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!

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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.