2013 Yarn & Fiber Colors – Weeks 46-49

ALOHA!

Aloha all and Happy December! Just an FYI –  the shoppe will be closed on December 9th, re-opening later in the month.

Here are the colors and projects for weeks 46-49.  These first 3 colorways all were inspired by photos I took during the Christmas/New Year’s holiday season 🙂

MR. BUTTERFLY in superwash merino lace yarn and superwash merino roving. I took this photo at a butterfly farm in St. Maarten, French West Indies during a Christmas cruise to the Caribbean.

SUNSET OVER FüRIGEN in Falkland roving and superwash merino/nylon fingering yarn. I took this photo while visiting our godson and family in beautiful Fürigen, Switzerland over Christmas 2010.

HONOLULU FIREWORKS in 50/50 silk/merino fingering yarn, superwash merino/tencel roving, sparkle lace yarn and mixed BFL/silk/firestar painted batt. This photo was taken at Waikiki,  just before New Years’.

I had great fun dyeing this new OVERLAY SERIES, inspired by the 2D animation technique of ‘overlaying’ a cel on top of another to bring an object to the foreground. For these skeins, a base color was applied, then a top color was ‘overlayed’ for a multi-color effect.

BLUEBERRY, OLIVE & PEACH-RASPBERRY

and LANIKAI, MOSS & BLACK-PURPLE

 I carded this fun batt of hand-dyed purples & black in superwash merino/nylon wool.

JOKER in handspun, hand-dyed corriedale yarn

And some socks!

These are CHUTES & LADDERS SOCKS in olive tweed.

BLOCKED SOCKS in green & red-multi

ROMAN FORUM SOCKS in green/purple-multi

I was excited to learn this week that my Roman Forum Socks pattern was approved and published into Knitpicks.com’s Independent Designer Program! This is my 7th submission into the program with my colorwork sock patterns and can be found here.

I also posted a set of rolags in hot pink and black. I must admit these are quite bright and fun!

This past week we had a fun gift exchange in our knitting group and we were to make either fingerless gloves or a pair of potholders. I made a pair of smocked fingerless gloves, but fearing I may have made them too small, I also crocheted a potholder using hand-dyed mercerized cotton yarn. I also added a small skein of undyed wool yarn with some kool-aide and dye-your-own-yarn instructions. 🙂

This is me opening my exchange gift – a pair of fingerless gloves is sparkly black and red made by Diana! They are super comfy and I just love the bling!

I also finished a pair of cabled fingering gloves for myself using a beautiful yarn my friend Debra gave me. The wool is merino and silk and the length is about 17″ so they are above the elbow (opera length, I think?).

Lastly, I am trying to finish spinning 5oz of beautifully dyed Rambouillet roving from CorgiHillFarm. I’ve never spun Rambouillet (a fine merino wool) and it’s wonderful to work with. I am thinking about plying the single with silk thread for a lace weight yarn.

Happy Holidays!

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2013 Yarn & Fiber Colors – Weeks 40-42

ALOHA!

Here are the colors for weeks 40-42.

First is FALL HARVEST in sw merino/nylon roving and merino/nylon sock blank. A sock blank is basically one full skein of yarn that I knitted with two strands held together to form a ‘blank’ – essentially a long knitted piece – which then I hand painted. The knitter unravels the yarn from one end and can make two socks at the same time that will have a near-identical pattern.

I also created a custom order in 50/50 merino/silk fingering yarn.

TEAPOT STILL LIFE inspired by artwork by artist friend, Aaron Spurgeon! This is sw merino/nylon roving, sparkle fingering sock blank and cotton roving.

BILTMORE BENCH 2 in merino/bamboo/nylon roving and merino/silk lace yarn.

BERRY PIE in superwash BFL mini-batt and rolags.

EGGPLANATEE (inspired by Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2) in merino/silk lace yarn and alpaca/wool/bamboo roving.

SUNSET OVER TITLUS in sw merino/merino/silk roving and lightweight fingering yarn.

and another braid in polwarth for me to spin!

WORLDLY in merino & leicester longwool roving.

