Events and Busy, Busy! :)

I'm getting ready this week to go down to Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene, OR.


I'll have a booth space there, so be sure to look me up.
I should have a machine there for sale, too. This one.
Not the best picture. Come by and see it for yourself! :)

I'll be setting up on Thursday and at the booth on Friday.
Saturday and Sunday my daughter and her fiance will be tending the booth. They've both been helping me out here lately with the business.

I have to leave Friday night to catch a flight to Indiana where we'll be having our CSMSA annual conference.
CSMSA stands for Circular Sock Machine Society of America. Donna's done a great job of organizing it this year.

Oh!! When you're at BSG be sure to check out my new yarns!! I haven't even gotten them on my website yet. Blue Face Leicester Superwash wool in 3 different weights - Lace, Sock, and DK weight. It's a wonderful yarn - so soft and lustrous, yet so strong, too.
I'll also have some colors in my new Angel Wings - a silk/merino wool laceweight yarn.
More new yarns to see, but I need to get back to dyeing!

I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone at BSG AND the conference!! :)

Shows, Frogs and Dyes, not particularly in that order

I know it's been a long time since I've written anything. So much has been happening, too!
Elizabeth got a full scholarship to go to Evergreen College, so there hasn't been any hope of her taking over my blog. But, I'm very proud of her :). She's been helping me on her off days.
Lately she's studying tree frogs. They're very interesting, really.
I always hear them this time of the year in the back field, but have never really paid much attention to them until now. Here's a nice link with information on their different calls and habits.

In the meantime, I've finished with my Madrona Fiberarts show. It was great to see everyone there! Suzanne always does such a great job with this show. She has so much to do and everything always seems to run so smoothly! I only wish I had time to take some of the classes there. I got to see Sheila and Michael from Ernst Glass, who I always, always really enjoy seeing and talking to. I was lucky enough to have Maria and Kari helping me out some of the days, too.
Maria is a super salesperson and Kari demonstrated the sock machine for me. Thank you both :)

I also went and visited Stitches West this year to check it out for two days. This show is extremely packed with vendors and buyers! While I was there (or after), I had the pleasure of visiting my son, daughter-in-law, and grandson nearby! :)
I have to say (and can you believe this?) I missed the nice weather in Washington! It rained in CA while I was there.

In the meantime I've been experimenting with some new dyes. Considering these are all acid dyes, I am amazed at the difference in them. For you people that don't do dyeing, you might not know that different dyes take different amounts to get the same depth of shade.
It sure would make things simpler if it was all the same, but I don't know if that's possible.

That's not really what I'm amazed about, though.
What amazes me is that different dyes can be so different in their light and washfastness.
You would think they would just dump the ones that don't do so well, and only sell the good ones.
Paula Burch has a wonderfully informational website on dyeing.

Someone asked me how long I've been dyeing. I had to think, because it's been quite some time since I started. I think my first try at dyeing (not counting Rit on fabric) was back in the 80's when I started spinning on a spinning wheel. We took a class on lichen dyeing. Washington state is a great place to find lichens for dyeing! There is even a book that I have that was written especially for lichens and lichen dyeing in this area. I believe the women that wrote it were from the Olympia area.

Well, I've gone on and on and no pictures, unfortunately. I lent my camera to Elizabeth to take pictures of tree frogs :) Next time I write, I promise to have some pictures!

Monarch Socks in Wild Colorway

Karen Price sent me this picture of some socks that she knitted from my Monarch yarn in the Wild color way. Didn't they turn out great?!

Thank you Karen. I love seeing things knit from my yarns that I dye.

Elizabeth's Yarn

Well, it doesn't look like Elizabeth is going to help with my blog, so I'd better start writing myself!

Liz has been having too much fun dyeing yarn.

Here's a sample of the Merino/Tencel she's been handpainting. We've named the yarn Nymph.

She only paints 5 skeins at a time and does it in 1 - 2 " strips.

This yarn is fantastic looking. It has such a wonderful shine to it!

I'm working on getting a page together for it on my website to sell them. Hopefully it will be finished soon.

I've been dyeing a new yarn that is 70% angora/30% polyamide. We've named that one Flutterby. All the yarns that we handpaint are named after or about butterflies.

At the end of this month we'll be at the NW Needlemarket. If you go, be sure to stop by and say "hi"!

Lynx Yarn!

I'm really excited about this yarn! I've been working on it for quite some time now.

I call it my Lynx yarn because of the special way that it's made.

It comes in different fiber combinations, but this latest is in Australian wool and nylon.

Here's a picture of the socks that I made with it on my sock machine.

I was extremely pleased with how beautifully it fluffed up (fulled) after I threw it in the washer and dryer!

OK, I am finally starting a blog!

I've been thinking about starting a blog for some time now, but have never actually gone through with it. Maybe Elizabeth will want to keep this up and going? :)

One thing I do know is that I am excited about being able to do the blog in black!
I've always wanted to do a website with a black background but have read in several places that it isn't a good background to choose. So I've never done any of my websites with it.
But I really think it will show off colors well. I guess I'll see.

I hope to be able to keep everyone notified of our dyeing, new colors, events, etc. in this blog.
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Oh! Lauri Paulsen just sent me pics of the shawl that she knit with my Lacewing sock yarn in the color Raspberry Latte.

I met her at Madrona a few weeks ago. She's great! She's from Aberdeen and has been purchasing my yarn from Sherry at the Yarn Corner in Aberdeen.

The pattern was the Old Shale Shawl by Evelyn Clark in Piecework, 2005.

(Jan/Feb?). She said she only used one skein and still had some left over.

It's beautiful! :) Thank you, Lauri for the pictures.