2014 Yarn & Fiber Colors – Weeks 18 to 20

Aloha! Here are the colors for Weeks 18-20, posted on the shoppe.

A new colorway, PARISIAN SUNSET, was inspired by this photo I took from our hotel room in late Fall 2010. The week long trip was mostly overcast with little bits of sun popping through the clouds. This sunset was amazing and I had to re-create it in yarn and wool.  These pieces are merino/tencel fingering yarn, sparkle fingering yarn sock blank, sparkle lace yarn and a targhee/firestar roving that I plan on spinning!

PACIFIC SEA NETTLE is an oldie-but-goodie colorway in Corriedale Cross roving and superwash merino lace yarn. And yes, the turquoise is from the gentlemen’s shirt in the background!

I don’t do too much cotton dyeing but it’s always interesting how cotton comes out. This colorway came out more muted than I had expected but still pretty! This is FADED DESERT SUNSET in cotton roving.

JILL’S BLANKET is an almost-self-striping merino/nylon fingering yarn that was inspired by my friend Jill’s baby blanket project years ago. Her yarn colors were more pastel but I remembered how pretty the pinks and browns looked together and dyed a variation.

A couple more cotton projects . . . these skeins are both #10 Crochet thread, so a laceweight yarn. The first one is a pretty blue color that when I dyed the first time came out a very pale blue-gray. I overdyed it and got a more saturated color.

This second skein is perfect for summer with bright green and peach-pinks in the yarn.

One of my fiber friends asked me to dye a rainbow yarn. I had never done a rainbow before and the colors are so pretty that I was eager to try. Later I was asked to make it self-striping, which seemed brilliant, but I didn’t have the tools for it so at first I said I wasn’t able to. BUT after thinking and thinking and thinking, I decided to have a go by manually winding the yarn in 6 sections and dyeing them in the appropriate colors. Here is the custom order with both the self-striping and variegated rainbow yarns.

SUGAR CANE SUNSET is a new colorway! This photo was taken on the beautiful island of Maui during our Christmas trip last year. We didn’t know if these fields were sugar cane because of the flowering tops. We later learned those tops meant the sugar cane was ready for harvest! These pieces are merino/cashmere/nylon sock blank, merino/silk roving and merino/nylon fingering yarn.

PATRIOT is a hand-dyed, handspun yarn in merino wool plied with silk thread. I dyed the wool in pieces of red, blue, light blue and turquoise then spun the singles in sequence. Half of the skein is plied with black thread, while the other in off-white! The colors reminded me of modern and vintage American flags that used various shades of blues for the stars section background. 

KIHEI SUNSET is another new colorway (13 new ones so far this year!). This inspirational photo was taken at Maui Hill Resort in Hawaii. My family has been staying there for nearly 3 decades and we spent Christmas there recently. The sun was just about set, with beautiful pinks on the clouds and a gradient blue/green sky when I took the photo. These pieces are superwash merino lambswool roving and superwash merino/nylon fingering yarn.

SWISS CHOCOLATE, an oldie-but-goodie colorway inspired by some wonderful pieces of heaven on a plate. These pieces are merino/cashmere/nylon fingering yarn and a new wool base, merino/yak/silk roving!

And lastly, some sock photos. I’ve been battling tendonitis in my wrists so have had to slow down the knitting a bit which is not at all fun. BUT I was able to finish this wonderful project for myself! The pattern is Mermaid  Anklets & Socks by Debra Garner. She includes a pattern for both the anklets and socks and since I don’t have any handmade anklets, I gave it a go. Pretty simple pattern and it worked up quickly. I memorized the instep pattern so I was able to just knit knit knit!

Some of the inspirational photos are available @ www.society6.com/alohablu. Enjoy!

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2014 Yarn & Fiber Colors – Weeks 15 to 17

Aloha! Here are the colors for Weeks 15-17! Most items are available on the shoppe.

ROOM SERVICE ORCHID is inspired by a beautiful flower that came on a tray when we ordered room service while visiting Oahu a few years back. I thought the colors were so pretty I took a bazillion photos of the orchid and dyed them up in superwash merino/nylon fingering yarn and merino/silk roving.

HAWAIIAN MIST is one colorway I’ve dyed up only once before and had forgotten about. I love the photo inspiration and resurrected it for another go around.  I just love how the mountains stop the movement of the clouds which creates this beautiful mist! These are superwash merino/nylon fingering yarn and merino/bamboo/nylon roving.

A true oldie-but-goodie, RAINY DAY EIFFEL in Shetland roving and merino/silk lace yarn.

