Spring Break

Yes it's Spring Break and 2 of the boys are sick! Derek got sick Sunday and is just now coming out of it. Deven I think its more allergies and sinuses.

During the week here Deven spent some of his time dyeing some yarn. He hasn't done that in a while. He really has talent. Here is a group photo of what is going into the shop soon. It is MCN DK (Merino Cashmere Nylon)

Custom job

I love doing custom Dye jobs. They are my favorite.
This one was scary. Reds are scary. They bleed and sometimes never stop. I dyed this on MCN DK (Merino Cashmere Nylon, Double Knit). Bigger than fingering, smaller than worsted weight. I really like how it feels. AND it turned out great! No bleeding after 3 washes :D

There are 2 picture below. One with a flash and one without. There is no sun here sadly. Hasn't been for days. It's gloomy and grey. The actual color is probably somewhere in between the two photos.

2 New Yarns

These should be in my etsy sometime tomorrow. the 1st skein is spoken for already. Every other color in the picture is the same ;-) Berry Christmas & Old Bird.

Berry Christmas is full of the pink family, Orchid, Mauve, and Magenta.

Old Bird is a Striper. Depending on gauge you should get 2-3 rounds of color each. I tested with US 2 needles on 68 stitches in the round. The colors are a Sagey Grey and Flamingo Pink

Fun colors, Soft yarn. hope everyone likes it

My Scavenger Hunt Swap Box Is Here!

I will just post the photos. There is so much in it and I LOVE it! I'll edit back what all is there.

The Box!

The Goodies!

Purple Iris Bulbs
Really cool zippy pouches
Assorted buttons
Hello Panda Shortbread Cookies w/Strawberry filling
Purple Chico Bag
Creamy Buttons

3 Fat quarters of fabric!
Mango lotion
A Verb for Keeping Warm sock yarn

Manos Silk Blend yarn in PURPLES!
A Japanese pattern book! w/charts
Woven bag from India

Local bag
I love the note pad, and they are always needed
fairy stickers...so cute :)
Yummy soap
Wasabe Peas
Sour Watermelon Gummies
Swedish Fish

Welted Fingerless Gloves Pattern to go with the Manos yarn
I think the buttons are up above somewhere. They make a kit with the pattern and yarn!
Sour Patch Kids

Chocolate Covered Sunflower Seeds
Tea
Puppy and Frog key chains. Too cute
LOVE the mints tin
A set of cards made by my Swappee's Children :D

A felted doll pin
and this is a closer look at one of the blurry pictures LOL

This was one of my favorite swaps so far. The Scavenger Hunt Theme was a lot of fun! I think we all have and are making out like bandits :)

Mini Skeins for the DFW Fiber Fest

Etsy Update Day!

4 more skeins of MCN sock yarn and 5 braids of 100% Superwash roving.


Also today 5 POUNDS of sock roving came in the mail! I can't wait to get that dyed and in the shop :D

Here are some pictures...

Sneak Preview

Here is a sneak peak of what is going in the shop today.
I couldn't wait for the rest of my yarns to dry. So here is a mini update of the new MCN yarn base going on.
Cowboys, Raspberry Sour, Mossy Glade, and Evergreen

Trying to get a good color shot

This is a big 8 ounce hank of merino bamboo. It didn't do what I wanted it to do. And I am very surprised with the output. It was supposed to go from light to dark, from one end to the other.... it didn't :( I've done this before. Off to the drawing board...

Pictures

Yarn I custom dyed. The Pansy I am happy with. The other not so much. I am mailed it as mentioned before. Now I wait and see if she wants a redo on the left skein. The dark blue looks VERY black, until you lay it on a pair of of black jeans. Not what she was going for I think....



Logan. Can you believe he will be 13 this month!


And look at Deven!!! 15 in a few days....

I LOVE this picture. My oldest son Derek & youngest nephew Zander. the 2 biggest hams ever ;)

SPecial Orders

We've had a few yarny special orders.
Deven had one where there was a skein of yarn that a person wanted to buy but they needed another to match. He said "Mom, This is one time I am glad I had a journal that you made me keep!" LOL . those two skeins should be at their new homes now.

the other 3 will be soon. Here are the pictures. My camera is trying to die on me so some colors aren't true. In Pansy that is a beautiful purple not blue. The Moonlit Sky is a very dark midnight blue not black.

