Hi there!
Sorry I've been away so long. My real job was keeping me busy. I have relocated to Wisconsin for the summer for another gig. This means no more new yarns until I return in the fall. I never got a chance to knit and reskein Zelda Pink and Link Green, so they will not be joining the listings. I did cart along all of my listed yarns and the yarn I have for the Star Trek scarf. So I will still take orders for the summer.
Time permitting- I'm hoping to be able to pull a few of my stock yarns for other knitted items to sell. The is apparently a good yarn shop in town. I'm going to go explore it to see if I can make another scarf out of the remainder of my personal American Idiocy yarn. A few months ago I made a scarf doubling the American Idiocy yarn with a white yarn (the brand is escaping me at the moment.) It's one of the few scarfs I brought with me. Maybe I'll post pictures soon to get an opinion on weather or not it would sell.
Anyway, I'm exhausted after my first day at my new job, but I thought I would post and let you all know I hadn't disappeared for good.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Popping in
Okay, so I'm full of empty promises to get things up. I know, I'm awful, but let's move on...
I've been super busy working as an Assistant Stage Manager on a show here in KC. It was blocking week, which means if I'm not in rehearsal, I'm working on transferring blocking to my side pages. Yes, I know this is all mumbo jumbo to anyone outside of theatre; so, moving on...
First off, the Star Trek Scarf- Since I plan on making it a made to order product, I need to list it when I have time to actually make it. It's not that I'm counting for sales on the scarf to be an immediate thing, but I don't want to take the risk. So I think I'll wait to list it until after I get this show up in a couple of weeks. If I feel I have more time to work on shop stuff once the show is running, I'll list it. If not, I'll most likely hold off the listing until August because I have a full time artisan gig this summer. Keep checking back here about the scarf. I'll post updates about possible listing time frame.
In the mean time, there will be pictures of it soon because my best friend, Mike, who it was made for, will be in town in a week and a half. So my promise of pictures will be fulfilled soon.
Second, the Link and Zelda yarns are balled. I started to work a little on the knitted sample for Link, but really needed to do work on my prompt book instead. So it's been sitting on the side table by my couch all week. I just need time to knit for an hour or so and then skein and do pictures. Hopefully that can happen this week.
The Zelda yarn is a little more tricky to put a time frame on. I poured the dye on to the yarn to give it a little variegation in the solid color and something odd occurred. There was a large concentration of blue/purple in the spot that the dye was directly poured on to and then it tapered out to the pink. I thought it might lighten up and be okay after the steam set and rinse, and that may have been the case, but some mysterious bright blue spots appeared on the yarn out of nowhere and could have changed that. So I'm not completely sure what happened. There are several of small spots of bright blue surrounded by the pink, but it may have also turned a darker purple in spots that the blue ran/blended more. It's really hard to tell. I'm not sure that I like it. I'm going to knit it up and see. Luckily the color is light enough that I can over dye easily. Then the decision will be to add a second color or do a solid color over the whole thing. Once I decide, you'll find out on here.
Okay, I think that's everything for right now. Sorry about my absence and the long post. I was hoping to get Etsy work done tonight, but I'm still behind on some stuff. The next two or three weeks are jam backed, so I probably won't be updating again for awhile.
I've been super busy working as an Assistant Stage Manager on a show here in KC. It was blocking week, which means if I'm not in rehearsal, I'm working on transferring blocking to my side pages. Yes, I know this is all mumbo jumbo to anyone outside of theatre; so, moving on...
First off, the Star Trek Scarf- Since I plan on making it a made to order product, I need to list it when I have time to actually make it. It's not that I'm counting for sales on the scarf to be an immediate thing, but I don't want to take the risk. So I think I'll wait to list it until after I get this show up in a couple of weeks. If I feel I have more time to work on shop stuff once the show is running, I'll list it. If not, I'll most likely hold off the listing until August because I have a full time artisan gig this summer. Keep checking back here about the scarf. I'll post updates about possible listing time frame.
In the mean time, there will be pictures of it soon because my best friend, Mike, who it was made for, will be in town in a week and a half. So my promise of pictures will be fulfilled soon.
Second, the Link and Zelda yarns are balled. I started to work a little on the knitted sample for Link, but really needed to do work on my prompt book instead. So it's been sitting on the side table by my couch all week. I just need time to knit for an hour or so and then skein and do pictures. Hopefully that can happen this week.
The Zelda yarn is a little more tricky to put a time frame on. I poured the dye on to the yarn to give it a little variegation in the solid color and something odd occurred. There was a large concentration of blue/purple in the spot that the dye was directly poured on to and then it tapered out to the pink. I thought it might lighten up and be okay after the steam set and rinse, and that may have been the case, but some mysterious bright blue spots appeared on the yarn out of nowhere and could have changed that. So I'm not completely sure what happened. There are several of small spots of bright blue surrounded by the pink, but it may have also turned a darker purple in spots that the blue ran/blended more. It's really hard to tell. I'm not sure that I like it. I'm going to knit it up and see. Luckily the color is light enough that I can over dye easily. Then the decision will be to add a second color or do a solid color over the whole thing. Once I decide, you'll find out on here.
Okay, I think that's everything for right now. Sorry about my absence and the long post. I was hoping to get Etsy work done tonight, but I'm still behind on some stuff. The next two or three weeks are jam backed, so I probably won't be updating again for awhile.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Updates
So, I have a couple of quick updates for today.
Star Trek Scarf is done. I'm going to try and get some good photos of it here in a bit. Hopefully will be listing it in the next couple hours or sometime tomorrow. I'm super excited about it. Really hoping it'll be a hit.
I just dyed my remaining 2 blank base yarns. Link and Zelda just like I said I was going to do. Something interesting happened with the pink dye on Zelda. It poured out more purple and then tapered out to pink. It looks really sweet on the tweed though. Both are drying right now. I'll probably be able to get them balled tomorrow before I work.
I am slowly closing in on finishing up getting knitted samples of everything. Just got done with the BFL Aran Princess Zelda. Yet another thing I need to take pictures of tonight. Now I just need to do the other Giselle Aran, Emerald City, and redo How Do You Know Aran because I did it on US 10.5 needles instead of US 8.
Finally, I was saving the best for last. I made my first sale on Thursday. A brand new knitter in Nevada purchased Vancouver 2010. Hopefully it arrived today, but I haven't heard yet. I'm hoping I get to see what she makes with it.
Well, I'm off to take some pictures, update the Princess Zelda Aran listing, and create the listing for the star trek scarf.
More later!
