Yarn & Fiber Colors for Weeks 29 – 30

Oh, again a bit behind in posting, so here are the colors for Weeks 29-30!

Roving, roving, roving – keeps those spindles turning . . .

COLLEGE DORM is 64 ct Merino roving in the colors of my college dorm linens. Mom took me shopping for my freshman year and I ended up picking out a bed set that was probably more ‘boy’ colors with grays, teals, purples and black, but I loved it! (My purple towels did have girly embroidery on it, so I made up for it with the bath supplies). If I remember correctly, that bed comforter was later passed down to my little brother who . . . hmm . . . may still have it?

VINTAGE CHRISTMAS is a South American Wool top that’s great for beginning spinners. As I get older, I gain a better appreciate to all things vintage and I just love seeing the Christmas decorations from an era gone by where the colors are more muted but still reflect the magic of the holiday season.

LANIKAI HIKE is inspired by a photo I took last spring during the famous Lanikai Pillbox Hike. I love how the aqua complements the brown in this merino/tencel roving – just like water and earth . . .

BUTTERFLY DUO 2 is a variation of the original colorway which didn’t have any green in it. This is Peruvian wool and is also great for beginning spinners.

Last of the rovings is BLOOD ORANGES, a wonderful merino/bamboo blend. I had never even heard of BLOOD ORANGES until I took a trip to Italy more than a decade ago. At a farmers market near the Campo dei Fiori in Rome, I purchased a few oranges to try them out and was hooked with the first sweet bite of the ruby red orange. I made sure to buy more and snacked on them all trip long.

The wife of one of my colleagues is also a yarn fanatic so I have to smile when he is talking about things like pages in a script and says comments like “Well, we’ve got enough yarn in these pages, we just have to see if there is enough to make a sweater”. Now, how cool is that??? Perhaps I can bring my UFO (unfinished object) sweater project into one of our meetings . . .  But I digress, now back to yarn:

RAINY DAY EIFFEL is my first attempt at dyeing up yarn in this colorway. I’ve done a few in roving, but not yarn. I think it turned out pretty 😉 This is a merino/tencel fingering yarn:

VERTIGO BLINDS is a merino/cashmere/nylon fingering yarn what was inspired by a photo I took during a photography class. This was taken during an afternoon, just as the light was coming through the vertical blinds. I loved how the blinds cast shadows in all directions on the window seat and I placed a circular candle holder in the frame just to break up the lines. This yarn has various shades of gray, black and blue-black.

The inspirational photo:

BUTTERFLY DUO is the original colorway inspired by a pair of butterflies I saw at a Butterfly Farm in the Carribean. This is a merino/silk fingering yarn:

The inspirational photo:

ROMAN CHURCH is a superwash merino fingering yarn inspired by a photo from my 1999 Italy trip. I found this church while walking around and the ornate features on the facade and dome were such a great complement to the blue sky. Now, if only I could remember the name of the church . . .

The inspirational photo:

POI is a superfine merino/silk lace weight yarn in the color of the Hawaiian food made of the Taro plant. if you’ve ever been to a Hawaiian luau they will most likely have a small bowl of Poi for you to try and the consistency is usually paste-like, though for most people, it is an acquired taste. Some of my friends like Poi with a fair amount of sugar added 🙂 Seeing that purple is my favorite color, I draw from the color of Poi and bring you this wonderful lace yarn . . . hold the sugar.

And lastly, a bit of handspun yarn. A GRAY AREA was raw alpaca fleece that at I washed, dried, hand carded and spun into a really soft lace weight yarn.

Enjoy!

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Yarn & Fiber Colors for Weeks 27-28

I wasn’t feeling too well this past week so I’m behind in my posting, so here are the colorways for Weeks 27 and 28.

This is RAINFOREST, a Falkland British Merino/Tencel fingering yarn:

Ah, and SOUTH SEAS, a Falkland British Merino/Tencel lace weight yarn:

I tried my hand at LOVE SHACK in lace weight. This is a merino/silk blend with over 1000 yards!

