DesigKnit

The picture gods have smiled upon us, and I finally managed to get the right lighting conditions for good color photos of some of the new fibers I’ve been dyeing lately.

My color moods are always influenced by the season, so I suppose it’s no surprise that all I see are the colors of spring. There are happy daffodils dancing in the breeze:

And then there are crocuses opening in the sun:

I also found some of the leftovers from last years’ garden in my dyepot.

I dyed up some of the new rambouillet last week:

And this week, I have started moving out of the semisolids and into gradients, my next great adventure.

This fiber has 6 different concentrations of dye painted on it, going from pale all the way up to the most concentrated stock. I dyed this one with the fiber folded in quarters, because that’s what I had presoaked that day. Next time, I think I’ll fold the fiber in half instead, to get a longer repeat. This color looks beautiful with the dark walnut brown.

The names for the colors shown above:

Daffodil (Falkland) and Olive (Falkland)

Pale Crocus (Polwarth), Deep Crocus (Polwarth), Saffron (Polwarth), and Brilliant Green (BFL)

Faded Fall (Shetland)

Caramel (Rambouillet)

Walnut Brown (Rambouillet)

Spruce gradient (Rambouillet)

All of these fibers are available on Etsy.

Between the move on the first weekend of June and a conference on the second, this month is just flying past. Suddenly there are only three weeks to go in Madison, and then I’m off to Chicago. It’s craziness, I tell you.

Since the weeks are slipping so quickly past, I am suddenly facing a rather tight deadline on a weaving project that I’d like to get done for a friend before I go. I’m not big on deadline crafting, and I’m even less inclined to secret projects, but if I show you the yarn she’ll know who it’s for. So I’m sorry, but you’ll have to wait until later for full details. Fortunately, “later” really won’t be very long in this case (I hope).

I really, really need to get this project on the loom soon, which means that I’m currently pushing hard to get the potholders off. They’re almost there:

I think I should be able to finish them tonight, if I push hard.

Since I can’t show you what I’ll be putting on the loom next, I thought I might show you some recent acquisitions from a foray to the LYS on Sunday. Perhaps it’s ironic considering the subject of my last post, but both purchases are for weaving this time. They’re shown below with their partner cones from the stash.

The skeins are from Sun Valley Fibers, a local farm and dyer that makes beautiful yarn. I’ve often been tempted, but haven’t actually given in until now. (I need to round off my frequent buyer card before I leave, you see.)

So there you have it. I had enough yarn before, and now I have enough plus three skeins.

Now if I could just find some time to use it in, I’d be all set…