Star Trek Scarf is done. I'm going to try and get some good photos of it here in a bit. Hopefully will be listing it in the next couple hours or sometime tomorrow. I'm super excited about it. Really hoping it'll be a hit.
I just dyed my remaining 2 blank base yarns. Link and Zelda just like I said I was going to do. Something interesting happened with the pink dye on Zelda. It poured out more purple and then tapered out to pink. It looks really sweet on the tweed though. Both are drying right now. I'll probably be able to get them balled tomorrow before I work.
I am slowly closing in on finishing up getting knitted samples of everything. Just got done with the BFL Aran Princess Zelda. Yet another thing I need to take pictures of tonight. Now I just need to do the other Giselle Aran, Emerald City, and redo How Do You Know Aran because I did it on US 10.5 needles instead of US 8.
Finally, I was saving the best for last. I made my first sale on Thursday. A brand new knitter in Nevada purchased Vancouver 2010. Hopefully it arrived today, but I haven't heard yet. I'm hoping I get to see what she makes with it.
Well, I'm off to take some pictures, update the Princess Zelda Aran listing, and create the listing for the star trek scarf.
More later!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Star Trek Scarf
As I've mentioned before, I've been thinking about adding a line of knitted items to my store. I've been stuck on what to make because of restrictions on selling items made from published patterns. While I've been knitting for 5 years, I've relied on patterns for almost everything I've made. My knitting fever tends to go in waves, so I haven't gotten around to successfully making anything other than scarves until recently. I don't know many different stitch patterns. So making my own pattern seems a little daunting.
On top of that, I don't have spare fundage right now, and need to pull from my stash, which I'm perfectly okay with. I just couldn't figure out exactly what I wanted to make from the excessive amount of yarn in my stash to come up with something from my brain.
Then I realized, since Christmas I've been slowly working on a Star Trek scarf for my best friend. The pattern is completely my own other than a chart I found online for the TNG insignia. It occurred to me, surly Mike can't be the only one who is dorky enough to want a Star Trek scarf.
Once I finish this one, I'll be posting a listing for it on Etsy. The only reason it has taken me so long to finish this one is because I got so burnt out on Christmas knitting that I needed a break, and I knew I had until the end of March, when he comes to visit, to finish it. That and I started dying again and opened up my shop. Plus, it uses 3 & 4 balls of yarn for 2/3 of each side, so it doesn't travel well. In reality, I think it's really a week long project tops.
My plan is to offer it in 3 color choices- Red & Black with a gold insignia, Blue & Black with a gold insignia, and Yellow & Black with a black or grey insignia.
The one I'm knitting is in red, which is the uniform color for command in TNG. I'm thinking I may revamp it to do a TOS version as well and maybe a 2009 movie version. Of course, the insinias for the movie are a little more complicated, but they're pretty sweet.
I'm excited about this new prospect and I hope people will actually like it. While I can't really use any of my dyed yarns for this, I think it will defiantly get me more exposure and hopefully help find some great homes for my yarns. :-)
Hopefully I'll be done with Mike's scarf by this weekend, so keep an eye out for pictures and a link to the listing.
Off to watch some more Dexter and continue knitting!
On top of that, I don't have spare fundage right now, and need to pull from my stash, which I'm perfectly okay with. I just couldn't figure out exactly what I wanted to make from the excessive amount of yarn in my stash to come up with something from my brain.
Then I realized, since Christmas I've been slowly working on a Star Trek scarf for my best friend. The pattern is completely my own other than a chart I found online for the TNG insignia. It occurred to me, surly Mike can't be the only one who is dorky enough to want a Star Trek scarf.
Once I finish this one, I'll be posting a listing for it on Etsy. The only reason it has taken me so long to finish this one is because I got so burnt out on Christmas knitting that I needed a break, and I knew I had until the end of March, when he comes to visit, to finish it. That and I started dying again and opened up my shop. Plus, it uses 3 & 4 balls of yarn for 2/3 of each side, so it doesn't travel well. In reality, I think it's really a week long project tops.
My plan is to offer it in 3 color choices- Red & Black with a gold insignia, Blue & Black with a gold insignia, and Yellow & Black with a black or grey insignia.
The one I'm knitting is in red, which is the uniform color for command in TNG. I'm thinking I may revamp it to do a TOS version as well and maybe a 2009 movie version. Of course, the insinias for the movie are a little more complicated, but they're pretty sweet.
I'm excited about this new prospect and I hope people will actually like it. While I can't really use any of my dyed yarns for this, I think it will defiantly get me more exposure and hopefully help find some great homes for my yarns. :-)
Hopefully I'll be done with Mike's scarf by this weekend, so keep an eye out for pictures and a link to the listing.
Off to watch some more Dexter and continue knitting!
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Narissa
This yarn perplexes me. I finally got around to knitting up the sample for it today and apparently it has changed in the 6 weeks since I reskeined it and did my original gauging. It went from 13 wraps per inch to 16 wraps per inch, which is what the other Less Thank DK (fingering) yarns are.
I should explain why it was different in the first place. Narissa soaked up A LOT of excess dye. So much so, that I was able create Zelda Pink from the run off into the steaming water. Anyway, I guess I had to wash it out a lot more than I did with the 4 Less Than DK yarns that I had dyed before it because it felted up pretty badly. Actually, it felted so bad that I wasn't sure it would be salvageable.
Turns out I just got a little paranoid about it and the yarn came apart pretty easily. It broke twice and has 2 knots, but this doesn't break the flow of the colors.
Since it felted, I assume that it shrunk a little and don't want to list it as the full 220 yards. I listed it as 210 just to be safe.
Okay, so that explains the physical part of the yarn. Now I'll talk about the colors.
One night shortly after deciding that I would sell my hand dyed yarns on etsy, I was working on finishing up a Christmas present while watching Enchanted. I pulled several color inspirations from that movie, but one of the first was the coloring of Narissa. Originally, I was just going to take the colors of her animated outfit, but then I saw Susan Sarandon in the real life costume and knew I had to attempt it. I had only ordered the cold and warm primary colors and black for this first batch of yarn, so I had to mix the green and purple. (On a related note, mixing your own purple is a pain, I recommend just ordering it). Anyway, the purple turned out pretty dark, almost black, but it works really well to give the same feel as the costume.
Wow, that was a lot of stuff for this yarn. Here's some pretty pictures.
I should explain why it was different in the first place. Narissa soaked up A LOT of excess dye. So much so, that I was able create Zelda Pink from the run off into the steaming water. Anyway, I guess I had to wash it out a lot more than I did with the 4 Less Than DK yarns that I had dyed before it because it felted up pretty badly. Actually, it felted so bad that I wasn't sure it would be salvageable.