And a sparkly VENETIAN THUNDERSTORM, in a merino/silk/stellina lace weight yarn:

What’s summer without some bright colors? This one was inspired by a potted plant I used to have that would once-in-a-while bloom a pretty ORANGE HIBISCUS. This is a superwash merino/nylon fingering yarn.

And my homage to the south with SOUTHERN SUMMER SUNSET in a tweed fingering weight:

LANIKAI HIKE is a new colorway inspired by a photo I took while on the Lanikai Pillbox Hike in Oahu. This is a merino/cashmere/nylon blend. Yummers!

AUMOE 2 is a fluffy Targhee wool top of dark blues, blacks and grays.

And another LIGURE SUNSET in superwash merino lace weight yarn.

enjoy!

Yarn & Fiber Colors for Weeks 24-25

Alooooha!! Well, for the past couple of weeks I’ve been focused on work stuff helping my crew towards a big goal. This past Friday was a big milestone for us (and was a successful one! whoo hooo!) so I’ve got a bit more breathing room for fiber fun! Since I wasn’t able to post last week, here are the colors for weeks 24 and 25.

I’ll start with KAANAPALI BEACH, a Falkland British merino/tencel fingering yarn. I just LOVE the sheen on this yarn!

PEACH BLUSH is a very pretty merino/nylon/stellina (sparkle) fingering weight yarn in grays and peach!

LIGURE SUNSET roving in Sweet Grass Targhee – GASP!! You literally just want to climb into this wool and take a nap.

SUNSET OVER FüRIGEN is a superwash merino lace weight wool inspired by our trip to Fürigen, Switzerland.

ZION 2 is a superwash merino wool roving inspired by Zion National Park in Utah. I’m still amazed at how the colors came out!

TOMATO BASIL was so fun to make. I found the dyed merino/romney cross fleece from etsy artisan, sdspin, and hand carded the wool before spinning. The first ply is a nice red while the second ply is a ‘tomato basil’ mix of beige, pinks and green. Towards the end I ran of red so I plied the last few yards with the remaining tomato basil color. This yarn is roughly heavy worsted with some thick-thin qualities as well.

And finally, MORNING AT BILTMORE INN is a superwash lace weight yarn inspired by – yup, you guessed it – a morning at the Biltmore Inn. A few summers ago the hubby and I spent some time exploring the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC and I woke up early one morning – probably jet lag – and opened the curtains to this beautiful vista of the dewy grounds and the town in the far background.

enjoy!

Yarn & Fiber Colors for Week 22

In this episode of National Fiber-graphics, we start off in the City of Lights (Paris) where we view an Egyptian exhibit in the world famous Louvre Museum. . .

I love ancient Egyptian history and the Louvre had a plethora of artifacts including sarcophagi, mummies and stone tablets etched with HIEROGLYPHICS. Some of these hieroglyphics were of a gold coloring against a stark gray/black stone. This fingering weight yarn is a nod to those ancient texts.

In another ancient topic, this BFL wool in MEDIEVAL WALL colorway was inspired by the ‘old town’ wall in Lucerne, Switzerland.

On the other side of the world, other colorways are playing fun. COCONUT LIME in a tweed fingering yarn gets its fun coloring from 2 plies of non-superwash merino and 1 ply of superwash.

And what’s summer without some tropical drinks? or a sorbet? in a sparkly lace weight yarn! TROPICAL SORBET is just similar to the sparkle sock yarn I have dyed up in the past, but in lace weight – gasp! How fun is that?

and we end this week’s journey in my most favorite place in the world…Hawaii. more specifically, the island of Maui. KAANAPALI BEACH is a tribute to a photo I took back in 2003 when our friends got married on the island. As one of the bridesmaids, I was able to share in a spa day with the girls. While awaiting for my treatment I took a photo of the beach from the hotel balcony. I am more than thrilled to represent this colorway in a Falkland British Merino/Tencel lace weight yarn:

enjoy!