Dyeabolical®

Unexpected results

2012-01-26T09:07:00.001-06:00

Last year I picked up the last fleece on the table at the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival. It was $10, about 2 pounds, and the tag said it was a Wensleydale, Border Leicester and ? cross breed. It had very little VM that I could see and it was only $10, so I bought it and plunked it down at the Fleury wool processing booth so they could wash and card it for me. I thought it would make a nice gift for the avid spinners in my life.

It came back a few months ago in a fluffy coil of pin-drafted roving, which I don't have a picture of since I am posting part of this from my phone. I gave 4oz to Kim (wheelinsticks) and she spun it in to the yarn below. I know, terrible picture, but the yarn? WHOA. This questionable cross breed fleece spun up in to an extremely soft, lofty, squishy, wonderful, lovely, delightful yarn. I can't wait to spin my own share of this gorgeous fleece.

Shop Preview

2012-01-24T23:20:00.000-06:00

I'm making a huge update today (Wednesday) starting around noon St. Louis time.

My regular website, http://www.dyeabolical.com, has been experiencing a bit of lag between it and the etsy shop. If you are planning on purchasing around noon, then you might want to purchase directly from the etsy shop to avoid cartjacking. Hopefully that little bug will be fixed soon. Here's a preview:

Madonna and the Yarnwinder

2012-01-23T22:21:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I find knitting and spinning tools in unexpected places, like great art work.

I'm reading the book The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft about the theft of numerous works from the Gardner Museum in Boston. At one point the author mentions another art theft from another museum, a Leonardo da Vinci work called Madonna and the Yarnwinder. Madonna and the Yarnwinder? Yarnwinder? So I look at the painting. Jesus is holding a niddy noddy!

"Behold! Symbolism!"

Sundays are for spinning

2012-01-22T19:16:00.000-06:00

This week my wheel and needles got no love. I was too busying dyeing every single bit of wool yarn in my apartment. When I wasn't working, I was sleeping, so Scott was kind enough to help with today's blog post.

Lots and lots of new spinners like seeing how other people spin and find it useful in their own spinning, so I filmed Scott spinning and Scott filmed me spinning. Neither one of us claim the One True Way of spinning, but each of our methods work for us.

Sundays are for Blogging

2012-01-15T18:07:00.002-06:00

I've already blogged about how Monday and Tuesday were a blur. The rest of the week didn't go by any slower.

We had some adventure Thursday morning when it it snowed barely at all in St. Louis, but messed up traffic terribly. I had to drop Scott off at the train station at 5am. Thankfully we were the only ones on the road and the roads had not yet been treated. Whatever they ended up treating the roads with on the first round turned that snow, which was admittedly a little slick, in to black ice. Lovely.

On Thursday I also started a new non-business Twitter account so that my @dyeabolicalyarn followers never again have to read such ranty tweets as:

"Remember months ago when they said #stl cuts to road treatment and snow removal wouldn't affect anyone or cause additional problems;
and, How is the amount of time lost, car damage, person damage, and lost wages less expensive than just treating the roads, #stl powers that be?
@Weatherbird How dare anyone defend the decision not to pretreat the interstates when someone DIED because of it.

That's right. I yelled at St. Louis's beloved Weatherbird.Yeesh. In my defense, I wasn't really yelling at him, but yelling about a link he posted to some MoDOT official saying something inane.

Long-time followers of this blog will know that I have struggled with where to draw the line between personal and business. Now I know, the line gets drawn on Twitter sometime before I yell at Weatherbird from my business account. You can now find my non-business rantings @lehcarstl and my business-related tweets @dyeabolicalyarn.

Look, here's some knitting! I finished 2 Lizard Ridge blocks this week. I could have finished 3, but I was too busy yelling to an owl about snow.

Monday!

2012-01-10T23:40:00.000-06:00

Hello Monday! I've had a super productive Monday.

My knitting group is having an afghan knit-a-long in January, so I picked up Lizard Ridge again and knit a full square.
I dyed 24 braids of the club colorway on a new wool.
I've kept up with the Fly Lady daily missions.
I've finished several chapters of Bizarre Botanicals.
I went to the asthma/allergy doc and had a personal best lung function test, got a negative result on the wool allergy blood test (thank merciful heavens), got banned from raw non-organic oranges (boo), and had a completely uneventful allergy shot (for once).
Ate an enormous salad, although the healthiness of said salad was severely compromised by the fried chicken pieces on top of it.
Started the hundred pushups challenge and didn't die. Not only did I not die, I didn't have to start off at the lowest level. Go me. I'm enjoying this small victory today, because on Day 2 I'm pretty sure I'll have to drop down to the lowest fitness level. Somehow I just don't imagine myself doing 33 pushups, no matter how you slice it up.

And while I was congratulating myself for having such a productive Monday, and planning my Tuesday list, I realized that in 28 minutes it is going to be Wednesday and at least half that list must have happened on Monday.Time flies when you're having fun.

Shop Updates

2012-01-08T19:31:00.002-06:00

Hellloooo! How was your weekend? Scott and I had a nice dinner at a local salad bar on Friday and spent the weekend around the house working, cooking, and cleaning. I know, very exciting! Scott did a lot of spinning and I finished a short-row hat spun from some gorgeous Hello Yarn wensleydale fiber that Annie gave me.


I think it goes pretty good with my rockin' pompom scarf from Suzi.

When I wasn't doing absolutely nothing, I was plowing through my inventory boxes. I listed several new braids of fiber and batts, as well as quite a few overstock, seconds, and test hanks. Everything is currently in the shop except for the pictures way at the bottom. Those will be listed tomorrow sometime around noonish.

November-December FOs!

2012-01-06T14:41:00.009-06:00

Remember when I said 2012 was the year I learn to delegate? I'm sticking to it! Please help me welcome Allison as a new contributor to the Dyeabolical blog. She will be handling the FO posts and perhaps the occasional guest post. I hope you enjoy the changes she has made to the format of the FO posts and find a lot of inspiration from the pictures. I see about 5 things I need to cast on for immediately.

And now, I'm off to dinner with my lovely husband because I have time. Woohoo! And now, here's Allison...
------------------------

Hi everyone! Before we jump into the monthly finished object post, I wanted to quickly introduce myself since I will be handling the FO posts going forward to give Rachel one less thing to worry about. Anyway, my name is Allison, and I have been knitting since college, but really became a Knitter (with a capital K) about 5 years ago. I live in St. Louis and love Rachel's yarn just as much as you all do. You can find me as legalgirl on Ravelry and you can track me down on twitter, plurk and facebook by following the links on my Ravelry profile. Going forward please feel free to send me directly any finished Dyeabolical projects that you would like me to feature in the posts.

Now for what you have been waiting for, the awesome finished objects from the last two months! Thank you to everyone who shared pictures of their finished projects and handspun yarns made with Dyeabolical yarns and fibers in November and December. If you would like me to include your FO in an upcoming post (or if I have forgotten anyone!) email me at allison.levin [at] gmail [dot] com or message me through Ravelry.

This will be a picture heavy post. Those of you with slow internet connections may want to go have a cup of coffee while the page loads.

And now, in no particular order:

Mindy, CraftyandCrap, made this super cute needle-felted bug-eyed fish for Rachel out of Felting Fiber. I don't know about you, but I want to make one (or ten) right now!

Beck, lemonhalf, made a Holden Shawlette by Mindy Wilkes out of Dyeabolical handspun and I am insanely jealous of the entire project. She started with Dyeabolical Superwash Roving in the Thesmyscira colorway and spun it into 424 yards of this gorgeous yarn

Which she then knit into this amazing shawl!

Next up is Leah, Zillahknits, who used a skein of Strong Arm 3ply in Sosari, along with a contrasting red yarn, to make

this amazing Daybreak Shawl by Stephen West. This shawl is definitely on my must make in 2012 list.

Steven, DramaticKnits, made his leading man socks using Strong Arm Skinny in the Dark Knight colorway

and yes, he got a full size men's sock out of 1 skein!

Tamara, neddhead, used about half of skein of the Worsted Weight Superwash in a one-off colorway to make

Trifurcate by Hunter Hammersen. You can't beat making two great gifts out of one skein of Worsted Weight Superwash!

Next up is Mandy, baconfairy, who made some Christmas socks out of Bling in the Closer Than You Think colorway that she purchased at Ewe Knit Yarns in Webster Groves, MO, one of the stores where you can buy Dyeabolical yarn in person.

Mandy used the Wanida pattern by Cookie A and knit the whole pair in 9 days! Call me jealous :)

Deborah, 7LetterDeborah, used one of the Strong Arm 3ply Sock Flats

to make basic toe-up socks. I've gotta admit, when Rachel started carrying the sock flats I wasn't sure if I'd ever buy one, but after seeing Deborah's finished object, I will be be buying myself a Sock Flat soon!

Kristin, PintSizePhoenix, took a skein of Strong Arm 3ply in the Butternut Squash colorway and made

these amazing Bois de Rose socks by Nicole Masson. These are going in my queue as well...and yes, I am quickly realizing doing these FO posts is going to increase my queue exponentially :)

Kara, KaraMichele, used the June 2011 Sock Club shipment of Strong Arm Skinny in the Always Rainbows colorway to make

some toe-up Monkey socks by Cookie A. Speaking of Kara, she was lucky enough to receive some handspun yarn from Kim, wheelinsticks

Kim used Dyeabolical Fiber in a 50% merino, 25% Tussah silk and 25% Bamboo viscose blend in the Homage to Mr. Fuschia colorway and got 300 yards of a fingering weight yarn. As somebody who has been spinning for about a month, I am so envious of Kim getting 300 yards in a fingering weight!

Mandy, who owns the Cloistered Lamb shop on Etsy, had her husband pick out a skein of BFL HardTwist Sock Yarn in his favorite colorway at the Strange Folk Festival. He chose the Steampunk colorway and Mandy wove him a scarf for Christmas!

She used a laceweight yarn in a brownish colorway for the warp and the BFL HardTwist in Steampumpk as the weft. I love the finished object!

Also at the Strange Folk Festival, Casey, who owns Tangerine Designs on Etsy, picked up a skein of Bling in the Blue Bruce colorway and made

Damson by Ysolda Teague, another great shawl pattern that you can make with only 1 skein of any of the Dyeabolical sock yarns. Casey also has an absolutely adorable model for her shawl

who I just had to show you all :)

Great knitting, spinning and weaving everyone! As always you can find everything at the Dyeabolical store. I'd be especially interested in seeing any projects you all make out of the new Hand Dyed Ribbon Rachel is carrying.

Until next time,
Allison

Knitting Year in Review

2012-01-03T07:56:00.000-06:00

Fabric wreath from my mom

My creative demands have increased as part of my job. It's a good thing, but by the end of the day I pretty much don't want to do anything but veg in front of the TV and my numbers show it. It isn't a competition against anyone but myself but, as I shiver in my cold office, I do wish I had knit a few more shrugs or a big worsted weight shawl.

1 cowl (down from 3 in 2010)
6 washcloths/burpcloths/bibs/potholders/swiffer covers etc (up from 5 in 2010)
0 cosies of any sort (down from 1)
0 baby things (down from 3)
1 fingerless mitts (down from 4)
1 pair of gloves (up from 0)
1 hat (down from 3)
2 shawls (up from 0)
3 pairs of socks (down from 9 in 2010 which completely explains why I don't have enough socks this winter)
3 cardigans/sweaters (up from 1)
1 tank top (up from 0)
1 shrug (up from 0)
3 scarves (same)
-----------
23 projects in 2011 (down from 35 in 2010)

On the 5th Day of Christmas

2011-12-29T09:24:00.001-06:00

Hand made gifts are the best gifts. The crafty Santas in my life have been extra generous this season. What's listed below is just a portion of the wonderfulness that came my way this year. I hope you find it inspirational in your own crafting.

On the 5th day of Christmas, my knitting friends gave to me, this adorable hand-sewn bag and a needle-felted bug-eyed fish. They're both sitting next to me on the couch so I can admire them. I love them Mindy and Kara!

Way back on the 1st Day of Christmas, my mom gave me a stack of headbands from remnants and various fat quarters she had. I don't usually wear headbands in public. My hair is a little too short and fine to pull that off, but I do wear headbands or bandannas at home almost every day. When I wake up in the morning, I go right to work checking emails, dyeing, etc. I control bedhead by slipping on a headband or a bandanna. She also made a very cool advent calendar that is made of fabric chains. You remove a chain each day. Before you ask, yes, the advent calendar is currently living on my rabbit ears.

Year End Sale

2011-12-29T06:31:00.000-06:00

Use coupon code NYE30 to get a 30% discount off all orders from my shop. My apologies for not posting this yesterday.

The most up-to-date information on sales, updates, and other shop announcements can be found on my Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/DyeabolicalYarns

On the second day of Christmas

2011-12-26T12:31:00.000-06:00

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me some size 00 needles and a request that I please wake up at 5am so the cats and I could take our medicine and since I'm up could I please, please, please finish his Christmas present. His hands are cold and he'd like to wear his handspun, hand knitted qiviut gloves when he goes out to brunch this morning. For you non-knitters, qiviut is the down from the Alaskan musk ox. It is 8 times warmer than wool, stronger than wool, and resistant to felting. Cashmere feels like a brillo pad compared to qiviut. It is a precious fiber that requires a bit of scrimping and saving, but oh! To spin it is divine. Just don't do what I did and spin it to a cobweb weight or you, too, will be up at 5am morning after morning trying to juggle sticks that are smaller than skewers trying to get your precious project finished. [Please note that I think it is charming that Scott thinks I'll finish half a glove and 6 fingers in just a few hours.]

It's been a quiet month on the blog, but not in the world of Dyeabolical. When I haven't been pretending to knit, this is what's been going on:

Over the last few months I created colorways inspired by the Kakao Chocolate logo, the Pudd'nhead Books logo, Traveling Tea, and Queen's Cuisine, as well as a color exclusive to Ewe Knit Yarns that matches their loglo. A reporter from the local side of Patch.com picked up the story and wrote about the new colors. It's been about a week and I am still busting with happiness over the article.

My shelves are stacked full to overflowing with cotton yarns, spinning fibers, and fabrics to dye. What isn't on my shelf is any substantial amount of sock yarn. Oops. That was a major oversight on my part! Sock yarn will be a little slow to be updated in January, but I will get out everything I can. In the meantime, can I interest you in any spinning fiber? :)

Several of you have noticed that I don't have the November FO post up yet. It isn't because I don't want to! I do! Some of you have sent me pictures of some very nice projects. I'm sorry I haven't gotten the post up yet. My personal and business lives have gotten very busy lately and things are starting to fall through the cracks. 2012 will be the year of delegating tasks, including some blog posts. If you are interested in guest blogging, please shoot me an email at dyeabolicalyarns at gmail dot com

I stopped doing my video updates/videocasts/podcasts. They may return someday, but not until I have a better set-up and a faster computer. I started them to save time and they ended up taking up as much time as a part-time job and the production quality wasn't very good. I would love to do some audio podcasting in the future, either involving the business or separately, but I would have to find a cohost and someone more tech savvy than me.

