Summer of Socks and cruise update

After knitting shop samples and not a whole lot for me personally, I decided to join the Summer of Socks 2013 group on Ravelry and knit me some socks.

I love knitting socks.  I love teeny tiny needles and creating small works of cozy, beautiful art that I can wear.  Art that hugs my feet and keeps me warm in the cold of winter.  Art in bright colors to offset the gloom of dreary grey days filled with drizzle.

I've spent a lot of time since the beginning of April sitting in hospital and doctor's office waiting rooms, and I pulled out a pair of socks that I started way back in May 2009.  They'd been in hibernation, and I finished them up last night.  I felt compelled to finish them in time to start Summer of Socks without that pair hanging over my head.  (We're just going to ignore the sweater and shawls that are still sitting around waiting to be finished.  Shhh, don't let them hear us talking about them.)

This morning, the first official day of SOS13, I cast on the Lacy Ribs Socks in Go Ahead, Make Me Sing, my Tridye offering for May 2013.  Here is the yarn, and I'll post sock pictures after I take some.

As for the Fiber Charmer cruise, life has been so active that I'd not been remembering to promote it much.  The deadline for deposits will be here before we know it.  If you're interested in cruising with me and other fibery folks, you'll need to pay your deposit of $250 by June 14, 2013.  Contact Doreen Lewis of Century Travel at fibercharmercruise@gmail.com or 770-309-7453.

The total price of the cruise is $850 based on double occupancy.  We're leaving November 17, 2013 and returning November 24, 2013.  Yes, it's before Thankgiving, but what better way to prepare for the madness that some family get togethers are by taking some time out to relax beforehand.

Color evolution

I mentioned that I wanted to show you how I create a colorway from inspiration picture to what you see on the yarn, and this time I actually have all the steps!

This is the inspiration photo.  Here's the link to where I found it.

 

I knew I wanted the yarn to have pink, blue, olive green, bright green and brown in it.  Gale of Gale's Art had also told me about another dyer, Gynx of The Dyer's Notebook, who shares dye techniques on her blog.  I'd gone to watch some of her clips and am fascinated with her shibori inspired yarn dyeing techniques, and I wanted to dye this yarn that way.

 

So, I had two ideas of how I wanted to do this yarn for TriDye.  Now to see if they would work.

 

I took the first yarn, twisted it up, and tossed it into the dyepot with the pink dye.  This particular pink really loves fiber and dyed it all an intense, deep pink.  I took one look at it and knew it wouldn't work, so I added twisted it again, added some blue and figured that was one experiment that didn't work.

 

Next:

 

This time I made sure the dyes were more diluted.  I twisted the yarn and dyed one of the greens.  I retwisted and dyed layers of blue and brown on this one.  It's lovely, but I knew the pink would be way too much.

 

Onward:

 

 

This time I twisted and started with the brown.  I add the green and olive in layers.  When I removed it from the pot, I saw there were no undyed areas for the pink or blue.

 

*Sigh*  Where's the coffee?

 

 

Getting better, but I'm realizing that I'm fixated on a technique that just isn't going to work for this colorway.

 

I handpaint many of my colors with sponge brushes to get a precise dye application.  I really didn't want to do that with this colorway.  I wanted something more freeform.

 

Maybe this will work?

 

This time I twisted the yarn, but used a direct application of the dye.  Still not what I'm looking for.

This time I used a direct application technique, but one I don't use regularly because it's more difficult for me to control the results.

 

I'm getting closer.  In fact, I liked this one, but I had one more technique to try.

 

On this one I used the exact same dyes as the one above, but I applied it with sponge brushes in a random, freeform pattern.  What happens is the colors get muted by having other colors applied on top of them.  However, I liked it too.

I rinsed them, hung them to dry, then had to go out of town due to a family illness.  The good thing was that gave me some time away from the colors to not obsess on them as much.

 

I did ask my husband for his opinion between the two.  He liked the one with the brighter colors, but he said they both had too much brown.

 

 

In this last photo, you see the two color tests on either side of the final colorway.  (I did reskein them before I shipped them to scramble the colors, but as you can see, there's less brown.)

 

I should mention the name comes from my love of Alf, The Animated Series.  There's an episode where Alf and Rick have to wrestle giant clams and make them sing in order to become members of their fathers lodge.  It's "Clams Never Sang for My Father" and you can find it on Hulu Plus is you're so inclined.

Make-do solar dyeing and other things.

I know, I've been absolutely terrible at keeping up my blog. My husband works, and I do everything else. Honestly, I'm not very good at keeping up with the everything else.

This spring was very busy. I had a booth at Stitches South, which was a lot of fun! I also went to the Carolina Fiber Fest in Raleigh, NC. We had a great time there too, and so many nice people said we should move to Raleigh.

