Mister's Sweater

And there you have it.  The beginnings of a sweater for Mister (due end of Jan.).  I can't wait to meet him.  We are all so excited!

Bambi yarn in a blue/green colorway.  I swear this is the best of all my Bambi yarns.  Very soft, and that bamboo makes it very sturdy at the same time. 

Today's job is putting the borders onto Nuts and Bolts, and then assembling the layers and maybe even begin quilting.

Bambi Rules

Two more pretty skeins in my Etsy shop!

Sweet Violet

and Golden Forest

Still dyeing after all these years.

It's almost 5 years that I started to dye yarn.  I began very timidly on a hot July day in 2007.  It took me 1.2 hours to dye just one skein.  That doesn't even include the prep time.  So then, when it had dried, I wound it up and knitted a pair of socks from it.  Maybe about 2 weeks later, I decided to try again.  Much faster this time, and that's the beginning of this story.  I loved it so much that I would dye and dye and dye.  I couldn't keep up with the knitting, so in Oct, I decided to try to sell on Etsy, and I've been doing that for almost 5 years.  Who would ever have thought it?  Not me.

Fast forward to now.  I'm now tired of the whole dyeing process.  I can't even begin to tell how many skeins I've dyed, each one individually, because that's how I like to do it.  But I can tell you that I swear there have been a gazillion skeins.  And now I'd rather sew.  Go figure.

Yesterday I decided that I was running out of sock yarn.  Oh, I can buy on Etsy or in my LYS, but now I have this bug in my head that my skinny yarns, sock and lace, have to be dyed by me.  So what's a girl to do when she needs some nice sock yarn?  She dyes.  And I did.  7 skeins:   2 merino/bamboo, and 5 Falkland Island merino.  Here they are.

 I'd think of selling them, but I really need some to knit with.  Besides, the Falkland merino is messy.  There's something amiss with the skeining up, and you can see what happens after dyeing.  It's all perfectly fine to knit with, but a mess to ball up.  I would not do that to a customer.  I'd hear her swearing across the country.

See what I mean.  And I didn't do this.  Every one of these skeins has been a pain in the bottom to wind up.  I originally bought the yarn for sale, but like all my yarns, I tried it out first.  Considerably more money than my regular Penny yarn, and I really can't tell the difference between them.  Penny yarn is just nicer to work with.  So that's the end of the Falkland merino.  I won't be ordering any more.

It's funny how all the yarns I dyed are not in my usual pastel mode; they're all somewhat gloomy.  Might be my mental state yesterday.  As the grands say:  "Whatever."  Today I'm just fine.  Yippee!

And here are 4 more stars to get added to the starry quilt.

The Yarnarian Has Pearly, Silky New Yarns!

Bambi Yarn

And she is no longer grouchy, for which she is grateful. I think half the universe was cranky yesterday. Maybe we all have cabin fever. An hour and a half of PT put me right. You just can't stay a grouch when you are happily stretching legs and your hamstrings are really working, and you are feeling mighty and powerful. OK, you are not feeling mighty and powerful. But you do feel that way when the ball squats are so much easier than they were. Wonder Woman!

Dyeing news: Yesterday, in my great grouchiness, I dyed up yarn, and quite accidentally, they all turned out to be silky and/or pearly. Bambi (70/20/10 SW merino/bamboo/nylon; approx 460 yards) has a natural tendency to be somewhat pearly. I hadn't planned on taking advantage of that property, but that's what happened, and the yarns are truly lovely. Price is my usual $20/skein.

Berry Pearl:




Blue Belle:




Peach Pearl:




Rainbow Pearl:




Rosebud Pearl:




Water Pearl:




And now the piece de resistance: Gina Yarn! 50/50 SW merino/silk, approx 400 yards of extraordinary yarn. I am so wild about this yarn, and I just got in 40 more skeins. Initially I ordered just a trial bit of yarn. It's a little bit pricey and I didn't want to order lots in case I didn't like it. HAH! It is beyond wonderful. You have no idea how much I want to keep it all for myself. But how much yarn can I possibly own? (Don't even bother to respond to that.) And besides, I want you to own it too. Because of the silk, it feels quite different from my other yarns. There's a crispness to it, and the memory is not quite what it would be if it were only wool, but the wool gives it a lot of resilience and it is lovely to knit with. And then there is that silken sheen to it. Not blindingly shiny, just that lovely silk look. Pictures can't do it justice, but that's all I have, so just imagine the feel and the look of this yarn. Price is $26/skein, which is a bit more than my usual, but a bit less than most people charge. I should really go up a dollar or two, but I like being affordable.