I changed the shopping cart software on the website yet again. What do you think? It's a keeper, right? It was so easy to set up. http://www.dyeabolicalyarns.com/ The site is now tied to Etsy so I don't have to worry about keeping separate inventories for the Etsy shop and the .com shop. I can just list all of it on one site and the inventory is reflected on both sites. The blog still needs a bit of work, but for the most part I think my website is done! Finally!

I've started dyeing fabric! This is the first batch. I don't have them in the shop yet, because I haven't trimmed the stray threads or labeled them yet, but they are for sale. Just email me if you are interested. Each piece is about a yard and costs $15.

Gift Certificates

2011-12-07T14:30:00.000-06:00

Just a quick update to let you know that I am now offering gift certificates available in $10, $25, $50 or $75 denominations. I can also make a gift certificate for any other amount. You can buy gift certificates either through my etsy shop or my website. Happy holidays!

Oh, dear.

2011-12-02T15:41:00.000-06:00

Somehow it has been almost a month since my last blog update and more like 2 months since I made a blog post that wasn't about sales or new products or shop updates. Not that this is a non-sales, non-new product post, because in about 3 paragraphs I'm going to talk about a new product. I just telling you that I feel bad about not having actual content. 7LetterDebroah says that even feeling bad about it is blog worthy. She also says a lot of business choices I make are blog worthy because people don't realize what it takes to run a home-based micro business.

Today's fun fact: A micro business is a business with 1-6 employees and less than a million or so in sales. So I guess I'm a mini-micro business. Let's blog about it! :)

I'm still feeling a little weird about posting non-wool, non-yarn stuff in the business blog (the one you're reading). I'm toying with the idea of reviving my old blog, Lehcar Blogs for non-Dyeabolical, non-knitting posts. I've only been toying with this idea for about 3 hours, so it might be a bit before I actually get around to posting there.

So what have you all been up to? I've been ridiculously insanely busy with work. My yarns are flying out of the door at Ewe Knits in Webster Groves, sales are pretty good online, I just dyed a color called Kakao yarns to match the Kakao Chocolate logo which was fun (coming soon to my shop), I added a shopping cart to dyeabolical.com but not sure what the heck to do with it since most of my sales are through etsy, the fiber and sock clubs are doing decently, Suzanne Shankman Designs used my yarn in a craft demonstration on a local tv show, and I finally hit a pace I could keep up with. So naturally, being all caught up and just the right amount of busy, I decided to bring in 2 or 3 new lines of product and completely overwhelm myself.

Luckily, these 2 or 3 (or 4) new lines are lines that I could easily get someone to help me. Or at least it would be easy if I had a separate studio space that wasn't also my living space and wasn't horribly embarrassed to have any one see how I really live when the crafting hits the fan. It sort of looks like someone had an epic crafting/potluck party in here or like a combo Michael's/McDonalds exploded in here or something involving piles of wool, fabric and dishes.

Hand painted silk ribbon, soon to be joined by hand dyed fabric and handmade quilting tape.

I'm sort of (extremely) tempted to start up a different shop to sell this ribbon and fabric stuff that I've gotten in to the last few weeks. It would be a lot easier to do local shows if I only had to pack up the fabric and ribbon and didn't have to bring along the epically heavy Dyeabolical displays, which I would have to do if I sold under the name "Dyeabolical". Plus, changing from Dyeabolical Yarns to Dyeabolical Crafts would mean changing the focus of the shop and I just now have the shop where I want it. There is some argument that selling hand dyed sewing supplies in the Dyeabolical shop means I would be selling to a built-in audience, but there is also an argument that selling hand dyed sewing supplies dilutes the Dyeabolical brand which sells to a very specific clientele. Sigh. Tell me what to do, Internet.

In other news, I still knit! I finished a sweater and a pair of socks last month!

Sale, Fiber Club, Shop Updates and a Tentative Schedule

2011-11-08T20:00:00.000-06:00

First, click here to sign up for the Dyeabolical newsletter if you would like to get your shop update information that way. I will update no more than twice a month. Probably not even that often, to be honest.

Next, quite a few items have been deeply discounted on the Etsy shop to make room for new inventory. Also take advantage of coupon code "NOVEMBER" for an extra 10% off anything on the etsy shop. This code now works on the dyeabolical.com website, too.

and now....
Fiber Club Sign-Ups!!

Spots opening Noveber 13

Click here for the 4oz option (available November 13 after 10am central)
Click here for the 8oz option (available November 13 after 10am central)
(renewing members can complete renewals now on the website)

It is almost time to sign up for the first 2012 fiber club! The fiber club offers either 4 or 8 ounces of fine to medium grade wool or wool blend spinning fiber in a surprise color each month for 3 months--January, February, and March 2012.

Each color is exclusive to club members for 3 months after the color is introduced. Club members are entitled to order extras of the club colorway on the same or different fiber base*. The types of wools I normally dye range from fine merino, bfl, corriedale, silk blends, polwarth, and falkland to shetland, cheviot, jacob and other fine to medium wools.

Your shipments will be sent before the end of each month. No combining club shipments with other orders, please.

I am not planning on doing a theme or a swag option for the fiber club, unless that is something that several of you want. Swag and themes work great for sock clubs, but I think us spinners just want to spin! Please let me know if I'm wrong and you would like me to add a swag option.
*subject to normal custom dye policies and time frames

==========================

Shop Updates

A new storefront, combined shipping, and recently listed items

Shop updates can now be found in two places, both on etsy and now at dyeabolical.com. There is some overlap between the two shops, but also some unique items, so be sure to check out both shops. I regularly add a few items a week, but the larger updates are usually announced on Facebook, Twitter, the blog or in the Ravelry group. Here are a few recently added items:

AND FINALLY...

Yes, I know I have been extremely negligent in dyeing spinning fiber. I'm sorry. I've been going through a bit of ennui with spinning fiber lately, but I'm happy to report that I'm now OVER IT and back to normal, or I would be if I wasn't constantly running out of time. I have 4 gradient-dyed Texel wools to be listed this week. I have 2 semisolid red superwash cheviots that I wasn't going to list, but I will if any of you would like to see them. I will be dyeing custom order the rest of this week, but I will try to sneak in at least 2-4 colors of fiber and will list them next week.

I also have a LOT of undyed gotland and kent-romney fleece. There are some shorter pieces and second cuts, but the fiber is still beautiful. If any of you art spinners or felters would like any dyed up, please contact me and I'll be happy to discuss options with you.

Customer FOs for September and October 2011

2011-11-07T06:59:00.000-06:00

It's that time again! Thank you to everyone who shared pictures of their finished projects and handspun yarns made with Dyeabolical yarns and fibers in September and October. If you would like me to include your FO in an upcoming post (or if I have forgotten anyone!) email me or message me through Ravelry. This will be a picture heavy post. Those of you with slow internet connections may want to go have a cup of coffee while the page loads.

And now, in no particular order....

LiliMarlene87 knitted this fantastic shrug from Bling. I really love this shrug. The pictures are really cute. Her partner did a great job on the photography, don't you think?

A few months ago I sent Deborah the Iris shawl pattern. She immediately cast on using a hank of Cotton Warp in Mardi Gras colors. She gets compliments where ever she goes and it is easy to see why. The pattern is fantastic for hand dyed yarns and Deborah is a great knitter. She had enough yardage left to add an extra repeat to the cowl for those of you wanting to try this pattern.

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! Allison used the Bird of Paradise club colorway alternated with Dream in Color to knit the My Wish shawl by Laura Linneman. Lovely!

This is THE shawl. A few weeks ago Kate decided the day before Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's book signing that she would knit a new shawl for the signing. She put her head down, knit for 12 hours and BAM! Shawl.

The Yarn Harlot holding the 12-hour shawl.

Last year Carrie picked up a braid of Falkland fiber from my booth at the Tower Grove Fall Festival. She spun it up in to this beautifully thin and even yarn and knit a gorgeous shawlette. Click the link for more pictures.

This chickie, Sarah from Yarn Geek Fibers, showed up at Strange Folk with this hand spun, hand knitted Lady Eleanor shawl. Holy crap! How did she make it away with this still in her possession? Because I'll be honest, if I see it again I may steal it right off her shoulders and feign ignorance. Shawl? What shawl? I occasionally snuck back to her booth to visit this shawl, along with Sarah's very pretty fibers. The bonus time with Yarn Geek and Mr. Yarn Geek was pretty nice, too.

Handspun singles in the color Themyscira

Speaking of Themycira, a few months ago I dyed a sock blank made from Strong Arm in the Themyscira colors. Knit Night friend Ava knit these gorgeous toe-up socks. I knew I should have kept a blank for myself before putting Srong Arm on hiatus!

Kara finished her Flowershop Inferno socks! Yay! Kermit arms! Kara finished the first sock a few years ago and started the second sock a few months ago. She discovered that her gauge had changed in the years between socks and had to rip and reknit the second one. Sigh. I do that far more than I admit to my fellow knit nighters, except I can manage to mess up my gauge in a matter of hours, so I can sympathize. Great job, Kara!

Here's another one from Kara. She borrowed some scraps of Cotton Slub (which is now on sale) and made this very cool zombie boy for a mutual friend. I sort of love the dangling button eye.

Dena Stelly designed these toe-up socks and used the color Jo Rides a Motorbike to knit them! Nice socks, Dena! I can't wait to knit my own pair.


Here's another one from Kate. This girl likes knitting on a deadline. She showed up at knitting with these on a Wednesday with the cuff of one started and was wearing the pair 4 days later at Strange Folk. Never get in to a knitting for speed competition with her is all I have to say.

Whew! That was a lot of knitted objects. Time for the hand spun. This bit of neapolitan pretty was spun by our Annie. She was testing out some batts I'm considering selling in the shop. She gave the batts the thumbs up, so I will start listing them just as soon as I, um, make some more. I, uh, may have possibly, um, spun up all of my original stock myself. I guess that's my prerogative, but I still feel a little guilty about it.

Fluid Pudding's Angela is a very new spinner, but she spun this lovely 2-ply! Very nice, Angela. (Go read her blog!)

Karen, who I see each year at the Artisan Guild of Southern Illinois booth, spun the yarn above and below from club colorways earlier this year. I really love seeing Karen at Strange Folk each year. She always has a yarn to show me and they're always beautiful.

Rose-Marie, proprietor of Bea-Gin Design, spun this from some hand pulled roving I did earlier this year. Pretty, Rose-Marie!

Joy spun this from a braid of fiber called Jeannette. I got to visit with Joy a few weeks ago and see this yarn in progress. I wish I could remember which colors I used to get that mauvey pink...

Finally, a color that was technically one of a kind, but that I'm going to try to recreate. This is Mourning Clowns, so named by the spinner, Steven of Dramatic Knits.

A sale and a request

2011-11-01T17:38:00.000-05:00

BIG ETSY SALE! I've drastically marked down 21 items, plus take an extra 10% off ANY item by using the coupon code "NOVEMBER". Sale good through November and good only through my etsy shop. http://www.etsy.com/shop/DyeabolicalYarns

Then, when you're done checking out my etsy shop, take a look at my regular website. I've added shopping cart software and rearrange things a big. I'm still not sure that I'm ready to leave etsy altogether. I can put identical listings on both sites, separate stock on each site, new stock on one site and older stock on the other. I just haven't decided. I'd love to know what you would prefer and what you think about the new site.

Shop Preview

2011-10-27T09:00:00.000-05:00

I spent too much time on Wednesday trying to make a narrated slide show, but it just didn't work out.

These items will be listed in the shop on Friday around noon central time.

Bird of Paradise on the bases Sporty!, Superwash Merino Worsted and an 85/15 Polworth wool and silk

Fate, Ph.D. on bases Sporty!, 50/25/25 merino wool/bamboo viscose/silk and Finn wool

Hidden Tiger in bases Sporty! and superwash merino worsted

Sock flats in the Strong Arm sock yarn base. These are the last of the Strong Arm base I'll have before the base goes on hiatus. Remember I will still have Strong Arm Skinny in stock.

Carnivale in Strong Arm Skinny

Marilin's Bags Reversible Project Bags with ribbon ties. Made by Marilin, distributed by Dyeabolical

Hello!

2011-10-25T09:46:00.001-05:00

Hello! Wow, a lot of you visited my website yesterday! You might be new here, so I thought I would reintroduce myself and give the who, what and wheres.

Thank you to Stephanie Pearl-McPhee for linking me in her blog post. Major mucho thanks to KateOhKatie, who power-knit a shawl so I could be at Stephanie's book signing in spirit. How cool is that?

Now, who the heck do I think I am and what do I do?

WHO:

Rachel--knitter, dyer, spinner, coffee drinker. Former freelance writer and editor who abandoned the profession because I am really quite bad at grammar and spelling. I was excellent at turning other peoples ideas in to long bits of serious-sounding fluff, but it sort of killed my soul to do it. And I write slow. And I start sentences with "And". It is really best for both the writing world and myself that I dye yarn now.

I am the ~~dye mistress~~ ~~dye master~~ dyer for Dyeabolical. That's Dyeabolical with a ®. Before I was a really bad freelance writer I took law classes,including an intellectual property class where I learned how to turn a (tm) in to a ®. I'm not sure that was worth the $1200 in tuition for that class, but there ya go. Oh yeah, I also like to digress a lot. A lot.

I am the sole dyer for Dyeabolical, aka Dyeabolical Yarns and Spinning Fibers. I have been doing this job since 2007, first part time while I worked full time at a yarn shop and now full time. I have a ridiculous origin story on my etsy profile page, but the true story of how I got started is this. In 2007, the colors I liked weren't being dyed, so I dyed them. I had it in the back of my mind that I might want to do this as a profitable hobby someday, but at first I was just practicing. I took the yarns to the LYS I worked at to show them off to my co-workers and strangers bought them wet off the hangers. Then it happened again. Then it happened again. The owner offered me shelf space and BAM! A company is born.

WHAT:

My dye style is bold, saturated colors in strongly variegated handpainted colorways. I have branched in to other forms of dyeing, including tonals, semisolids and kettle-dyed yarns and I like those just as much as I love the variegated sock yarns.

I prefer doing one of a kind artisan yarns, but I accept that my customers want repeatable colorways. The picture above are several of my repeatable sock colorways. You can also request these colors on a different wool base or on spinning fibers.

You will find both one offs and repeatables in my shop. Repeatables usually have a colorway name and one ofs usually do not have names.

I do needle felting fiber, too.

I started doing fiber and sock clubs this year. Fiber club runs 1st and 3rd quarter. Sock club runs 2nd and 4th quarter. Signups for the clubs start about 1.5 months ahead of time and will be announced here in this blog. Fiber club sign ups will be starting next, in about 2-3 weeks.

WHERE:
The easiest way to find me is to go to http://www.dyeabolical.com From there you can link to my shop, my blog and see where I am vending next.

You can also find me on:
Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/DyeabolicalYarns?ref=si_shop
Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/groups/dyeabolical
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DyeabolicalYarns?ref=sgm
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/dyeabolicalyarn
Email: dyeabolicalyarns@gmail.com

I also have a video blog that embarrasses me deeply and yet I do it anyway, most often when I am suffering from chronic writers block and have better things I should be doing. You can find my video blog here in the archives of this blog or you can subscribe using iTunes. Just search for "dyeabolical" in the iTunes store.

