Knitting on the high seas!

While Knitting One and Purling Two

Columbus Sailed the Oceans Blue

 

The Fiber Charmer Hopes That You

Will Join Her on a Sea Cruise Too!

 

 

 

After a hectic autumn of Fabulous Fiber Fests and Delirious Dyeing, Fiber Charmer will turn off her Dye Pots and set sail on Royal Caribbean Cruises’ Freedom of the Seas to get a head start on her own Holiday Knitting. She will depart from Port Canaveral (an easy drive from Atlanta) on Sunday, 17 November, for a 7-night adventure in the Eastern Caribbean. Enjoy a fun day at the CocoCay Beach Club and shop for unique (and duty-free) holiday gifts in Charlotte Amalie, USVI, and Philipsburg, St. Maarten.  With 3 fun-filled and relaxing days at sea, there will be plenty of time for holiday knitting.

 

Fiber Charmer has several special surprises in store for those who accompany her on this grand adventure.

 

The newly enhanced Freedom of the Seas is a marvel of maritime engineering, packed with awesome innovations to stir your imagination. Catch a first-run movie in the 3D theater or poolside under the stars on the outdoor movie screen. Infuse color into your cruise with the artworks of the BRITTO Gallery or with the frosted confections of the Cupcake Cupboard. And finish the evening with a selection of reds or whites at the renovated Vintages wine bar.

 

If you crave more action than that afforded by hours of knitting with your nearest and dearest, Freedom of the Seas offers a veritable plethora of physical activities: Hang 10 on the FlowRider® surf simulator; test your nerves on the rock climbing wall at sea; or show off your balance and grace at the floating ice-skating rink. 

 

At a cost of $850 per person based on double occupancy in an ocean view cabin (inclusive of taxes and fees; airfare, insurance and items of a personal nature such as adult beverages are additional), you can’t afford to stay home.  For updates and additional information, stay tuned to the blog!

Long time, no post

I didn't realize it had been so long since I've posted here.  I'll confess that I update Facebook much more regularly due to its ease of use, especially posting pictures.

However, I know not everyone uses FB, and I want to revitalize the blog.  Right now I don't have much to say, mostly because I've sick and not doing any of the dyeing that I planned, and I've got a lot planned!

Carolina Fiber Fest and Stitches South are on back to back weekends in April, which is a brand new challenge for me to dye for 2 wonderful shows at the same time.

I've also got something big planned for Fiber Charmer for next fall after SAFF.  Look for details soon!

What I learned at Camp Pluckyfluff in Atlanta

1. You are never too old for the fun of a spend the night party.

2. Let's face it, you were probably never at an age where you could spin until after midnight, stay up until probably 2 am talking, and still feel anything like rested when the alarm clock sounds at 7:15 am.

3. At some point, the coffee stops working.

4. Lexi Boeger is an awesome teacher. You must go take a class from her if you get a chance.

5. Legacy Alpaca Farm is an amazing place to take a class. You've got to take a class there. Terrill and Mike are wonderful folks, and did I mention the alpacas?

6. Have I mentioned that I was so busy spinning and visiting that I didn't even see the alpacas?

7. If you plan to take a 2 day spinning workshop, it might behoove you to sit and spin for a little while beforehand, especially if you haven't done any spinning since maybe August. Trust me, you are going to hurt otherwise. (Pass the ibuprofen.)

8. Just know that if you go to a workshop where you're going to get to use drumcarders different from the one you already have, you're going to want to buy another one.

9. Number 8 also applies to spinning wheels.

10. Fiber classes are addictive. Just know this. Plan for it. Budget for it. Win the lottery so you can have that new drumcarder and spinning wheel before your next class. After all, resistance is futile.

Color Inspiration

I've been thinking about blogging a lot, but as you can tell, I haven't done any for ages. Now that we finally have joined the 21st century and have wireless Internet, it makes it easier to do more blogging!

Have you ever wondered how a dyer finds inspiration for her colorways? I can't speak for any other dyers, but I thought I'd tell you how I do it.