Turns out I just got a little paranoid about it and the yarn came apart pretty easily. It broke twice and has 2 knots, but this doesn't break the flow of the colors.
Since it felted, I assume that it shrunk a little and don't want to list it as the full 220 yards. I listed it as 210 just to be safe.
Okay, so that explains the physical part of the yarn. Now I'll talk about the colors.
One night shortly after deciding that I would sell my hand dyed yarns on etsy, I was working on finishing up a Christmas present while watching Enchanted. I pulled several color inspirations from that movie, but one of the first was the coloring of Narissa. Originally, I was just going to take the colors of her animated outfit, but then I saw Susan Sarandon in the real life costume and knew I had to attempt it. I had only ordered the cold and warm primary colors and black for this first batch of yarn, so I had to mix the green and purple. (On a related note, mixing your own purple is a pain, I recommend just ordering it). Anyway, the purple turned out pretty dark, almost black, but it works really well to give the same feel as the costume.
Wow, that was a lot of stuff for this yarn. Here's some pretty pictures.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Simba
Okay, as I promised, here's some stuff on Simba. Sorry that it's late.
I've been thinking about doing a Lion King themed yarn for awhile, it was just a matter of rewatching the movie to really get an idea for colors. It wasn't until they started singing "I Just Can't Wait to be King" that inspiration really hit. I got a couple of ideas for color schemes, but the one that stuck with me the most was a color combo in a background plate used when Simba and Nala are on the backs of the ostriches. I snapped a picture of it so that I could better remember the colors. Granted, pictures of something on TV don't really show the true coloring, but it did help. After it was dyed, the colors really reminded me of Simba.
Of course, it also makes me think of Gobstoppers candy and my 14 year old brother thought it was Harry Potter. What does it make you think of?
Here's the inspiration pic followed by the yarn.
Well, I've been putting off finishing up my knitted samples. I'm going to work on getting 1 or 2 done before I babysit tonight. Still hoping that this weekend will generate my first sale.
I've been thinking about doing a Lion King themed yarn for awhile, it was just a matter of rewatching the movie to really get an idea for colors. It wasn't until they started singing "I Just Can't Wait to be King" that inspiration really hit. I got a couple of ideas for color schemes, but the one that stuck with me the most was a color combo in a background plate used when Simba and Nala are on the backs of the ostriches. I snapped a picture of it so that I could better remember the colors. Granted, pictures of something on TV don't really show the true coloring, but it did help. After it was dyed, the colors really reminded me of Simba.
Of course, it also makes me think of Gobstoppers candy and my 14 year old brother thought it was Harry Potter. What does it make you think of?
Here's the inspiration pic followed by the yarn.
Well, I've been putting off finishing up my knitted samples. I'm going to work on getting 1 or 2 done before I babysit tonight. Still hoping that this weekend will generate my first sale.
oops...
I totally just realized that I hadn't posted the stuff for Simba when I listed it a few days back...or maybe that was yesterday... I'm being so lazy that I'm not even going to click on the tab for my etsy shop to check. I'll add pictures and the story in the morning. I just wanted to shoot an update onto my blog in case I forgot to post tomorrow.
Made some adjustments to the shop today. New banner, customized lay out, and a couple of postings got some new pictures.
I plan on getting up early tomorrow to try out some Saturday morning renewing to see if I can get sales. Then maybe I'll be doing some dying before babysitting tomorrow night. If nothing else, I'll work on recreating that awesome Zelda pink color. I don't think I'll have any trouble making a Link green. Maybe I'll just make a whole new Zelda color or a Twilight Princess yarn or something...meh...well see. Off to sleep and dream of sales!
More in the morning!
Made some adjustments to the shop today. New banner, customized lay out, and a couple of postings got some new pictures.
I plan on getting up early tomorrow to try out some Saturday morning renewing to see if I can get sales. Then maybe I'll be doing some dying before babysitting tomorrow night. If nothing else, I'll work on recreating that awesome Zelda pink color. I don't think I'll have any trouble making a Link green. Maybe I'll just make a whole new Zelda color or a Twilight Princess yarn or something...meh...well see. Off to sleep and dream of sales!
More in the morning!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Vancouver 2010
Brand New Yarn!
Vancouver 2010 is based on the colors used for...well every thing in the Olympic venues and such. Bright blues and greens on my Merino Tweed. I think it fits the tweed yarn very well. This is the first time I've used green dye instead of mixing a green. Technically I made 2 different greens, but the yellow didn't seem to effect the green much. So it really looks like a lot of one color green unless it is fading into the blues, but I still like it. Should make a great bright and happy handmade item!
ENJOY!
Vancouver 2010 is based on the colors used for...well every thing in the Olympic venues and such. Bright blues and greens on my Merino Tweed. I think it fits the tweed yarn very well. This is the first time I've used green dye instead of mixing a green. Technically I made 2 different greens, but the yellow didn't seem to effect the green much. So it really looks like a lot of one color green unless it is fading into the blues, but I still like it. Should make a great bright and happy handmade item!
ENJOY!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Back!
okay, I'm back for a bit. Busy weekend finishing up a play in KC. I have the knitted sample for Vancouver 2010 done. I just need to reskein it and take pictures. I should have it up some time tomorrow.
I'm in the middle of the knitted sample for Simba. Should be up by Wednesday.
Currently working on the facebook fan page. Looking to bring in more traffic and hopefully some sales.
I have 2 more blank yarns to dye. Hopefully some inspiration will come. I'm thinking of doing a solid Zelda Pink and a solid dark green for Link. That is, if I can recreate Zelda Pink. We'll see...
okay, off to reskein Vancouver 2010 and do a couple of other things! More later!
I'm in the middle of the knitted sample for Simba. Should be up by Wednesday.
Currently working on the facebook fan page. Looking to bring in more traffic and hopefully some sales.
I have 2 more blank yarns to dye. Hopefully some inspiration will come. I'm thinking of doing a solid Zelda Pink and a solid dark green for Link. That is, if I can recreate Zelda Pink. We'll see...
okay, off to reskein Vancouver 2010 and do a couple of other things! More later!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Knitted items
So, I've been thinking for awhile about this. I have some extra American Idiocy from my personal stash. I think I'll make some punky little boy flip top mittens. I know it's toward the end of the season, but I think they'd make great mittens. I'm trying to think of other items to make and what I'd like to pull from stock to make them. I'll probably pull one of my 2 Giselle yarns for something... I don't know... any ideas?
I've been on my computer all day. I was going to write more, but I'm just not feeling it now that I'm a few sentences in.