Welcome!

Markdowns on Cotton Slub DK and Cotton Bamboo

2011-10-24T09:14:00.001-05:00

I just listed new markdowns on the Cotton Slub DK and Cotton Bamboo yarns. They are all now $12. These are great spring/summer yarns. Stock up for spring!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/DyeabolicalYarns?section_id=10599849

In which Kate is competitive...

2011-10-23T13:17:00.003-05:00

Never challenge Kate in jest. Girl takes challenges very seriously.

(slightly edited, mostly because I can't spell)
[ETA: Can I just say that I read Kate's newest post and I just realized on a seriousl and profound level that she knit that shawl just so I could be there in spirit? Yeah, we egged her on (and scoffed) and it was a lot of fun, but it didn't really all the way sink in that she knit for 12 hours so I could sort of see Stephanie, too. Kate, you're the best.]

Me to Kate: Just realized I can't make it to YH tomorrow. Sadface. Can I bribe you in to getting me a copy?

Kate to me: Sure thing! (sorry you'll have to miss it though... :-( ) Any special request on the inscription? :-)

Me to Kate: I can't think of a thing, unless you can persuade her to say nice things about my yarn, which you probably can't. CHALLENGE. (Seriously, just a signature would be fine. Should I paypal you?)

Kate to me: Oh shit. IT'S ON. I'll wear my Joker socks tomorrow! Rather than Paypal, would you be able to take that cost off a skein of secret yarn? :-D

Kate's Joker Socks

Kara to Kate: so...CHALLENGE ACCEPTED, then? :)

Kate to us: I'mma try. Kara - help me start brainstorming awesome requests?

Kate to the world: So stinkin' excited for the YarnHarlot talk tomorrow.Now just wish I'd made a whole sweater or shawl of @dyeabolicalyarn to show off... :-D

Kate to me: I am an eeediott! I have Damson and Milkweed both in (discontinued, right?) Dyeabolical.

Me to Kate: Sort of discontinued. It just never sold enough to bring it on full time.

Kate to me: Which is a cryin' shame, I must say. Lovely stuff (both of 'em).Think I could whip up a Traveling Woman before 2:00pm tomorrow? :-D

Me to Kate: yes, you could do that before 2 tomorrow [I should not have said this.]

Me to Kate 2 seconds later when I realized she might take me seriously: You are insane and no knitting a whole shawl in less than 12 hours!

Kara to Kate: Okay, I'm gonna have to stop you right there. No knitting a shawl in 12 hours. [Kara has witnessed many a crazed knitting attempt and participated in a few herself.]

Kate to us: Awright...we have a bday party tonight at 6. If I started at 7, knit through to midnight, got up at 6, knitted 'till 9 or 10......then pinned it for a quick block immediately (windows open and fans on high), left the house at 1... I dunno...

Kara to Kate: No. Nononononono. Seriously. It's a quick knit, but I don't think even you can knit that fast [This is where Kara made a critical error]...and you shouldn't make yourself insane with trying it. Seriously. You have to work & go to a party and sleep.

Kate to us: I dunno, I'm starting to think it might be do-able. Have wanted a green shawl for a while, too. (would use stuff I got Wed.) But that's me possessing a special kinda stupid, isn't it?

Kara to Kate: And do you really want to meet the Yarn Harlot looking like some crazed knitting lunatic?

Me to Kate: I'm not supposed to poke the crazy and finishing a shawl between now and tomorrow with work and a party? That's crazy. [This was my critical error. I should have known then that Kate was going to make us eat our words.]

Me to Kate 10 seconds later: *pokepokepoke*

Kate to us: LOL. We'll see. If nothing else I'll have a nice WIP to show off :-D

Kara to Kate: I have clearly failed in reasoning with you. So I'll join in and just poke the crazy, as Rachel so eloquently stated.

Monica chimes in and also pokes the crazy. We all have a good laugh.

Kate, 12 hours later and clearly proving us all wrong: At the Yarn Harlot event, 12-hour shawl and all! :)

Winning at knitting

[video blog] Episode 5: Hammer This

2011-10-20T19:55:00.000-05:00

BFL Hardtwist and Bling Shop Update on Wednesday

2011-10-18T10:36:00.000-05:00

These items will be live in the Etsy shop tomorrow, Wednesday, around noon Central time.

Bling sock yarn (75% superwash merino wool/20% nylon/5% stellina sparkle) in Queen's Tea, Statesmania, Themyscira and Closer Than You Think (which I just realized probably ought to be called Sooner Than You Think)

Strong Arm Skinny sock yarn in Closer Than You Think

BFL HardTwist sock yarn in Hawthorne (new), Carnivale (new, former club colorway), Themyscira, Queen's Tea (dark) and Soldier Field (dark)

Shop Update

2011-10-12T11:09:00.003-05:00

Everything is up in the shop! This is what I've added in the last week.

More Housekeeping

2011-10-11T18:27:00.001-05:00

I knew I had forgotten things in Monday's post!

I updated the All Hands on Deck mitten pattern. It should be much clearer and easier to follow now. It is a top-down mitten pattern, infinitely customizable for any size hands using any size yarn. The yarn I used for the mittens below was dyed by Crafty and Crap. She's not dyeing anymore, but I remain hopeful she will go back to it one day. I love her Muppets colorways!

[edited because apparently I hit "post" halfway through a thought] A few people have asked about new podcasts/video updates. It turns out that some people read blogs and some people watch video updates, but very few people do both. Interesting! The blog readers are getting posts, but the video watchers aren't. I really like doing the video updates, but I have to be in the mood to do them at the same time that I have light to record and am not horribly disheveled from standing over steam pots. I actually am in the mood right now to do them and my hair looks normal. It's dark, but I can set up studio lights if I need to. The problem is, I have a sock deadline looming and still need to knit at least a foot, if not a foot, a cuff and another foot. Plus, I don't really have anything to talk about other than what I've listed in these Housekeeping posts. Sooooooooo, video updates will resume soonish, but not right away.

Vic Reeves and Harris Tweed

2011-10-11T05:00:00.000-05:00

I got lost on YouTube yesterday, but found this fantastic segment by Vic Reeves on Harris Tweed. Pour a cup of coffee and watch it. It is fascinating and inspiring! I especially love the second video where Vic goes to the Harris Tweed factory and they play with wool. Weavers, check out the loom on the third video. What a great workout!

Housekeeping

2011-10-10T10:04:00.001-05:00

Thanks to everyone who bought the BFL Hardtwist sock yarn! I sold out in less than 2 weeks! My supplier is low on stock right now, but I was able to finagle 20 more hanks. 6 are spoken for as customer orders, but I have 14 left that I will be dyeing later this week. If you would like to place a special order for this base, please let me know ASAP. This will be the last we can get of this base until late November.

The good news is that I will still be stocking 2-ply Strong Arm Skinny 80/20 merino/nylon blend. The bad news is that the 3-ply Strong Arm is on hiatus. While it is a gorgeous yarn that is worth some minor inconvenience to get, it is not worth having my entire Fall production schedule thrown off for the third year in a row because of inaccurate shipping estimates. 2 weeks is not the same as 2 months and counting. [P.S. SA and SA Skinny are milled by 2 completely separate mills and distributed by 2 different suppliers. In other words, I'm not using the Strong Arm mill anymore.]

October Sock Club yarns are being rehanked today. The international shipments will go out tomorrow. The domestic shipments will go out later this week. Spoiler pictures will go up in the Dyeabolical Ravelry group in the next few days.

I was originally scheduled to be at Tower Grove Farmers Market's Harvest Festival later this month. I will NOT be there. I'm not feeling it. "It" being that gut-feeling I get about a show. I could be wrong and I could do great, but it would have to be a pretty big great to make it worth missing the Yarn Harlot's reading and signing up the road the same day and I'm not feeling it. I might go back to the farmers market next year, but only if someone else is willing to reserve the booth space and bring the tent.

Yes, I know I'm late on the September FO post. Sorry. Again. I didn't realize how many people like that post!

Did you get through all of that? Time for some melted crayon art!

Commenting

2011-10-09T10:37:00.000-05:00

A lot of people have told me they are all of a sudden having trouble leaving comments. I have changed the comment settings and hopefully they will work now. Can some of you try it out?

Conversations With My Husband

2011-10-06T10:50:00.002-05:00

On Thu, Oct 6, 2011 at 9:38 AM, Dyeabolical wrote:
Your wife is a desperate fool and is shopping freaking EBAY for jeans and camis. EBAY. Ugh, I'm going to get some sort of stranger disease, I bet.

On Thu, Oct 6, 2011 at 10:06 AM, Scott Kluesner wrote:
I will wash all of your newly acquired garments in extra hot water, thereby averting the stranger danger.

On 10/6/2011 10:09 AM, Scott Kluesner wrote:
It could be worse...

From Things Could Be Worse tumblr blog

[It guess it could be worse....]

[Can we have a public conversation about why all of a sudden women's plus sizes have suddenly changed for the smaller? Why is a 3x, which used to be for sizes up to 28, now for sizes up to 20? Seriously? And can we also discuss why women's "jeans" in stores now are made out of extremely thin low grade cotton?]

[I only ask because it's the third pair of practically new $45 jeans I've ripped in the last 3 months and it's starting to make me mad.]

Introducing BFL Hard Twist

2011-09-28T13:07:00.000-05:00

I have a new sock yarn! BFL Hard Twist is a 100% Blue Faced Leicester 4-ply yarn. It has a wonderful hand to it. Gorgeous. Hard, but soft. Round and satisfying. It's a sturdy, satisfying, no nonsense yarn with fantastic stitch definition. It is so different than the merino sock yarns we love, but just as wonderful if not more so!

The Strange Folk crowd really loved the way it felt in their hands. There was much ooohing and ahhhing. I only have 5 hanks left from my initial run of this yarn of the 19 hanks! I tracked down 2 more bags of undyed yarn, which will be here today. Hopefully I can get those dyed up within the next 2 weeks or so and in to the shop. Locals, I will be sure to drop some off with Ewe Knit when I get more dyed. Are there any requests for specific colorways? In the meantime, everything I have left of this line is up in the shop right now. http://www.etsy.com/shop/DyeabolicalYarns?ref=si_shop

[video] Episode 4: Strange Folk Wrap Up

2011-09-26T18:38:00.000-05:00

Show notes and a blog post for you non-video watchers forthcoming

Customer FOs for August 2011

2011-09-23T09:23:00.000-05:00

Super meaty side-to-side ruffled scarf knitted by Annie out of a Dyeabolical sock flat.

OH, THE GUILT! Several of you have noticed that I haven't put up the August Monthly FO post yet. Yeah, see, about that, um, I've been busy getting ready for things and while the FO post didn't exactly slip my mind, it wasn't exactly on my mind, either. Then Kate and Kara hit me with their twin guilt ray guns at Wednesday knitting, so Thursday I spent day tracking down August FOs, gathering picture permissions and writing this. I still got it done before September was over, so it still counts, right? Right? *g*

The shop is in vacation mode right now while I'm at Strange Folk, which is why I haven't linked to any of the yarns, but it will be back up next week. Here we go!

FOs are Finished Objects. A finished object is any item knitted, crocheted, woven, felted, spun or otherwise transformed from Dyeabolical yarns or spinning fibers into another form (e.g. yarn knitted in to mittens, warp crocheted in to dishcloths, fiber in to a felted object, dyed top spun in to yarn). If you would like me to include your FO in an upcoming post (or if I have forgotten anyone!) email me or message me through Ravelry. Thank you to my customers and friends for letting me share your FOs with my blog readers!

Kara knitted this Amiga cardigan from less than 3 hanks of the old Cotton Slub Sport base (replaced by Cotton Slub DK) in the color "Perfect Turquoise". I love how this turned out. It looks so much better than how my Amiga turned out. That is the difference between a knitter who double checks gauge and tries the sweater on at frequent intervals and a knitter who says "Feh! It will be fine!"

Pattoncy knits clothes for Asian ball-jointed dolls for her shop Squirrel Moon Handknits. I love the colors she pics for the sweaters and they are so well knitted. She knit this sweater out of the Bling base in a one of a kind colorway. Go check out her shop if you are a doll-collector.

Reina made this beautiful lace shawl and an Irish Hiking scarf (not pictured) for her in-laws. Lucky in-laws!

Kkspac improvised these wonderful socks using a simple to-up pattern. She used the Strong Arm Skinny yarn in Flower Shop Inferno colorway. Check out her modifications on her project page.

Mimahe, maker of MammaMia jewelry and stitch markers, knit this sparkly shawl from this one-off Bling colorway. Bling has lots of sparkles through the hank and is perfect for either socks, shawl or other sparkle-appropriate wearable. This sweet little shawlette would be a great pick-me up when the doldrums of winter arrive.

Echelon used a 2-ply lace yarn in purple to make this wonderful Terpischore shawl. Beautiful job, Echelon! I have always loved feather and fan variations. I really wan to make this sometime this winter. Perhaps out of a heavy sock yarn?

KarenK knitted these awesome socks called Burning Rings of Fire from the Strong Arm base in what I think was the very very first prototype test batch of the Annie before I took notes when I dyed. Oy, someone get a time machine and kick me to write that exact recipe down, ok, because Karen's Annie and the current Annie only resemble each other a little bit. ALSO? I'm totally casting these socks on as soon as I get 2 minutes to myself.

KateohKatieohKateohKateohKatieKate (or whatever her name is; I always have to google it *g*) traveled to England this summer. Before her trip she requested that I create a sock colorway for her travel knitting. Her color request was that the color convey the knitterlyness and Englishness of her travel adventures. For instance, "Here's me knitting in a castle!" "Here's me knitting on The Tube!" "Here's me teaching a fuzzy-hat Buckingham Palace guard to knit!" So basically, she asked me to request the perfect colorway and could I please make it match England? Of course I would! I asked her some important England questions to help figure out what she wanted exactly. I asked the regular dyeing questions (semisolid or variegated, least favorite colors, etc) and also the following, "How do you feel about knitting from a sock blank in to self striping yarn? Where in England are you visiting? How do you feel about the Queen? Wills and Kate? Tell me your feeling on the Olympics and earl gray tea. Are you a Doctor Who fan? What is you favorite BBC show?"and got dyeing. Kate named it Crumpets and Crazycakes, which is pretty much my favorite color name yet.

What's this? I have FOs? Unbelievable! *g* I knitted this Iris Goddess of the Rainbow shawlette out of 1 hank of Cotton Warp in the Fire Harvest colorway.

I have had 2 hanks of of superwash worsted hanging out in a basket for almost a year now. I finally knit it up in to Susan Anderson's Twisted infinity scarf using the Steampunk Themyscira colorway. "Steampunk" is any of my regular clear handpainted colorways with a bit of sooty steapunkishness added to the pot to mute the colors.

Strange Folk Festival

2011-09-18T01:22:00.000-05:00

Preparations for next weekend's Strange Folk Festival continue. I'm happy to report that this year I am far less crazed this last week before Strange Folk than normal. Just never mind the time stamp on this post or that I've been working since 7am, ok? It hasn't been particularly hard work. I spun 3 or 4 bobbins of fat singles and plied 5 hanks of art yarns and assembled grab bags of fiber when I needed a break. Easy. [When I wasn't doing either of those two things, I was obsessively cataloging my Ravelry queue, including making tabs for patterns good for highly variegated yarns and patterns good for low yardage art yarns.]