Purple & Gray mercerized cotton in sport weight and cotton worsted.

MONSTER MASH in cotton worsted.

I also created some rolags!

SOCKS! My Desiree Diamond Socks pattern is now available on KnitPicks.com!

These socks are available on the shoppe.

And lastly, here’s the finished alpaca skeins that I processed from raw to sport weight 2-ply handspun in LANIKAI colorway.

Before re-skeining:

After re-skeining

And a close-up 🙂

Enjoy!

2013 Yarn & Fiber Colors – Weeks 37-39

Aloha and Happy Fall! I’m excited for my favorite season and the weather has already been cooler here in SoCal.

Lots to post, and I’ll start with colors for weeks 37 – 39. These first 2 are new colorways inspired by my friend and folk artist, Sue Blanchard. Her “Overheard” series is based on comical snippets of overheard conversations which she then re-creates as whimsical pieces of art. The first is called MY FRIEND and I re-created this in 50/50 merino/silk fingering yarn, superwash merino/merino/silk roving and an alpaca/wool/bamboo mini batt.

The second in this series is called BLESS HIS HEART in polwarth roving and merino/bamboo lace yarn.

Sue’s artwork can be seen on Etsy @ www.soobeeart.etsy.com, on her site @ www.soobee.com and on Facebook.

These next colorways are ‘oldies but goodies’ starting with PIETA ALCOVE in a new base, merino/superwash merino/silk roving, and superwash merino fingering yarn.

WAILUA FALLS in BFL/silk roving and merino/nylon fingering yarn.

MORNING AT BILTMORE INN in 50/50 silk/merino fingering yarn and targhee roving.

And wouldn’t want some SWISS CHOCOLATE?? These are merino/tencel roving and baby alpaca/silk lace yarn.

Some Fall-ish colors in DARK CAMO, merino roving and sw merino/nylon fingering yarn.

MONSTER MASH in cotton worsted weight yarn.

Our eldest niece, Alayna, is now a freshman at Ohio State University, so I created OUR FAVORITE BUCKEYE colorway in her honor. This first skein is superwash merino/bamboo/nylon finger yarn.

And in cotton worsted weight yarn.

Keeping with the red theme, this is PELE batt in CVM/Romeldale, Merino/Romney and Peruvian wool.

I also dyed up some small pieces of bamboo roving.

And sparkly FIRESTAR!

Whew! Now on to the SOCKS!

I presented WAHINE & KANE Socks on this blog before, however they are now available on the shoppe 🙂

SQUIGGLE SOCKS were created using merino/bamboo/nylon yarn that I hand-dyed in my ALOHABLU colorway.

Speaking of dyeing, these are two silk/velvet scarves I hand-dyed in bright fuchsia and lemon yellow.

I love crocheting ballet bags and thought I’d add a mini bag to go along!

And finally, some spinning projects!

First, I spun up 2oz each in purple and orange of Opulent Fiber’s merino/silk roving for Chantal.

Here’s the final yarn. 2-ply lace weight, 696 yards.

Next, some spindle spinning using a Spindolyn and Russian support spindle. I am in the process of plying the Merino/BFL/Silk with silk thread for a cobweb lace yarn. Will post photos when done!

And finally, I’m working a ‘test’ project to process raw alpaca wool from start to finish for DK weight yarn. Here are some photos of my progress so far.

WASHING/SCOURING

Raw white alpaca!

I separated the raw wool into two 8oz sections and one 3oz, and washed the first 16 oz. Here the wool is soaking in the right sink and I’m filling up the left sink for the rinse.

This is what the right sink looks like after draining the water out (knitting group ladies asked to see the process so I thought I’d post the good, bad and ugly!).

Next, rinsing in clean water. I repeat the scour/rinse process one more time to get more dirt and debris out. Note: there will still be vegetable matter (VM) in the wool all through the process as it is impossible to get it all out, but I try to get the bigger pieces out as I go along.

DRYING/DRAFTING

After taking the wool out of the rinse, I draft out the wool into smaller pieces so they dry faster and to make sure the wool isn’t felted.