Currently working on knitted samples for Vancouver and Simba. I should have them up early next week.
I've been on my computer all day. I was going to write more, but I'm just not feeling it now that I'm a few sentences in.
Currently working on knitted samples for Vancouver and Simba. I should have them up early next week.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Tweedy fun
Sorry for the lack of updates, I'm on run crew for a play, so I've been pre-occupied over the weekends. I got Sully up and listed last night. I love this yarn, but I'm not happy with the pictures. The purple is showing up as more of a dark blue or a blue violet. I tried changing the lighting a couple of times, but nothing worked. I think it's supposed to warm up next week, so maybe I'll get a chance to try it under natural light without having to worry about the wet and the snow.
Anyway, I've never done a spotted pattern when painting. I thought it would just be fun and wouldn't translate to spotting up when knitted. Guess I was wrong! It really does look like Sully, huh?
I just finished up dying 2 new colors on the "tweed" base yarn. They are completely new color ways and I think people will be pleased. One is based on the color theme for the Vancouver Olympics (blues and greens) and the other is based on a specific scene in The Lion King. If you want to see exactly what scene, it's during "I Just Can't Wait to be King" when Nala and Simba are on the ostriches running away from Zazu. It's yellow, orange, red, and purple.
I'm off to rinse the Lion King yarn out and then I have a show. I'll get pictures up of the new yarns when I have them!
Anyway, I've never done a spotted pattern when painting. I thought it would just be fun and wouldn't translate to spotting up when knitted. Guess I was wrong! It really does look like Sully, huh?
I just finished up dying 2 new colors on the "tweed" base yarn. They are completely new color ways and I think people will be pleased. One is based on the color theme for the Vancouver Olympics (blues and greens) and the other is based on a specific scene in The Lion King. If you want to see exactly what scene, it's during "I Just Can't Wait to be King" when Nala and Simba are on the ostriches running away from Zazu. It's yellow, orange, red, and purple.
I'm off to rinse the Lion King yarn out and then I have a show. I'll get pictures up of the new yarns when I have them!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Sully
I just finished dying my first Wool2Dye4 Tweed yarn. I chose a color combination inspired by Sully from Monsters Inc. It's currently steaming, so we'll see how it actually looks, but once the dye started setting in, it started looking really cool. The strand of super wash merino carries the dye further than the 3 strands of regular merino. There are some cool spots were there is a strand of purple twisted in with the blue. I can't wait to see it finished. The yarn was painted like Sully looks- mainly blue with big purple spots through out. So that should add even more texture to the yarn.
I'm trying to decide what else I want to do on this base. I was inspired by a great color combo in The Lion King. I may be doing it, but I want to see what the yarn looks like dried first. If you have any ideas, feel free to comment with them!
I'm trying to decide what else I want to do on this base. I was inspired by a great color combo in The Lion King. I may be doing it, but I want to see what the yarn looks like dried first. If you have any ideas, feel free to comment with them!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
How Do You Know?
I just updated and renewed the listing for How Do You Know? Fingering. I wanted to shorten the length of the listing by not going in depth on how the color came about in the description. I am putting it on here for anyone who is curious.
How Do You Know?: The Backstory
How Do You Know? was originally supposed to be a variation on Giselle. Actually, let me go back a little further on this one. ORIGINALLY, I had intended for Giselle to be it's pretty blue color with spots of white and pink. Giselle was only the second color that I made, the first being American Idiocy, and I hadn't played around enough with the dyes to know that I would get a good pink from the Cherry Red. So I nixed the pink part of that design and used more blue than I had originally planned.
ANYWAY, back to How Do You Know?...
I eventually realized how to make pink and decided to try again. There were many happy accidents that made this color. Keep in mind, I intended it to be Giselle with more white and some pink.
The Happy Accidents:
1) The Green Color: This one took me a while to figure out. I wrote down the ratio of blue to yellow for Giselle Blue wrong. It had been a few weeks since I did the dying of Giselle, so when it looked a little darker and green when I applied the dye, I figured that Giselle was that color at first as well. Turns out I was wrong. I didn't realize the ratio problem until after I made the BFL Aran How Do You Know? I will tell the full story of the ratio problem when I give the deeper story on Giselle.
2) The yellow spots: So to add to my color woes with the blue/green dye, some undissolved yellow pigment had settled at the bottom of the pour cup and escaped with the last of the dye. At this point, I had realized that this color may be more green than I wanted, so I did my best to clean it up, but excepted that there would probably be a yellow spot. I avoided the escape of yellow for the BFL Aran version because I thought that maybe the escaping yellow had something to do with the green color. When I turned out to be wrong, then I realized the ratio was off.
3) The light blue spots: I'm not sure what causes this, but I've noticed it with the turquoise dye. It seems to spread more than the yellow, so blue borders the green every time it starts up again.
4) The lavender spots: I'm not sure why the blue escaped and not the yellow, but there are spots where the blue mixed with the pink and created a lavender color. There's no orange (pink and yellow) and no brown (pink and green), so I can only assume that the blue was the only rouge color.
There you go, that is how I ended up with the colors of How Do You Know?
Really, the only parts of the fingering that I seemed to have intended were the pink and the spacing. The rest was all a happy accident. Therefore, it is my Happy Accident Yarn.
Don't get me wrong. I like the coloring and think it is a great addition to my line... it just wasn't an intended addition.
Hope you liked my story. It is one of the more involved tales There are some details behind other colors in an older posts, but I will blog some more about them in the future.
How Do You Know?: The Backstory
How Do You Know? was originally supposed to be a variation on Giselle. Actually, let me go back a little further on this one. ORIGINALLY, I had intended for Giselle to be it's pretty blue color with spots of white and pink. Giselle was only the second color that I made, the first being American Idiocy, and I hadn't played around enough with the dyes to know that I would get a good pink from the Cherry Red. So I nixed the pink part of that design and used more blue than I had originally planned.
ANYWAY, back to How Do You Know?...
I eventually realized how to make pink and decided to try again. There were many happy accidents that made this color. Keep in mind, I intended it to be Giselle with more white and some pink.
The Happy Accidents:
1) The Green Color: This one took me a while to figure out. I wrote down the ratio of blue to yellow for Giselle Blue wrong. It had been a few weeks since I did the dying of Giselle, so when it looked a little darker and green when I applied the dye, I figured that Giselle was that color at first as well. Turns out I was wrong. I didn't realize the ratio problem until after I made the BFL Aran How Do You Know? I will tell the full story of the ratio problem when I give the deeper story on Giselle.
