dyeing

Well, I'll start out by saying that I (Muriel/BFFofWendy/lil sis) am substituting today for Stacy since she's been a little down with her RA and migraines.

Up until now, though, we've had a wonderful time this week while I've been here on vacation.  We've not only been knitting, talking, plurking, laughing, making fun of each other and chasing the kids around the house, but we've also been coming up with new colorways!  Yes!!!

As you all know from past blogs, I've recently broke down and started knitting (thanks to Wendy aka Wendyknits).  This has given me a new passion for yarn naturally and a great new passion for dyeing yarn.  Our family has been SO very proud of Stacy and her love and talent for knitting but none of us, up to this point, have really understood that passion.  Well now I can officially say....I understand!!

Ok, so the adventure this week began with me badgering Stacy into letting me be creative and work on some ideas I've had over the past few months.  My first thought was a colorway that would explain our relationship as sisters and friends.  Now understand that all ideas somehow mutate over time, this one was no exception.  We have a very "hot and cold" relationship like most siblings so I thought it might be cool if we mix both our favorite colors into one skein of yarn and have them "Duke it Out".  Well my favorite color is orange and of course hers is red so there we went with black and white "specks" in the middle.  Well if you're from Oklahoma, you know that the most famous rivalry in our state is between Oklahoma State University (OSU) whose colors happen to be orange and black and Oklahoma University (OU) whose colors happen to be crimson and cream.  So now we have the colorway born, "A House Divided".  Well darn!  There went my sisters idea but we still had a lot of fun fighting it out in the dyeing process regardless.  I'll be delivering some of this very unique color to Keely at SWAK in Guthrie on Saturday.  So if you like it, I'm sure she'll be more than happy to hook you up.

The dyeing highlight of my week was when we decided to come up with something for Wendy.  She's been such a wonderful friend to me since she and I met at the knit out that SWAK put on in Guthrie so Stacy thought it would be something very special that I could put some time and energy into while I was here.  She was absolutely right!  Since I already had knowledge of Wendy's favorite color and season, I went to work.  Now remember what my favorite color is?  That's right!  Orange and green are the 2 main colors used and in a unconventional pattern I might say.  Stacy thought it would be especially pretty to add a hint of brown, which it is.  So even though it is a lengthy dye process, it turned out wonderful!  I know this because as soon as Wendy received her skein, I received an email entitled WOW!  Now that's an amazing compliment since she sees and knits with so many beautiful colors.  I was especially blown away when she posted an entire section on it in her blog!  How lucky am I to have such a great friend and smart ass companion.  I can't wait to see what her brilliant mind ends up magically weaving with it.

Oh yeah, would you like to know the story behing the name?  I guess I should first tell you the name (if you don't already know).  I decided to name it "Circle of Friends".  The reason I decided on this name is because I have found such a wonderful circle of talented and funny knitters to call my friends thanks to Wendy and my big sis.  One group, for example, is the SWAK circle of knitters who have encouraged my new obsession and haven't laughed at me too much when I've screwed up my projects.  They're great!!  Of course all my new Plurk friends have been wonderful as well. 

Now just in case you're wondering, I did dye a few more skeins of "Circle of Friends" today to meet the demand we've already had.  I also made sure Stacy watched my unorthodox ways so she can dye some up for anyone else who wants some. Now for some odd reason, Stacy thinks I should let you know that I've kept a few skeins of yarn for myself to start my own stash, I have no idea why she would think that's important! LOL

I won't blog about the reasons and stories behind the other colors we cooked up this week because as you can see, I can really talk a lot if you let me.  Feel free to visit Etsy and spend some of your mad money though!!  I hope you like the colors as much as we liked dyeing them.

First the knitting, I have been doing a little (really big) knitting.  I mean this bag (Noni Medallion travel bag) is going to be HUGE!  Unfelted it is 36" wide and 27" deep, I am a little over half way through with it and hoping to have it finished by the Spring Fling.   I am also working on my 'Linear' sweater because I would love to be able to wear it to the Trunk Show in 2 weeks.  OMG ......... what on earth am I gonna wear!  Seriously people, I dye yarn that means that most of my clothes are spotted with dye.  I almost never go anywhere that I can't go wearing my "work" clothes (small town and all).  I actually had to talk to my baby sister,  the fashion diva of the family, and I have decided that it isn't easy to dress for knitting events.  If I let my sister dress me for the Trunk Show I will look very professional but not like someone who spends her days elbow deep in dye.  But.... if I dress myself ...... well it will be jeans splattered with dye and a tank top with every color of the rainbow and a few that aren't in the rainbow.  OK I need HELP!  Feel free to leave a message and tell me how to dress for this occasion.

