But, as it says, I have my crafting mojo back. I think I needed the mini break, because I've really been enjoying playing with dyes and my wheel and needles this week. Sometimes you have to refill the well of creativity, as they say. Mine is currently pretty full, I think.
So, let's get right to...
What I'm Dyeing
That's sort of a tease, because I'm not actually going to show you pictures of new items I've dyed. Well, not mostly. What I am going to do is show you inspiration pictures *for* some of my dyeing this week.
Why? Not long after I opened up Creature Comforts in earnest last year, I heard about the Phat Fiber group. If you haven't heard of it, and you spin or knit, you're missing out! The Phatties, as we refer to ourselves, are a collective of indie dyers, spinners and yarnistas who put together sample boxes based on a theme each month. You may get roving or top samples, yarn samples, stitch markers and other notions and certainly a lot of discounts in each box. Fair warning, competition is *fierce* for these boxes, but they're well worth it. Check out the group on Ravelry if you have an account there to see the amazing things my fellow Phatties can do.
April's theme is Butterflies and Flutterbys, and since I have a butterfly on most of my crafty things these days, I couldn't resist. I will be sending out yarn samples this month, and when the box drops, I will have full sized skeins of yarn available as well. What colors? Well. Take a look at these...
Tempted yet? Check my shop mid-April or so and you can see the real things!
What I'm Spinning
Good news! I finished plying up the Southern Cross Fibre that I posted about a couple of weeks ago. As I said on Twitter yesterday, I very often start spinning fiber thinking, "eh, I could sell that" and end up wanting to keep all of it by the time I've finished. It's no different with this skein. I was very surprised by how much the Norwegian softened up after a good soak and thwacking, and also by how the colors went from sort of dull and drab to almost metallic at the end. This is pretty, pretty stuff.
I am, however, going to put this in the shop very soon. It's about 200 yards, and a little over 4 ounces at 10-12 wpi. Plenty to make something fun!
What I'm Knitting
This week's knitting project is one that I've been working on for a while. I think I confessed that I'm not the world's fastest knitter. If not, well, there you have it. This is the Radiance Shawl by Helen Stewart. It's a semi-circular shawl which is just what I was looking for when I cast on to escape a forest of triangles. And it's a fun pattern, switching up the design often enough that it doesn't get boring. The problem, as with any shawl pattern for me, is when the rows start to get up there. I'm currently sitting at 256 stitches per row. I will soon be moving up to 500+. That means knitting on this just gets slower, but I'm chugging along. I've just passed the 60% mark. I will finish!
The yarn is some KnitPicks Bare laceweight that I dyed myself. The stripes both surprise and please me.
And that's it for another week. Thanks for stopping by, as always, and please be sure to come back next Wednesday to see what's new in my world.
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