Twisted Stitches

And now it’s my turn to post again!

Due to epic cluelessness, I forgot to take pictures before leaving the house today. However, you can see a new batch of Faking Sanity yarns at Make One Yarn Studio, as of today. I just dropped off both my Fixation sock yarn and Bliss, the wool/silk laceweight. I really should have taken pictures; there were lots of colours that were very much out of my personal comfort zone – bright greens, oranges, pinks and roses… and of course some of my favourites, such as tonal greys, purples, and blue-blacks. Go take a peak. There’s also some other new fabulous yarns at the store that came in today, so definitely worth a trip!

No photos as everything is wet, but I’ve had more fun dyeing today. I dyed up some more of the seasilk/merino blend I was trying out, and I’m much more pleased with this one. Also, I think I’ve nailed down how to reproduce one of the very first reds that I dyed and loved. I also dyed up more skeins of my Faking Sanity Fixation sock yarn, so I now have enough for an order at an LYS, or at least enough of that particular yarn. They’re all setting right now, and I may get in a few more later today. In the meantime, I excavated my storage closet to pull out more yarn so I could start skeining more. The next dyeing session will likely be mostly Faking Sanity Bliss (wool/silk laceweight), as well as a new 100% silk laceweight. And possibly a bit more Fixation sock yarn, too, for good measure!

I’ve been a very bad blogger, but this time, at least, I have good reason. I’ve been working lots, and reading, and knitting, and dyeing! I started with dyeing several new base yarns I’m testing out for my Faking Sanity yarn line (please forgive the differences in the black background colour; I was losing light fast, so I colour adjusted them so the yarn looked accurate).

The first is a fingering weight seasilk/merino blend. The sheen of this yarn is incredible. I’m not really fond of this dye job, so I’ll probably overdye it, but I do like the yarn overall. It would be awesome for a shawl or lacy scarf. The second is an extremely soft superwash BFL sock yarn with a bit of nylon for strength (20%). I’ve loved BFL from the first time I spun some, so I’m sort of partial toward this fiber, and this yarn in particular. The last two are both of a merino/cashmere/nylon blend fingering weight yarn. This one I’m fairly certain will become one of my regulars. It is a plump/squishy yarn that’s incredibly soft and has a nice sheen to it, as well. As I’ll be ordering this one again in all probability, I’ve decided that purple skein is going to go straight to my personal stash!

Last week, I also succombed to temptation and bought a bunch of Sidar Flirt DK – a machine washable bamboo/wool blend yarn for a cowl neck tee I saw at The Knitting Room a few weeks ago. As my crafty side is balanced with a very detailed/analytical/geeky side and because I have yet to knit a pattern as it is written, I decided to make several modifications to the shaping and construction of the top, which of course meant sketching out several scaled versions of the garment on graph paper. With my sketches in hand, I was able to determine if I like the basic shape of the garment with my proposed changes. Everything seemed ok, so I set aside my swatch and started this:

As for the rest of the dyeing, I also managed to get a number of skeins of my Fixation sock yarn dyed up. Here are a few samples, since this seems to be the pic spam post!

Wow. So much for a daily update. To be frank, though, it’s probably better this way. A photo of a scarf with an extra repeat or two each day is… let’s say less than impressive. Despite great expectations of tons of knitting over the Olympics, I haven’t really been in a knitting mood lately. Yesterday, however, I did finish the first ball of yarn in my new Tudor Grace scarf from my last posts. I love this pattern. Have I mentioned that? I think I’ll probably dye up some of my yarn and use this as a shop sample; it seems to show off semi-solids very nicely.

On the dyeing front, things have been pretty quiet since the accident (couldn’t lift the pots, etc). However, I’m planning on another batch of yarns for local shops, and possibly some extra for my Etsy shop or for  a booth at some markets over the summer. I’m also very excited to be starting a new sweater dyeing project in the next few days – a deep red semi-solid/varigated colourway in our Faking Sanity Hope yarn (a squishy, soft, superwash aran weight yarn with high twist). We’re hopefuly having a colour consult this weekend, and then the dyeing will commence!

I had a skein of some Faking Sanity Compulsion that I had kept to knit a sample from, and this weekend, I finally pulled it out again. The yarn is a superwash 100% merino ranging from pink to deep red. I was browsing sock patterns, since that seems to be what I’m in the mood to knit these days, but on Saturday, I stumbled upon Anne Hanson’s Tudor Grace pattern again, and decided to give it a try.

I did a few gauge swatches and started on it this Sunday, so it’s not very far a long, but I think I’m liking the results so far:

Faking Sanity before Grace:

Faking Sanity Gracefully?

Last week, I ordered a few skeins of some new yarns. I’m thinking of carrying/dyeing a couple of new yarns for the Faking Sanity line. And today, the package arrived in all its glorious splendour. Do any of these bases sound interesting to you guys?

1. This first one is a superwash BFL/nylon blend:

2. The second one is a superwash merino/Seacell blend:

3. The third is a fairly popular base – a superwash merino/cashmere/nylon blend:

And this last one is just for me! I don’t even plan to dye it. I’m going to use it for a shawl, exactly as it is. It’s a 60% SeaCell/40% silk lace weight blend. The sheen and drape are amazing, and I love the warm, pale honey colour.

If you’re in the neibourhood check out all the new yarns at Make One… including another batch of Faking Sanity yarns from yours truly. This delivery was of Compulsion – a squishy, superwash 100% Australian merino yarn in a mid-to-heavy fingering weight. I forgot to take pictures of them all, so here’s a preview of the first few I dyed for this batch.