I am not stressed, really!  Of course I did had this crazy dream last night, there was a dictator and when I started getting everything I had dyed out it was all missing and in it's place was a bunch of fun-fur and rick-rack. OK so maybe I am a little overwhelmed, just a little, or at least my brain is. 

I have about 80 skeins of Good Grrl dyed in a huge variety of colors and dyeing techniques and once I get the delivery of Glam on Monday, I will get a bunch of the Glam dyed up too.  I have also dyed several skeins of Lace wt and roving, I am not really sure what everyone is expecting so I am throwing in everything.  My only concern is that no one is disappointed, I brought out a bunch of old faves and few new yarns too, including the 'Iris' colorway that Wendy used in a recent pattern.  I am excited about the trip and getting to meet a bunch of new knitting friends.

First things first, today is our 9th Anniversary.  There is just no way to put into words how wonderful, amazing, challenging and happy the last 9 yrs of our life together have been.  I have been blessed with one of the last Knights in Shining Armor.  I am looking forward to spending the rest of our years together.

I think I said something about a bunch of dyeing and spinning that occurred last week.  This is some Dark BFL that Keri and I dyed in the 'Kyrana's Rainbow' colorway.  She has spun hers as a 2 ply and I spun mine and Navajo plyed.  It is amazing how each yarn turned out.  I could kick myself for not taking a picture of Keri's yarn before she left. 

We also decided that we are going to do a little Spin-a-long/KAL, now that we both have our yarn spun we have decided to knit the Morning Surf Scarf by Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer of Heartstrings.  I would love to include anyone who is interested, let us know if you want to join in and we might just start a pic and chat forum on Ravelry, it doesn't have to be handspun.  I do think that this scarf is wonderful for stash busting and Christmas gifts. I have knit this pattern before and loved it, can't wait to see how it looks in the handspun.

This is the way mine turned out I really am happy with how it looks.  The color is very intense and I am totally in love with Navajo plying.

I have tried it before with very poor results but this time I just got it, and it went beautifully.   

See....I really did put Keri to work.  She was an incredible help and I have to give her credit for the latest Loopy Ewe order get done so quickly.   Thank you!!!!!!

Ok last but not least Bella and Rosie had their first trip to the groomer...OMG I about had a heart attack when I wrote the check, I am used to just one.  I don't know why I didn't think about doubling all the cost.  Duh!!! 

Before                                                                                 After     Sorry for the lousy pics, you have no idea how difficult it is to get decent pictures of these girls.

I have been incredibly blessed with wonderful knitting friends.  Last spring Kaye, Del and I went to St. Louis to the Loopy Ewe's Spring Fling and one of the great friends we made is Keri of 3am Enchantments.  She drove down and spent a few days here this week.  She was kind enough to bring me one of her bags and a chocolate creme pie, well not just me I did share with my family, Del and Kaye (she brought bags for Del and Kaye too). 

Isn't this a great bag!!  Perfect size for a small project or all my little knitting gadgets, right now it is holding a sock in progress.  I love her attention to detail, you can't see it in this picture but it has a coffee bean zipper pull, seriously how cute is that.  I will say that you might want to keep an eye on her stuff on The Loopy Ewe... just saying (way past seriously cute).

I had a house full of knitting buddies here on Wednesday and it was so much fun!  We laughed, knitted, shared, talked, ate and did a little spinning.  You all know how I love Del and Kaye's weekly visits and having Keri here just added to the fun.  Everyone got to share all their new acquisitions and projects they are working on.  Keri got to show off her new wheel, and all the yarn she has made since she received it 5 days earlier.  Del seamed up a couple of sweaters for her granddaughters and cast-on her Blanket Coat.  Kaye was showing us the progress she has made on her various knitting projects, she has a few on the needles.  I showed off a few new books and the bunny yarn.  BTW I am still taking entries in the contest and probably will for a few more weeks.

On Thursday and Friday Keri and I did some serious dyeing!  We worked on the next Glam Grrl order for TLE and decided that wouldn't it be wonderful to have some coordinating colorways.  This is one of them, 'Jasmine Dreams' and 'Jasmine', isn't it pretty?

I have so many pictures of the dyeing and spinning that I think I will stop here and pick up again later.