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New colors and a Bon Voyage SALE

We have the winners of the color experiments! I have the dye all mixed. The yarn is all skeined. Dyeing to commence in the next day or two.

Here are the finalists:

Below are the results of tweaking the purple and pink one final time. I decided on the ones on the bottom. They go best with the rest of our colors. I really like the pink one now. :-)

I haven’t picked out names yet but was offered a few good suggestions from Kristi (I especially liked Varying Violet). I think I have decided on the yellow one though. I looks so much like Summer Squash to me that I think that’s what it has to be. Peach sounds a little boring, even though that’s what it is. I will have to come up with something better than that. Maybe Southern Peach? hmm… I have nothing on the pink one. I will see what I think when I see the full size skeins I suppose. Feel free to add any suggestions for any of the colors in the comments. I will welcome any help!

On the slightly bittersweet side is the fact that adding four new colors means we must discontinue four colors. Rats! But on the bright side. for you anyway, is that we are marking all the discontinued colors half price until they are gone. What a deal for you right? The colors going “bye-bye” are Aubergine, Dark Rose, Red Grape, and Pear. To shop the sale go to the Hand Dyed Yarn and highlight the color you want from the dropdown selector. Sale prices are displayed after you do that. :-)

On to knitting progress minute though it may be. I can not believe this is the sum total of my knitting since the end of April. Sheesh. As you can see I have finally gotten to the home stretch on my small Sorrel. I have started the yoke at last. Yay!

Posted on July 16, 2013July 15, 2013 by yarnmama — 2 Comments

Color Trials

The following are the first trials of four possible new colors. Of these peach samples I am leaning towards the lighter version on the top since it is the most different to any in the current color palette. I like the darker one too, but it’s a similar value to the Persimmon, so the lighter one is a better choice for balance. This is the only color I was pleased with in the first batch.

I was going for the chip called Frosty Melon, and got pretty close. :-) Might even go with that name. What do you think?

This is the initial trial for the purple. I am going for the color in the middle and as you can see the hue is a bit too blue so back to the drawing board.

Top ones are the first samples. The bottom sets are much closer to the sample card with the one on the left being the winner. I like the bottom right sample a lot but it’s not quite what I was going for. The challenge in naming this one is that on each base it looks different. Any suggestions?

Okay now on to the yellow candidates. Here are the first samples and I wasn’t sure which color on the card I wanted so tried a couple values. The consensus is that the darker value (bottom) is more interesting and wearable. What do you think?

I also wasn’t sure about the brightness and couldn’t resist the urge to try it a bit more muted so I lowered the intensity and this is the result.

The ones at the left are the lightest (top above) the middle ones are the darker (bottom above) and the ones on the right side are the tweaked version. The girls all prefer the middle (bright dark) version. I like the muted one of course but the main question is which do you find most wearable? The bright Summer Squash color or the earthy Maize color?

Finally the pink trial. I was going for the lighter card on the top of the card, but tried a darker value in case the middle color would strike my fancy more. We are on the fence about which one to go with. Is it too bright and Barbie-ish? Would you wear it?

I decided to tweak it a bit and see how I liked that but I think I was to cautious since I can barely discern any difference. I only tried it out on the lighter version.

The left side and middle are the first and second trials of the light value and the right side samples are the dark version. My leaning is towards the one on the left. No name ideas yet but it begs a flower name don’t you think? Peony? Azalea? Something else?

My little one turned 3 yesterday. Hard to believe isn’t it? You can’t see his new Thomas the train in this picture but that us what he’s doing. We took him up to pick a toy and trains are his current favorite thing.

Happy Birthday baby boy!

Posted on July 3, 2013July 3, 2013 by yarnmama — 2 Comments

A Study in Color

In preparation for our summer dye session I am brushing up on my color theory and mixing and deciding on what new colors to create this year.

I was reading through Betty Edwards’ Color which is aimed at mixing and using paints/pigments. It is different than working with dyes because dyes are opaque and also you use depth of shade instead of adding white to adjust value, the color theory is still tremendously instructive. Her exercises inspired me to create a color wheel of my dye stocks to better arrange them in my mind of where they fall on it. Her ideas of assigning a clock face and in a circle is a great visual exercise for seeing “into” a color to identify it’s hue and it’s direct complement. You will also notice a gray scale in a circle which is helpful for determining value.