2) The yellow spots: So to add to my color woes with the blue/green dye, some undissolved yellow pigment had settled at the bottom of the pour cup and escaped with the last of the dye. At this point, I had realized that this color may be more green than I wanted, so I did my best to clean it up, but excepted that there would probably be a yellow spot. I avoided the escape of yellow for the BFL Aran version because I thought that maybe the escaping yellow had something to do with the green color. When I turned out to be wrong, then I realized the ratio was off.
3) The light blue spots: I'm not sure what causes this, but I've noticed it with the turquoise dye. It seems to spread more than the yellow, so blue borders the green every time it starts up again.
4) The lavender spots: I'm not sure why the blue escaped and not the yellow, but there are spots where the blue mixed with the pink and created a lavender color. There's no orange (pink and yellow) and no brown (pink and green), so I can only assume that the blue was the only rouge color.
There you go, that is how I ended up with the colors of How Do You Know?
Really, the only parts of the fingering that I seemed to have intended were the pink and the spacing. The rest was all a happy accident. Therefore, it is my Happy Accident Yarn.
Don't get me wrong. I like the coloring and think it is a great addition to my line... it just wasn't an intended addition.
Hope you liked my story. It is one of the more involved tales There are some details behind other colors in an older posts, but I will blog some more about them in the future.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
My first treasury!
I am currently being featured in a treasury called Dear Summer by leoandjunie. This is my first ever treasury! I'm excited and I hope it brings in some good traffic to my site!
I will be working all day tomorrow, but I should have some new yarns later in the week. My first planned one is based on Sully from Monsters Inc.
I will be working all day tomorrow, but I should have some new yarns later in the week. My first planned one is based on Sully from Monsters Inc.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Under the Sea
So just a little story about this. After doing my first couple of yarns in acid dye, I decided to experiment with the hot pour technique using food coloring. I did 2 yarns, Under the Sea (muted) and International Superyarns (the oops edition). If you can't tell from the titles, they didn't turn out how I wanted.
FYI, International Superyarn was pulled after I tried to reskein it from the tiny skeins that American Idiocy and Giselle Fingering are in and it got all tangled. I had to cut it to get it into a ball.
Anyway, I've been going back and forth about over dying Under the Sea (muted) with acid dye since it dried. After finishing up my latest batch of yarn, I decided that it didn't fit in at all and started to hate it. I had plenty of left over purple, pink, orange, green, blue, and teal from the other yarns. These were the original intended colors, so I figured I might as well take advantage of the extra dye.
It over dyed really well. I think that the original dye job would peek through more, but that's not the case!
So here you go, the before and after pictures, enjoy!
Before
After
FYI, International Superyarn was pulled after I tried to reskein it from the tiny skeins that American Idiocy and Giselle Fingering are in and it got all tangled. I had to cut it to get it into a ball.
Anyway, I've been going back and forth about over dying Under the Sea (muted) with acid dye since it dried. After finishing up my latest batch of yarn, I decided that it didn't fit in at all and started to hate it. I had plenty of left over purple, pink, orange, green, blue, and teal from the other yarns. These were the original intended colors, so I figured I might as well take advantage of the extra dye.
It over dyed really well. I think that the original dye job would peek through more, but that's not the case!
So here you go, the before and after pictures, enjoy!
Before
After
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Awesome Day!
So, I've had a pretty sweet day. But first- Yes, I'm still working on Under the Sea. It's in a ball and being knitted, I just keep getting distracted by the forums and pictures and phone calls and How I Met Your Mother on DVD... but I promise, tomorrow!
Anyway, I've had really great feed back on the forums over the past few days! Thanks to all the other etsians for all their great advice!
One amazing thing to come to me from the thread in the forum is that I just got a "good karma" custom banner from Nikki at R'eal Life Empire! Check it out! Also, I'm really grateful for her doing that for me, the least I could do is provide a link to her shop.
Finally, I got accepted to Handmade Highway today! If you haven't heard of it, it's a super sweet blog that helps get handmade sellers names out there.
Just wanted to share all the good news! I'm off to do some work and eat now!
~Caitlin
PS I am still waiting on the new yarn in case you are wondering.
Anyway, I've had really great feed back on the forums over the past few days! Thanks to all the other etsians for all their great advice!
One amazing thing to come to me from the thread in the forum is that I just got a "good karma" custom banner from Nikki at R'eal Life Empire! Check it out! Also, I'm really grateful for her doing that for me, the least I could do is provide a link to her shop.
Finally, I got accepted to Handmade Highway today! If you haven't heard of it, it's a super sweet blog that helps get handmade sellers names out there.
Just wanted to share all the good news! I'm off to do some work and eat now!
~Caitlin
PS I am still waiting on the new yarn in case you are wondering.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Treasury and other stuff
First things first. FINALLY got a treasury made! It's all turquoise items! It'll be down on Thursday night, so check it out when you can.
okay...so I got Under the Sea redyed and left it to dry and that's as far as I got. Damn you etsy forums and my need for feedback! However, I have gotten a lot of great feedback today and since I am trading comments for comments, I've discovered some sweet new shops and helped other people out. I'll Under the Sea done soon though...
I just finished knitting up the sample for American Idiocy fingering. Pictures are taken, I just need to pick out the best one and edit the entire listing (it's the only one that hasn't been revamped). I'll be doing that after I finish this post.
I also lowered some prices to see if that helps with sales. I'm getting tired of waiting!!!!
Still waiting on the Tweed yarn from Wool2Dye4. Once it comes I'll be dying more. I had a brain blast thinking I could do a Dwight Shrute themed yarn, but then I realized how awful the Mustard Yellow/Brown color combo would look on a yarn. (If you don't get it, just think on that for a sec.)
So yes, I'm bad. New pictures of Under the Sea will be up tomorrow...
okay...so I got Under the Sea redyed and left it to dry and that's as far as I got. Damn you etsy forums and my need for feedback! However, I have gotten a lot of great feedback today and since I am trading comments for comments, I've discovered some sweet new shops and helped other people out. I'll Under the Sea done soon though...
I just finished knitting up the sample for American Idiocy fingering. Pictures are taken, I just need to pick out the best one and edit the entire listing (it's the only one that hasn't been revamped). I'll be doing that after I finish this post.
I also lowered some prices to see if that helps with sales. I'm getting tired of waiting!!!!
Still waiting on the Tweed yarn from Wool2Dye4. Once it comes I'll be dying more. I had a brain blast thinking I could do a Dwight Shrute themed yarn, but then I realized how awful the Mustard Yellow/Brown color combo would look on a yarn. (If you don't get it, just think on that for a sec.)
