Done Dyein' (For Now)

 

Ha, look at Grover squinting in the bright sun.  This photo was obviously NOT taken this past week!  The sun has been elsewhere along with the warmth.  It has been a good week to do indoor things, though the outside work must get done as well.

So, yeah, I dyed up my last 2 batches of yarn.  The Knitter's Fantasy show that I will be vending at is a little over a week away.  And while the dyeing is done, there is still a lot to do.  All yarn needs to be reskeined and labeled for sale, rugs (3 lovely new ones) must be cut apart and fringes must be tied.  There is baby alpaca/blue-faced leicester (wool) roving to be weighed out and packaged and a sample spun.  I need to go through all my retail paraphernalia and make sure I have everything I need, like business cards, etc.

This is batch 5.  My personal favorite so far.  I love it.  It reminds me of comfy old jeans.

 

And here is the last batch, which actually was meant to use up leftover dyes from other batches. I really wanted red reds, but after washing the yarn, it is more toward the purple-red side, which while still nice, is somewhat disappointing.  But it will be loved by someone!

A nice thing about being done dyeing, is that I can finally have the mess out of my mud room.  I used to dye in the kitchen, but the space was limited and I don't like having the dyes around food, so I moved into the mud room, which has everything the kitchen has with the addition of more space (once I moved in a 6' table) and better lighting.  There is water.  There is electricity.  And the added benefit that I do not need to put everything away between dye sessions, just tidy up.  And I think Rowdy really liked having a cave under the table he could occupy while I was occupied.

So, you can see my huge mess.  I have a small microwave dedicated only to dyeing since the dyes need heat to actually "set".  The 6' table is much more spacious than my kitchen counter and is plastic and cleans more easily.  There is a lot of natural light plus a big fluorescent light fixture overhead.  So this is now all put away and I have this:

                                                              

  That's quite a basket of yarn! (and yes, that is Bridal Veil Falls at Yosemite in the background)

As for knitting, I am working on a sample of some of my hand-dyed yarn to show prospective customers what the yarn looks like in a finished project.

 I am making a simple "cowl" using a drop-stitch pattern.  I will knit it like a scarf and when it is about 45" long, I will graft the 2 ends together so it makes a loop, which can be worn wrapped either once or twice around your neck, depending on how much warmth you want to add.  I am about 1/2 finished and it is knit on large needles for an open look so it will go quickly.  I don't foresee any problem with it being finished in time.

So that's pretty much what I have been up to on the farm.  Everyone is just waiting for sunshine and warm breezes.  It seems to be past due. 

I have to admit this was from last week, too.  See the sunshine?