I usually get them one of two ways. The first is that I think of a color name. For example, the Phat Fiber Sampler Box's theme for October 2011 was The Witching Hour. For me that was a particularly easy one. I've read the Witching Hour and most of the Mayfair Witches books by Anne Rice, and the colorway that almost immediately popped into mind is Mayfair. I'll have to post pictures of it later. :)

A main component would have to be the Mayfair Emerald. A huge emerald set in gold and inscribed with Lasher on the back gave me two colors right away - green and gold.

Lasher, the mysterious spirit who has haunted and helped the Mayfair family gave me the second color, the brown of his suit which is how so many passersby saw him on the porch with poor, doomed Deirdre. It's how we first see him in the books too.

That gives me three colors, green, gold and brown. I wanted something more, so the black of the wrought iron that surrounds the house on First Street became color number four. I decided to add purple mostly because I've been in a phase where I've been buying yarns and fibers from other dyers with green, yellow and purple, and it was time I tried my own interpretation of it.

Now I have 5 colors. This is when I start experimenting with dye concentrations to see how it looks and can I use any of colors I've already developed. Eventually I find the colors I like, and a new color is born.

Way number two is that I see something that inspires me. Butterfly Bush is a colorway inspired by the butterfly bushes that grow in my yard. I took pictures and examined the colors more closely to see what about it attracts me most. Then I start mixing dyes and experimenting again.

Sounds easy, doesn't it? It is and it isn't, if that makes sense.

Happy knitting!

Fiber Charmer travels

Well, not me so much as my fiber and yarns.

These past couple of weeks have been very exciting. I've sent yarn and fiber to Australia, Canada, Ireland, Israel and tomorrow to the Netherlands. My fiber is getting to take some adventures that I haven't, yet.

There was a small update yesterday, but I also spent some quality time winding mini skeins for the July Phat Fiber Sampler Box. I'll confess that I'm not going with the Art Nouveau theme, mostly because my idea didn't work out, and I'm running out of time to get samples sent in.

I'm sending in Alpaca Lace in the Beach Glass colorway. I skeined up about 60 of them yesterday, and today I have to label them all. Thus, there may not be an update today.

The one good thing about labelling is that it gives me an excuse to stay inside and try to stay cool with all the heat and humidity we're experiencing right now.

Overdyeing - good

Yay for overdyeing! I added some yellow to the dyepot and tossed in the green, rust and peach yarn (believe me, not nearly as pretty as it could have been). It looks fabulous!

I let it sit overnight to cool, so today I'll rinse and dry it.

I may not be able to update the shop until tomorrow, but I've got the experimental roving and laceweight yarn in the viola inspired colors to add. I'll check on the progression dyed rovings and see if this new, more labor intensive way kept the colors from travelling as much. Keep your fingers crossed.

The bad and the good

I dyed my samples for July's Phat Fiber yesterday. I'd found a picture by Alfons Mucha that I thought would make a great colorway. It was easy as I could use some dye colors I already had. I painted up the yarn, heat set, let it cool and rinsed it so I could see how it looked.




Pffffft!


Ugh. It looked icky. Apparently not all ideas translate well. It actually looked very close to some colors that I'd dyed earlier that did not sell at all. Back into the dyepot it goes. I'm overdyeing it today once I decide what color to use.



However, I've been very attracted to some colors I've seen other dyers using. I realized that I've been buying purple, green and yellow combinations. What you don't know about me is that pansies and violets are some of my very favorite flowers. Also, if you've seen my shop, you know I like dyeing greens and purples, so naturally it follows that I should go on and put them together a little differently. I dyed some mixed BFL roving and two skeins of Alpaca Lace with some combinations of those colors yesterday. They are rinsing right now, but I think I love them. The colors remind me of those rich, velvety purples you see on pansies in the fall.


(I found this picture online, and I wish I'd taken it myself.)

Anyway, these might end up being my not theme related Phat Fiber samples for the July box. I'll have to see how they all look once they're dry.