Friday, May 30, 2008

New Line

Finally busted into the new cone of sock yarn, the Merino/Tencel. It's really nice... not sure how hard-wearing it will be, but it's very soft with a nice sheen. The twist feels nice and firm. It had better wear like iron considering the price compared to the other two cones I bought! Four skeins of it are dyed up and drying in the gypsy room... two in "Forest Pond" and two in "Summer Iris".

The Summer Iris sock yarn was not my idea. Mini-Til has decided she wants to work for mom as her summer job (I didn't have the heart to tell her about child labor laws) and so last night she wanted to "test" for the position of assistant. This basically consisted of her picking the colors herself, and squishing the dye in the plastic-wrapped bundles. She even squirted on the purple by herself. She did an awesome job! There will be pictures when it dries.

The funniest part was when I said I had to think about it because I didn't know whether I could afford to hire her for the summer, she said "You mean I'd get paid for it too?!" She's so cute.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

I feel like a real business woman... finally.

Last weekend I had my first "Oh-my-gosh-they-spent-how-much?" order from my Etsy Shop and it was more than enough to buy a shipment of "replacement" blank roving and some more bottles and things for the dye studio. Well the goodies arrived today. But today was MOM'S DAY OFF, so I did little more than cross-check the invoice against items in the boxes and stowed them away.

It was weird. I've been working my tuckus off for a week, and actually had to MAKE myself take today off. I kept getting antsy and wandering by the dye station. BUT I did manage to make it most of the way through a new book that has been sitting by my bed for a month waiting on me. I only slipped twice, and pulled all my dry yarn down and cleaned the dye station. Otherwise, I did do good and wait until after midnight to wind up a skein.

Dry colors almost ready to go up in the shop: Chocolate-covered Cherry variegate, an orange-green combo to be named later, and some Beth's Roses II in Merino/Bamboo. No new roving at the moment, but that's next. I still have to weigh out and divide up the 80 ounces that arrived today.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Yarn overload

Three huge cones of fingering weight sock yarn are now mine. Wheeee! I wound two skeins of 430 yards yesterday for self-striping goodness and I'm exhausted! Something about using a niddy-noddy that makes my shoulders cry for mercy.

I have really got to find a better way of winding skeins for striping. Why is my apartment so freaking SMALL? If I had 15 straight feet to wind between two chairs, I'd do it, dangit!

It also doesn't help that I figured out my yarn yardage counter that was a Mother's day gift A) Counts in feet, not yards, so more math is required and B)Is completely useless when using the big cones of yarn. They're just too heavy and apply too much tension... the yarn keeps wanting to pop right out of the guides. So much for that freaking idea.


On the bright side, the skein of "Beth's Roses" yarn I dyed from my Scout's Warping board turned out really pretty. It's too bad using the thing is so labor-intensive. I could maybe make two skeins of sock yarn a day. Maybe three. After that, my shoulders would hate me. And the stuff would probably still tangle.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Fetchingly Fast


I whipped out a pair of Fetching fingerless gloves in roughly 24 hours. I really disliked the cabling rows, especially on the left glove where they go to the back, but with only 45 stitches, they went by in a flash. They probably would have gone even faster if I had not been using my Perfect Pink homespun... it's a bit silky/slippery, and the thick/thin nature of it made things... interesting. However, they are yummy soft and have a nice sheen, so I'll keep them. :D

Saturday, May 10, 2008

What rhymes with economy?

So, we got our economic stimulus package yesterday. AKA My Small Business Loan. Okay, so I only get a third of it... one-third goes to mini-Di's college fund, one third-goes to Mr-Di's "I think I'm a rock star so I want a fancy guitar" fund, and one third to me. In honor of mother's day I even get an extra something to get myself something nice. :D So after picking myself up a set of KnitPicks Harmony interchangeable needles and a yardage counter, I spent the rest of it on yarn... oh, but not just any yarn. Undyed SOCK yarn. Three different "flavors". On huge HUGE cones. So expect Hullion Fiberworks to expand its offerings sometime within the next two weeks! Whee! Those Trek colorway sock yarns are this much closer to reality.

I got my shipment of roving earlier this week after some kind of weather snafu in Colorado. I've lived in Colorado, so I've seen icy days where people can't drive faster than 4mph before their car starts skidding, but you can't stay home because you work at the Army base hospital and are considered essential personnel. But in MAY? That's the part I have a hard time with. Oh well, it was a day late. But I may have to rethink my policy of only using free shipping, because it takes freakin FOREVER.

At least my bathroom is full of pretty colors again. I should be updating my roving offerings sometime this afternoon, once its all braided and pictures taken.