Gina Yarn

Daffodil Silk:




Iridescent Pearl:




Silken Rose:




Opal Silk:




Silken Waterlily:




You can directly email me if you want any of these. They are all one of a kind, and can't be repeated.

fritzL234 AT yahoo DOT com

Or you can check Etsy since I will post yarns daily.

http://fritzl.etsy.com

OK, these are grabbed by my favorite shark. Yay, shark! Silken Rose, Rosebud Pearl and Peach Pearl.

Rainbow Pearl has been grabbed.

Opal Silk is grabbed.

Scrabblequeen - She's very fast on the trigger finger!

Henya - I'm also glad I'm not grouchy any more.

itsJUSTme-wendy - I think the answer to why these came out so nice is that I was so cranky yesterday. Maybe I should only dye when I'm in a rotten mood.

The Yarnarian Chats.

We survived our foot of snow. Fortunately, it was of the light, fluffy kind, with no ice at all, so the Hubbo and his trusty snow blower got in cleared up in good time. We are a corner house, but with no sidewalks, which is great. On the other hand, we have a long driveway and a long walk from the street to our house.

Somebody's foot prints, probably a deer. They are all over our area. You can walk down the block and there will be 3-4 of them grazing.




I'm taking a break from dyeing for a couple of weeks. There will be new yarns on Etsy, but they appeared first here. So, if you want the latest and greatest, check out my shop: http://fritzl.etsy.com

I have been doing some knitting. I started another lacy scarf in Bambi, which, if you haven't tried it, has the most wonderful drape. Not to mention that it's a cozy, comfy yarn. This little sweetie probably won't keep me very warm, what with all that open work, but she is cute, and I like her. When she's all blocked, you'll really see those holes and that edging.

Last night we were watching something unmemorable on TV, and I knit about 4 inches on her, only to discover that I had made a mistake 2 inches back. And it was one of those cases where I couldn't fudge it, so off to the frog pond she went for a bit. Knitted some more, didn't pay much attention to the scarf, made more mistakes, frogged again. I swear I knit the last 6 inches about 3 times. The pattern is not difficult, I was just distracted.



Then I decided that I needed to finish a sock. I have to Kitchener the toe, and then knit the second one. This one is done in Linda BFL yarn. How to get American knitters to try Blue Faced Leicester yarn is one of my goals. We seem hung up on merino, cashmere, silk, and such. But BFL is one stunning yarn. Long fibers which give the yarn strength and a soft sheen. Gotta dye up more of this. Maybe I'll keep it all. Evil laugh here.

This is my Lacy Waves sock pattern, available on Ravelry. Elder DD walked off with my original pair, and I liked it a lot, so here we are, with just the 2nd sock to go.



The Hubbo's Corner: Look what the Schmutz Meister managed to find me at a gigantic yard sale: Leg warmers, and I think they might be hand-knit. At any rate, they are amazingly warm, and I'll bring them with me when I go to the frozen Northland. Gotta keep the body warm there.



Scrabblequeen - I don't find it itchy. It's very different from merino. Remind me in a week or two, after I've finished the second sock, to send you a sample. It doesn't feel at all like any other woolly yarn I've used. I've only used it for socks, however. I don't know How it would feel in a scarf wrapped around my neck.

The Yarnarian Dyes Again!

My Multnomah shawl:



Yesterday i dyed Bambi and Rachel yarns. Bambi is 70/20/10 SW merino/bamboo/nylon. So nice to knit with, very drapey, and makes great socks and scarves and mitts. 4 oz approx 460 yards. $20/skein.

Rachel yarn is coming tomorrow.

Here they are:

Mirabella and Gavotte





Reef and Lovey




Shock Waves, Rose Hips, and Wood Chimes





Sock Club!!!! Flower Fairies Sock Club is posted below. Check it out.

The Yarnarian Promised Purple!

And she lived up to her promise. 6 very pretty yarns, each of which has purple in some form or other in its colorway.

Obviously purple and friends: Pretty Maids, Valley, and Mistress Mary





Subtle Purple. Yup each one of these has purple, but you might not recognize it because I blended it with other colors. Sneaky Dyer!

Quite Contrary, Growing Garden, and Blowing Wind:





All the yarns are Bambi with that wonderful bamboo feel and heathery look. So darn soft you'll want to just hang the skein around your neck and snuggle with it.

You want? fritzL234 AT yahoo DOT com

Knitting news: Same as yesterday - I'm plowing my way through my UFOs. I did start a little crochet ripple scarf last night. Frogged it my usual 5 times, worked 6 rows and then discovered that somewhere I made a counting mistake. I think knitting is very much easier than crochet, but I like the look of this ripple so I'll persevere. No pics because the dumb thing needs to be frogged again. Sigh.

I actually put the heat on in my house. It was 63 Farenheit (don't ask me Celsius, I think it might be 17.2 but I really don't know), and it's really chilly outside, and my poor little body is cold. So I put it up to 65, and it went on. And I'm still cold. I do not want to put on a sweater on the first day of October. Barfo.