All this is invaluable to seeing a given color and mixing it. First you must identify the hue from the twelve (3 primary, 3 secondary, and 6 tertiary). Next judge the value, or lightness/darkness. You can see on the black and white version of my stock color wheel below how those translate. Thirdly determine the intensity (saturation of hue). Is it closer to pure hue or “dulled”. Here’s where knowing the complements by heart is invaluable.

It’s all very fascinating to me, this thing of color. It is really in the brain that it happens and it’s positively mysterious. ;-)

So, after my refresher course I went to my local Lowe’s to visit the paint department to collect a stack of chips for study and inspiration. I have three or four firm ideas to experiment with. I am leaning towards a yellow, and clear purple, and a medium pink. The challenge for me is that I have to constrain my colors to 26 in my palette and I want to keep it balanced in value and hue. This means for every new color I must discontinue one color. That’s the hard part. Saying goodbye to colors is bittersweet. New colors are fun but the old ones are familiar friends. :-)

On the knitting front I did get a bit accomplished on Sorrel this week. I completed the body and one sleeve while re-watching A Study in Pink which is the new PBS series Sherlock. I finished A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of the Four in the book and so it was fun to watch that and get some knitting done.

Okay I have a fair bit of work to do so I will close for now. See you later. :-)

Posted on June 29, 2013June 29, 2013 by yarnmama — 6 Comments

Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair 2013

We are traveling again this weekend. We are in the Chicago area for the Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair which is n it’s 7th year. We have come every year from it’s inception and it is one of our favorites.

I really love the venue here in Lake County Fairgrounds. I think this has been the best location and I hope it has finally found a permanent home. This is the third venue since the first three years in Crystal Lake.

When we return from Chicago on Monday we will have the remainder of June, the whole of July and the first week of August at home, as I have probably mentioned before. We will be spending that time firing up the dye pots and the lathe to restock for the rest of the season.

Again no knitting done. Man, I am really in a knitting slump. Sorry about that. I have however finished three books this week. :-)

My Classics read was The Age of Innocence and I liked this one a lot. Well okay I was irritated by the ending but I get it. He loved the idea of her more than the actuality and it would have been a disappointment, or a least he wasn’t willing to risk it anyway. Eh. It’s not what I would have done but I get it. I did really enjoy the unfolding of the story though.

My fun read was Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. I recently joined the Constant Reader group on Goodreads and this was in the queue. It’s not one that would have otherwise caught my attention but I am so glad I came across it. It was just so funny and entertaining. It may depend on your interests and geek factor. Mine is up there so I loved it. While the questions raised for thought or discussion could be delved into but for me it was just fun. I laughed out loud very many times and I rarely do that with a book. 5 stars for this one. :-)

The third book I read was Shutter Island. Again this comes from a group read on Goodreads, the Stephen King Fans group. I also might never have noticed this one despite the fact that I apparently watched the movie in 2011 according to my Netflix history. I vaguely recall the movie but fortunately I didn’t recall the details because that would have spoiled the book. :-) It was very compelling reading. Again the ending here is a bit…disturbing I guess…but a worthwhile read to be sure.

Okay I will close for now. Take care!

Posted on June 21, 2013 by yarnmama — Leave a comment

Lazy days of summer

We are really enjoying our weeks off around here. I am still reading a lot and knitting a little.

The summer is in full swing. The trees are gloriously green and lush. The tomatoes are setting their fruit and we can hardly wait for the first harvest.

We need to get into production mode soon and the orders are in for yarn to dye. The wood shop will also be opened back up soon but for this one more week we take a small break and catch up on life.

The oldest five offspring are off to Holiday World today and then on to their grandma’s for a short visit. I am home with only the husband and the three youngest. I have visions of quiet evenings to read but I doubt that is very realistic. :-)

What am I reading you ask? Well I finished the latest Dan Brown novel, Inferno. It was okay and certainly was surprising in the ending, but I didn’t care for the preachy way the “crisis” was handled. I give it 3 stars for pure entertainment value and for the fact that he did at least attempt to change up his formula some what.

I immediately started listening to Stephen King’s Joyland and even though I haven’t gotten far I can tell it is going to be good. I have the Audible version since it is only in paperback and I can’t stand reading them since I went digital. ;-)

I also started Age of Innocence for the Classics group on Goodreads. This is very readable and I am enjoying it so far as well.

Okay well maybe I will have some new knitting to show off next post but I hope you don’t mind my sharing my reading with you.

Posted on June 11, 2013June 11, 2013 by yarnmama — Leave a comment

One More To Go

Wow, two posts in one week!