One of my favorite desserts on Oahu is the DOLE WHIP, a pineapple sherbet that I first had at the Dole Plantation! I thought it would be fun to create a yarn that had soft yellows and a bit of beige (because you can get it in a cone, after all). These are sparkle lace yarn and superwash BFL roving.

 SUNSET IN GALLIPOLIS‘ photo was taken by the owner of Nybble Cafe in Gallipolis, Ohio. These pieces are merino/silk sock blank, superwash merino lace yarn and merino/bamboo/silk roving.

AHI POKE is a colorway inspired by one of our favorite Hawaiian dishes. Made with sashimi grade ahi tuna fish, Japanese seaweed, onions and seasonings. Upon landing in Hawaii, we always head to our nearest favorite restaurant for a plate or two. These pieces are both superwash merino/nylon in fingering yarn and roving.

And for some socks! Here are a few I completed recently.

HAWAIIAN QUILT SOCKS: BREADFRUIT is an original pattern that I’ve been wanting to make for a while. I am always fascinated by quiltmaking and Hawaiian quilts in particular. While there are many beautiful quilt patterns available the challenge is to design a sock pattern that will fit in a 4″ wide canvas! After much finagling and re-designing, here’s the final outcome.

This next pair is a wider version of my original SCI-FI SOCKS using a new yarn line from KnitPicks. Kinda funky, but still fun to make!

And I just finished another test pair of FLAG SOCKS: CANADA using some sparkle yarn! This is a wider width version and I really love how it came out. I am aiming to write up the pattern next month for a summer release.

Last but not least, a skein of handspun yarn. This was dyed by retired indie dyer, Sosae Caetano, in merino/bamboo wool. I spun up a fine lace weight yarn then plied it with silk thread and over 1300 size 6 glass seed beads. I am thinking about making a small shawl with the yarn for myself 🙂

Enjoy!

2014 Yarn & Fiber Colors – Weeks 11 to 14

Aloha! Here are the colors for Weeks 11-14!

APPLE PICKING is a hand-dyed, hand spun yarn in superwash merino, then double plied with silk. The dyed silk roving is from Phoenix Fiber Co on Etsy, which I spun into a thin thread for plying.

LIGURE SUNSET 2 in merino/tencel roving (not pictured), alpaca/merino/silk roving and cashmere/merino/nylon fingering yarn was inspired by a photo I took while in Monterosso, Italy.

OLYMPIC SKI TEAMS were inspired by the uniforms I saw during the Winter Olympics. I dyed the wool, ran them through the drum carder and pulled them off as roving. These are available as a set.

KA’ANAPALI BEACH always brings back great memories of my friends’ wedding. This photo was taken while waiting for a spa session for us bridesmaids. These are alpaca/silk yarn and merino/bamboo/nylon roving.

Tencel is great for blending with wool projects!

In the area called Days Bay in Wellington, New Zealand we came upon a bus stop painted in bright colors of pinks, yellows and orange and lovingly adorned with hearts. On the bench were two beautiful words: Love Life. These pieces of LOVE SHACK are polwarth/silk roving and sparkle fingering yarn.

This is a sample set of rolags I created using Corriedale, Wool, Silk, CVM/Romeldale, Merino & Banana Fiber.

I hand-dyed the yellow/green/black multi yarn for this ballet bag, then added the black top for contrast.

Finished up another test pair of FLAG SOCKS: USA, but adjusted the pattern on one sock and found an error as well so I’ll be frogging/re-knitting/re-testing this pair, but here’s what it looked like when I finished.

Another pair of BOARDGAME SOCKS in KnitPick’s Stroll Tweed yarn. This one goes to Ms. Chantal.

Speaking of which, Knitpicks just sent out an email introducing the new line of sock yarn called Hawthorne and included my pattern in the email. Super cool!

More stuff on the shoppe soon! Enjoy!

2014 Yarn & Fiber Colors – Weeks 7 to 10

Aloha!

After seeing the vintage-style knit sweaters worn by Team USA at the 2014 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony , I was inspired to knit up some patriotic socks.  This first pair was started the very next morning and was based on a flag pattern I had designed in the summer of 2013, but never got around to testing.  I finished the first sock in a day and the next sock by the following Saturday. These are FLAG SOCKS: USA in US Womens 8-10 | Mens 7-9. I will post these on the shoppe later this spring.

