New Roving, yum! September 25, 2008

Tuesday was a dyeing day! It was much needed – I was down to my last 4 oz of dyed roving. I dyed another pound, half superwash merino mill ends and half just regular mill ends. I’m trying to get into a good fiber schedule, and I feel like Tuesday and Thursday will be good dyeing days because I can easily dye a pound or so in the morning before my 1:30 class.

Here are my two favorites, both in superwash merino –

Blue and brown, one of my favorite color combinations.

You might not be able to tell from this picture, but this one came out GORGEOUS when it was dry. It’s sort of a mix of reddish-pink, olive green, and steely blue. I LOVE it!

I’ve recently switched to using jacquard acid dyes, after using Wilton’s forever, and I think it’s forcing me to be a lot more creative with my color choices. I only have red, blue, yellow, brown, and black, so if I want purple, or orange, or turquoise, or whatever, I have to mix it myself. I almost never get the color I’m aiming for, which is perfect – unexpected colors are so much more fun!

It made me smile to see that on Tuesday morning someone was searching my blog for information on “dyeing roving in oven”. I think it’s cool that some stranger out there on the internet was reading my blog for information on dyeing roving at the exact same time that I was actually doing it! People find my blog by searching for the weirdest phrases sometimes – someone stumbled across my site while searching for “Marie Antionette’s lips” yesterday – I bet they were disappointed!

The other exciting news from this week is that my roommate adopted a cat! He’s super adorable, very friendly and loves attention – he’ll in front of you and meow until you let him sit on your lap and snuggle! His name is Edgar Allan Paw, which as far as I’m concerned is the best name for a cat ever.

What a cutie!

Babies! September 22, 2008

I feel like everyone in my family is having babies lately! One of my cousins just adopted a baby last week (she named her Rebecca Aubrey – how sweet is that!) and another is due in November. I’m planning on making both of them the Hoodie Baby Blanket by the Thrifty Knitter.

Seriously, could this be any freaking cuter??? I ordered some Lion Brand Cotton-Ease online – pink with green trim for one blanket, and pink with white trim for the other. I can’t wait for it to get here – I want to cast on now!

My goal is to list one new yarn on Etsy each day for the next month. I know I won’t do it every single day, but that’s what I’m aiming for. I did get one done today though – the deliciously refreshing Orangina.

Yummy. And it’s 120 yards!!! I love how much yardage I can get out of a 2-ply yarn with my wheel – it’s almost twice as long as what I could spin on my spindle! The wheel makes it sooo much easier to spin thin yarns (thin for me at least! worsted weight is about as thin as my yarns get!).

Oh, and make sure you check out my updated blogroll on the right side of my page! –> I’ve added a “Blogs I Read” section. These are some of the best spinning/fibery blogs out there! I don’t read many blogs, but I check the ones I do read every day, and I love these ones.

Hope your week is starting off wonderfully!

Long, long time ago, I can still remember… September 21, 2008

…when I used to actually post in this blog! I know that I’ve been gone for an unforgivable length of time. I’ve been busy with time consuming summer job combined with the responsibility of being recruitment chair for my sorority (might sound kind of stupid, but it was a huge thing for me and MAN did it eat up a lot of time). The past four months have just been swallowed up in one big blur, and I’ve completely neglected my blog and my Etsy shop. It’s a shame, really, since the past few months have actually been a pretty prolific time for me, spinning-wise. I’ve spent a lot of quality time with my still-relatively-new spinning wheel. I present this photo to you as evidence:

This poorly-lit picture represents most (but not all) of the yarn that I have in a giant pile waiting to be photographed and listed in my shop. I know I have a lot to catch up on, but I’m coming back with a vengeance!

To get started, here’s the first yarn from that pile that I’ve actually managed to take pictures of and list – Water Lily.

Pretty huh? It’s from a phase I had a while back where all I wanted to spin was chunky, lightly spun singles. This is actually one of the last yarns I spun on my drop spindle before I got my wheel – it’s kind of like the end of an era.