I have to admit that Raleigh is a very lovely place, but if everyone moves there, it's going to end up like Atlanta - too much traffic and bad air. (Actually, there's a lot I like about living in the Atlanta area, but the traffic isn't one of them!)

Anyway, if you follow me on Facebook, you've read that I've been experimenting with solar dyeing. Down here in the swampy feeling South, it's been too darn hot to want to run the oven or stovetop to heat set fiber. In fact, I've been a little slack about dyeing, but I've got to get back into gear as I've got the Friends and Fiberworks Summer Retreat coming up, and I don't want to be there and run out of yarn!

I know some other indie dyers who do solar dyeing, and I thought I should give it a try. First of all, it's great for the environment. I'm not burning natural gas (stove top) or coal (oven) to get my heat. It doesn't heat up the house any extra. Finally, it's free!

Since I'm only experimenting, I've not gone out and bought or built a solar oven. We had a black bin that hadn't been used since our basement flooded in the Big Rain of September, 2009, so I cleaned out the inside to use for yarn.

Much of what I've read on solar dyeing is using black trash bags and immersion dyeing. I do mostly handpainting, so I rolled up my yarn or fiber like I usually do, and put it into the bin. My first try was some Valhalla and Silk & Merino yarn. The Valhalla, a blend of 75% wool and 25% nylon seemed to do better than the Silk & Merino did. The Silk & Merino has 51% silk. I think next time it needs longer in the sun. I've also tried some of the Alpaca Lace, and it seemed to do just fine.

What you see in the bin this time is my first fullsized (4 ounce) merino roving. (I have to check to see if it's top. I just plain can't remember.) I got a late start yesterday dyeing, so while one or two made it into the bin before 2 pm, the rest didn't. No one told me just how long it takes to paint a top, especially when you discover that your table is really too short to do it. I did a few as rainbow progressions and the rest were randomly painted, which was much quicker. I put them all back outside this morning.

The black bin absorbs the sunlight, and I move the bin throughout the day. I tried using it with the lid, but it doesn't get hot enough inside. What I discovered is that I need to keep the open top with the yarn or roving pointed at the sun to keep it hot enough. It will get hot enough that I can actually see the water bubbling inside the plastic.

This is only the third time I've tried it, but I think I'm going to love it. It won't work on everything. I certainly won't fill it up with silk hankies and aim them at the sun all day! But for some of the wools and blends, so far it seems to work well. I plan to do more research to see if I can improve my technique. Who knows, that solar oven may be in my future. Before you know it, I'll be making gluten-free bread in my second solar oven, the one dedicated to food only.

Have a great weekend!

January 2011 - Chinese New Year

This is Fireflowers, my contribution to the Phat Fiber box this month.

I wanted to recreate fireworks, so I tried my hand at dyeing wool, Firestar and making batts.

The yarn and the fibers are all dyed with the same colors at different depths of shade (DOS). The blue on the yarn is much more intense.

The batts are BFL layered with different colors of Firestar. The yarn is a new base which is still 75% superwash wool and 25% merino. I'm calling this base Valhalla.

During this next week I'll dye more of both and get them listed in the shops.

Phat Fiber for December

December's theme is "Music Box". I had some difficulty with the theme as all I could think about were those pink and white ones with the ballerinas in them that little girls get for their jewelry.




As I read the threads about it on Ravelry, I realized that I had some yarn I'd dyed over the summer that I'd called Tequila Sunrise. While some days I feel like I could strangle the DJs for playing the Eagles yet again, the yarn would work.



I'll be listing this soon on both etsy and artfire.

I've had some really great ideas for January and February. I'll start working on those in this next week to get them ready in time.

Another installment of same dyes, different yarns

I see the end of the Chris Sock Yarn in the near future. No, it's not bad yarn, but I purchased it from another dyer who was shifting to a different knitting related venture (Blackthorn Needles) with the intention of practicing my dyeing skills while I searched for base yarns.

This past week I had some unexpected demands on my time which cut into Fiber Charmer time much more than I liked. I was unable to do much dyeing, and I'm hoping for fewer time-eating surprises this week.

However, I did find the time to get in a little dyeing, and I'm finding the other yarns don't dye at all like the Chris yarn did. They've all grabbed the dye and don't let me push it along as the Chris does.

You can see by the pictures that it looks like I'm starting at square 1 again. The Steampunk yarns in the top photo went into a dye bath yesterday to see if immersion could even out the splotchiness.

The thick/thin yarn in the bottom photo took the dye beautifully. I'm really sorry that type of yarn isn't in fashion right now as it was a dream to dye. The other yarn in the photo is Baaamboo, which I need to reorder. It's a merino and bamboo blend, and it dyes wonderfully too. It has a frosty sheen to it since the bamboo doesn't take up the acid dye.

