas projects. I have decided to weave scarves this year for some people. unfortunately, i have woven two scarves, both of which seem like i should sell them. ACK! how does this happen? i do something intending to give it away, but it doesn't turn out to be "just right" for anyone i know?

Otherwise tho, i've been madly dyeing yarn in custom colors that i think will appeal to certain people. I've also gone back and plied some yarn that i originally left as singles, cuz i don't care for weaving with singles. (they tend to fuzz up and then the shed gets super hard to deal with).

The one on the left is a little narrower than i thought it would be. It is only almost 3 inches wide because i did it pretty much completely warp-faced. I used 3 different skeins of handspun, that were really too small on their own to do much with. the one on the right is done with singles (ack--never again). It did turn out nice tho. It was a self-striping single so all i had to do was do a continuous warp and weave it off. the self-striping did make the weaving vary extremely slightly as it goes along, but not enough to look odd. It is wider (3.5 inches wide) because i wove it in plain-weave. I'm pretty pleased with both of them. What do you think?