Alchemy Hour Sale

I honor of my birthday week I have made a coupon code to be used at Alchemy Hour.  From today till Sunday you can get 20% off your purchase at Alchemy Hour by using the code Bday20.

Don"t forget to enter the pattern giveaway!

First Custom Order Part I

I just recently landed my first custom dye order from a client.  It's been so much fun to dye a sweaters quantity of yarn and I've been taking photos to keep the client updated so I figured I'd share them here and let you see what's in the dye pot.  

Here are the five hanks of DK merino bare naked.  How scandalous!

The yarn took a nice relaxing soak in my bath tube before being tossed in the dye pot. 

My tools of the trade.  I will only be using three colors of dye for this order. 

Steeping in the dye.  This is the first of three rounds of color for this dye lot.  

As soon as the hanks are dry and ready to go I will post the final product.  My client also said that they would send me a photo of the finished sweater.  I can't wait to see it and will hopefully be able to share it here on the blog. 

My New Lovely

While at my parents last week I went to my favorite yarn shop in the Finger Lakes, Finger Lakes Fibers.  It's on the main street of a little town called Watkins Glen, which is located at the southern end of Seneca Lake.  This shop has some really beautiful items and I could spend hours looking at everything they've got, but I usually have an impatient Hubs with me so I look for the yarn that my LYS doesn't carry to find something special.

What I found was some lovely Malabrigo Lace.  I've heard many a knitter rave over how wonderful this yarn is, and while I can't say anything for the Lace weight (yet!) I do love their worsted weight single ply merino.  This is like the worsted weight's little sibling, it has the softest hand I've felt on a wool that isn't a cashmere blend and the dying is to dye for.  (Horrible pun intended!)

The color is right up my all with soft sea blues and greens some sandy taupe and drift wood brown.  I may be falling in love, and am starting to hatch a plan for my newest little lovely.

Yarn Bomb/Graffiti in Philly

There have been a lot of blog posts and articles about yarns bombing or yarn grafitti and there are lots of great examples here in Philadelphia. Here are some of my favorite:

Tree yarn bomb in China Town on 12th st. 

Bus stop cozy on 7th and Bainbridge.  

Combo yarn graffiti and regular type graffiti on the corner of Mifflin and Hicks, right next to South Philly Tap Room.  

Fiber Friday: Stormy Day

It's been rainy lately.  Your typical April weather with a bit of a cold snap.  Good weather for staying inside and knitting.  I like a good rainy day once in awhile an d I love a good hank of yarn any day of the week.  Using the weather as my inspiration I have found some amazing yarn on Etsy.

Cloud 9 by SheepingBeauty

Cloud Blue by 

Titan's Curse by DyeForYarn

Iridescent Clouds by hoggwildfibers

Clouds and Sunshine  By bluecocoonyarn

What Came Out of the Dye Pot

I've been having so much fun with my new dyes that I felt that I should share my newest experiments in color and yarn.

I tried out my reds this weekend and came up with this summery color.  It reminds me of those cheer, orange, and grape Popsicles.  The ones that turn your whole mouth purple or red from all the food coloring.

Then there's this guy.  I am loving pretty much every color I mix using yellow.  How awesome is this neon green.  I wasn't sure if I would be able to achieve such an eye popping color, so I was pleasantly pleased when this came out of the dye bath.

When am I going to list these yummy hanks of lace weight in my Etsy shop?  Soon, very soon.  My big plan is to dye and then dye some more though May and have a huge shop update in June.  I'll keep teasing everyone by periodically posting what has just come out of the dye pot.

The Dye Pot

I got my new dyes and my base yarn and I got down to work dying some fab yarn.  Here are three of my latest lovelies.

Here is one of my first hanks of yarn.  I still had a couple hanks of sock yarn to dye and this is one of them.  This hank has browns and pinks in it and it reminds me of the cherry trees on our block.

Right now I'm just experimenting and getting my bearings with the new dyes.  I purchased a kit that came with yellow, black, a warm blue, and a cool blue, a warm red and a cool red.  Then I purchased two extra dye colors, purple and brown.  I've heard stories of blue and red separating and not creating an even purple so I thought why take the chance and I don't want to be bothered to mix brown especially if the dye company has already done it for me.

This hank is the lace weight yarn that I purchased and wow, this color was amazing to dye.  This was the first hank I dyed with my new dyes and wow, I can't even begin to describe how excited I was when I saw this come out of the dye pot.  It was also the first time I used black and I may have fallen in love.  This was a combination of the cool blue, the purple and of course the black.