Once dried, I draft again to loosen more VM and get the wool ready for carding.

CARDING/SPINNING

I use my drum carder to create lofty batts to spin up.

Taking a batt off the drum.

A batt ready for spinning. On the upper right is my spinning wheel with yarn-in-progress.

Spinning fingering weight singles.

Each of these bobbins have 3oz of fingering weight singles, ready for plying.

2-ply DK weight on my Jumbo bobbin.

Here is one skein of spun yarn and the specs:

6oz Alpaca Wool | Prep: Woolen | Spin: Worsted

Spinning Wheel: Ashford Joy | Singles @ 14:1 ratio | Plied @ 8:1 ratio

WPI: 14 | DK weight | 180 yards

Next steps: finish spinning the remaining wool then dyeing them up!

I’ll end with a fun image or two. On 21 September, hubby and I attended the Premiere of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 in Westwood, California. Cloudy2 is the last project I worked on and I’m always nervous when my projects come out just because I’m so proud of the work and hope my crew and viewers like it too.

We had great seats in the theater, right behind Lou Diamond Phillips and his family, and what was I doing to calm my nerves? Knitting socks of course!

And if you do get a chance to see the movie, please look for me at the end. This is the artwork for my ‘card’ credit that I share with our wonderful digital producer, Mandy.

Thanks for reading this rather lengthy post! Hope you enjoyed it! ~ christina

2013 Yarn & Fiber Colors – Weeks 34-36

Aloha!

This week through 9/15, I’m having a ‘20% off purchases over $15’ sale. Use coupon code: 20OFF @ www.AlohaBlu.com.

Here are the colors for weeks 34- 36.

A new colorway, STAINED GLASS ALTAR, in sparkle lace yarn and merino/silk roving. I took this photo while we were touring Our Lady of Paris, the famous Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, France. It was an overcast November day so it was pretty dark inside. For a quick moment, the sun came through and illuminated this altar just as I was passing. I snapped the photo and now here is the wool & yarn. 🙂

We are less than a month away from the opening of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 and this colorway – WILDEBEETS – was inspired by the creatures that are part wildebeest, part beet. This is corriedale cross roving and sparkle fingering yarn.

This is an updated version of NZ SHELL in BFL/silk roving and cashmere/merino/nylon fingering yarn. This inspirational photo was taken while strolling on a beach in Wellington, New Zealand.

Another Cloudy2-inspired colorway: FRUIT COCKATIEL in BFL/silk roving and merino/bamboo lace weight yarn. This fun creature is made up of a pear body, orange slices for feet, pineapple and cherry eyes, a grape nose, and parts of a banana for wings and hair!

ZION 3 in superwash BFL roving and Falkland British Merino/Tencel lace yarn was inspired by a photo I took years ago while visiting Zion National Park in Utah.

MEMORY 2 in merino/tencel roving and a hand knitted sock blank in sparkle fingering yarn was inspired by a fiber friend’s winter memory. If you’re wondering what a sock blank is, I’ll explain. I took a full skein of yarn and cut it in half. Using both strands held together, I knitting a long piece of undyed yarn (kind of resembles a scarf) and dyed that up. The knitter will then unravel from one end and start knitting two socks at the same time from the two strands I held together resulting in two identically patterned socks. Cool, huh? (Nope, the idea is soo not mine!)

LANIKAI DEEP is a beautiful mercerized cotton worsted weight yarn that reminded me of the deep waters off Lanikai Beach.

BILTMORE SUNFLOWERS batt in targhee/polypay, corriedale cross wool and banana fibers were inspired by well, sunflowers at the Biltmore Estate in Ashville, North Carolina.

EVIL STEPMOTHER batt in corriedale cross, silk, merino, peruvian & BFL wool was named for a KnitPicks yarn colorway that I love! I believe they still have that in stock 🙂

These two are my new favorites. Having ‘can’ dyed each color separately, I then drumcarded each colorway and pulled it off as roving. This is TOXIC WATER in polwarth roving.

And WEATHER WATCHER in 80s count merino roving.

