2014 Yarn & Fiber Colors – Weeks 4 to 6

Aloha! Here are the colors posted on the shoppe for 2014, Weeks 4 through 6.

These first four colorways are brand new (7 new colorways for 2014 so far)!

WEST MAUI SUNSET was inspired by a photo I took while traveling from Kihei to Ka’anapali for dinner. As always the sunsets in Hawaii are unbelievably magical and this evening’s sunset was no exception. I created West Maui Sunset in merino/silk lace yarn, merino/cashmere/nylon fingering sock blank and merino/tencel roving.

SUNSET IN THE DESERT was inspired by a photo my lovely cousin Laura took during at the Desert Botanical Gardens Luminaries Show in Phoenix, Arizona. I loved the dramatic colors so much that I knew I’d have to re-create them in yarn/wool. These are sparkle lace yarn and merino/bamboo/silk roving.

MACARON is a fun colorway inspired by a trip to the mall. While on an outing with my brother and young nephew, we came across a macaron stand at the local mall. I loved all the colors and snapped photos while my brother ordered a few of them to take home. These pieces are merino/cashmere/nylon fingering yarn, cotton roving and corriedale cross roving.

PUNKIN’ PINK is another from my ‘Overlay’ series where I layer one color on top of a base color. I wanted to try some ‘bright’ pinks and oranges and really like how this superwash merino fingering yarn skein came out.

A couple ‘oldies but goodies’ including SEA DRAGONS inspired by these odd-looking creatures residing at the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific. These pieces are mixed BFL roving and alpaca/silk lace yarn.

I also dyed up some silk/rayon scarves in PLUM & PEACH.

Some of the custom order socks I completed so far in 2014 . . .

And lastly, I completed my January goal of spinning at least 2 skeins of yarn. The first one, WIND DANCER, was dyed by AnnaMarie of CorgiHillFarm on Etsy and I spun the wool late last year, but finished it this January. Wind Dancer is beautiful Rambouillet wool that I plied with silk thread for a total of 1,032 yards of lace/fingering weight yarn.

The first time I visited Venice, Italy I arrived just after the famous CARNEVALE Festival concluded, however there were still remnants of the celebration all over the city. This wonderful BFL wool was dyed by Carolyn of Greenwood Fiberworks on Etsy, and reminded me of those wonderful costumes residents wore. I spun this into 2-ply lace/fingering yarn and added over 700 dark beads.

Enjoy!

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2014 Yarn & Fiber Colors – Weeks 1 to 3

Aloha! Here are the colors posted on the shoppe for 2014, Weeks 1 through 3.

One of my goals this year is to create 15-20 new colorways and so far I’ve posted 3 on the shoppe. This first one is new.

INSIDE PASSAGE was inspired by a photo I took while cruising Alaska’s Inside Passage a few years ago. It was the last cruise out for the season so I expected it to be rather overcast and cold, but some days were so bright and sunny that I actually came home with a slight tan! I snapped this photo while outside on the balcony and revisited it this month to create the colors in yarn and wool. The wool is alpaca/merino/silk and sparkle lace weight yarn.

STAINED GLASS ALTAR is a colorway from last year and I dyed up these two pieces for myself actually. I have come to realize that I won’t be able to use them for a while as I’ve got custom orders to complete for the next month or so, so I thought perhaps someone else can enjoy them. The yarn is sparkle fingering weight, while the roving is cultivated silk. Yup, pure silk.  I snapped this photo while touring the famous Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, France.

The photo was an inspiration for another colorway, however at closer inspection I decided to extract a different set of colors for a new colorway.  This one showcases the land as well as the sea in LANIKAI VIEW PART 2 and the photo was taken from atop the Lanikai Pillbox Hike on the beautiful island of Oahu. This is alpaca lace yarn and super wash merino/merino/silk roving.

The next colorway is a new one, but only by accident (let’s count it anyway). I had attempted to re-create one of my sunset photos in cotton yarn and bamboo but the dyes ‘broke’ on me and turned into a bunch of different colors! I was really disappointed at first and thought I had ruined the pieces, but after re-skeining the yarn I found it really came out nicely. I don’t have am inspirational photo for BROKEN SUNSET, but this is mercerized cotton lace yarn and bamboo roving.

BLOOD ORANGES is always a fun colorway and reminds me of the first time I had a blood orange – in wonderful Roma, Italia – from the famous Campo di Fiori market. I don’t see them too often here in Los Angeles, so instead I just re-create the colors in yarn. This is also mercerized cotton lace yarn and bamboo roving.

Another goal for 2014 is to spin more yarn. I have a wonderful spinning wheel that has been neglected so I’m carving out more time to spend with her. Here is the first completely handspun  yarn from 2014 (I will later post another handspun that was started in 2013 and finished in 2014). I dyed this Polwarth wool in my SUNSET OVER TITLUS colorway and plied it with silk thread. It is 184 yards of worsted weight yarn. Mount Titlus is located in Engelberg, Switzerland and I took this photo 10,000 feet up. At sunset. In -9 degree weather. It was awesome.

More to come! Enjoy!

2012 Yarn & Fiber Colors – Weeks 19 & 20

Aloha! These past 2 weeks have flown by and I’ve got some some fun stuff to share.

This week I received the May 2012 Knitpicks.com catalog and sat on the couch next to the hubby one night leafing through the pages when I stopped and saw . . . they added my photo to their catalog! Holy Schnikes! Really?? Here’s page 15 with my Hawaiian Tattoo Socks pattern being the first one on the second row. And they put me next to Camille Chang’s pattern (for me, that’s like being next to Picasso) which is just an honor to be on the same page. Yes, Mom, I’ll get a copy of the catalog for you 🙂

And the colors for weeks 19 and 20 are oldies, but goodies – starting with BEACH UMBRELLA PASTEL in Falkand British Merino/tencel lace yarn and Polwarth roving:

More purples with LAVENDER FIELDS in 80/20 Merino/Silk roving, superwash Merino/nylon fingering yarn and Cashmere/Merino/nylon fingering yarn:

This colorway is a somewhat new one and brings back fond memories of a mid-afternoon snack. This is PRETZELS & BEER in English Shetland roving and superwash Merino/nylon fingering yarn:

The last two colorways come from my favorite place on earth, Hawaii. This is LANIKAI in Cashmere/Merino/nylon fingering yarn and Merino/tencel roving:

And from the island of Kauai, WAILUA FALLS in Mixed BFL/Silk roving and superwash Merino/nylon fingering yarn:

This weekend I’m participating in a virtual Spin-In where a bunch of us all over the US are taking the weekend to spin as much we can and post photos of our work. We are also doing a yarn swap of our handspun yarn – how fun! I was already working on some cormo yarn prior to the Spin-In so I had to finish that first. Here are the results so far.

This is 3.83 oz of Cormo roving | 32 WPI (lace weight) | 606 yds | 2 ply

After plying that, I started on my first real piece for the weekend. This is from my very first drum carded batt using gray merino wool and peach-pink merino/silk wool:

off for more spinning! enjoy!

Lanikai Pillbox View II

It’s about that time again that the hubby and I get ‘homesick’ for Hawaii – it happens about every 3 months or so. To help assuage our homesickness I thought I’d post another photo or two of the view from the Lanikai Pillbox Hike.  The photo above shows the houses along Lanikai Beach and the Mokulua Islands in the distance.

This photo shows the far right side of the beach with the dark area being in the shade.

And this is more a ‘straight on’ view of the water, similar to the other photo I posted from this hike.

Oh, it is time to go back home!

(Lanikai, Oahu, Hawaii | March 2010)