I'll rinse the overdyed yarns today and see how they turned out. Later this week, when I have an undisturbed dye day, I see that I have to refine my techniques and experiment with dye solution strengths for these other yarns.

As for the bases in the top photo, I like them both. One is 100% merino while the other is a merino/nylon blend. I do have a merino nylon blend from another source that I want to try also. It's truly astounding how similar bases from different sources can feel differently.

I also plan to get the etsy shop updated and get the artfire studio set up in time for the Phat Fiber Box. Boxes go on sale pretty soon. Go sign up for the email if you haven't already!

edited to add that I'm working on managing my time better. Not only am I setting aside dye days, I'm working on setting up a dye schedule. I've got colors I need to restock. Contact me with any special requests!

Different fibers, same dyes

I've been very busy these past few weeks.

I did go out of town for a nearly a week with Gale to go to the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival. That was a lot of fun. I really like that show.

I've had some administrative tasks for Fiber Charmer, such as registering the name as a trade name and getting my business license.

I got sneak attacked on etsy the same night I got back into town from the show. I was so excited to pack up all those orders and get them mailed out. In fact, go check out Handmade Movement and join in a sneak attack or two. It is an amazing boost to the new artist or crafter to get those sales.

I dyed up enough yarn to send out 71 samples to the Phat Fiber Box for their October Steampunk themed box. 70 are mini skeins ranging in length from 15 to about 30 yards long. Most are 25 yards. I'd started with 15 as it was the minimum suggested, but they looked too skimpy, so I only did a few of them before boosting it to 25 yards. If I was near the end of the skein from which I was winding, I just kept going which is why there are a few that are larger. I had one short skein that was about 200 yards, so I just sent it in as is.

I just started getting back into gear and dyeing again a day or two ago. As you can see from the photos, I tried Steampunk on two other bases. I'm nearing the end of the Chris Sock yarn. On the left is a 100% merino, worsted weight yarn. I didn't really like it in the skein, but once it was dyed up and bloomed, my goodness! The one on the right is that seductive blend, MCN, which is superwash merino, cashmere and nylon. Let me say that yarn is a dye hog. It didn't look quite so splotchy when I was dyeing it, but I had run out of dyes, so I decided to just see what would happen. As you can clearly see, it needs a lot more dye. It's getting more, and luckily I have some time to decide on whether I'll overdye it by immersion or handpaint it some more.

I do have another skein of the MCN which I dyed with other colors, and while it's not so splotchy, it's not good either. The not so good experiences do tend to teach us more, don't they?

I'm really hoping to have my logo next week. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

I will be selling at the Atlanta Knitting Guild each month, starting in October. I'll have one of a kind yarns there from test dyeing, or yarns that I'm having a lot of difficulty getting the colors to photograph well.

I'll be working on getting my Artfire store up and running later this week too. I'll post the link when I've got it set up.

Have a great weekend, what's left of it.

How a color is born

You may wonder how a dyer comes up with color ideas. I can only speak for myself in this department, although I have been reading up to see how other dyers' minds work.

I'm joining the Phat Fiber Box, and if you're a knitter or spinner who doesn't know about this, go check it out. Now! I'll still be here when you get back.

See, here I am. Still sitting here with my coffee, in front of my computer, which is under an open window that has a cat sleeping in it. It's actually a lovely day here in Georgia after a summer of most miserable heat, but I digress. Back to how ideas occur.

The Phat Fiber Boxes have themes each month, and while a dyer doesn't have to slavishly follow the theme, it does give you a jumping off point. I've spent some time researching October's theme, Steampunk, online and getting ideas about the sorts of colors to use. Taking that information, I decided to use Gale's way of testing new colors, which is mixing tiny amounts in an ice cube tray. She says to use small pieces of silk to dye, but I've also read where you can put dots of color on a paper towel or coffee filter. And that's what I did. I mixed colors and put spots on a paper towel. I wrote my formula for each by it (again on the paper towel), then came and held them by the computer to see how close I was getting. When all was said and done, I had an ice cube tray with tiny amounts of dye that I could a)throw out, b)mix together and use later, or c)apply to one of the short skeins I had sitting around just for that purpose.

Needless to say, I went with c, and painted up the short skein. I painted it, put in into to steam, and after some time, perhaps 40 minutes, turned off the heat as I had somewhere to go. I left it in there to cool while I was gone.

When I got home, I rinsed it and hung it to dry. It's one of those yarns where I can't decide if I like all the colors or not, but as it's just a sample, it doesn't matter.

I'll admit that when I take something new from the pot, I look at it a lot. Every time I pass the bathroom where they are drying from the shower rod, I go in and look. While I know that's about as helpful as watching and waiting for a pot to boil, I haven't been able to stop myself.