During the second week of the Olympics, I thought I’d knit up another pair for our fabulous friends to the north! For the top portion, I made the maple leaf a silhouette instead of repeating the flag. When I write up the pattern, the knitter will be able to choose whichever image to the socks (all flag, all silhouette or a combination of both). I’ll post this pair on the shoppe later as well.

The following socks are available on the shoppe. I almost ripped out my test pair of SCI-FI SOCKS because it wasn’t looking like I had envisioned in my mind. Fortunately I was so far along that I decided to just finish the sock and see what it looked like on the mannequin. The stitches stretched out and looked like something from The Matrix movies! From then I was happy with the design and kept going.  I made these green/tan socks . . .

and made a purple pair too!

I posted this pair of ROMAN FORUM SOCKS on the shoppe.

Here are a few pairs of socks I knitted for 3 wonderful girlfriends who make me laugh every time we meet. ‘DB’ recently got married so I made her a pair with her new last name, ‘SueB’s’ pair has her art company name, and as for CLA’s ‘Reindeer’ socks . . . well, let’s just say what happened in Upper Montclair, New Jersey in the winter of 2006 STAYS in Upper Montclair, New Jersey.

These pairs were completed on Dec 2013, Jan 2014 and Feb 2014 respectively and I was able to present the socks yesterday so I can post them here now!

This last pair was completed in Jan 2014 for a bride who will be wearing them later this year in her cowboy boots on her wedding day.

Now onto colors! These first four colorways are brand new (11 new colorways for 2014 so far)!

APPLE PICKING was inspired by this photo taken by my cousin Laura. I immediately fell in love with the photo and had to re-create it in yarn and wool. The yarns are superwash merino lace weight, sw merino/nylon fingering sock blank and alpaca/merino/silk roving.

My 5-year old godson, Kai, drew this image on my birthday card last year and I knew I wanted to create a special colorway from it. I had the card on my desk for a few months and finally dyed up KAI’S DRAGON in sw merino fingering yarn and sw merino/nylon roving. Artwork is used with permission of the artist . . . and his mommy.

BROKEN SUNSET 2 was an attempt to re-create a broken colorway! I attempted to dye up some cotton yarn but the dyes broke into many different colors. The broken colorway was well received and I was asked to try to do again – this time on purpose – in  polwarth wool roving, sw merino roving  and merino/tencel yarn.  And yes, it was much harder to replicate a ‘happy accident’.

The background in this collage is a CROTON plant that I took a photo of while on Maui this past December. I loved  the bright magenta and greens and used some hand-dyed wool for the project. I ran the merino/silk wool through the drum carder, layering some wonderful soffsilk (silk waste product) between the solid colors. I pulled the wool off as a continuous piece of roving and made a braid. The soffsilk will add some texture when spinning.

And some ‘oldie-but-goodie’ colorways. . . ORANGE HIBISCUS in sparkle lace yarn and merino/bamboo/silk roving was inspired by a hibiscus plant I used to have. It only bloomed an orange flower every few seasons and when it did,  I tried to take as many photos as I could!

DIAMOND HEAD SUNSET 2 is a variation of the original which was more pastel. This version incorporates the blue/gray sky and a darker gray for contrast. This is merino/silk fingering yarn and polwarth/silk roving.

I dyed up these next two pieces for the shoppe since I was already creating them for a custom order. HONOLULU FIREWORKS is 5oz of merino/tencel roving.

SEA DRAGONS is 5.4oz of merino wool roving.

Now for some bags! These first two ballet/pointe shoe bags come from European and South American wool. The pink/green version was crocheted with two strands held together while the rainbow bag was made with a single-ply yarn.

I finally put together a “Dye your own” ballet bag kit. These fun kits include a crocheted ballet bag, printed dyeing instructions and a few packets of kool-aid ‘dye’. Available in Orange/Yellow/Red and Red/Pinks.

Lastly, I posted a spring-inspired scarf in velvet/silk  in bright lime green!

Enjoy!

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!

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!

Images of Hawaii 2013 – Part 1

Aloha and Hau’oli Hakahiki Hou! Happy 2014!

We had a nice Christmas holiday back ‘home’ in Hawaii and already miss the islands. After going through my photos, I thought I’d share some of my favorites.

On the island of Oahu, we visited our favorite beach, Waimanalo. It was a beautiful day though there were red flag warnings for Man-Of-War jellyfish in the water – hubby even spotted a baby one on the shore – so we stayed on the sand.

We stayed on the famous North Shore where the sunsets were just spectacular. Here is what it looked like on the first night.

This rainbow came out early in the morning so I hurried to snap many photos before it disappeared.