Now this hank of yarn is for me.  I purchased some Ahimsa silk from my LYS it was the natural color so I thought why not dye it and see what these dyes could do.  Ta Da!  I wanted a cool watery blue that reminded me of the water in Forster in NSW Australia and I am pleased with how it came out.  I think I want to dye more of this base for Alchemy Hour so I will be looking into finding more.

Fiber Friday: Out Like a Lamb

Falling Star Fibers

The end of March is coming up fast and while the weather hasn't been much of a lion this year, March is going out like a lamb.  I took a look around Etsy and found some really fabulous lamb's wool yarn.  Here are my Favorites.

Homegrown, Homespun Romney yarn "Hadley"

Falling Star Fibers

Gifted - 5 oz Romney Lamb Handspun Yarn

froggyfibers

   Natural Colored Black Romney Lamb Yarn

CoveredBridgeFiber

   Legolas - Icelandic Lambs Wool Yarn

mapleviewiclandics

  Golden Pear Border Leicester Lamb and Alpaca

SpinnersEnd

  Heavy Worsted Shetland Lamb's Wool Yarn, 200 yards

SweetTreeHillFarm

Fiber Friday: Socktastic!

I love sock yarn and I'm not even a sock knitter.  I have hank after hank of sock yarn in my stash just wait to be knit into a cozy pair to warm mine or a loved ones feet, or to be knit up into something else warm the options are endless.  What does everyone need in their stash...a few great hanks of sock yarn either for socks, shawls or mits.  These hanks are all from independent dyers on etsy.

Berry Fingers

NoTwoSnowflakes

Del Mar

twisttwine

Copenhagen, Denmark 

DestinationYarn

Emerald Isle

WanderingWool

Merino Cashmere

moonlightandlaughter

Dried Flowers

FiddleKnits

Cherry Blossom

CakewalkYarns

Northern Lights Hand dyed Sock Yarn

dragonflydyeworks

Knitting Projects

I seem to have a ton of knitting projects hanging around the apartment.  Some I just started, some I'm think have gone into hibernation.

This is the swatch for a test knitting project I'm doing for NoTwoSnowflakes.  I wish I could show you the garment, but I am sworn to secrecy.  I will make sure to take some pics so when I can share the project with you, I'll have something to show.  The yarn is this great 100% silk lace weight that I'm knitting double.  It's knit up slinky and sheer.

This is one of mine.  It's going to be a spring pattern, fingers crossed, I'll have it out at the end of February or the beginning of March.  It's being knit with Knit Picks Shine Sport.  I used this yarn last year in the Heat Wave and absolutely loved it.  It has great drape.

Here is a test knit for me.  I have a tank top I'm designing that will be out right before the summer.  This knit is just the at the early stages of the design process.  There will be a lot of tweaks to this garment before I release the pattern.  The finally tank will be knit in a solid color.

You may remember this project.  This cardigan has sadly gone into hibernation.  I love the color and the yarn and even the design, but I just need a break from the endless knitting.  That sounds silly, I know, but this is the project that will never end.  It's time to take a break knit something new, and return to this at the end of the month.

Fiber Friday: Be My Valentine

I am bringing back Fiber Friday to Blue Betty Blog.  It was one of my favorites and I hope it becomes one of your's.  Today's Fiber is all from independent dyers and spinners found on Etsy, and to celebrate Valentines day here are some hanks, balls and skeins of yarn I wouldn't mind getting as a valentine.

1. A Funny Valentine Art Yarn

AFiberLovesJones

2. Steel Roses Hand Dyed Silk

Shunklies

3. Be Mine Handspun Art Yarn

SparkleShan

4. Bloody Valentine Merino Superwash Lace Weight

Dyeforwool

5. T-shirt Yarn, Valentine

hoggwildfibers

Day 7: Yarn Covered Bangles with Alli from OPB

Hello, Blue Betty readers!  Today I'd like to share a quick and easy tutorial that makes a great gift.  Plus, it's the perfect way to use up extra scraps of yarn.  I hope you like it!

What you'll need: a bangle blank (pick one up at the craft store, or use an old bangle that needs a facelift), yarn, hot glue gun.

Step 1: secure the yarn to the inside of the bangle with a spot of hot glue.  Begin wrapping, being sure that there's no space between the loops.

 

Step 2: continue wrapping, adding a spot of glue to the inside every quarter or half inch.  Be careful not to burn yourself - pull the yarn across the glue, instead of pressing it with your fingers. You can either make your bracelet a solid color, or add stripes by changing yarns.

That's all there is to it - enjoy your new bracelets!

Thank you for having me, Amanda, and happy holidays, everyone!  Stop by and see me sometime at One Pearl Button!