I am going to have less stock than I did last year, but that's ok. I couldn't physically fit all of the stock I had last year in to the booth. I couldn't even physically fit all the stock I had last year in to the car without repacking the car twice and bending both time and space to make it all fit. I will still have plenty of yarn and hopefully have plenty of fiber. I don't have a picture of all the stock, but I will tell you that if you missed the yarns from the last etsy update [pic below], then you will have a chance to buy those same colors on the new BFL sock base at Strange Folk.

Episode 3ish : Stressed

2011-09-13T21:12:00.000-05:00

In which I:

Review Keep Calm and Cast On by by Erika Knight
Show my finished objects -- Cleaves and a scrappy crocheted scarf
Show my new work in progress -- Twister by Susan B. Anderson
A quick shop update
Strange Folk Festival is September 24-25 in O'Fallon, Il. I will be there with yarn!

Shop Update

2011-09-10T19:05:00.000-05:00

I just made a rare Saturday update. There are lots of blingy yarns and 3 sock flats dyed in the Themyscira colorway! http://www.etsy.com/shop/DyeabolicalYarns

Y to the A to the W to the N

2011-09-09T07:32:00.000-05:00

The Strange Folk Festival is in 2 weeks and I'm perfectly calm*. Undoubtedly I'm forgetting something major. Something more major than being 30 pounds low on stock and a small but very important shipment of Strong Arm being held up, again, at the mill 3 weeks longer than expected. Both of these things are happening right now.

I should probably be a little bit stressed out about both of those things, but I'm not. For starters, I always bring about 30 pounds too much stock to Strange Folk for the space I have available. Plus, the hardest part of dyeing 30 (or 100) pounds of yarn isn't the dyeing. That can be done no problem. It's the rehanking and labeling and even that isn't so big a chore if you have someone to help for a few hours. There is nothing I can do about the mill stress except to vow to never buy from them again, but since Strong Arm is my customer's favorite there is little chance of that happening so why worry?

I've got bigger things to stress about. For instance, is Scott going to have time to make me coffee this morning? He brews his coffee in this crazy contraption that I have yet to use successfully. UPDATE: He did not have time to make coffee and now I'll have to make it myself in a regular drip coffee maker. It will taste perfectly fine, but not exquisite, and I'll have to get off the couch to make it. My life is hard.

Other things to dither about this morning include whether or not to include cookbooks as read books on Goodreads, which sweater to swatch for and whether or not I'll find the motivation to record a video today. I suppose somewhere on the agenda I ought to decide whether or not to dye any yarn, spin any yarn, hand pull any roving or if I should sit on my couch and do nothing but listen to myself breathe. I can tell you where my inclination lies this morning.

*subject to change at any minute

Pink Girl

2011-08-30T08:31:00.000-05:00

I don't know when I became a pink person, but lately I cannot get enough pink. Specifically, fuchsia/orchid/bright pink The last 3 shirts I bought? Pink. I just dyed some semisolid yarn for a friend's charity project. Color? Pink. Nearly ever colorway I've developed over the last 3 months? Pink. I have to slap my own hand away from the jars of pink when I dye.

I'm working on dyeing up the last installment of the Variations on a Pink fiber-of-the-month club and realizing I could spend about 3 more months with Gaywool Orchid Pink and not be sick of it. I've dyed 3 club colors with it, plus 3 or 4 other test colors with it.

July's colorway

There is a learning curve when switching between dye brands and even between different colors. I'm feeling like I am just now hitting my stride with this particular dye. For instance, it doesn't under/over dye the way I would expect. That, plus switching from superwash test fiber to non-superwash club fiber led to some muddy heartache last week when I went to dye September's club color. I had to reorder a few bags of fiber to replace the ones I muddied up and I had to completely switch up the over/under dye color I had been planning for the month. I like what I ended up with.

June's club was handpainted, July was tonally kettle dyed and August was supposed to be a gradient over/under dye, but now it's sort of a variegated handpaint/low water immersion hybrid. Sort of. It is suitably Dyeabolical in its unspun state and should exactly what I want it to when I spin it. Hmm, I suppose I should add spinning to my to-do list for today. Anyway, that's all I can say about September's fiber club without major spoilers. All I can really tell you for certain is that it is pink.

I stole this picture of the August fiber all spun up from AnnieKnits.

I will be sad when I'm finished with this color and also a little relieved. I don't feel like I've fully explored everything this hue has to offer, but even at the wholesale price it is a spendy dye. It is very convenient for the new dyer to have the acid already mixed in the dye, but for someone like me who dyes professionally, I like controlling when I add the acid and how much to achieve certain effects. Astute noses among my customer base will have sniffed out that vinegar, not citric acid, is my acid of choice, not citric acid which is what these dyes use. Hoards of dyers, the vast majority, prefer citric acid. I prefer it from a cost standpoint, but I like vinegar for the control it gives me. I think vinegar gives a cleaner feel to the fiber ("cleaner" feel? cleaner "feel"?) so that's my acid of choice.

I'll have another week or so that I must spend with this color. While I have over 100 different dyes, probably closer to 200, and at least 10 different shades of pink I have a feeling that Gaywool Orchid and I will still be spending a lot of time together after our mandatory togetherness has ended.

[video update] Episode 2-ish: The Other Side of the Table

2011-08-29T16:55:00.002-05:00

Shop Updates

2011-08-26T14:25:00.000-05:00

I've made lots of updates this week to the shop.

[video update] Episode N+1

2011-08-21T13:15:00.000-05:00

I finally feel like I've got the hang of what I'm doing, even if my technology isn't cooperating. Is my video blog professionally produced? No and probably never will be, but I'm feeling more comfortable in my skin. In this episode, episodes really, I talk (moan? whine? kvetch?) about the growing pains of video blogging.

Dots of Sunday

2011-08-21T09:46:00.000-05:00

Thank you to everyone who joined the Show Tunes sock club. All 40 original spots are filled, but I am still adding names to the waiting list. Add your name by emailing me at dyeabolicalyarns at gmail dot com Be sure to include your name, paypal email address, if you want swag or yarn only and if you have a non-US mailing address. At this point I expect everyone there will probably be room for everyone on the wait list will probably get in to the club. If you have submitted your name for the wait list then I will get back to you before 9/2.

The Dyeabolical vlog is now available on iTunes, not that it does anyone a lick of good while my camera is all messed up. I think I may have to go back to 10 minute mini-episodes. My computer and camera don't seem to want to work well with each other past 20 minutes. I'll put up an abbreviated episode this afternoon.

I got some knitting done!

I know, shameful how long it takes me to knit anything lately. At least I'm not the only one. I have 1 entry so far for the August FO post and only 1 person on Ravelry I need to harass for a picture.

Speaking of harassment (not really), the St. Louis Craft Mafia has asked me to do this favor for them. I'd better not refuse, so this week I'll start writing a 3-part primer on the kinds of yarns available. Preparing to write is tingling that part of my brain that used to (sort of) enjoy making a living freelance writing. I didn't write for very long, or for very reputable people, and it's impossible to make a living doing it anymore now that everyone writes for free (it seems) and since I appear (in this very sentence) to have lost an command of the rules of English, but I find myself missing it a little bit anyway.

I've added the following 3 items to my daily to-do list--Read X minutes, Knit X rows and take Excedrin. Silly things to put on a to-do list, but I find my days go a lot smoother if I make those 3 things mandatory to-dos.

Sock Club Sign Ups open Tuesday

2011-08-12T17:02:00.006-05:00

NEWEST UPDATE: We are officially sold out of our original 40 spots and are in to waiting list spots. Please do email me to add your name to the waiting list if you are interested, as I expect to have additional spots open up.

UPDATE: As of Wednesday evening we only have 2 spots still open, maybe 3. Payment isn't due until 8/31, but get let me know ASAP if you want to be in the club. After the spots are filled I will start adding people to a waiting list in case any reserved spots come open after 8/31.

====================

It’s time to sign up for the second Dyeabolical sock club!

Sign up for the Dyeabolical Sock Yarn of the Month Club now and get a different colorway mailed to you in October, November and December.

I asked members of the Dyeabolical Ravelry group to help pick a theme and they picked Show Tunes! Campy, corny and classic show tunes with a Dyeabolical twist. I haven't picked the final themes for the colors, so I would love to hear what your favorite musicals are.

Here’s what you need to know about the club:

Signups start on Tuesday August 16 and last until Friday August 19. I am accepting up to 40 member this time. Renewing members are guaranteed a spot. If we sell out then I will keep a waiting list. Email me at the address below, or hit reply to this email, to add your name to the waiting list if space sells out.

Email me at dyeabolicalyarns@gmail.com and let me know you want to join. PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL YOUR RESERVATION UNTIL TUESDAY, AUGUST 16. This allows time for renewing members to get their spots reserved. Once I receive your reservation, I will send you a PayPal invoice. All invoices must be paid by August 31 unless alternate arrangements have been made with me in advance. Any invoices not paid by August 31 will be released to names on the waitlist.

Each 3 month membership is $65 plus shipping for the yarn-only option OR $85, plus shipping for the yarn + swag option.

The base yarn for this club will feature my usual sock bases 2 months and 1 month will feature a new yarn in the Dyeabolical line up.

Club colorways will be exclusive for 3 months.

The colorways may be semi-solid, tonally variegated, strongly variegated and may be painted using a variety of different dyeing techniques (hand-painted, kettle-dyed, mosaic, over-dyed).

Extras hanks will be available for order by club members. Club members may also request that their extras be dyed on a different base or on fiber. Please allow extra time for dyeing any extra you order.

Sales tax applicable to Missouri residents.

[video update] Rambling, per se

2011-08-12T12:00:00.002-05:00

Er, did I forget to tell you I had a new video up? I think I did.

Behind the Dyepots: Tales of an Insomniac Dyer

2011-08-11T23:52:00.003-05:00

I can't sleep because I keep thinking about yarn. (Shaddup. You know you do it, too.)

Specifically I am thinking about 3 things--selling yarn wholesale, stocking my Strange Folk booth and the next sock club. Shall we take them in order? Lets! (I mentioned the insomnia, right?)

1. I mentioned last week that Ewe Knit Yarns in Webster Groves, MO is now stocking a selection of Dyeabolical yarn. I just dropped off another order of Strong Arm Skinny sock yarn this afternoon. I miss them already, so please stop by Ewe Knits and give them a good home so I don't worry.

2. Strong Arm Skinny (the 2-ply) and Strong Arm Sock (the 3-ply) have been a popular choices for my shops lately. I don't want to undercut my local retailers (Ewe Knits and Knitorious), so I've decided that I will not be bringing any Strong Arm or Strong Arm Skinny hanks with me to Strange Folk or Tower Grove this year. I will still bring with me to Strange Folk the SA sock flats, Bling sock yarn and possibly another yet-unpicked sock base, along with my regular assortment of yarns and fibers. Also? Hand pulled combed top. Expensive, but worth it. See? I expect to see you out in force, Spinners.

3. August has gotten away from me and I realized this afternoon that if I want to be able to get the sock club started on time in October that I need to open registration like now. I will post all the details tomorrow, but for now the sock club registration will open on Tuesday and will run until the spots run out. Returning club members, I will email you separately. It will be $64 (+ shipping) for the yarn-only option. The club runs from October - December and will feature Strong Arm, Strong Arm Skinny and either Bling or the mystery 4th option. Haven't decided yet. As always, please let me know if you want in to the club but need to make alternate payment arrangements.

I'm debating on letting you choose the option to get swag with your yarn for an extra $20. I'm also still torn on a theme. Thoughts?

July 2011 Customer FOs

2011-08-06T11:15:00.000-05:00

FOs are Finished Objects. A finished object is any item knitted, crocheted, woven, felted, spun or otherwise transformed from Dyeabolical yarns or spinning fibers into another form (e.g. yarn knitted in to mittens, warp crocheted in to dishcloths, fiber in to a felted object, dyed top spun in to yarn). If you would like me to include your FO in an upcoming post (or if I have forgotten anyone!) email me or message me through Ravelry. Thank you to my customers and friends for letting me share your FOs with my blog readers!

------------------------------------------------

Mindy used Dyeabolical felting fiber to felt this sweet little bird house. How cool is this?!?!?!? I cannot wait to see a little birdie living in there.


This very nice cowl was made by fiber artist Jennifer Wunderlich using Dyeabolical Handspun Edition! made from locally sourced alpaca. She also made the cowl below. Both of these beautiful cowls are for sale in Jennifer's etsy shop.

Needle Nouveau bought a 50 gram hank of silk embroidery thread from me 2 years ago. That's plenty to make many, many of these beautiful embroidered rose pillows. Her work is lovely.


My fierce fashionista friend, Irish Diva, whipped up these Interrupting Cow socks designed by Laura Linneman. Irish Diva used the June sock club colorway called ALWAYS RAINBOWS.

Speaking of ALWAYS RAINBOWS, this isn't a Dyeabolical FO, but I need to brag. *g* My friend Rose-Marie (who makes the BeaGin stitch markers I send with orders) made me this beautiful rainbow bracelet. She made another for our friend Jen because Jen and I are always going on and on and on and ON about our love of rainbow colors. Isn't it beautiful?

Deborah finished these gorgeous toffee-colored socks from a hank of Strong Arm in a tonally variegated clorwasy for her husband. Lucky man!

Ann did a lovely job spinning up this month's fiber club colorway, Maillot Jaune.


Zinniz did an awesome gradient-spin from March's fiber club, Carnivale

Thank you to everyone who shared their pictures this month and thank you Dyeabolical customers and readers!

Shop update

2011-08-04T17:08:00.000-05:00

I'm updating the shop tonight around 7 with some Sporty! and Strong Arm Skinny. Here is a quick preview.

Cactus Babies

2011-07-31T12:55:00.001-05:00

The Missouri Botanical Garden is hosting a cactus show and sale through today. We went yesterday and brought home some new cactus babies from the cheap tables to fill in our succulents collection. We still need to organize the shelves, but they're finally looking full. We even scored an Alluadia Comosa, whatever that may be, for half off. It's the last picture. It's pretty wicked looking!

Ewe Knit Yarn

2011-07-28T17:35:00.000-05:00

I am so excited to announce that you can now find Dyeabolical yarns and select Marilin's Bags reversible project bags at the new local yarn shop, Ewe Knit Yarn in Webster Groves, MO. Ewe Knit is adorable. Julie, the owner, has the yarn set up like a farmers market and she's stocking it up with delicious treats, ahem, yarn. Here are a few things I dropped off with her this week:

[video update] Strange Folk, Tour de Fleece and Shop Update

2011-07-23T22:38:00.000-05:00

Strange Folk Festival, September 24-25

River Poet Fibers and Yarn

Amiga cardigan--Takes 3-4 hanks of Cotton Slub DK

The yarns shown will be in the shop on Monday around noon. The fibers will be in the shop Tuesday around noon.

Dyeabolical Etsy
Dyeabolical Ravelry
Dyeabolical Twitter
Dyeabolical Plurk

Surprise Sale

2011-07-14T18:03:00.000-05:00

Hello! I'm having a surprise sale through tomorrow, Friday July 15. Take 25% off your order by using coupon code SURPRISE. Happy shopping!