We had lunch twice at Ola’s where the view was stunning and the food was delicious. I tried the fish called hebi (shortbill spearfish) for the first time. Yummers.

We loved being back home, but eventually it was time to leave. So, we boarded a hopper flight (aka propeller plane) over to our next destination. On the way I took this aerial view of Waikiki . . .

 and Diamond Head.

35 minutes later, we touched down on my favorite island of Maui.

to be continued!

Images of Hawaii – Part 5

Aloha All! It’s been about half a year since we’ve last been on the Islands and of course I’m homesick. . . again.

I thought I’d share some more photos from the last trip to try to quell the homesickness.

At the Kahala Resort

We drove around residential areas up on a hill (yes, beautiful homes with breathtaking views) and found this wonderful view of Koko Head Crater

A view of Chinaman’s Hat

Another view from the Kahala Resort

And lastly, a view from the Hawaii Kai Makapu’u Point Trail

enjoy!

i just love Hawaii . . .

Images of Hawaii – Part 4

Aloha All and Happy Superbowl Sunday 2012! Here’s another installment of photos from our latest trip to Oahu.

This is a photo from the Makapu’u Point Lighthouse Hike in Hawaii Kai.  The photo is almost identical to the one I took back in 2010, but this version seems a little bit more blue.

If you hike farther up the mountain there is another look-out point you can take photos of the shoreline. I love how the water changes colors from turquoise to dark blue. As always the clouds seemed to be moving at lightning speed across the sky . . .

How did we get up here? There’s a view of the hiking trail. One of the first stops is a big marquee talking about the migration of humpback whales since this is the route they take. Sadly we didn’t see any humpbacks on our hike, but what a pretty trail! We see many folks hiking up here with their dogs, baby strollers and some even run the length of the trail! If you do take the hike, be sure to wear comfortable shoes, sunscreen, sunglasses and bring some bottled water.

During another outing, we started driving around and stopped at a look-out point off the highway. Very important to read the signs! I wish I could say we followed this sign, but . . .

We decided to take pretty photos of the ledge near sunset. So we scaled the wall and hiked down this rocky ledge (you can see the road where the white fence is on the right side – luckily we didn’t have to hike down that mountain). . .

. . .  to get to this pretty ledge where a local man was fishing nearby. As the sun went down the water level went up and at one point, hubby and I were getting sprayed with sea water. Quite fun actually.

We walked over to a cove and watched as the waves came in, broke on the rocks and turned the water into beautiful suds.

Another view as the sun is going down. About the middle of the photo is where the road continues. We didn’t go farther than this point as it would have gotten more dangerous. But we did get some nice photos!

(Oahu | December 2011)

Images of Hawaii – Part 3

Aloha and Hau’oli Makahiki Hou! Happy New Year!

I was hoping to post more photos while in Hawaii but my internet connection was poor, so I had to wait until I returned home. Without further delay, here’s Part 3 . . .

The banner (above) for my blog page is a photo I took from the Lanikai Pillbox Hike a few years back.  We did the hike again and here’s another picture from just under the eve of the pillbox overlooking the Mokalua Islands.

One of the places we stayed was in the town of Hawaii Kai and this is a view of Koko Head Crater. I thought about attempting the challenging hike up the crater, but after reading about it online, I think this photo will suffice . . . for now!

Sunset @ Hawaii Kai

I love this photo! I had never done the “World’s Largest Maze” – the Pineapple Maze – at the Dole Plantation before so we decided to take a crack at it. This tree was near the entrance. Well, we didn’t go through the entire maze, but it was awesome to see that the maze ‘walls’ were created with pink hibiscus plants.

Sunsets are magical in Hawaii and we were able to catch this sunset last minute at a beach park in Diamond Head, Oahu. By the time we arrived, there was already a crowd gathering for the big show. I took this photo just before the final sliver of sun went down. (For you yarnies, I just posted Diamond Head Sunset yarn on the shoppe.)

Although it was kind of rainy during our stay, the last week was absolutely beautiful. This is a view from our favorite beach, Waimanalo.

Here is another Diamond Head sunset photo, after the sun went down. I love how the lighthouse is silhouetted amongst the trees.

Another photo from the Lanikai Pillbox hike.

And lastly, we were driving back to town from the quaint north shore town of Haleiwa and caught this gorgeous sunset with the dark clouds above. It looks like it’s on fire!!  (Yes, a colorway will follow shortly.)

A knitting update: I was able to complete 2.5 pairs of socks over the holiday and it was great getting time to knit. I’ll post those on the shoppe and blog shortly.

Enjoy!