my busy day

yesterday i finished all this laceweight silk and dyed it for my customer 

socks on...

here they are on...I'm buying good sock yarn next!
 

socks off!

ok--I hate them. the yarn is too thick and i can feel the stitches. the toes are not finished quite perfectly (i need to practice kitchner stick) I don't like the pattern, either. But it was a good learning experience. also...one turned out slightly bigger than the other. (OOPS!)

scrumbling sampler

one more pic of this little sampler...

scrumbling sampler

I put together this little scrumbling sampler. Cute little bits of yarn for a free form crochet or knit project. 

the texture is awesome tho...

 

it looks like worms

or squid legs...

mohair boucle

i call it "so ugly it's cute" but i'm not sure it is

ok...i don't love it :-(

this is my new mohair boucle...I don't like the colors much...

special order black laceweight!

 

Birthday Sale!

Any purchases made in my store today get a Birthday gift FROM me:

Free set of yarn or SD postcards with any purchase on Oct. 19!

http://castleman.etsy.com

and now the only question is...

do i keep it or sell it? I love, love, LOVE the colors. It is a beautiful Mohair Yarn. It is 4 plus ounces (122 grams) and i love it...but maybe i should sell it. This is the bottom layer of my jar dyeing experiment with mohair. after i pulled it out and started playing with it i loved the aztec gold/chestnut brown layer so much as a separate batt that i just HAD to spin it up myself! What do you think? keep it? sell it? weave a scarf? what? HELP!!!! 

more pics

there it is...carmel swirled with coffee and even a little foam! 

Carmel Cappucino

I think this looks just like my current favorite drink: Carmel Craze, a Carmel, Coffee Drink...Delicious! 

one final pic...

i love this yarn and the weaving is far from perfect so i'm not sure whether i should keep it, give it to my daughter or something or sell it telling what flaws it has. 

oops wrong picture

this is the leading end of the scarf...where i got way too tight. the other pic is where i fixed it... 

beginning end of scarf

i wove too tightly at the leading end of my scarf...so i don't LOVE this...after several inches i realized what i was doing and fixed it tho. 

my very first rigid heddle weaving project

this yarn is variegated creating this "semi-plaid" look. I love how it turned out. (mostly) 

visit my etsy store

hi:
shameless plug! visit my etsy store...you'll find spinning supplies as well as handspun yarn and more!

http://castleman.etsy.com

oooo and check out my treasury list!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_test.php?id=1160172550516U11974

rita n/

one more pic of drying mohair

 

here it is

not dry...or carded so it'll be prettier later but this is the jar dyed mohair! 

a whole picture of wine!

ok...it's a really bad pun and i apologize...but i couldn't resist!

close-up

 

more wine!

 

Wine Tasting

These fabulous boucle yarn skeins remind me of a wine tasting event. what do you think??? 

nifty news

i often check out "how" people get to my blog. silly i know but i find dozens of cool blogs that way...so color me surprised when i clicked on a "referring URL" and it was a french chat board about dyeing...so cool! I feel like a celebrity or something...ok not really. BUT, it is cool. So...to everyone visiting from international locations...i'm so glad you came!
rita n/

completed jar dyeing...heat and dry and card!!!

this shows the layers of color...aztec gold, chestnut brown and purple in this case... 

my weekend

i had sunday off. i did not dye anything. i did not spin. i was quite busy all day anyway. i had pears coming out the wazoo and so i made pear jam, pear apple jam, and pear raspberry jam. busy day. saturday i had a gig in spearfish. it went very well. i played at a little gift shop that sells british teas and handmade jewelry and such. i sold 10 cds. Good day. She's having me back several times before Christmas. YAY!

now...back to your regularly scheduled programming...