So yes, I'm bad. New pictures of Under the Sea will be up tomorrow...
Monday, February 8, 2010
Under the Sea- Deactivated
After much thought, I have decided to deactivate Under the Sea for re-dyeing in brighter colors. It should be back up sometime tomorrow. I feel that it doesn't fit in with the rest of my line and it is so dull that it won't really sell.
Still waiting on my new base yarn. So more to come!
Still waiting on my new base yarn. So more to come!
Sunday, February 7, 2010
I'm Back
Sorry I've been away. I got called onto a show and have been in tech for the past week. I have ordered some new yarn, and it should be here in the next few days. It's Wool2Dye4 tweed aran wool. I had ordered some new sock yarn as well, but it was out of stock.
Doing some renewing and updating today to try and get some more views. I knitted up How Do You Know Aran and Christian's Inferno. How Do You Know has been updated already.
I'm mulling over what to make with my tweed yarns. I'm thinking a Monster's Inc. Yarn... I'm at a little bit of a road block. Any other suggestions for colors are welcome!
More soon!
Doing some renewing and updating today to try and get some more views. I knitted up How Do You Know Aran and Christian's Inferno. How Do You Know has been updated already.
I'm mulling over what to make with my tweed yarns. I'm thinking a Monster's Inc. Yarn... I'm at a little bit of a road block. Any other suggestions for colors are welcome!
More soon!
Friday, January 29, 2010
Mosby and knitting
Starting to feel a little better. I just listed Mosby, which is based on Ted Mosby from How I Met Your Mother. I LOVE LOVE LOVE these colors. Brown and Turquoise- great combo! I just started watching the HIMYM seasons on DVD from netflix. I noticed that Ted wears A LOT of blues with brown, but it was the episode where he picks out this awful shirt that he suddenly decides looks good. The only thing that looks good on that shirt is the coloring. I wish I could find a picture of that shirt for comparison...
I've decided to start knitting up samples of each of my yarns to give customers a better idea of how yarns will look. Hoping it will help with sales.
Also, I'm waiting for yarn to come in from my supplier, but once I can order, I will have some more.
I've decided to start knitting up samples of each of my yarns to give customers a better idea of how yarns will look. Hoping it will help with sales.
Also, I'm waiting for yarn to come in from my supplier, but once I can order, I will have some more.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Princess Zelda and twitter
Just listed the bulky version of Princess Zelda. It's very pretty and goes perfectly with its' Aran counterpart. I'm still fighting a cold, but I'll be trying to get the 2 remaining yarns up this weekend. They've been knitted and look pretty awesome. So once they are re-skeined, I'll be listing them.
Here's the two Princess Zelda items together:
So my two tv show yarns are based on colors from How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory. I'll give you more when I'm ready to list.
Finally, I've made a twitter account for my shop. Feel free to follow me! Propschicknits is my account name. You'll know immediately when I'm about to list a new item and what it will be, along with some other stuff...
Anyway, I have a runny, stuffy nose to take care of, so I'm off!
Here's the two Princess Zelda items together:
So my two tv show yarns are based on colors from How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory. I'll give you more when I'm ready to list.
Finally, I've made a twitter account for my shop. Feel free to follow me! Propschicknits is my account name. You'll know immediately when I'm about to list a new item and what it will be, along with some other stuff...
Anyway, I have a runny, stuffy nose to take care of, so I'm off!
Monday, January 25, 2010
New upload(s)
I'm feeling sick and had to do some family time stuff yesterday when I planned to work, so I got behind on dying and reskeining. I also decided that I am going to knit up each color to give my customers a better idea of how everything looks. Anyway, I finally got International Superyarn! ready for listing. I really like it and plan on making it again when I get my next batch of yarn in.
I finished dying all the yarn I have in stock, so now it's time to reorder. I'm thinking 5 superwash fingering and 5 BFL Aran. This will be my last yarn order until I start selling because I can't afford to put out more money, but I figure that 26 items in stock is a good start.
I have a Princess Zelda Bulky that needs reskeining, so that will hopefully be up tonight. My 2 newest colors are based on TV shows. I'm going to withhold details for now, but I'll post about them before I list.
Crossing my fingers for some sales in the near future.
I finished dying all the yarn I have in stock, so now it's time to reorder. I'm thinking 5 superwash fingering and 5 BFL Aran. This will be my last yarn order until I start selling because I can't afford to put out more money, but I figure that 26 items in stock is a good start.
I have a Princess Zelda Bulky that needs reskeining, so that will hopefully be up tonight. My 2 newest colors are based on TV shows. I'm going to withhold details for now, but I'll post about them before I list.
Crossing my fingers for some sales in the near future.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Giselle Line
Since Etsy only allows 5 pictures, I thought I'd add some more on here of the Giselle line.
Here is the second of the Aran skeins knitted up. I knitted 36 stitches in stockinette on size 9 needles. Of course, I managed to blank when it came measuring it.
Here are more pictures of the first skein and the fingering skein together.
I also have 2 new bulky weight yarns ready, I just need to knit them and reskein them. Hopefully I'll have them up in my shop tomorrow for my first showcase.
Here is the second of the Aran skeins knitted up. I knitted 36 stitches in stockinette on size 9 needles. Of course, I managed to blank when it came measuring it.
Here are more pictures of the first skein and the fingering skein together.
I also have 2 new bulky weight yarns ready, I just need to knit them and reskein them. Hopefully I'll have them up in my shop tomorrow for my first showcase.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
New Day, New colors
So after I got home last night, I started work on more yarn to get into my shop and out into the world. I ended up dying not 2, not 3, but 4 new yarns for purchase! All are on the BFL Aran yarn, which sadly kills my current supply of it. Needless to say, I will be ordering more of that in the near future. I don't have any pictures right now, partially because I'm babysitting again and partially because they are still a little too damp to re-skein. However, I felt the need to post about them here before putting them up on Etsy. So without further ado, here are my new BFL Aran color ways:
1) Giselle (x2) : I've received multiple complements on the forums over this yarn and it has 4 hearts, so I figured I'd take one last go at recreating the color. 2 attempts later, I finally came up with the right yellow:blue ratio again. Turns out I wrote it down wrong in my notebook... Anyway, I also figured it would not only be a good color way to recreate on the BFL line, but also a good one to try out the whole making multiples thing on. First off, I need to remember to mix more than my standard 1/2 cup of this color when I do it. I usually can get 2 batches out of each 1/2 cup when I'm doing multiple colors, but when using 1 color on a yarn...well, it runs out faster. The 2nd skein matches up pretty well, but it's not exact. Also, I wanted to steam both of them at once, so I let the first one sit while I painted the second one to save some time. The color spread out on the first one while it was sitting so the color ratio isn't the same anymore. Both are pretty and match and would work up well if alternated, but you wouldn't be able to work one skein and then the other. However, now I know the ratio so I can recreate the color and I've learned some other important lessons on that one. I'll put up some pics once I get home with comparisons of the 2.