Merino Bamboo in Moldy Zombi

Kona Bear in Pansy

Huggybears' Sock Moonlit Sky

My Etsy

There is no update like planned.
I was sick for a week. It has gone from one family member to the next. :( lasting about a week. So far only relapsing on Deven. We had an ER visit with him the other night. Of course my broke tooth and wisdoms being pulled have added to the delays. When this is all over hopefully I will be back on track and dyeing up a storm. I certainly have things to do!

Is it right yet?

Its funny how things look perfect when they are wet. But when they dry out you just aren't quite sure. It's like that with my consignment. Really dark purple that its almost black. What I have is beautiful. When it was wet it was exact. It is not now that it's dry :( So I must figure it out. Where did I go wrong.....

More Dyeing

Deven is busy dyeing yarn so he can have some up in the update tomorrow :) They are looking great! Logan is even going to have one up for sale too :D I'll try to have a preview picture like normal soon.

Mini Update Today on Etsy

The only thing that made it to todays update was the lower row of yarns and the roving. The lace will have to wait until next week. I didn't have enough umph to get it skeined up. It is Merino Cobweb Lace over 1000 yards.

Week in review Wednesday

I'm a day late. ;)
Deven and Logan had testing yesterday and that took up 1/2 the day. They go back to finish tomorrow. Derek wants to go to the High School here. It looks smaller than Jenna's. I think his class would have a total of 65. I graduated with 334! So now I am having to wrack my brain on what he has been learning for the last 3 years. I do not remember a lot. My medicine really did do a number on me memory wise. The kids don't like to discuss it, but when I can get it out of them I was "pretty dang slow". No wonder I thought I was going bonkers when I was coming off it to switch over to Topomax.....But I digress. Derek has to go to the High School and take the 1st 1/2 of the TAKS test tomorrow morning. I'm not worried about him taking tests. It's him writing an essay that bothers me. He just cannot sort his thoughts quick enough. I hope he doesn't freeze on that part. Phillip says he doesn't mind if Derek gets put in the 10th grade instead of the 11th. I think he will be bored to DEATH. But maybe not. High School is different than Middle and Elementary. We'll just wait and see what the tests say.

We got approval to get an appointment for a pediatric psychologist for Logan to get a firm diagnosis on Aspergers and/or any other LD's there may be. Now to find one. The yellow pages aren't being much help. Dr. ofc isn't aloud to make this referral for us, "its a private matter", they said.

I've dyed yarn. 414 grams worth. I was going for camo. It came out green and pink. The dyes split somehow. So instead I have "Briar Rose" soon to be in my store. While Zander was here we dyed 463 grams of Corriedale roving with koolaid. First time ever to dye roving. Koolaid was safest with an 18mo around. AND was first time to steam dye. That was fun. My spinning is getting more consistent and stays around worsted weight.

Of course Phillip is on call. Good news is they have a new guy now so in a couple months he gets to share ;)

Spindle Spinning

It's not the spinning wheel I am in search of, but that ok, since I don't know what kind of spinning wheel I want. But I am spinning yarn! I bought a spindle w/ fiber and I can't believe how quick and easy I learned. I do give all the credit to my friend in the KYS group on Ravelry though. I have been listening ;) I spun up half my fiber last night. It's really pretty. Now I need to get the yarn off the spindle and spin the rest so I can ply them together and have my first "homespun" yarn. Fun!

Dyeing yarn

Deven and I have been dyeing yarn this week. I have 3 skeins left. They are worsted weight and holding out for baby colors for a friend. I have mainly been doing sock (fingering weight), and 1 Dk (sport) weight. Deven dyed 4 worsted weight for himself. We have mainly been using Wilton cake/icing paste dye. In the past we (all the boys and I) have used "Kool-Aid" type drink powders.

Hmm Why it flipped the picture sideways I do not know... It wasn't that way when I took it. Oh well. These are the yarns we've done so far.

The middle photo is of Deven's work. the neat thing is he had two skeins in his pot each time. Yes those first 2 skeins are from the same dyeing pot! And yet different. The other 2 were done the same way and came out more consisently, but he also chose a different color.


The bottom photo is the same dye as the 3rd hank on the 1st photo. They are slightly different. I think it's because the bottom photo is 30% Silk 70% Merino and the other is 100% Merino. Who knows. It was a lot of fun watching the colors react and change. I can see myself doing more of this more often.

I'm hooked!!!