I dyed up another silk/velvet scarf in blue with a fun paisley pattern.

And a few more ballet/pointe crochet bags.

Thanks for stopping by and remember the sale goes through 9/15! Mahalo!

2013 Yarn & Fiber Colors – Weeks 32-33

Aloha! Here are the colors for weeks 32-33.

Since I haven’t posted socks for a while, I thought I’d start with those. Here are some newly finished pairs. (I’ll post them on the shoppe at a later date.)

KANE SOCKS in merino/silk.

DESIREE DIAMOND SOCKS in merino/bamboo/nylon with glass beads.

DESIREE DIAMOND SOCKS in merino/alpaca/nylon with glass beads.

SQUARED SOCKS – work in progress. After over a year I finally finished ONE sock and am having serious Second Sock Syndrome. This pattern calls for 2 fingering weight and 1 lace weight yarn and it taxes my brain (I designed the pattern so only have me to blame!).  This pair will be for me so I’m in no rush to complete them.

On to the colors. . .

The first is PACIFIC SEA NETTLE in polwarth wool roving and baby alpaca yarn. The photo was taken of the North Pacific Sea Nettle at the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific.

Next up is FOG in a 64 count merino 2oz mini-batt and superwash merino light-fingering weight yarn (750 yds).  The inspirational photo was taken while cruising through Alaska.

JOKER batt in merino & peruvian wool, banana fibers.

More ballet/pointe shoe crochet bags

And here are some other fun color projects that I’ve done these past couple of weeks.

First, I FINALLY completed the last bit of Tour de Fleece yarn. This is 6oz of Falkland @ 512 yards of Navajo-plied yarn. Am thinking it’s fingering weight yarn but haven’t checked it yet.

Here are the other yarn pieces completed for the 2013 TdF season.

Secondly, some dyeing and  carding projects . . .

These next two braids were fun to make! I first dyed each color separately, then carded them on my drum carder. Using a 1/4″ diz, I pulled the wool off as thick roving which I was able to braid. Here are the before and after photos.

80’s count merino dyed in gray, blue, bright green (colorway name TBD):

Carded & Braided:

And polwarth wool dyed in black, aqua & bright green (to be called TOXIC WATER):

Carded & Braided:

And since I was inspired by a friend’s (Susan D) tomato canning, here’s mine. I was playing around with iPhoto, trying to make a collage and did this ‘card’.

Enjoy!

2013 Yarn & Fiber Colors – Weeks 29-31

Aloha and Happy August! Here are the colors for weeks 29 – 31, available on the shoppe.

I’ll start with an oldie but a goodie: GLACIER BAY in merino/bamboo/nylon roving, sw merino/nylon batt&bump and merino/silk lace yarn.

And the inspirational photo taken in Alaska

CALICO GHOST TOWN in corriedale cross roving and sw merino/nylon fingering yarn.

SUNSET SEA ALASKA in mixed BFL/silk roving and sw merino lace yarn

and the inspirational photo

COOL JEWEL PLAID in black alpaca/silk roving

DARK AVALON in Falkland British merino/nylon fingering yarn

WOLF IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING batt

And a couple more ballet/pointe shoe bags

Lastly, I’m working on a couple spinning projects.

The first is a spindle-spun lace yarn that I started a couple weeks ago. The fiber is merino wool in my FOG colorway that I carded on my drum carder then pulled the wool off as a center-pull bump of roving.

The spindle itself has an interesting story. It is a picasso jasper stone flower top spindle from ZebisisDesigns. In the fall of 2010, I was heartbroken when I hesitated to buy this spindle and it was sold on her shoppe to someone else. Instead I purchased another beautiful spindle from her over the Thanksgiving holiday and when my spindle arrived, this was also in the box as a gift! I literally stared at this amazing gift and could not believe my eyes. Apparently the seller gave everyone who ordered from her during that season an extra spindle. Of all the spindles she could have given me, she gave me the ONE that I really wanted! To this day I’m truly amazed at how it has come to pass that I own this amazing work of art.