I’ve started dyeing up a new batch of yarn. This one is my favourite to dye: it’s a super-soft, squishy 100% superwash merino sock yarn. I decided to try a few that are outside my normal colour range, but still working with mostly, tonal and semi-solid colourways. Here are a couple sample skeins, but stay tuned… There are more on the stove today that are going in a very different direction as far as colourways and dyeing techniques go.

I just got home, and had to post. Remember these guys? There’s a small difference since the last time you saw them… Can you spot it? How about if I give you a hint? There’s an addition to the label… Do you see it now? How about if I say that my trip was to a local yarn store?

You guessed it, those are M1 sales labels on the back of my ball bands (but, I must admit, I thought you would figure it out a little more quickly)!

Check out both Faking Sanity Fixation and Faking Sanity Bliss – now available at Make One Yarn Studio. Fixation is a fingering weight soft wool yarn with a bit of nylon for stength; it’s great for hand-knit socks, and is machine washable, too. Bliss is a laceweight wool silk blend (55% silk/45% wool); it’s a worsted-spun 3-ply yarn with an amazing drape and subtle sheen.

And here it is in it’s new environment, waiting for you to pick it up! (Well, most of it – some has already moved on to it’s newest home!)

The last few skeins aren’t dry yet, so I can’t skein them and say officially that I’ve completed my first order, but look how the box has grown!

See? It feels pretty cool, actually. After this, I’m going to finish a set of skeins for a sweater I was commissioned to dye, and then I’ll be doing a bunch for the shop, and trying out a few of my new 100% silk yarns in the process. I can’t wait.

I did some more dyeing this weekend, and while those skeins are still wet, I’ve started putting together my very first LYS yarn order (sorry about the picture quality – no decent lighting here in the evening):

Actually, there’s yarn all over the house right now. A skein on the stove and another on the table that just came out. A couple draped over the gym equipment. A few on the back of the computer chair. Eight more on the big chair. And four – these four (!) – with shiny new ball bands and ready to find a new home! So very exciting!

This green:

It’s lovely Sweet Georgia superwash sock yarn that I’ve been eyeing since it came in, and it’s awesome!

I’ve also just printed off the ball bands for the yarn I’ve completed so far for my first LYS order of hand-dyed yarns. I’ll be finishing up the last few skeins this weekend, so that’s kind of exciting too!

Have you ever watched Firefly? I always thought the expression “shiny” was amusing and quirky, if a bit odd… It’s what keeps popping into my head the more I dye this yarn. This shot was taken with no flash, and yet… Shiny!

I’ve been dyeing some more yarn these past few days. Here is a quick preview of some more Fixation (first photo), as well as some of the new silk/wool laceweight Bliss (second photo).

Is your idea of an ideal sock yarn one that balances great wear with softness and a supple hand? You guessed it: more Fixation will be hitting the shelves in the coming weeks.

Do you love the subtle sheen of Bamboo? More Therapy is on it’s way to the shop, too.

Are your fondest memories of holding and squeezing your stash? Keep those memories alive with more uber-squishy Compulsion sock yarn.

Luxury, you say? Watch the shop for some awesome new 100% silk fingering weight!

Dream of lace? Enjoy the soft sheen of our new laceweight silk/wool blend later this month, or pamper yourself with some of our upcoming 100% silk!

Looking for something else? Let us know if there are any specific fibers or yarns you’re looking for and we’ll see what we can do.

Disclaimer: I was wondering as I wrote this how it sounded:

1. cute and a little cheeky
2. mtlaise is a little full of herself
3. wow! she’s finally gone around the bend!

Rest assured, I am neither full of myself, nor have I lost my marbles. Well, I dropped them, but I think I’ve gathered them all up again…

I just finished skeining up a batch of Fixation for my next dyeing session, along with several skeins of a new yarn I’ll be carrying in our shop. “Bliss” is a soft 3-ply worsted-spun lace weight yarn with amazing drape and a soft sheen. The blend is 55% silk and 45% wool, and I love the feel of this stuff!

I’ll be doing a shop update including our standard fingering weight yarns, as well as this new lace weight in the coming weeks. In the meantime, for lace yarns, do you prefer 50 or 100 gram skeins? A 50 gram skein of this yarn would be enough for small shawls, such as Swallowtail (Ravelry link). I was thinking of dyeing and skeining this strictly in 100 gram skeins, but I thought I should throw the question out there to you folks.

In related news, I’m very excited to say that I’ve been talking to a yarn shop owner about carrying my yarns too. I won’t give away details yet, but stay tuned! I’m thrilled about the opportunity, and I’ll share more once details are finalized.

This post is courtesy of aylii, who purchased some of my hand-dyed Faking Sanity Fixation a while ago. She’s just finished a River Grass sock (pattern available here and Ravelry link here) using the nearly-solid St Paddys Day colourway, which has very subtle shifts of green. The first picture shows the colourway best, but I also had to include a second picture for you all to ogle admire the lovely sock:

I’ve had tons of stuff ready to go up on the shop for a while now, but just finally got around to taking pics. Here’s some of it:

Psst, mechanicaldoll!  Were you still interested in a purple and black bracelet?  I was playing around and ended up with this one (not a fabulous picture, but it was the closest I could get to the right colours):

I also have earrings and a watch going up in the next day or too, so stay tuned!

For those who asked about some of the new dyeing techniques I picked up this weekend, the larger picture was dyed using a technique learned from my favourite German. And now, here’s a preview of tonight’s shop update:

If you do, keep an eye open for a shop update later tonight! I had bought a worsted weight yarn base, that is now discontinued before I even put up my first skein of the stuff… so take a look at the short lived Existential Angst superwash that will go up tonight. Only 9 skeins ever!