When you're done shopping, check out Kate's blog post on identifying yarn addiction and her follow up posts in which she reveals her deep dark Dyeabolical-dealing secret.

And here's a video!

June 2011 Customer FOs

2011-07-14T05:00:00.011-05:00

=================================================

I can tell we're in the heat of the summer now. It is too hot for many of us to keep a heavy sweater on our laps, so we turn to spinning yarn or working on lighter weight projects. I'm the same. I rarely venture out in to the heat if I can help it, but I still don't want a heavy wool sweater sitting on my lap. The projects for June were mostly smaller and lighter. We also have quite a few newer spinners who have yarns to show off!

Annie cranked out this gorgeous lightweight cardigan in no time. She used 3 hanks of Bling sock yarn in, unsurprisingly, the Annie colorway. She alternated 3 balls of yarn to minimize any pooling that the yarn wanted to do. I think she was pretty successful, don't you think? Don't you kind of want to cast on your own sock yarn sweater right this very moment, or is it just me that feels that way? Very inspiring, Annie. Thanks for sharing!

Karamichele used some hand dyed silk to cross stitch the fleur de lis above and the embroidery below. Aren't those great? Very creative! I have more of this silk thread (technically a very fine laceweight), but haven't made any more thread, but I can! Just let me know and I would be happy to do some for you.


This is technically a July project, but it is so cool I thought I would include it this month. Kate learned to spin on a wheel 1.5 weeks ago. Yeah....I think she's a natural, don't you? From left to right: generic wool, merino (not Dyeabolical, but I gave it to her so it counts!), falkland in Pot O'Gold and a superwash blue faced leciester in a blue variegated. Before Kate was bitten by the spinning bug she finished these great socks in a one off Strong Arm Sock color.

Beck requested a superwash bfl top be dyed in the Dark (k)Night colorway. She spun it up in no time and knitted it in to the great scarf below. Go Scarfed Crusader!

Susan spun this beautiful handspun from the Steampunk Themysicra colorway and knit up the socks below. She, too, seemed to both spin and knit this project in about 5 minutes.

I think Lisa, who spun the yarn above, and Mandy, who spun the yarn below, ought to send me their yarns so I can knit a beautiful striped shawl out of them!

SpinnerFella is another prolific spinner. He manged to spin the yarn above, the yarns below and I know he spun several other braids from other dyers, too. Go, Speed Racer!


UnchainedFae used a hank of Cotton Slub to whip up this soft summer scarf. Is there anything more elegant or satisfying than a simple yo,k2tog lace?

Clevercatsknit made this wonderful Caternary shawl from a hank of Bling. I love the way shaping is done for this shawl.
I can do the Bling base in any regular colorway, but I prefer using up my leftover dyes on the Bling base like I did here. One of a kind sparkles? I am so there.


Baconfairy (great name!) knitted these Jaywalkers from the Golden Afternoon colorway. I know, I know, they aren't very golden, right? I took my inspiration for this colorway from a still from Alice in Wonderland's All in a Golden Afternoon song. Mostly green, a little bit of color? See it now? No? Ok, let's sing a song!

Last, but not least, is Pinksonia's Les Bons Temp socks. She used 3 different colors of superwash merino worsted weight in Mardi Gras colors (purple, green, gold) to knit these cozy socks.

[video post] July 11, 2011 except not

2011-07-13T11:08:00.000-05:00

This would have been to you sooner, but my video host has had technical issues and wouldn't accept the upload until this morning. Grrface! Anyway, this video is a bit disheveled, as am I. It was 115 degrees heat index, I had been rearranging and reorganizing my office, I had to balance my camera on a cardboard box and wedge myself in to the only non-cluttered corner to record. I suppose I could have waited to record, but it was on my to-do list. Because I always do my to-do list. Tru fax. To-do, to-did!

I also learned how to edit! Yayayayay! My cuts are a little rough on this first one, but I did it!

LynnZimm's blog and Make-A-Wish giveaway
Upcycle Exchange
Lazy Sockmonkey spinning hooks
Dyeabolical website
Dyeabolical Etsy
Dyeabolical Ravelry
Dyeabolical Twitter
Dyeabolical Plurk -- Please PM me when you add me to Plurk so I can add you back.

Tour de Francey Pants: Week 1

2011-07-10T09:28:00.001-05:00

I owe you a June FO wrap up, a video blog and I'm sure that my etsy shop would appreciate some new sock yarns. None of that got done this week, though. It's July, so I've been watching this:

and spinning these:

That yarn on the right? Not really gray.

instead of working. Tomorrow is a rest day for the Tour de France and Tour de Fleece so lots and lots of dyeing will get done, especially now that my new equipment has arrived.

This months club fiber*, while beautiful to spin, is fiddly to dye. It really really really would prefer not to be disturbed in the dye pot, which means every potfull had to be heated from cold, and the cool back to room temp. And when you only have one cooker? Hours. HOURS, I tell you! I managed about 3 braids a day with my current set up, which is ridiculous considering my normal tempo. The new equipment arrived Friday and I'm looking forward to knocking out the rest of the club tomorrow and Tuesday, letting it dry for 2-3 days, prep shipments on Friday and mail them on Monday--a full 2 weeks before the first club is due. That is, if I can tear myself away from the TdFs for a few hours...

*HINT HINT HINT SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER! Don't keep reading if you don't want to be spoiled on what type of fiber is in the July club.

This month is a beautiful british bfl wool!

Tour de Francey Pants

2011-07-04T07:51:00.001-05:00

It is that time of year again! It is the 4th of July weekend and instead of sleeping off a BBQ hangover like the rest of America, I am up at 7am to watch the live video coverage of the Tour de France and spin yarn like mad for the Tour de Fleece. That means it is also time for my annual Versus TV "All Access Pass" rant, but this year I think I'll skip it.

Versus teamed up with NBC this year and all for the better. The video works when it says it is going to work. There is a schedule posted, the picture is clear and the video player doesn't require downloading a piece of software that bogs everything down. FINALLY. It is so much better than the last few years where it took a lot of struggling on customers parts to get the video to play correctly. My only complaint is that I wish that the broadcast included coverage from the beginning of the race and not pick up halfway through. That's annoying to pay extra for all-access and only get the same video broadcast that plays on TV.

Tour de Fleece is well underway, as well. I finished plying the yarn below and spun a bobbin of lace singles. Yesterday I spun a second bobbin of lace singles. I can't give pictures because I am spinning the July fiber club selection and I don't want to give spoilers yet. Today and tomorrow I am all about spinning sock yarn. Wednesday and Thursday are for worsted singles. Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be for plying, plying, plying. I may even switch to the bulky flyer for the worsted singles.

Unlike the last several Tours, I can't take most of July off. The mornings are devoted to spinning and watching le Tour, but the afternoons are all for dyeing up the July club fiber and a few custom orders. I suspect a few late nights, too.
=======

I am writing the June Customer FO round-up soon, so please let me know ASAP if you have any finished yarns or finished projects made from Dyeabolical products that you would like to share.

[video update] June 27, 2011

2011-06-27T21:05:00.001-05:00

It's a long one again! I had a lot to talk about. The first half is catching up on what I'm knitting. The second half is a shop update. I'm sorry for the intermittent tapping noise. I think it is the some sort of feedback from my light next to the camera.

Little Red in the City by Ysolda Teague -- On rewatching I realized I never finished my first sentence about this book. I am going to read the first part of the book instead of just looking at the pictures and skimming the headers. I've only done that with one other pattern book, Big Girl Knits.
Peaches and Creme closeouts
Ampersand Socks by Kirsten Kapur (Ravelry link) knitted from Regia 6-ply
Lazy Sock Monkey on Etsy
Dyeabolical Cotton Warp -- I was wrong. I do have 2 left. I had forgotten I had held 2 back.
The Cast Off Sweater by Debbie New. I was wrong on how many hanks this took. It took 5 hanks of Hempaty 3, not 2 hanks of Hempathy. Not sure what I was thinking there.
Dyeabolical website
Dyeabolical Etsy
Dyeabolical Ravelry
Dyeabolical Twitter
Dyeabolical Plurk -- Please PM me when you add me to Plurk so I can add you back.

I think I'll keep him

2011-06-26T19:13:00.003-05:00

Scott is the cook in the family. It takes him for-ev-er to get dinner ready and about another half hour to clean the kitchen afterwards, but it is almost always worth it. In contrast, my preferred method of cooking is heat-and-serve, preferably in the microwave so I don't have to spend time supervising the stove or washing extra dishes.

I've been cooking a lot for myself lately while Scott is at work. The meals have been quick and easy for me, but sort of bland and tasteless. I know how to cook if I start with a recipe. I can cook a hell of a meal if I'm starting with a recipe, but taking a random assortment of food and turning it in to a meal is a skill that eludes me. My mom even wrote a chapter in to the family cookbook of things you can make without a recipe. I'm pretty sure she was thinking of me when she wrote it. "I sent you to a good school and you can't figure out how to turn eggs, milk and bread in to a meal" is not the name of the book, but it should be.

Anyway, by Thursday I was out of eggs, milk and bread and was too busy to go buy more, so I ate anchovy pizza for lunch and cold black beans with a spoon over the kitchen sink for dinner. Then the weekend arrived and so did Scott and his magic culinary skills. He took random things and combined them in to meals! And they didn't suck!

Fresh tomatoes, red onions, basil and oregano from the garden, fresh mozzarella drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette


Italian sausage, turnip and beat greens wilted in the sausage fat (YUM), roasted turnips

This morning he made poached fruit and oatmeal. He's in the kitchen right now making a steak salad.

[UPDATE: OMG. Nevermind all those nice things I just said. Dude just tried to feed me BEETS. Where's the love, I ask you. Where's the love?]

And when Scott wasn't cooking up 4-star meals? He wove me this scarf. I KNOW, right?

Dyeabolical Cotton Warp "Maude" on a Cricket loom

Friday Updates

2011-06-24T16:49:00.000-05:00

I need someone to make lists for me and then follow around behind me to make sure I do the things on the list. That person would update my Ravelry groups, write outlines for blog posts, catch up on emails, dig through my purse to find receipts I had shoved in to the bottom, monitor my etsy listings for renewals, interpret my SEO/Google stat/blog/website numbers thing, keep up on the business twitter and facebook page, work from home so I don't have to clean my home office for them, never ever ever get cranky with me and either do all those things for less than $600 a year or read the tax code and figure out how I do that employee payroll thing. Not very realistic, huh?

If I had a person like I described above that then they could have pinched me and said "Well JEEZ, Rachel, maybe it would help if you told people that you had updated the shop, huh?" so I wouldn't be sitting here wondering why the heck no one has been looking at the shop.

*pinch*

Here we go, lots of pictures ahead!

Superwash merino wool combed top. Perfect for spinning during the Tour de Fleece!

Cotton Slub DK yarn. Yes, THAT Cotton Slub DK yarn that I've been talking about non-stop for almost a year now. It's softer and slubbier than the old sport weight, so no abusing it in the dryer, ok? I've started using a new, less labor-intensive method of dyeing the cotton. As a bonus, it makes for much more even dye lots. The only downside, if you can call it that, is that the new dyeing method shifts the color is slightly less intense. That's certainly not a downside for many of my customers who like the subtler colors.

Next up, the new product line with no name! I don't have an official name for this line yet, but it is a sock blank or sock flat if you are familiar with the concept. If you are not familiar with sock blanks, then lemme explain. I take 2 strands of sock yarn and knit them held together on the knitting machine. Then I dye the resulting fabric so that when you unravel it and knit from it you will have 2 identical socks.

One end of the flat will unravel easier than the other. Cut off or unravel the waste yarn and knit from the end that unravels the easiest to avoid potential tangles. I've started putting knots in the new blanks so you know what end to start from, but these first flats don't have those knots. It is easiest to knit these 2 socks at a time using magic loop or the 2-socks/2-circs method. If you prefer to knit your socks one at a time on dpns, it is best to unravel the flat completely and wind each strand in to a separate ball.

The magic of this dyeing technique is you don't really know for sure how each yarn is going to knit up. For instance, I know that this flat will knit generally in to wide-ish stripes:

but I had no idea it would do this while transitioning colors:

Cool, huh?

I did a lot of research online and found that the crazier the flat, the nicer the sock. I tried to dye with htat in mind.

Here are the 4 I listed for sale. I discounted them slightly because I was still working out the dimensions of the fabric and how the heck to take attractive pictures while still showing the whole blank. Conclusion: Taking attractive pics of sock flats is hard to do and will require more practice.

This will stripe in 3 very wide stripes with interesting transitions. The white isn't completely white. As you can see, there was a lot of dye transfer in to the white area.

I think this is going to do narrow stripes and really awesomely cool pooling. My feelings will not be hurt if you don't buy this and I'm forced to knit it myself. *grin*

Killer Bees! I think this will knit in to thicker stripes with awesome transitions.

I think this one is going to pool in amazing ways. Someone buy it and cast on immediately so I can see what it did, okay?

[Video Update] June 17, 2011

2011-06-17T15:09:00.002-05:00

Video link: http://blip.tv/dyeabolical/episode-5287239
Strange Folk Festival -- http://www.strangefolkfestival.com/
Ultimate Sweater Machine -- http://www.bond-america.com/products/usm.html
Boyfriend Socks by Slipped Stitch -- http://slippedstitch.blogspot.com/2005/10/boyfriend-socks-pattern.html
Ampersand Socks by Kirsten Kapur -- http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ampersand
My Etsy shop -- http://www.etsy.com/shop/DyeabolicalYarns
The Cotton Slub Sport will be listed on Monday. It is 260 yards per 100g and will be $14.50 a hank.

Mondays are for Black Dots

2011-06-13T18:32:00.000-05:00

There are only 5 spots left in the fiber of the month club out of the extra spaces I added. I'm only leaving the listing up for 2 more days to give myself time to order the extra fiber. If you would like a space in the club but can't pay right away, please contact me. We might be able to work something out. http://dyeabolical.bigcartel.com/product/new-club-members-4oz

I feel a lot better than I have the last 3 weeks. Yesterday I rearranged the living room furniture, cleaned the kitchen, made a tasty dinner of turkey meatballs (which take freaking forever to cook, by the way) and lived to tel the tale. Today I managed to get the dyeing started, pack orders, work on a tree sweater (more on that later), go grocery shopping, clear out some old emails and I still have hours left in my day to do absolutely nothing.

My Amazon subscribe and save orders came today. Every item I ordered was shipped in a different box. In related news, my new mail carrier hates me. So does Mother Earth.

Kara gave me an old Ultimate Sweater Machine a few months ago. I finally got it cleaned up and figured out what I was doing wrong. I needed to upgrade a few parts and get some new needles and keyplates, so I bought a new USM kit from JoAnns (with the 50% off coupon it was about the price as the replacement parts. I now have enough needle beds to make a half dozen sock blanks at a time, which I will do as soon as I figure out what the heck I'm doing.

