Fiber Friday: Back to the dyepots we go.

So it's been a while since I gave you a good shot of anything I've been dyeing. Oh, sure, I showed you the Mexican Chocolate bfl/silk last week, but I don't know if that really counts.

So here are a few of my new favorites. Easy on the brain, since we're approaching a long weekend and really, who wants to do insightful or philosophical writing before the fun starts?

Enjoy the colors!

Wednesday on the Wheel: Wool into gold.

You know the Rumplestiltskin fairy tale, with the girl who's forced to spin straw into gold? Back in the day, when I lived on a farm and was seven or so, I used to tear up straw and pretend I was spinning it. This resulted in lots of bits of straw flung around, great fun for me, and not a single strand of actual usable anything.

Fast forward to now, when I can take that pile of fluff from last week, that didn't work for me at all, in terms of representing me out in the wide world of spinning, and turn it into this:

This is the first 95 yards or so of that Mexican Chocolate bfl/silk I showed off last week. Pre-wash, fingering-ish weight.

It's working for me.

Make It Monday: Marking stitches

So as you may have heard me blather on recently, I have been making stitch markers. And oh my gosh, have I been having fun! Too much fun, maybe, if there is such a thing. Most of what I've made so far have been one-off markers that appeal to me and my doodling inner child at the time. I made a smiley face marker and shipped that off to a customer, f'rinstance.

And I made this, which I'm referring to as my Hippy Dippy Marker Set. It's just fun to say. :)

I'm sure there will be more. As I hinted in the podcast, I'll probably give some away if I can come up with a scheme I like. Or you can suggest one, if you have an idea.

Thanks again to Light Brown Hare for holding the giveaway that reminded me how much fun shrinky dinks can be. :)

Speaking out on Sunday: Ramble heavy, Colorwork light

Week Three is here and available for downloading now!

This week I felt a little rambly, but I also felt more comfortable (which is probably why the rambling, right?) so the episode is a skosh longer.

I talked some more about Shakespeare and my feelings on how it's taught. I'm still looking for suggestions from listeners as to what might be interesting. As I said, I can go for hours about the Bard, so it'd probably good to whittle the broad spectrum of things to talk about down.

I confessed to getting bitten by the urge to knit things that aren't on the needles right now, and I remind myself that I should be talking about more colorwork. Staying on topic is tricky!

I mention an event at the Retzlaff Winery on June 4th, for those of you in the area or close enough to get there. Spinning, potluck food, fleece market. It's going to be fun and I'm going to try to go.

And then there's this:


Shops I talked about:

Moonwood Farms -- I mentioned this shop as one of the places to get Unicorn products, but while you're there, check out her fibers as well.


Patterns I talked about:

Skuld by Anna Dalvi of Knit and Knag. This is a uniquely shaped shawl, part of her Norn series. I talked about Anna quite a bit this episode.

Books I mentioned:

Shakespeare Stories by Leon Garfield -- I haven't read these, but had them mentioned to me by a Ravelry group member. I will try to do a thorough review in the future.

No Fear Shakespeare -- A series of "translation" books for those who'd like to read or study Shakespeare but find the original language challenging. My recommendation for this sort of thing.

Silk Road Socks by Hunter Hammersen. Published by Cooperative Press, an independent publisher with fantastic projects in the works.

Shaping Shawls by Anna Dalvi. In pre-order only, but if you're interested in designing shawls, like me, this might be the book for you. Another Cooperative Press book.


All That Other Stuff:

Be sure to check out the Clothed in the Lamb podcast to hear Janeen's newest episode and find out who won the skein of worsted weight merino I dyed up for her listeners!

Swing by and check out the Knitmore Girls podcast. Jasmin and Gigi are a mother-daughter team who talk about knitting, sewing, weaving, spinning and so much more!

And don't forget to leave a comment here or in my Ravelry group for a chance at winning yarn and a set of KnitPicks DPNs.

How to Contact me:

iTunes: Slinging Stitches...in Color
Ravelry: creaturecomfort
Ravelry Group: Creature Comfort Craftwork Fans
Etsy: Creature Comfort Craftworks on Etsy
Email: sarah.hawke [at] gmail.com
Twitter: creaturecmfts
Facebook: Facebook
Plurk: Plurk

Talk to you next week!

Fiber Friday: The Shetland has Landed

So if you listen to my podcast, or if you recall earlier blog posts, I mentioned that I wanted to try some shetland. I was thinking roving, but I was offered a bit of a shetland fleece, and I happily leapt at the opportunity.

And it has landed.

I was warned that it was dirty. I think I need to seriously downgrade my expectations when it comes to smaller indie fibers and fleeces. I'm still quite new to all of this, so when I hear, "it's dirty", I don't expect, well. Dirty.

I'm learning.

This has already been through a soak and dunk and wash since taking the picture. I was thinking it was a lovely sort of blend and brown and white. It's... not so much now. But it smells better! And it's clean-er. Next step: carding the heck out of it and hoping that more of the vm falls out.

No wonder people think we wool people are weird. Look at what we do for fun! :)

Wednesday on the Wheel: What happens when...?

Accidents happen. We all know that, right? A few stitches get dropped when knitting, a splat of dye ends up on the wrong section of fiber or a project ends up being too danged small once it's all finished up. It happens. Not happy-making, but forgivable.

I had one of those days a while ago. As I've mentioned, I sometimes contribute to the Phat Fiber Box sampler. I did so last month, if you remember my butterfly yarns. I meant do to so this month, for the spice box. I had all good intentions. I picked one of my favorite fibers (bfl/silk for the curious), I came up with a gorgeous colorway, Mexican Chocolate, which looks like this:

And I sat down to make mini-batts to be sent as samples. Or I meant to anyway.

I have, once before, tried to do fiber samples for the box. Those turned out all right, and I would have been happy to send them off to this day. These new ones...didn't come out so well. I do not have a carder, so I pulled mini-batts by hand, and though the colors were lovely, the actually little rolls just looked sloppy and hurried (despite the fact that I started making them early) and unprofessional. Not what I want out in the world to represent me.

So I opted not to send them, sadly. And then looked at the pile of fiber and realized that I had 8 ounces of fiber, all pulled apart into chunks that couldn't be sold, and I had to figure out what to do it it. It's too pretty to do nothing with and I wouldn't ever throw it away.

So I'm spindle spinning it. Who knows what it will become? I've got a ton of it, though. I might manage 400 or maybe even 500 yards of yarn. And then? Then the sky's--okay, the yardage's--the limit!

Make It Monday: Making it Home

It's Monday and I have...nothing to significant to report.

I have been out of town, my friends, working on my other career which is writing. There was no Friday Fiber update, nor was there a podcast on Sunday. I simply ran out of time to get everything done and set up in advance.

So! I will be playing catch up this week and getting things back on schedule again. Fair warning, there will possibly be another interruption like this at the end of June when I'm off for writing things again. Until then, however, I promise to be present and at least moderately productive.

Apologies for any disappointment and please come back to keep me to my word. :)