The second spinning project I’m trying to finish is plying the last bit of wool from Tour de Fleece. It’s 6.2 ounces of Falkland wool that I spun in a laceweight single and am now Navajo-plying. For you crocheters, N-plying is basically looping the single strand as if making a single crochet and twisting the yarn together to form a 3-ply (strand) yarn. N-plying will give you long sections of the same color, and with 6.2 ounce that I’ve just started I’ll probably be done plying in time for next year’s TdF . . .

Enjoy!

2013 Yarn & Fiber Colors – Weeks 27-28

Aloha! Tour de Fleece is moving right along and I’ve had a blast trying new things. Here are a few of my works thus far:

My first try at coiled yarn using corriedale cross and silk. It’s a bit of a mess, but I like it so much I decided to try again. . .

Second try at coiled yarn using Peruvian wool and a lace yarn core. A bit better but I still want to do more. but I’ll stop for now . . .

Here are a few non-art yarn yarn that I’ve spun up 🙂

WHISKEY BARREL in BFL/silk, 3.1 oz. 252 yds of light fingering weight yarn, ~21 WPI.

Completed 6/30/13

SPRITZER in Polwarth, 4 oz. 390 yards of fingering weight yarn, ~23 WPI.

Completed 7/5/13.

FARMERS OVERALLS in merino, fine wool, alpaca and bamboo, 4oz.  280 yds, single lace weight.

~ 30 WPI. Completed 7/14/13.

this is the yarn fresh off the bobbin, still wiggly…

That’s everything so far. I just started another braid of 6.2 oz so that one will take a while. In the meantime, more yarny stuff.

Here’s a dress I completed for a 2 year old. The pattern is called “Evie’s Dress” and available for free on Ravelry. Instead of using ribbon for the ties, I just made knitted ties so Audrey’s mom (my co-worker) can toss the dress in the wash and not worry about ribbons fraying.  I hope it fits!

Alright, now for the colors for Weeks 27 – 29 . . . finally.

A couple new colorways for ya. This one is BILTMORE SUNFLOWERS in BFL/silk roving and superwash merino lace yarn.

Inspired by the photo I took while on the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. The sunflowers have their backs to my camera, but I was still stunned at how tall they were. Now, who wouldn’t want to run around and do cartwheels in that field?

PURPLE MOUNTAIN MAJESTIES in superwash BFL roving and merino/bamboo/nylon fingering yarn. Makes me want to sing America the Beautiful!

An oldie but a goodie, AHI POKE in Polwarth roving and merino/tencel fingering yarn.

Another new colorway, PRIMARIES & PURPLE in small braids of alpaca/merino/silk roving, merino/tencel roving and alpaca/silk lace yarn.

I spun up a little bit of the mer/ten on my Russian spindle – here’s what it looks like as lace weight single.

And somewhat lastly, I’ve neglected Waimanalo, my drumcarder, for ages so have been trying to spend more time with her. Yes, I named my carder and yes, she’s a she. (FYI – my car is named Haze – pronounced Hazy. Also a ‘she’. . . Best not to ask . . . )

Here’s a mini batt of merino, corriedale, targhee polypay cross, wool.

I’ve been crocheting more ballet bags as well and decided to put them in a section on the shoppe. I’m aiming to make more this summer too.

And lastly, the technical achievement of the week: after owning AlohaBlu.com for a few years now, I never found out how to have it forward to my Etsy shoppe. Last week, having time to research it and ready to learn html scripting, it turns out my domain host actually has a function to do that for me! All I had to do was type in the website I wanted it to forward to and voila! It’s done! So, now AlohaBlu.com will send you to AlohaBlu.Etsy.com.

Yay.

2013 Yarn & Fiber Colors – Weeks 23 -26

Aloha all and Happy 1st Day of Tour de Fleece!

This is my 2nd year participating in TdF, so I’ll be spinning wool for the next 21 days (resting on the same days as the cyclists) and seeing how much wool I can make into yarn.

Here’s a photo of my wheel and the wool I’m hoping to get through this year.