Machine knitting is one of those things that looks easy but really really really isn't easy at all and whoever is telling you that is a lying liar who lies. I'm sure I will deny saying the previous sentence once I can machine knit without the stitches leaping dramatically off the needles and making me rip the whole piece out, but in the meantime I'm getting a lot of practice picking up dropped stitches and starting over.

Do you know how to pick up stitches on a USM? You pick them up from behind the fabric and can't see what you're doing. Gotta do it on faith. Also? You have to hang a TON of weight on the fabric to keep it from jumping off the needle beds. As I tweeted earlier today, "Machine knitting can be summed up so far as: *cast on, knit, drop stitches, fix stitches, drop stitches, fix, drop all the stitches on the floor. Repeat from *" I've got 4 weights hanging from the bed and it isn't enough! Luckily I've got a cat who is willing to volunteer to hang off the knitted fabric. Helpful cat is helpful.

The knitting machine and a long, holey rectangle hanging from it.

I volunteered to knit a sweater for a tree at the Strange Folk Festival (see here to knit your own limb coozie). I decided this project will be perfect to help me learn how to use the USM. I hope the trees (and organizers!) don't mind a few holes.

[video update] No Apologies

2011-06-10T19:01:00.006-05:00

[ETA: I want to clarify. I called this episode "No Apologies" because I'm not going to apologize about going over time anymore. I did apologize to the woman who lost her head, although I'm not sure I needed to be the one to apologize, but she was obviously having a bad day and was frustrated.]

I didn't managed a text update between the last update and this update, but I have several in the works. I just have to, well, write them. They all reside in my brain right now. I hope you enjoy the video update in the meantime!
http://blip.tv/dyeabolical/no-apologies-5263629

Notes:
That silly self-imposed 10-minute rule has been lifted.

To watch on itunes go to Advanced>Subscribe to Podcast and enter http://blip.tv/dyeabolical/rss/itunes/

Knitorious

My Etsy shop

Wendy Bernard's Custom Knits

Berroco Remix

Boyfriend sock

Amazon Subscribe and Save

Eight O’clock Coffee

The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook

Missouri Botanical Garden

Ysolda Teague's Little Red in the City

Did you hear the last 5 seconds? Did I say "Bye y'all?" Why yes, I did and it was completely by accident. The KnitGirllls must have more influence over me than I thought. "Bye y'all" is their tagline and I have been watching them all day! Sorry Leslie and Lala!

Love you guys!

[video update] The One With The Explicit Tag

2011-06-05T16:02:00.002-05:00

I formally and officially give up on trying to keep my vlog updates under 10 minutes. I am physically incapable of rambling for less than 15, it seems. I do hope you are still enjoying these video updates. They are a simple way to supplement the blog, but less work and less responsibility than a full podcast.

I rambled on for almost 19 minutes this time, but I hope you enjoy it, even with the adult language on my coffee cup.
Custom Knits
Dyeabolical on Ravelry
Fiber Club Sign Ups

More fiber club spots (and info on a waiting list)

2011-06-03T09:15:00.000-05:00

The fiber club sold out in 1.5 days! Thank you so much. I honestly wasn't expecting that.

If you weren't able to get in to the fiber club, I have good news. I have added 10 more spots. If you miss out on this club, you can email me with the subject line "Fiber club waiting list" to have your name added to a waiting list. I will not add people to the waiting list until all 10 open spots have been filled.

Customer FOs for May 2011

2011-06-03T05:00:00.000-05:00

=====================================================

You people have been busy. Your needles must be smokin'! Can you believe these FOs? Every one of them is a winner.

Shells is my Cotton Slub test knitter. She knit the darling purple sweater featured last month from my old Cotton Slub Sport base and then immediately cast on for a new sweater, which is the one above (close-up below), out of the new Cotton Slub DK base so she could give me a side-by-side comparison and recommendation. How awesome is she? It still kills me that the mill discontinued the Slub Sport base, but Shells has given 2 thumbs up for the Slub DK base. It will be in the shop this month, I hope. More on that later.

Tempest Tea managed 2 pairs of socks this month! The first one is made out of a Strong Arm Sock Yarn color that I have never managed to name! What name would work for it?

Tempest Tea's other pair of socks is made from Flamingos On a Croquet Law colorway. I love these!

LegalGirl knit these Ampersand socks in just a few days, it seems. She used the "Julia's Apron" colorway that was the April's sock yarn of the month. I'm inspired to rip out my socks started from the same yarn and make these!

Some of you may know SwedishRose, who knit these Superhero-colored socks, by her other name--BeaGin Designs. She produces the snagless stitch markers I send out with each order. Do you think she used some of her markers for these great socks?

SwedishRose knitted up this cute bunny nugget from her leftover Superhero sock yarn.

Deborah finished a shawl from Victorian Lace Today in the "We're All Mad Here" colorway in the Bling base. She ran out of yarn with only rows to go! Luckily, she knew where to get more. No, not from me, but from our friend Annie who had snagged 2 hanks for herself just days before! [Deborah, I just notice you have not updated your blog since April 28. Ahem, ahem. Get on that, will you?]

Back of Deborah's shawl

Mayasveil knit this beautiful Citron shawl from Merino Silk Lace. I just love the Citron shawl. I need to get knitting on mine!

Guess how long it took HotPinkSocks to knit this Multnomah shawl? This color was one of the last one I did before I left for Kentucky Sheep and Fiber, which was on May 21-22. Today is June 2 and I've had these pictures since yesterday. 10 days from the day she bought it until the day I had pictures of it blocked and on a model. I think the actual knitting of it only took her 5 days! There are 2 hanks left of that color.


SaliorJuliet used Cotton Warp in the Fire Harvest colorway for this great shawl. She mentioned in her blog that the pattern might be better in a non-variegated colorway, but I love it. Of course, I may be just a smidge biased. :) TaiwanDawn has been a prolific user of the Cotton Warp yarn and this month is no different. She crocheted a sweet dress, also out of the Fire Harvest Colorway. KateOhKatie knit 2 projects this month from Dyeabolical yarn. The first is a set of legwarmers for cute chubby baby legs. KateOhKatie's second project is this awesome hat. Do you see what the pooling did? Very cool!

Last, but certainly not least, is Liat's handspun yarn. She took a braid of my merino, carded it with sparkles and the spun this great art yarn. She also sells her creative art yarns in her etsy shop leeloosh.etsy.com

Fiber Club Reminder

2011-05-30T07:00:00.000-05:00

Just a quick reminder that the fiber club spots open up on Wednesday, June 1st. You can find more information here. I'm hope to have the spots open by 6am Wednesday morning. If it isn't listed by 6am, well, then I'm sure at least one of you will take advantage of the fact that I print my phone number on my business cards. *grin*

Here is the link you will use on Wednesday. If you want 8oz, please just order 2 4oz memberships and I will refund you the difference. http://dyeabolical.bigcartel.com/product/new-club-members-4oz

The theme for this club is Variations on a Pink*. Yep, one pink done in 3 different ways. Will I do 3 different intensities? 3 different methods of dyeing? Will I do a pink over dye? Under dye? Pink glaze? Will pink play a big role in the colorway? Will it be a supporting color? Will you even be able to find the pink? I wish I could say more, but I think it's gonna be awesome.

*I know some of you are still cringing at the idea of pink. Rest assured, we're talking more the fuchsia/magenta end of the spectrum and not pepto pink.

More Kentucky

2011-05-29T19:18:00.000-05:00

Susan Anderson has a great wrap-up of the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival on her blog. Thanks for the great write-up, Susan!

We have lots of booth pictures. Looking at the pictures, our booth seems a little sparse. Funny how while we were in the booth we felt like we were crowded. We applied for a double booth for next year. I suppose that means I'll need more inventory and more booth furniture for next year. NOW HIRING someone to carry all that stuff from my 3rd floor home down to the van I park down the block.

On the way home we visited Santa Clause. Scott got to sit in Santa Claus's sleigh. No, really. He did.

All the inventory but the Cotton Warp and spinning fibers are back up online. Those 2 things should be back up before the end of the week.

I think that's it! I'm done babbling on about Kentucky until next year!

[Video Update] Let's Try This Again

2011-05-26T15:07:00.000-05:00

Beauty product sampler: Birchbox http://www.birchbox.com/ (or email me for a referral link)
Necklace: Iram-Inal Designs http://www.iidesigns.com/index.html
Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival: http://www.kentuckysheepandfiber.com/
Blue Goose Farms: http://bgfarms.blogspot.com/
Susan B. Anderson: http://susanbanderson.blogspot.com/
The Knitgirllls: http://www.theknitgirllls.com/wordpress/
New Retailer of Dyeabolical Yarns Magpie Yarn: http://magpieyarn.com/
Fiber Mill: Fleury Sheep & Wool http://fleurysheepandwool.com/
Northwest Looms: http://www.northwestlooms.com/
Moonwood Farm: http://www.artfire.com/users/moonwoodfarm
Fiber Art Work: http://www.fiberartwork.com/
Liberty Alpacas: http://www.alpacanation.com/farmsandbreeders/03_viewfarm.asp?name=11260
Hand Painted Knitting Yarns: http://handpaintedknittingyarns.com/
Lunabud Knits: http://www.etsy.com/shop/LunabudKnits
Amiga Cardigan: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEss11/PATTamiga.php
St. Louis Craft Mafia: http://stlouiscraftmafia.com/
Upcycle Exchange: http://www.upxchange.com/
Paste Crafts: http://www.pastecrafts.com/

Redacted

2011-05-25T08:25:00.000-05:00

I relistened to what I recorded yesterday. 10 minutes later I took the blog post down. You can still find it on my blip.tv site for a little bit longer, but I don't think I'll leave it up on the blog.

It was clear to me now that I was having some pain and brain fog issues yesterday. I struggled all day to do simple tasks and couldn't figure out why I was having trouble figuring out simple tasks. Now that I've had some more rest I can think a little more clearly. I enjoyed our trip tremendously but I obviously should have waited until today to record that video.

You didn't miss much by not watching the video. I talked about Kentucky and how awesome it was. I also intended on talking about why I don't do a lot of out-of-state shows (physical considerations, the cost of traveling, many of my objectives/goals can be met by doing in-state shows), but I ended up rambling from talking about the accident that triggered chronic pain to working in a yarn shop to my philosophy of wool without ever really connecting those ramblings in to one coherent thought. Plus, I'm slurring during most of it and there are additional sound issues. Meh. Maybe I'll record something new tomorrow.

July-Sept Fiber Club Info

2011-05-16T09:53:00.002-05:00

It’s almost time to sign up for the second installment of the Dyeabolical fiber club!

This second club will be a little bit different than the first one. The main differences are:

¨ There are 3 braids instead of a batt, bump and braid

¨ The club has a color theme. This gives people an idea (sort of) what to expect colorwise and gives me a framework to work within.

¨ The club will not be listed on Etsy.

¨ Keep reading for details!

Returning fiber club members can reserve their spot until May 31. Returning members, please check your emails for more details.

The remaining spots will open to new fiber club members on June 1 and will be for sale at: http://dyeabolical.bigcartel.com/product/new-club-members-4oz and ~~http://dyeabolical.bigcartel.com/product/new-club-memers-8oz-option~~ [If you want 8oz, please purchase TWO 4oz clubs. I will refund the extra $ to you.] Please note, these listings are not in my usual etsy shop. I am testing out new shopping cart software with this club. Please do not bookmark this new site as it may not be active once your purchase is complete.

Wait listing: Please email me at dyeabolicalyarns@gmail.com after June 1 if you were not able to get in to this club and would like to be waitlisted for a future club. I will not add anyone to the waitlist before the spots are sold out.

The cost is $65 for a 4oz option and $120 for an 8oz option, which includes shipping to the US and Canada. International residents, please add an additional $12 for shipping. Missouri residents are subject to sales tax.

You will receive a 4oz or 8oz braid once a month in July, August and September for a total of 3 shipments. The shipments will be mailed before the end of each month. There are no guaranteed extras. This is to keep prices as low as possible. You are paying for just the fiber and shipping. I may, however, include vendor samples or small fun trinkets from time to time in your package. These are included at no cost to you. Each shipment will arrive in a tyvek envelope mailed first class.

The fibers may include merino (superwash or non-sw), bfl (sw or non-sw), Falkland, polwarth, wool/silk blends, corriedale (sw or non), wool/viscose blends (tencel, rayon from bamboo, etc), Finn, wool/cellulose blends (flax, bast bamboo) or any other similar quality fiber.

This club will have a color theme—Variations on a Pink. What constitutes pink? Red watered down to almost nothing? Baby pink? Toy aisle pink? Well, yes, but pink is so much more. It can be anywhere from the palest petal pink to deep vivid magenta and all the colors in between. If you think you’re not a “pink person” then think again. These club selections will be vibrant, bright, variegated, saturated and paired up with unexpected color combinations. Note: There will be some element of pink in every braid, but pink may not be the dominant color in every braid.

Each color will be exclusive for 3 months.

Please email if you need extras. Sometimes I have extras or possibly dye more.

Here are Wikipedia’s shades of pink color card for examples of pinks I may use: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Shades_of_pink

Here are some examples of pinks I’ve done in the past:

http://www.etsy.com/transaction/49643977

http://www.etsy.com/transaction/49555423

http://www.etsy.com/transaction/49334558

http://www.etsy.com/transaction/48564156

http://www.etsy.com/transaction/48320112

http://www.etsy.com/transaction/38452678

Customer FOs for April 2011

2011-05-11T15:01:00.000-05:00

FOs are Finished Objects. A finished object is any item knitted, crocheted, woven, felted, spun or otherwise transformed from Dyeabolical yarns and fibers into another form (e.g. yarn knitted in to mittens, warp crocheted in to dishcloths, fiber in to a felted object, dyed top spun in to yarn). If you would like me to include your FO in an upcoming post (or if I have forgotten anyone!) email me or message me through Ravelry. Thank you to my customers and friends for letting me share your FOs!

=============================================================

Kelly used Cotton Slub Sport to knit the adorable hat above and she used Cotton Warp in CMY for the darling hat below. Both of these hats are available for sale in her brand new Etsy shop, Hyggeligt Baby.

SamSarah knit this darling baby dress, also from Cotton Warp in CMY. I especially love the pooling around the middle. I may have to do a planned pooling project with this yarn in the near future.

Mayasveil knit these great socks from some Strong Arm in Butternut Squish she picked up last year at the farmers market. I love these, Maysveil! Why don't I do this color more often?

And now we get to ShellsSells. ShellsSells blew me away with what she has done this month. I sent out this color for the last fiber of the month club. She spun it in to this fantastic gradient yarn...

....and then knitted it in to this ah-maz-ing scarf. I can't get over it. Shells didn't stop there, either. She knit not one, but TWO sweaters.


Shells is my Cotton Slub test knitter. She knit this darling sweater from my old Cotton Slub Sport base and then immediately cast on for a new sweater, which will be in May's post, out of the new Cotton Slub DK base so she could give me a side-by-side comparison and recommendation. How awesome is she? It still kills me that the mill discontinued the Slub Sport base, but Shells has given 2 thumbs up for the Slub DK base. It will be in the shop next month!

That's April! Thank you to everyone who shared their projects. I hope I didn't forget anyone. If I did just drop me a line and I'll get right on it. If you have any finished projects made from Dyeabolical product--knit, crochet, weaving, spinning, felted or ???--you can message me on Ravelry or email me to be included for Mary.