We are in Franklin, IN this weekend for the Hoosier Hills Fiber Festival. I had an opportunity this afternoon to take a few pictures and write a brief post. I don’t have any internet or cellular connectivity in the building so this will be uploaded when I get back to the hotel.

We arrived yesterday afternoon and got the booth setup. The festival opened today for a half day from 12-6 pm and will be open all day tomorrow from 9 am – 5 pm. We will drive home on Sunday and have a longer break than we have had since mid April. We have a weekend off before leaving for Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair in Grayslake, IL, near Chicago. When we are done with THAT we are off the road until the second week of August. :-)

Of course that’s our production time so we will still have stuff to sell at the late summer and fall shows, but hey at least we are home for a while. I love traveling but I am glad for longer spells at home to catch up too. It’s all good.

I have made a bit more progress on the small Sorrel. It’s only going this slowly for ME because I hardly ever get any chance to work on it lately. Both my test knitters completed it in a week or two. Actually I think the proto type I knit while designing it took about that as well. It’s just my schedule right now. To be honest if I have down time I sometimes (dare I say it?) would rather read than knit. That’s been my mood lately anyway. I think picking this back up and working on it this week has helped with the knitting mojo.

I am still reading The Lost Symbol but I expect to be finished soon. I can listen to the Audible version on Sunday on the drive home and between that and other reading time at night I should be done soon and ready to finally start the new book, Inferno.

The Classics group I am in on Goodreads is starting The Age of Innocence on June 1 which I haven’t read yet, so I want to do that one. I still have Sherlock Holmes on my short list too. Thank goodness for Audible, huh? LOL! We need something like that for knitting don’t you think? ;-)

Posted on May 31, 2013May 31, 2013 by yarnmama — 2 Comments

Sorrel pattern release

Well another 10 days have gone by in which I have neglected the Blog. :-( I appreciate each and every one of you who are still reading this no matter how sporadic it may get at times. Mwah!

So since my last post we have been to another show which I didn’t even remember to get any pictures while we were there. We were in Wooster, Ohio for the Great Lakes Fiber Show. This is a show that dates back for us to our earliest year of doing festivals and we look forward to it every year. We took Emma (8 year old daughter) so she could see the horses. I meant for the girls to get some pictures but we all forgot.

I do however have a few pictures for you today. I am still making ridiculously slow progress on the smallest size of my Sorrel pattern sample, but fortunately my test knitters are much faster than I am. They have both come through with theirs and I am ready to call this thing ready for public consumption. Yay!

This is my pathetic progress in what? three weeks? four? Gah!

The Tiger Lily one is the large, as mentioned last time; and the Tea Rose one in front is the middle size as is the Thyme one in the center.

One skein of Classic Merino Bamboo is all that is needed to knit any of the three sizes. I have the pattern listed on both my website and Ravelry for $6.00.

The traveling may interfere with knitting time, but it does give my more reading time. Bonus! Right before Mother’s Day weekend I treated my self to a new Nook HD+ when they added Google Play and put them on sale. I have used it quite a lot. I still use my e-ink Nook sometimes but I have found the Nook HD+ easier on my eyes that I thought I would. One advantage it has is that I can listen to music or my audiobooks while reading which comes in handy for blocking out distractions. I can use my phone or iPod but it’s nice to have it all on one device too. My Nexus 7 can do this as well, but I am liking the beautiful large screen on the HD+. :-)

I bought this sleeve to keep it in which I prefer to a cover.

I have been reading through all the Dan Brown novels in the Robert Langdon series before I read the newest one, Inferno. They are fun and interesting light reading. I am currently about one-fourth of the way through the third book, The Lost Symbol. My favorite so far is probably not surprisingly The Da Vinci Code. I am probably one of the few people who didn’t read it when it came out.

I think I will start my summer reading off when I m done with these by working through the Complete Sherlock Holmes collection.

I also got this book right before I left for Ohio. I had pre-ordered it in late January when I first became available and it finally came! I am savoring it by just reading a chapter a day. :-)

Posted on May 28, 2013May 28, 2013 by yarnmama — Leave a comment

Quick updates

Good Morning Blog!

I don’t have much time for the long catch up post I owe you since I am right now in my booth at the Kentucky Sheep & Fiber Festival getting ready to start the day of business. I had a few spare moments and wanted to say hello.