2) The Emerald City : Remember the 2 batches it took to recreate the correct ratio? Well, I didn't want to be wasteful, so I put them to good use. From my experience with the 'How Do You Know' color way, I knew that these 2 dyes would be more emerald green than robin's egg blue. It also helped that I was listening to Wicked while I was dying the yarn. So I mixed up a 3rd shade of the green color to give it some nice range and voila!
It is inspired by one of my childhood favorites, The Wizard of Oz, and probably one of the most fantastic musicals I've ever seen, Wicked, "The Emerald City" is a wonderful variegated green yarn with some white. Why the white? Because it's all fake. Everything is shades of white and your emerald color glasses make it appear green. (Yes, I also pulled in from the original book).
I'm not sure where to categorize it. It's more inspired by the book/ Wicked, so I may just create a whole new section for Theatre Inspired or book inspired or there just may be a catch all/other section, which will make more sense when I explain the next color way.
This will also be a recreate-able color way. So if people seem to like it, I'll make more of it.
3) Unnamed steam pot pink dye/ooak purple skein : Okay, so here's the story behind this one. When I was steaming the Narissa yarn last weekend, a bunch of color leaked out into the steam pot's water (meaning I had WAY too much dye in the first place). I figured it would just be some nasty purply/brown color so I started to pour it out, but instead it was this really nice berry color. There was a lot of it and it seem that it was pretty well balanced in the dye:water ratio, so I put it in a large container and set it aside to experiment with later. Last night, I figured, what the hell, I have 1 more yarn, I can do 2 to a steaming session, why not make 2 different colors instead of 2 Emerald City skeins and see what comes of it. After all, if it didn't stick or came out really light I could always over dye it. Wanting to add a second color into the mix, I added some water to the VERY dark purple I had mixed for Narissa (I couldn't remember the ratio of red:blue that had made that color anyway) and decided I would do a couple of limited edition, truly one of a kind skeins from those 2 colors.
It turned out REALLY variegated for both colors and really pretty looking. I don't know if I'll be able to recreate the results on another skein because it is so variegated, but it looks really sweet. I'll probably use it to do a bulky tonight or tomorrow and if I have any dye left, I'll use it on my next shipment of yarn. I can't wait to put this one up, it'll definitely be the last one posted, because I'm still working on a name. I'm thinking Disney Princess... but that's not quite the right name. It reminds me of some movie or TV character, but I just can't place it. I was also thinking I'd just have a Wicked line and name it Glinda. Meh, it'll come to me.
I'll post some pictures later for anyone who actually reads this to give me ideas.
Now, to end this VERY long post, here's what I am planning for the remaining 4 Bulky yarns:
Under the Sea (with acid dye this time)
Whatever I name #3
International Superyarn
and 1 undecided color way.
I'm trying to decide if I want to shell out more money for more yarn before I even make my first sale. I have plenty of dye and supplies, so I might as well. More to come on what to expect as far as lines of yarn.
1) Giselle (x2) : I've received multiple complements on the forums over this yarn and it has 4 hearts, so I figured I'd take one last go at recreating the color. 2 attempts later, I finally came up with the right yellow:blue ratio again. Turns out I wrote it down wrong in my notebook... Anyway, I also figured it would not only be a good color way to recreate on the BFL line, but also a good one to try out the whole making multiples thing on. First off, I need to remember to mix more than my standard 1/2 cup of this color when I do it. I usually can get 2 batches out of each 1/2 cup when I'm doing multiple colors, but when using 1 color on a yarn...well, it runs out faster. The 2nd skein matches up pretty well, but it's not exact. Also, I wanted to steam both of them at once, so I let the first one sit while I painted the second one to save some time. The color spread out on the first one while it was sitting so the color ratio isn't the same anymore. Both are pretty and match and would work up well if alternated, but you wouldn't be able to work one skein and then the other. However, now I know the ratio so I can recreate the color and I've learned some other important lessons on that one. I'll put up some pics once I get home with comparisons of the 2.
2) The Emerald City : Remember the 2 batches it took to recreate the correct ratio? Well, I didn't want to be wasteful, so I put them to good use. From my experience with the 'How Do You Know' color way, I knew that these 2 dyes would be more emerald green than robin's egg blue. It also helped that I was listening to Wicked while I was dying the yarn. So I mixed up a 3rd shade of the green color to give it some nice range and voila!
It is inspired by one of my childhood favorites, The Wizard of Oz, and probably one of the most fantastic musicals I've ever seen, Wicked, "The Emerald City" is a wonderful variegated green yarn with some white. Why the white? Because it's all fake. Everything is shades of white and your emerald color glasses make it appear green. (Yes, I also pulled in from the original book).
I'm not sure where to categorize it. It's more inspired by the book/ Wicked, so I may just create a whole new section for Theatre Inspired or book inspired or there just may be a catch all/other section, which will make more sense when I explain the next color way.
This will also be a recreate-able color way. So if people seem to like it, I'll make more of it.
3) Unnamed steam pot pink dye/ooak purple skein : Okay, so here's the story behind this one. When I was steaming the Narissa yarn last weekend, a bunch of color leaked out into the steam pot's water (meaning I had WAY too much dye in the first place). I figured it would just be some nasty purply/brown color so I started to pour it out, but instead it was this really nice berry color. There was a lot of it and it seem that it was pretty well balanced in the dye:water ratio, so I put it in a large container and set it aside to experiment with later. Last night, I figured, what the hell, I have 1 more yarn, I can do 2 to a steaming session, why not make 2 different colors instead of 2 Emerald City skeins and see what comes of it. After all, if it didn't stick or came out really light I could always over dye it. Wanting to add a second color into the mix, I added some water to the VERY dark purple I had mixed for Narissa (I couldn't remember the ratio of red:blue that had made that color anyway) and decided I would do a couple of limited edition, truly one of a kind skeins from those 2 colors.
It turned out REALLY variegated for both colors and really pretty looking. I don't know if I'll be able to recreate the results on another skein because it is so variegated, but it looks really sweet. I'll probably use it to do a bulky tonight or tomorrow and if I have any dye left, I'll use it on my next shipment of yarn. I can't wait to put this one up, it'll definitely be the last one posted, because I'm still working on a name. I'm thinking Disney Princess... but that's not quite the right name. It reminds me of some movie or TV character, but I just can't place it. I was also thinking I'd just have a Wicked line and name it Glinda. Meh, it'll come to me.