Booth pictures

2011-05-10T08:03:00.000-05:00

Scott and I have been going back and forth and back again about how we ought to set up our booth with our new display grids. Tower Grove gave us some nice practice.

The booth looks a little sparse. We brought too many grids and only half our inventory. I think it would look better if we had yarn going all the way down to the bottom, but right now we're using those corner shelves, where the pink bowls are, to keep the grids stable and they can't go all the way down to the bottom without looking pretty dumb themselves. What we really need is ~~a booth designer~~ a few set of stabilizing feet instead of relying on the shelves to add stability. A stable base would do it, too. I like this set-up a lot and it keeps the grids off the floor:

Scott doesn't love the display above. I just want the booth to look nice without the spousal stress that occurs anytime we have to assemble a functional retail display before we've had adequate coffee. I also would like to stop buying new booth furniture every year, because that's getting old fast. This seems like maybe a good compromise. We'll see how the /\/\/\/\ configuration works at Kentucky in a few weeks and then revise our plan for the next show....whenever that will be. Can I digress for a moment?

I want to do more fiber shows, but holy baloney they are expensive! You figure the booth fee, which can be anywhere from $60-$500, plus car rental, gas, food, hotel and I'd have to sell just about everything in this picture below in order to just break even on the travel costs, not to mention the costs of the inventory itself. Luckily, we have a free hotel and car rental for Kentucky otherwise we wouldn't be able to do it. Someone who isn't me ought to organize a large St. Louis fiber festival that brings people in from all over the midwest.

At Kentucky we'll have twice as much inventory than we had for Tower Grove (not enough! not enough!) but only 1 more grid. I think I'll either bring wire cubes or a garment rack with shelves just in case we run out of room. Luckily, we have a 4-hour window the next time we set up the booth the night before and 1.5 hours the morning of the event to put the inventory up.

I gather that many people leave their inventory up all night at these fiber events. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Perhaps I'll change my mind once I get there, but what happens if there is wind and rain or an unscrupulous person* about? At home the inventory goes in a plastic bag and then in to a lidded container as soon as it is dry. I don't see why I would store my inventory any differently at a show than I would at home.

*or an unscrupulous squirrel, such as we had at Strange Folk who used my empty display as a nightclub.

Pointy Bullets of DOOOOOOM

2011-05-09T09:01:00.000-05:00

I had 6 bullet points written, including a bit about how the built-in and plug-in mice are acting twitchy. Then, as I was reviewing what I had written, the twitchy mice highlighted the first half of this post, deleted it and closed the browser window erasing all but the final 2 bullet points. Bastard mice. Also, the "r" and down arrow are missing from my keyboard.

I accidentally bought a cashmere blend sock yarn when I meant to go for its non-cashmere cousin on the shelf next to it. ["accident" defined as "Loopy Elf Donna made me touch the cashmere and when I came back to my senses I found that same hank of cashmere in my knitting bag and a Loopy Ewe receipt"] The cashmere blend is so soft and wonderful that I am *this* close to turning hypocrite and buying a giant box of cashmere sock yarn to dye up.

I sometimes lay awake ticking off my mental checklist of things to do and wondering if there is anything I forgot. When it comes to blogging, YES, there are things I have forgotten. I am certain that I have forgotten to say thank you for a gift, failed to give shout outs or forgotten to share a funny story, but tonight while I'm laying awake I can finally check off "mention Fibernymph" from my list. Last week I met Lisa from 90% Knitting/Fibernymph and we had a nice lunch where we got to talk dyeing. It was nice to have someone to talk shop with!

The farmers market kick-off got off to a slow start for us, but thankfully picked up as the sun came out. Scott summed it up on Twitter like so, "Good people watching day. I've seen a man walking a parrot, a man walking a cat, 200 babies, 500 pregnant women and 1000 french bulldogs. Also saw a guy in a bunny suit. Seriously. Ears, cotton tail, little twitchy nose. Why do they need to eat all of those carrots anyway?" Then, regarding our purchases at the market, "1 lb grass fed beef: $6. 1 box of Hamburger Helper: $2. Irony of putting top quality meat in low quality pasta and seasonings... " Tasty.

Before the market I was bragging to Scott that I lost (the same) 10 pounds (again). On the way home we stopped at Luebely's Bakery for a Mother's Day cake and came home with a spare cake. I'm still under my Weight Watchers points for today, but the only way I'll meet the Good Health Guidelines is if I count whipped cream as dairy and strawberry filling as a fruit.

The last show we did I filled up soft-sided bags and pitched them over the balcony for Scott to catch. I suggested that we do that again for this show. Scott responded by rubbing his chest, wincing and shaking his head "no". It doesn't seem right that yarn ought to be that heavy.

I'm exhausted. When I got home I slept from 6:30-2:30 and then 3:30-9:30. I don't see how other people do a different show each week. I think when I finally get the time, space, money and a car with cargo room, that I may have to develop a traveling inventory. Have I mentioned that my car parks 100 steps and 21 stairs away from my apartment? Or that I drive a Neon and packing even just 3 tubs in to my car is a challenge? Doing local shows, I think, would be no big thing if I was able to keep everything always packed in my car. Where do I get a miracle car that is small like a Neon, doesn't have a ton of blind spots, has huge cargo capacity and doesn't cost anything?

[Video Update] May Sock Club Spoiler & Cotton Bamboo preview

2011-05-05T15:11:00.002-05:00

In this video update I give a spoiler of the May sock club yarn and a preview of the organic cotton/bamboo rayon fingering weight yarn that I hope will be come a regular.

Someone asked about streaming the video updates to iTunes. You can now go to my channel on blip.tv and subscribe through the link at the bottom of the player that reads "subscribe to this show via iTunes". FYI, if you watch through iTunes you will only get the video updates. You will still have to come to the blog for non-video updates.

Thanks for watching!

Main Website: http://www.dyeabolical.com
Etsy: http://dyeabolicalyarns.etsy.com
Blog: http://dyeabolicalyarns.blogspot.com
Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/people/DyeabolicalYarn
Twitter: http://twitter.com/dyeabolicalyarn
Facebook: http://facebook.com/dyeabolicalyarns
Plurk: www.plurk.com/dyeabolical

Shows and Stuff

2011-05-04T17:38:00.001-05:00

How did you like the video update? I got a lot of good feedback from people who liked video podcast, most of whom are video podcast watchers. I'm planning on doing more video updates, but I will limit them to around 10 minutes or less and aim for less than once a week with regular blog posts in between.

Saint Louis locals, Tower Grove Farmers' Market opens this weekend! I will be there with my yarns and fibers starting at 8:30 and will be there until either the market closes or the rain runs us off. I'm bringing whatever will fit in my car and not a hank of yarn more. If there are any specific items you would like to see in person just let me know and I'll be sure to pack them.

2 weeks after Tower Grove, we will be traveling to Lexington for the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival where we will have a vending booth. I hope those of you who are local to Lexington will be able to attend!

The April Customer FO blog post is running late. If you have any yarns you spun from Dyeabolical roving or projects you completed using Dyeabolical yarn and would like me to include them then just email me at dyeabolicalyarns@gmail.com or PM me on Ravelry at dyeabolicalyarn

[Video update] Upcoming events and shop update

2011-04-30T10:49:00.001-05:00

· Thanks, Suzi!

· Mom’s bags. I meant to do them justice, but I still haven’t done it with this video. Maybe I’ll try again when I’m not trying to tell stage left from stage right while trying to talk pretty and while looking at myself in the monitor. Anyway, they’re great little bags.

· Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival, May 21-22.

· Tower Grove Farmers Market, May 7. I will be there unless it rains or if the winds are so bad that I can’t keep my tent down.

· Etsy Shop Update

May

2011-04-24T08:05:00.003-05:00

Sock Club members--please see an announcement about the club here.
==========
May is rushing towards us like a...like a...well, like a mad rushing thing. It's 5:30 Easter morning, before my first cup of coffee. You expected me to be able to come up with coherent words? Anyway, May is rushing towards us and I'm both excited and anxious. Show season starts in May.

Luckily, my "show season" consists of 2 shows in May and 2 near October so it isn't like my show season is overly taxing or anything, but still. Nerves. Hard core nerves. I'm doing my first fiber festival this year and I'm convinced all the other dyers are going to point and laugh at my garment rack displays (which I still think is genius, if perhaps a little declassé, especially now that I have taken off 2 of the matching hanging shelves and added this crazy thing). I'll be making a trial run of the garment rack shelves at Tower Grove Farmers Market on May 7 and if people really do point and laugh, well, then at least I'll know, right?

===========
Rant time.

The knitting world is vast. You (the generic you) might be famous in your own small community, but outside that community no one knows who you are even if you are the most famous knitter in the world. I assure you, I met plenty of people at the yarn shop who don't know who or what an Elizabeth Zimmerman is or don't know that Ravelry exists or who have never heard of a knitting podcast.That doesn't make that person less of a knitter by any stretch of the imagination.

===========
Back to our regularly scheduled blog post.

I took last week off from dyeing yarn. It might be a mistake to skip a week of dyeing, especially with a show coming up, but I needed a break plus my new dyes haven't arrived yet. I was hoping to take the whole week off work, but that didn't happen. I found I couldn't relax until I still spent 4-8 hours in my office each day. I got caught up on a lot, got some yarn wound and cleaned the office. I found a bag of the roving below, which I dyed 2 weeks ago and promptly forgot about. I'll have this up by Tuesday, along with more "We're All Mad Here" on Bling, Strong Arm Skinny and Superwash BFL roving.

Saturday is for Handspun (pic heavy)

2011-04-23T05:00:00.002-05:00

There has been a lot of handspinning and spinning accesorries acquisition happening around here lately, some of which have been gifts from my wonderful friends. Knitters are just about the most generous people in the world, I think!


Annie gave me this JessLu bag to hang from my spinning wheel. It fits the hook, oil and extra bobbin perfectly!

I traded with Nichol from Blue Goose Farms for this unbelievably gorgeous mohair. She included some sample locks from her other mohair goats...

...some Mardi Gras themed coffee (not pictured obviously)...

...and this gorgeous spinning hook made by our friend who I'm not sure wants to be named yet, but you know who you are. Open an Etsy shop already, won't ya?

Annie gave me the roving for this yarn last year. It is a silk, alpaca and camel blend. It was terrible to spin when I first sat down with it last year. I decided to give it another try this year. I sat down, attached the leader and 4 hours later I had this gorgeous yarn. What a difference a year makes!

90 bulky yards of a 3-ply done from the March fiber club.


Tussah silk dyed by BMFA. OMG! Amazing to spin! That's what I gotta say about that.

Dyed by Tempted Yarns for the Knitgirlls spin-a-long. I got 300 yards of a heavy fingering 2-ply from this superwash bfl. I love the barberpole/gradient effect it came out with!

Friday Update

2011-04-22T10:25:00.000-05:00

I made a small update to the shop last night. From left to right, top to bottom: Cockscomb on the Bling base, a BRIGHT PINK (no name), 70's Dress Shirt, Annie and Jo Rides a Motorbike all on the Strong Arm Skinny (2-ply) base.

All the colors

2011-04-13T23:04:00.000-05:00

Today was dye ordering day and I may have gone a little nutso picking out new dye colors. Usually dye ordering day happens once a year and involves spending a truly ridiculous amount of money on fresh jars of the tried and true colors I've been using the last 4 years. This time I shook the pallet up a bit and picked out 21 new dyes, 18 of which could be classified as either green or purple if I were being honest with myself. I'm nothing if not consistent in my color preferences....

Speaking of green and purple, I dyed up a new color a few weeks ago, sold out in an instant, dyed more up and sold all 4 hanks in an afternoon plus got a few emails asking me to list more soon. I think we have a winner. *grin*

We're All Mad Here (pink, magenta, apple green) in the Strong Arm Skinny base

We Shall Call It Skinny

2011-04-08T13:38:00.001-05:00

I had 12 people vote on the blog poll about the Strong Arm Base vs the 2-Ply base and about another 12 weigh-in in person, through Plurk or through email. The results are as follows:

8 people prefer 2-ply over Strong Arm
8 people prefer Strong Arm over 2-ply
8 people like both equally
1 person who preferred Strong Arm were emphatic in their love of Strong Arm and suggested that if I discontinue it that it will make baby unicorns cry.
1 person who preferred Strong Arm made whimpering noises when he discovered that I wouldn't be knitting him socks from Strong Arm if Strong Arm was discontinued. He proclaimed that if I won't be knitting him his own pair of Strong Arm socks then I need to forfeit my Strong Arm socks to him.
1 person--me--knows better than to argue with enthusiastic customers and people who know where I keep my hand knitted socks.

So here's what we're going to do. We're keeping Strong Arm and to reduce or possibly increase confusion I am renaming the 2-ply sock yarn to Strong Arm Skinny. This is going to work out well...I think.

To recap:

Both Strong Arm and Strong Arm Skinny are 80/20 superwash merino wool and nylon. Both are technically fingering weight, however:

Strong Arm Skinny is 2-ply true fingering weight. 400 yards per 100g. The yarn is soft, strong, well balanced. The high twist factor give this yarn a little bounce that charms me. Socks made from this yarn are good for 3 seasons.

Strong Arm is a 3-ply, 364 yards per 100g. The yarn is round and has a diameter that places it in the heavy fingering weight category. It knits in to a thicker fabric with a high squish factor. Socks made from Strong Arm are the socks you will pull out when the temperature dips below freezing.


Themyscira in Strong Arm

Themyscira (different lot) in Strong Arm Skinny

Customer FOs for March 2011

2011-04-04T16:12:00.001-05:00

==========================================

Deborah knitted up these striped Mardi Gras gloves from 3 colors of the superwash merino worsted weight base. Fun!

Deborah's sister, Peggy, knitted these Broad Spiral Rib Socks from Poison D'Art in the Strong Arm Sock base. Look how long she was able to make the cuff!

Fiona knitted this absolutely amazing Involute shawl in a colorway she requested called "Fiona's Copper Penny". Stunning, Fiona. Simply stunning!

Lisa from the 90% Knitting Podcast (and also a new yarn dyer!) spun this really excellent handspun from a mixed bfl silk in the Juniper colorway. Well done, Lisa! I love your plying!

Kara and I conspired to get this little dolly made for our zombie-loving friend. All I did was provide some of the yarn and the pattern. It was Kara who crocheted like a fiend over the weekend to get it done. How cute is this zombie? SO CUTE!

Rosalia (on Ravlery) knitted this sweet Bougainvillea shawlette from a hank of Strong Arm Sock Yarn. This isn't related to knitting at all, but I can't hear "bougainvillea" without thinking of Mother Burnside screaming "GET THOSE HORSES OUTTA MY BOUGAINVILLEA!" in the hunt scene in the Auntie Mame movie.

Winterhart recently got a spinning wheel and look what she made from some merino/tencel fiber! Is she a natural or is she a natural? Great spinning, Winterhart!

Last, but certainly not least, Joy did a beautiful job knitting these socks from her own Basic Ribbed Socks pattern. She used a one-of overdyed color of Strong Arm. Lovely, Joy!