In total, it is just over a pound of wool to spin, and this is what I’ve done so far today:

More spinning to come! Here are the colors for weeks 23 – 26.

AVOCADO CHEESECAKE 2 in merino/silk roving and merino/bamboo lace yarn (new to the shoppe!)

COFFEE BEAN & TEA LEAF in mixed BFL roving and merino/cashmere/nylon fingering yarn

HYDRANGEAS in Sweet Grass Targhee roving and sparkle lace yarn

A new colorway, COOL JEWEL PLAID, was the outcome of me experimenting with kettle dyeing again. I dyed these skeins with ‘layering’ in mind, so started with one color in the dyebath, waited until that color was exhausted, then added the next color. This colorway is made with a blue base and green overlay in sparkle lace yarn and sw merino heavy fingering weight yarn.

Here are a few other kettle dyed colorways.

HAWAIIAN RED DIRT in Falkland British merino fingering yarn and sw merino lace yarn.

A new colorway, ICY BLUE, in sw light fingering weight (new to the shoppe, at 750 yds per skein!) and sw heavy fingering weight yarn.

And another new colorway, STRAWBERRIES WILD in sw BFL/nylon fingering yarn and merino/silk lace yarn.

MISTY GRAPE is another experimental colorway in corriedale cross roving.

I also made up some ‘mini’ batts.

MINI BATT Brown/Blue has a base of CVM Romeldale wool (washed and combed by me), with merino wool and banana fibers.

This MINI BATT is made from hand-dyed merino in blue, green and red/brown.

Lastly, here are a couple more ballet/pointe shoe bags in magenta and aqua-multi.

Happy Summer everyone!

2013 Yarn & Fiber Colors – Weeks 4-5

Aloha and Happy February! Here are the colors and inspirational images for weeks 4-5.

BARE NAKED TREE is a new colorway in polwarth/silk roving and sw merino lace yarn.

Based on the photo I took while in Bar Harbor, Maine.

Another new colorway is SUNSET IN GALLIPOLIS in BFL/silk roving and baby alpaca lace yarn.

This inspirational photo was taken by Bryan Blair, owner of Nybble Cafe in Gallipolis, Ohio who snapped the beautiful photo  outside their cafe at sunset. I am told their cafe serves wonderful food and showcases work from local artists. Check them out at www.facebook.com/nybblecafe, or stop by for a bite. Photo was used by permission by the artist (thank you Bryan!)

Next up is HONOLULU COFFEE COMPANY in BFL roving, merino/tencel roving and sparkle fingering yarn.

This colorway was based on the logo from my favorite Hawaiian coffee company.

I wanted to dye up some camouflage variations and came up with BRIGHT CAMO roving in Shetland wool, DARK CAMO in merino/nylon fingering yarn, CAMO and PASTEL CAMO in Shetland wool batts.

enjoy!

2013 Yarn & Fiber Colors – Weeks 2-3

Aloha All! Here are the first colorways for 2013.

OHIO SNOW in mixed bfl/silk roving and sw merino/bamboo/nylon fingering yarn:

Based on the photo I took over the holidays whilst visiting in-laws

HAWAIIAN PINEAPPLE in sw merino lambswool roving and sw merino/tencel fingering yarn:

Based on the photo I took on Oahu:

 VERANDA CEILING in merino/silk roving and alpaca lace yarn:

Based on a photo of a painted veranda ceiling from The Breakers mansion, built by one of the Vanderbilt families, in Newport, Rhode Island.

And some finished socks.

ROMAN FORUM SOCKS

STRIPED SOCKS

I’ll end with the “First Look” into the animated feature I’m currently working on, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2. This image was released last week in USA Today.

Our amazing creative team of artists designed this environment and these creatures including the Wild Scallions, Cantalope, Wildebeets, Bananostrich, Hippotatomus, Fruit Cockateil and Watermelophants. Looking at all these food creatures everyday does make us hungry, so we tend to eat a lot (and often!) at work. Luckily I love to eat 🙂 More on Cloudy 2 as we get closer to release, which is set for September 27, 2013.

enjoy!