Goodbye, March.

There are the batt pictures I promised. I ended up only getting through four of the seven batt bags. Another of the bags turned into this yarn:

"Princess and the Parrot", 169 yards, corespun and plied with feathers and sequins:



In addition, I got a raw fleece from my LYS and I dyed it up with Wilton's. I have all sorts of fun, bright colors, and I've been experimenting with acidic conditions and Red #3 (it's lots of fun!).

Here's me skirting the fleece and some pictures of the post-wash product:








I really like it. Some parts are curlyish, while others still have crimp. Here are a few pictures of the brightest of the dyeing:






I still don't have any good purples, because I haven't picked up a violet dye yet. Mixing red and blue doesn't work out as well as I thought it might. I've had lots of fun and learned a bit dyeing this fleece. The majority of the fuzz pictured here was taken by the owner of the LYS, because I agreed to bring her back part of it seeing as how she gave me the fleece for free. I still have somewhere between 4 and 6 ounces of fleece left to dye, though, so once I decide what colors I don't have enough of, I can fix my predicament. I will definitely be dyeing more of the orange, and without the green. I also ordered another white fleece online today, and am in the process of acquiring a black fleece as well. I'm excited!! The method I used for cleaning the fleece was fast and easy. Very good deal.

That's all out of me for the evening...I've got to get to bed. I finished one of the dog hair socks, so a picture of that to come, as well as the yarn I make for the next one (I ran out after the first sock somehow...silly me, not planning well enough!). The sock fits perfectly, though, and he's really pleased about it. I'm glad, because this project has taken me wayyyyy too long. I'm hoping the second sock goes faster now that I know what I'm doing. Anyway, goodnight!

More in March

Spring break came and went. I lost some teeth, did next to nothing, and went a little batty. Pictures to come! I made up 7 bags of rovings and fibers to card into batts, and I only got through four. One is now being corespun into a yarn that is so far turning out well for me. The other two are likely to be corespun as well. Again, pictures to come. I don't think I got much else done since my last post. I finished the third February block and I'm on round 9 of the fourth. I also started my March blocks. I didn't like the pattern that was chosen, so I used a filler that someone posted. I REALLY like it so far! It looks really pretty in the variegated yarn I'm using, as well. I kind of want to make a whole blanket with that pattern and that yarn...maybe some other time ;)

As I said, pictures to come. Back later!

March is here!

It's been a while. I guess things have just been busy around here. Mostly I've got a few yarns to share. No new crochet, the socks aren't done, the hat isn't done, my sewing machine isn't here yet, and I haven't made any batts. Oh! I built a lightbox so I can take better pictures. I didn't take a picture of it, though. Anyway, I used the tutorial available here: http://www.studiolighting.net/homemade-light-box-for-product-photography/

So, onto the yarns:

This one I only dyed. I used Wilton's, it's sock yarn, yadayada. It's 100 g (300 meters) and it's all wool. I call it 'Tahiti Sunset'.

In this bag are 2 oz of locks, 2 oz of superwash, and LOTS of glitz (although you can't see it in this picture). Here's the yarn it made, called 'Fairies and Dragons':

From the roving I didn't like comes this slightly-blurry picture of yarn, called 'Fingerpaints':
The next two are navajo-ply yarns. The first is 80/20 merino/silk and the second is wool with a little mohair (<10%).



Up next is 'Tumbleweed', a hemp yarn plied with cotton and glass beads:

And the newest additions to my yarn family. 'A Phoenix Reborn' and a nameless red superwash, some of which was used to complete the aforementioned yarn:


I think that's all I've got for now. As always, all the yarns here are for sale. You can get them in my Etsy store (linked in the left column of this blog), or if you see something here that isn't listed yet, comment me or email me or something.

Oh, and whenever I finally finish the layout for my site, I'll be available at http://www.kimscraftythings.com.