Strong Arm vs. 2-ply?

2011-03-22T07:50:00.001-05:00

Those of you who have seen or used both the Strong Arm Sock base (3-ply) and the 2-ply sock base yarns, which do you like better? The percentage of nylon to wool is the same for both. The main differences are in construction and yardage. Strong Arm has 3-plys and slightly less yardage; the 2-ply has 2-plys, obviously, and slightly more yardage.

Here's why I'm asking. Last year I decided to discontinue the Strong Arm base and replace it with my own custom spun blend of yarn. I was using the 2-ply as a stop-gap between discontinuing Strong Arm last year and rolling out my own custom yarn in June or July of this year. The custom spin isn't going to happen now. There is no drama as to why. It is simply a matter of the mill deciding it wants to spin very large orders instead of very small ones. I can't blame them at all, but now I have some decisions to make. Do I continue with the 2-ply sock yarn, which has great color take-up at a true fingering weight, or do I bring back the Strong Arm sock yarn, which is squoooshy and fat but can be challenging to source?

ETA: Sorry about the font color of the poll. I'm not sure why it did that.

ETA, part 2: I like both yarns equally but for different reasons. They are both high quality, but the 2-ply is an even higher quality. I enjoy the stitch definition of the 2-ply, but when it is -3F outside I turn to the Strong Arm socks. When it is 30-60 degrees the 2-ply are much more wearable. There are back-office considerations as to why I prefer one over the other, too, but as far as the yarn itself? I can't decide. Someone suggested I do both. Eh. Maybe...

Ten on Tuesday

2011-03-15T12:09:00.000-05:00

I don't do every Ten on Tuesday because it is usually Thursday before I read the prompt, but today I caught it on time and it is a topic on which I can speak with great authority. I give you...

My 10 Favorite Kinds of Pie

Apple pie. Mmm, mmm my favorite. Bonus points for extra cinnamon and a dense chewy crust to hold all that apple goodness.
Pumpkin pie. Specifically my mom's pumpkin pie. Sometimes pumpkin pie can be watery, pale or, ugh, grainy. This is not the pumpkin pie I desire. Nay, my kind of pie is dark, spicy and custard-like just like mom makes.
Custard pie and its coconut derivative. Someone once told me that key lime pie is a cousin to the custard pie. Perhaps, but if key lime is a cousin to the custard pie then it is like that bad cousin that your parents wouldn't let you hang out with.
Lemon Meringue. I eat the meringue, then I eat the lemon, then I eat the crust. I never eat all 3 layers at once.
Cherry pie with a top crust. The right crust is really important with cherry pie.
Pot pie. Technically not a dessert unless you like to follow your main meal with meat and gravy.
Hostess pies. Don't judge.
Chocolate pudding pie with a graham cracker crust and dream whip top. No, french silk pie is not the same thing as chocolate pudding pie. It is not. It is not. It is not.
Peach pie.
Quiche. Also not a dessert, but still a pie.

=================================================

Check out my website at http://www.dyeabolical.com and my etsy shop at http://dyeabolicalyarns.etsy.com Receive 15% off through March 31 by entering the code March2011 during checkout.

Bloggers Block, Sale and Shop Update

2011-03-14T16:50:00.000-05:00

If I don't get back to blogging regularly the blogging police might strip me of my blogging creditials. I'll stop being a Blogger with a capital B and become a Business Owner Whose Business Happens to have a Blog for Sporadic Updates and Whatnot But Really Isn't a "Blogger", Per Se, or BOWBHBSUWBRIBPS. I can't pronounce BOWBHBSUWBRIBPS so I had better find a way to overcome my bloggers block and blog regularly!

A good start to blogging regularly might be to throw this damn laptop and wireless keyboard out the window and get an old fashioned plug in keyboard. I type too fast for both the wireless and the laptop and they can't keep up. There is serious lag time between when I type and when it shows on the screen. It's distracting and frustrating. Can you hold on for 10 seconds while my keyboard catches up with my typing?

Ok, I'm back now. Dang, I don't even type that fast. *runs off to take typing test* Only 72 wpm on this keyboard. Keyboards should have ratings, like "this keyboard is only rated for 40wpm or less". Stepping off my soapbox and moving on...

Dyeabolical is celebrating an anniversary this month. I opened Dyeabolical for business in March 2007 with some super bright, super saturated, seen from space colors and bless you all, you liked them as much as I did. I've transitioned to less, er, intense colors lately but I still love me some acid green.

I dyed up several of the original "seen from space" Dyeabolical colors to celebrate our 4th anniversary. I will list them in the shop on Tuesday afternoon.

Superheroes, Pot O'Gold, Dark (K)night, Boltneck, Hidden Tiger, Shulkie and Themyscira

It seems way longer than 4 years; on the other hand, I can't believe how fast these 4 years have gone. Thanks for coming on this dyeing journey with me. As an extra thank you, please take 15% off any order through the end of the month by using coupon code March2011 (no discounts on special orders, please)

Tiny things are cute

2011-03-07T05:00:00.001-06:00

The sweetest tiny thing came to live with us this week.

It's an baby airplant....

...placed inside a lightbulb! A friend gave this to me as a late birthday gift. She had to pop the end of the lightbulb, clean out its working parts and create this garden scene through a hole smaller than a dime. Amazing!

Swap Packages

2011-03-06T12:30:00.000-06:00

February was the month of swaps for me. I participated in both the Plurk Shawl Swap and the Odd Duck's Mardi Gras Swap. I had wonderful packages in the mail this last week and wonderful people to mail packages to. Thank you, swap partners!

BlueGooseFarms crocheted me this great little shawlette out of hand dyed yarn. The swap was for the shawl only, so I was so surprised when she included some delicious Mardi Gras coffee, earrings, stitch markers, candy, chocolate, a great pendant, a coaster and a beautiful candle holder. You spoil me, Nichol!

Linda4888 spoiled me with this awesome box full of awesomness. She crocheted me a kindle cover, included handmade Mardi Gras potholders, a MG colored yarn, the official MG guide, king cake soap, great beads, beinget mix, cafe du monde coffee, a much and a copy of Vampire Knits, which I have been wanting.

For the Plurk swap, I knit the Charlize shawl for my swap partner, showmeyourknits. I loved the way it looked when I was finished, but the lace portion about killed me. It was so easy that I memorized the pattern, but it wasn't so easy that I could knit without losing track. Finally I just did what looked right instead of driving myself crazy trying to keep track of where I lost a yo or ssk. If I were to knit this again I might substitute a straight yo, k2tog pattern for the slightly harder to track yo, ssk offset by half a repeat. I also included a hank of red yarn and a few little gifty gifts.

For the Mardi Gras swap, I used a pattern I was test knitting for a friend to make these clever fingerless mitts. It is a little difficult to see since it isn't on a hand, but the green and gold "scarf" is a bow around the wrist and there is a cutout on the top of the hand before purple joins up to finish the mitt part. I can't wait until the pattern is published. I also included beads, a shirt, a hank of handspun, a bracelet and stitch markers in with my swap package for spartyliblover.

Customer FOs for February 2011

2011-03-01T21:33:00.001-06:00

Momo, who got his own post earlier this month. Needle felted with Dyeabolical felting wool by Crafty and Crap.

==================================================

Dawn used Strong Arm Sock Yarn in Crimson Giants to make iPod gloves for her niece. She is also making a matching headband.

Pegg knit these socks in record time from the February sock club color, Chocolate, Wine and Cherries.

Pictures do not do these socks justice. It is a very dark maroon and orange yarn with multicolored and silver sparkles throughout the yarn. Gorgeous, Deborah! (Bling sock yarn in Blood Orange)

Maya started spinning a month or two ago and is already kicking out the amazing yarns above and below. She's a natural! (merino top in Fruit Salad)

(mixed BFL silk top)

Dawn crocheted this sweet dress for her friend's baby from Cotton Warp in CMY.


Chastitycatt made this great Wakefield scarf from a hank of Strong Arm Sock yarn in Spartan

Allison knit her fingers to the bone to finish 3 hats using our superwash merino worsted.

Way to go, Legalgirl!

The last 2 FOs for February were 2 that I finished for swaps. This was for the Plurk Shawl Swap from the February sock club yarn.


...and these gloves were test knit for Tempest Tea from my superwash merino worsted weight wool.

Monster Sighting!

2011-02-20T14:51:00.002-06:00

There's been a monster sighting in my indoor garden!

Is that Momo the Monster I see behind those leaves?

Uh, is he gnawing an arm under the orchid blossoms?

OMG he IS gnawing an arm....wait, are those knitting needles in that hand?

MOMO IS EATING A KNITTER! Holy crap, y'all!

Big huge thanks to Crafty and Crap for needle felting and sculpting this little guy for me!

Needles for Newborns

2011-02-19T21:17:00.001-06:00

Little hats on a clothesline

For the second Saturday in a row I spent time with my fibery peoples and ate amazing brownies. This week I was at Paste Craft's Needles for Newborns event where knitters and crocheters made teeny tiny hats for babies. We were there for only a few hours, but the last I talked to the organizers there were nearly 100 hats made today. Good job, knitters!

Kara made the teeniest hat of all. It was so small it wouldn't even fit her water bottle.

Also Kara's. This one fits the water bottle, but just barely.

Mine, crocheted in kitchen cotton.

This hat is a lesson in individual gauge. This was knit from the same pattern as Kara's first hat except I used needles 2 sizes smaller. Her hat was so small it didn't fit a water bottle. Mine was big enough for an average sized infant, not a preemie. The yarn had a little bit to do with that. Kara used DK and I used worsted, but I went down TWO needle sizes!

Another crochet hat. I love how the yarn pooled here.

Birthday weekend

2011-02-17T18:16:00.000-06:00

I am having the worst time blogging. Somewhere between thoughts and keyboard I lose interes...

This past Saturday I joined my friend Joy and her spinning group for some tasty food and fiber crafts to beat the winter blahs. It's weird to think just 5 days ago the parking lot was encased in treacherous ice and today I have all the windows open, it's 71 degrees and I saw the first wasp of the year*. Also? I may have possibly unleashed a baby mosquito or two when I dumped the snow water out of the self-watering containers. How did they survive the cold????

Where was I? Oh right. I spun with Joy and her friends for a wonderful afternoon. I met so many people, all of whom were nice. I love the fiber community's tendency to assume every one in the room is a friend you just haven't met yet. It takes a lot of pressure off of making friends when you know in advance you're going to be friends.

I managed to get all of 2 pictures. The one below is of a friend whose name I do not know. She was showing a few of us bobbin lace. The other picture I have didn't turn out so well. I think I was making a ridiculous face and my husband thinks the photo looks good. Remind me to jab that man with a needle.

After the spin-in I drove home and spent the rest of the weekend celebrating my birthday. I had some wonderful and unexpected gifts, but I wanted to share these crafty items with you.

My mom made these project/gift bags from fabric leftover from outfits she made my sister and I when we were kids.

Mom also sewed these super thick and thirsty towels for me. Towels of this size and thickness are $6 a piece at the store! Ridiculous.

Jamie made this awesome knitters bracelet. It's the perfect spot for storing that extra dpn or cable needle. I know she's working writing the pattern for this. I'll update when she releases it.

Kara embroidered these AWESOME wall hangings. I can't wait to get them hung. She also made the most delicious gooey butter popcorn cupcakes. YUM!

*I actually started writing this post yesterday. Today when I sat outside a honeybee landed on the flower catalog I was browsing and refused to leave.

Shop Update Preview

2011-02-14T16:09:00.000-06:00

I am only going to have 2 shop updates this week and I thought I would give you a preview.

On Tuesday I will be listing Silky Lace. 80% merino/20% silk, 1000 yards per 100g, $27. There are 2-4 hanks per color. I will list 2 hanks of each color to start and will relist as they sell. If you need more than what is listed, or anticipate needing more, please let me know through email, PM or etsy convo and I will increase the quantity.

On Thursday I will be listing mixed bfl/silk top. 85% black bfl and ecru bfl wool mix/15% tussah silk. $20. There are 4-6 braids per color. I will list 2 hanks of each color to start and will relist as they sell. If you need more than what is listed, or anticipate needing more, please let me know through email, PM or etsy convo and I will increase the quantity.

Customer FOs and Handspun for January 2011

2011-02-03T17:50:00.000-06:00

FOs are Finished Objects. A finished object is any item knitted, crocheted, woven, felted, spun or otherwise transformed from Dyeabolical yarns and fibers into another form (e.g. yarn knitted in to mittens, warp crocheted in to dishcloths, fiber in to a felted object, dyed top spun in to yarn). If you would like me to include your FO in an upcoming post, please email me or message me through Ravelry. Thank you to my customers and friends for letting me share your FOs!

==================================================

MariannAn did a little stashbusting with these socks. She combined leftover balls of Dyeabolical, Lorna's Laces and Wollmeise to make these socks. Be sure to check out MariannAn's colorwork patterns. WOW.

Mamased joined my sock yarn of the month club and knit this awesome shawl for her daughter in no time flat. Fantastic!

Nina (Cherry Sprinkle on Ravlery) knitted these fantastic gloves from a superwash merino/tencel for her swap partner for a recent Ravelry swap. Lucky partner!

Jessie from Stash Ehancement (etsy store) spun this great striping 2-ply from BFL/Silk top in the Steampunk Themyscira colorway. "Steampunk" is the designation I use when I take a normally handpainted colorway and kettle dye it instead. The results are usually darker and less predictable and have a "antiqued" look to them.

Carrie (Zinniz on Rav) spun this gorgeous lace-weight Falkland on her spindle. The color is a very deep dark extra-saturated Blood Orange (normally an orange/burgundy)

Cniotalai (on Ravelry) spun this beautiful 3-ply from a braid of superwash BFL. Look how even her spinning and plying is!


More Slither yarn! Ava used Slither in the Strong Arm Sock Yarn base to make these very cool Skew socks. Great job Ava and thanks for sharing the pictures!

Deborah knitted these Evening Stockings For a Young Lady pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush. She used the first dye lot (aka test skeins) of Mock Turtle in the Strong Arm Sock Yarn base.


How fun is this picture? Lily from Ginger Haole knitted these awesome striped mitts by alternating one row of Kangaroo Dyer's yarn with one row of my Cotton Slub Sport (only 2 colors left, btw). Very cool idea!


Ellen spun this gorgeous yarn from some of the first roving I ever dyed and recently knitted this gorgeous shawl from it.

Miss P knitted the socks above out of January's sock yarn in about 10 seconds flat and she knit the socks below out of the Derby Girl color. What's your secret to such fast knitting, Miss P?


That crazy Annie picked up this roving from me on Monday. 48 hours later she's spun all 8 oz in to this gorgeous 2-ply. She tells me she's going to knit it up in to a pattern she has wanted to knit for awhile. She knows it begins with a "k" and will start knitting as soon as she remembers what came after the "k".


Deborah used Dyeabolical felting wool to needle felt Steuben's new coat. Technically she did this in February, but this is so cute I could not wait. Could. Not. WAIT. You can find Dyeabolical felting fiber through Paste Crafts in Soulard, MO, True Blue Fiber Friends in Columbia, MO or Yellowbird Yarn Room in Ohio or you can do a special order through me.