It has been a crazy spring and it’s not slowing down anytime soon. We have had shows nearly every weekend with three more to go before we get any break. It’s fine though. I truly love what I do but it does make one’s head spin sometimes. :-)

I do have a bit of news to share about my little dress pattern Sorrel. I received my first test knit back for the largest size between travels. I am very glad that it only took one skein of the Classic Merino Bamboo to make! So that means that for any of the three sizes you will only need one skein. Yay!

Here’s a picture I took quickly in my booth this morning with my phone. I’ll get better ones later when I am ready to publish it. I am just waiting on the test knit of the small size first. The green one is the one I made (the middle size) and the orange is the large made by the talented Kristi Renshaw. :-) Thanks again Kristi!

Posted on May 18, 2013 by yarnmama — 4 Comments

Beginnings

I guess the biggest news for this post is that my newest granddaughter Sorrel Rose was born 3 weeks earlier than we expected her.

The funny thing is that just a couple days before this I had finished writing up the pattern for the baby dress named in her honor and was sending yarn and the pattern for my daughter to test knit the smallest size for me. She was going to have Sorrel model it when she arrived. The next day, when I was to put the yarn in the mail for her, she texted me at 6:00 am to say her water had broken and was in labor. Oh well, so much for that idea, LOL!

Never fear though I had two other test knitters lined up and they are working on theirs I am sure. I did cast on for a small anyway, and can hopefully get it done pretty quickly to send to my daughter for the baby.

This past weekend we made the long trip up to Minneapolis for Yarnover. It was a very nice event and I sure do wish it was closer to me because while we really had a nice time there we decided it was just too far for a one day event and probably won’t do it next year. We plan to continue going to Shepherd’s Harvest which is next weekend, but two trips so far away that are only weeks apart is just too much. :-(

I do have a couple pictures from the event to show you though.

Oh I have more babies for you! The robins hatched while we were in Minneapolis. There are four of them gain this year.

I noted as we got further and further north in our travels that spring had not sprung yet everywhere. The leaves were barely budding on the trees and there were piles of melting snow in the parking lots from the snow the previous weekend.

Spring is in full bloom where we live and I am so glad to live in the south. :-)

These Peonies are my favorite flower in our yard. These smell like roses without all the fussiness of roses. :-)

My husband and oldest son put in a few tomato and pepper plants a couple weeks back and I can’t wait for some garden tomatoes! It’s been several years since we have done any vegetable gardening.

I just love these little wildflowers that are everywhere in our lawn this time of year. I don’t care a bit that it’s not all “grass”. I think they are much more interesting. :-)

The maple trees that are numerous on our property are in full leaf already.

I will close with a picture of the goodies that are all boxed up and going out soon to our new retailer in Pittsford, NY, Yarn Culture. I believe they are a new shop so if you are in the area check it out. They don’t have their website up yet, but have told me it is forth coming.

Posted on May 3, 2013May 3, 2013 by yarnmama — 8 Comments

The Robins are back

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I think the robins have made a regular nesting spot of our playhouse tower now. Do you remember my chronicles of our nest watch last year?

They built a nest and successfully reared 4 babies. I guess 4 must be their magic number because they have repeated it this year.

I think the color of Robin’s eggs is one of my favorite colors.

I am glad they like it here because it is fascinating to watch the process from eggs to fledglings in about 3-4 weeks time. I am also glad that ours is a much slower process. :-) I don’t think I would want mine flying the coop quite so rapidly. I wonder if they remember the grown ones when they are gone? Do they have extended family like we do?

Not much knitting progress to show today. I have gotten a few inches on the wrap I am working on but that’s it.

I have read quite a few books in the last couple weeks. I listen to audio books when driving and I have been doing a lot of that lately. Let’s see…I finished Rebecca and The Handmaid’s Tale (both excellent) and then started The End of the Affair . this last one I highly recommend. I have one more hour left in it and have enjoyed it immensely. I picked it up in a BOGO sale at Audible based solely on the fact that it was narrated by Colin Firth and because it is an Audie Award nominee with rave reviews. It has lived up to them in my opinion.

I have also been reading (Nook) the first two Jackson Brodie books by Kate Atkinson. These are okay for light reading. Ithink when I finish One Good Turn I will pick a more heavy book. I am thinking it might be An American Tragedy or maybe Sherlock Holmes . Not sure yet.

Posted on April 18, 2013April 18, 2013 by yarnmama — 4 Comments

New colors and a Bon Voyage SALE

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Color Trials

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A Study in Color

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Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair 2013

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Lazy days of summer

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One More To Go

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Sorrel pattern release

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Quick updates

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Beginnings

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The Robins are back

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