I'll post some pictures later for anyone who actually reads this to give me ideas.
Now, to end this VERY long post, here's what I am planning for the remaining 4 Bulky yarns:
Under the Sea (with acid dye this time)
Whatever I name #3
International Superyarn
and 1 undecided color way.
I'm trying to decide if I want to shell out more money for more yarn before I even make my first sale. I have plenty of dye and supplies, so I might as well. More to come on what to expect as far as lines of yarn.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Plans, plans, plans
Well, I was going to dye some new color ways on the Aran wool today, but then I got a call early this morning to babysit my cousin. I may still get around to it tonight. I only ordered a 5 skeins of each of my new yarns to try out, so I'm torn between making 2 of this next color, or making 2 different colors. Of course, that also all depends on whether or not I get my order of dye in today...
It was pointed out to me today on the Etsy forums that I should offer 2 of each yarn if possible for people with bigger projects. I've been on a One-Skein-Wonder kick since I picked knitting back up again a few months ago, so the whole "I need multiple skeins" thing has been off my radar I guess. Also, I was having fun coming up with a bunch of different color ways. If I had realized that Paradise Fibers Double Knitting was actually fingering weight, I would've done 2 of a couple of my color ways under the same dye lot. This is especially true with Giselle, which seems to become more green in color after sitting for a week. So when I re-do Giselle, granted I have to be able to re-create the color as well, I will be making that one on multiple skeins.
Also, I am 85% sure that I will not be re-ordering the Paradise Fibers DK (AKA Less than DK). It was nice and cheap and I didn't mind the whole fact that it came in balls instead of skeins, but 220 yds is not enough for a fingering weight yarn. I have my own ball of Less than DK American Idiocy that I'm going try to make flip mittens with in hopes that 220 yds is enough. So I'm on the look out for a good, rather inexpensive Fingering or sock base yarn.
Along with finding a new sock yarn, I'm looking into finding a non-wool yarn for those people who like my colors, but can't wear wool. I'd like something I can dye with acid dye to save money, I'm thinking silk.
Feel free to comment on any of this. I'm always looking for feedback!
It was pointed out to me today on the Etsy forums that I should offer 2 of each yarn if possible for people with bigger projects. I've been on a One-Skein-Wonder kick since I picked knitting back up again a few months ago, so the whole "I need multiple skeins" thing has been off my radar I guess. Also, I was having fun coming up with a bunch of different color ways. If I had realized that Paradise Fibers Double Knitting was actually fingering weight, I would've done 2 of a couple of my color ways under the same dye lot. This is especially true with Giselle, which seems to become more green in color after sitting for a week. So when I re-do Giselle, granted I have to be able to re-create the color as well, I will be making that one on multiple skeins.
Also, I am 85% sure that I will not be re-ordering the Paradise Fibers DK (AKA Less than DK). It was nice and cheap and I didn't mind the whole fact that it came in balls instead of skeins, but 220 yds is not enough for a fingering weight yarn. I have my own ball of Less than DK American Idiocy that I'm going try to make flip mittens with in hopes that 220 yds is enough. So I'm on the look out for a good, rather inexpensive Fingering or sock base yarn.
Along with finding a new sock yarn, I'm looking into finding a non-wool yarn for those people who like my colors, but can't wear wool. I'd like something I can dye with acid dye to save money, I'm thinking silk.
Feel free to comment on any of this. I'm always looking for feedback!
Monday, January 18, 2010
New Yarn!
Today, I add to the Propschicknits' family 2 new lines of base yarn from Wool2Dye4! The first one is an amazingly soft and squishy bulky yarn made with 100% Falkland Merino Wool from South America. The second is a very soft BFL Aran Yarn. I'm waiting on my restock of acid dyes to come in from Dharma Trading, so I began each line using colorways I had done for my "Less than DK" line.
The inaugural skein for Falkland Bulky is American Idiocy from the Green Day line. Seems that this yarn takes the dye darker than the "Less than DK" Yarn. I didn't get as much grey out of this and the red came out darker. Still, I like the way it came out and I hope you will too!
The inaugural skein for BFL Aran is How Do You Know from the Enchanted line. It turns out that Giselle may have been the fluke, not How Do You Know. I'll make another attempt at Giselle Blue, but I'm starting to think I just got really lucky that day...
Anyway, I still love How Do You Know. I think it's a fun peppy yarn. This does not have yellow in it like it's "Less than DK" counterpart, but the lack of yellow doesn't take away from it's beauty.
Quick note- The "Less than DK" yarn is the Paradise Fibers (Europa) Double Knitting base yarn. "Less than DK" is how it is listed on Raverly.
Ideas for upcoming colorways:
Wall-E (Colors of Wall-E himself)
International Superyarn! (based on the cover of Green Day's International Superhits!)
Big Bang Theory: Leonard and Howard (color combos based on some of their costumes)
BFL Aran Christian's Inferno
BFL Aran Giselle (If I can repeat my luck with the color)
Under The Sea using Acid Dye
If there is anything you would like to see or a suggestion of what base these colorways should be on, let me know!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Starting up again
So, I decided not to keep up on this whole blogging thing after my first post because I discovered Ravelry and that fulfilled my need to 'scrapbook' my projects and more. (Seriously, if you are a knitter and you aren't of Ravelry you need to be.) Anyway, I finished my christmas knitting...well, for the most part, I still have my dad's scarf to finish. I was burnt out on knitting and needed something new to fill my jobless life that may actually make me money until my gig in May. So I decided to start dying yarn.
I had been looking for something in the color scheme of Green Day's American Idiot. So I began with an American Idiocy yarn for myself and one for my shop. Then I started just pulling colors from all the movies I had been watching during my Christmas knitfest.
I'm pretty happy with the colors so far. I was disappointed at first that the yarn I ordered was apparently fingering and not DK, like it was advertised, but it's still nice yarn to start on and a good discount for only having to skein every ball first. And really, I was only disappointed because I wanted something a little thicker for the project I had in mind for my American Idiocy yarn.
So, in short, I'm restarting for my customers to give longer stories behind my yarns and an idea of what I have planned. Most of all to get feedback on ideas I may not be sure about.
I'm going back to skeining yarn and watching tv. I'll post some of my planned colorways tomorrow and info about my newest base yarns. Keep a look out for 2 new yarns on my shop within the next few hours.
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