Now, this sample yarn was just to use up all the test dyes, and it let's me see that this particular batch of black has a blue cast to it (great), but looking at it as I went to and fro this morning led to an idea popping into my head. I had glanced at it, and the words "blue ring octopus" popped into mind.

Let's be honest, the colors aren't that much like a blue ringed octopus. I think it was a combination of things. The white areas as I didn't have enough dye to totally cover this skein, and I sure wasn't going to mix any more just to do that. After all, this is merely a color study for me.

As I mentioned, and you can see here, I was aiming for a grey color, but my black has blue/lavender undertones. Most of my greys had some blue in them, although that could also be from the fact that I didn't clean syringe I was using to apply colors between colors, so maybe some of the blue was just contamination.

Frankly, that doesn't really matter. Just something about that particular yarn made those words pop into my head, and now I'm wondering about basing a yarn color on a blue ringed octopus.

Or maybe not. The point of all this is you have to be open for inspiration to strike you when you least expect it. It can't be forced, but it's out there, waiting to surprise you.

Let me close with a gratuitous cat picture. Here is Lily, aka Lilydammint!, photobombing as I wasn't petting or feeding her. You can also see her paws in the middle picture in this post.

About my yarn pictures

I met with Beth yesterday. She designs both knitted and crocheted items, which you can find on her etsy shop.

It was quite interesting when I showed her my yarns that I'd brought. She had really liked the pictures of Swampwater I'd posted in my Facebook group, but she said they looked very different from what she was expecting. The photos of yarn that I'd posted in etsy didn't surprise her the same way, and that got me to thinking.

If you're a fan of Fiber Charmer on Facebook, you get to see raw, unedited photos. I take the yarns outside and photograph them on a stone bench that I've got. The cats all love that bench, so usually there are cat pictures with the yarn pictures. Lily, Grey and Hopalong (the stray) all love to get up there and see what I'm doing. I call them my quality control inspectors. I also use one of our point and shoot cameras to take those pictures.

The pictures on etsy are taken inside the house in a makeshift studio on a card table with a borrowed camera. In fact, the tan background is a padded fleece blanket that worked better than the white flannel I'd purchased especially for background fabric.

We worked pretty hard on getting the etsy photos to look like the yarns, but even all that work can't take into account monitor differences. Think about what the yarn pictures go through. The camera translates them into a digital image, which may or may not look differently once I upload it into the computer. I then edit the photos, although I didn't adjust any colors with the batch that went onto etsy last weekend. I just cropped and scaled them. The digital images then travel across glass or metal wires, or perhaps they just bounce off a satelite to end up in front of you. Your computer monitor probably shows the colors a little differently from how mine does, and we won't talk about how the colors look on your smartphone.

I do my best to portray colors faithfully, and I'll admit to buying yarn off the internet only to be really surprised when I received it. It happens. What do I do when that happens? This is me, but I toss them into my stash. Eventually, if it doesn't grow on me, I'll turn around and resell it. I've destashed both on Ravelry and ebay, but I honestly think I've only decided to sell 2 or 3 yarns that way. Interestingly enough, they were commercial yarns, although Sheri at The Loopy Ewe loves blue, and I have considered selling a couple of yarns that came in kits, but then again, I've got a husband to knit for too.

I hope this helps you when you're looking at a yarn and wondering about why it looks so differently on etsy. You're always welcome to send me a convo on etsy. I do check the shop at least twice a day.

Dyeing August 8 and 9, 2010

IMG_2826
Originally uploaded by Fiber Charmer

I've uploaded pictures to my flickr this morning showing the results of the past two days.

I've also uploaded the same pictures to my Facebook page with commentary.

Here are some blues

Blues seem to be particularly fiddly to photograph. There are some subtle color variations that haven't been caught in the pictures very well.

Some have bits of turquoise or green or gray, but they look flat when photographed.

Some of the flatness is due to the photographer. I'm sure the more I do it, the better I will become.


Just like dyeing.

What about the blues?

I spent yesterday afternoon both handpainting and kettle dyeing. Some of these are one of a kind or a single batch as I didn't take any notes and played with colors.

I can probably reverse engineer a few of them.

I like the oranges and warm colors, but I must remember that not everyone is a fan of them. I have to settle down and work on some blues.

It's interesting because I almost never wear blue, except for blue jeans, and I don't buy blue yarn for myself. I get bored working with blue dyes after a few minutes, yet I know that a whole lot of you are blue fans.

Bear with me, and I'll get some blues worked out.

From the dyepot, 5/28/10

From the dyepot, 5/27/10

Looking at these pictures, I realize I really need to get a better camera for taking yarn pictures.

Or, perhaps if I were to actually set up the light box I could get better pictures from my point and shoot.

Truth be told, I wanted to get these out there so you could see what's been bubbling away in the dye pot these past couple of days.

From the dyepot, 5/23/10