we are victorious

I washed the fire yarn. Here it is still wet.




Dudes. I am so psyched about this. Fire! Fire!
Seriously, I love it when something works. I would like a little more red (and a redder red) but that's a tweak. This yarn is clearly fire.

trying to make fire

Last night I was all into the dyeing. I decided to make a bold move: trying a colorway that's still in the experimental stages on the BFL. Remember this crazy yarn that I dyed the other day?


Well, I almost liked it, and when I saw it hanging up to dry, it really looked like fire, except it was missing the orange. So last night I decided to wing it and add some orange. I have a pretty good handle on what to expect from the sock yarn, but the BFL is still a bit of an unknown.
Well? Well???
It's still too warm to rinse, so I still can't say 100% what the final result will look like when it's dry. Here it is through its steamy plastic bags, though. The yarn:


The spinning fiber:


I can't wait to wash it and see what it looks like dry, but I guess I'll have to. I can't believe it's still so warm! Last night must have been a later night than I realized. Anyway, it looks promising. I diluted the yellow, and it's still so bright. Which could be awesome if it really does look like fire. I want to know nooooooowwwwww!!!
I'm sure I'm not the only one with problems delaying gratification, so here's something that's finished.


This is a semi-solid yarn, which I don't usually do. It's part of my new Color Stew collection. What do you do when you have a whole lot of little bits of great stuff left over, and it's really not enough to make a whole thing of anything? You make stew. That's what I did with all the last little bits of dye left in the bottoms of jars before I mixed a whole raft more. These skeins are one-of-a-kind, didn't even try to pay attention to what I was doing. This one is a personal favorite; even though I usually don't like the whole light colors/pastel/lavender scene, this one calls to me because of the depth provided by the darker spots. That's why I'm glad I'm not in some boring business like radiators or something--if nobody wants to buy this one, it's mine!

priorities

I set up the spinning wheel right in the living room and spun again last night. Am I the only one who puts the things that give me the most joy at lowest priority? Why do I do this? It's crucial to make time for balancing the checkbook and filing your $0 sales tax return and holding an open house and taking the car to the shop, but somehow relaxing and meditating and restoring my soul never get done. As I took the wool in my hands, I could feel the tension flowing out of my body through my toes and disappearing. Well, better late than never.
I was spinning the rest of the BFL I dyed at the same time as the merino/tencel blend I posted about yesterday, mainly to get it off my bobbin. I have only one empty bobbin at this point, and you need someplace to put the plied yarn! Given a fresh start and an organized life, I would have been spinning something purple instead. But this is very soft, very nice fiber, and I'm pleased with how it's turning out.


Again, I'm Navajo plying. The yarn is very dark, but I can think of somebody for whom it would make a perfect hat. Unfortunately this person has a history of not appreciating things like this, so I'll refrain. Isn't it funny how there's this knitter's fantasy world where knitted things would be the perfect gift for somebody, but then there's the real world where the same perfect gift just isn't?
Anyway, I didn't exactly accomplish my goal of freeing up a bobbin. I got tired after about two minutes of plying, so I still have this left.



Yeah. It's a good thing I've abandoned the idea of being goal-oriented with spinning.

pure fun

I finally got to spin something! It seems like it's been forever since I've done that.
Remember this roving?


I dyed it about two weeks ago and was surprised at how dark it came out. Well, I had to see whether those tencel streaks would become more blended in the final yarn or what.



This is where my knowledge of exact terminology is lacking. Heathered? Marled? Whatever, I think it's a really cool effect. The fiber was super easy to spin, too. It's not as soft as the luscious BFL, but still very nice. I Navajo plied it to keep the colors lined up, and also because I have leftover ends of unfinished stuff on all my bobbins, so trying to spin two identical halves and then ply them together was even more unlikely than usual. This is representative of my life right now--kind of a perpetually behind disorganized mess. I can't decide if I should try to be zen about it and just chill, or go nuts and straighten everything out. In the end I think my level of tiredness will be the deciding factor, rather than any great wisdom or insight, unfortunately.
Part of the problem has been trying to keep the house pristine for showings. Notably, yesterday we had an open house, so I stashed a lot of stuff not where it belongs for dumb reasons like making closets look bigger. But you know what? Nobody showed up. Not a single soul. And all the people who have shown up on other occasions to see the house, whether it was pristine or not, they haven't wanted to buy the house. Why am I wasting all this energy? I'm not going to go around trashing the place, but I'm through worrying about keeping it exactly perfect any more. And despite the various physical spasms this would probably cause my realtor if she knew, I'm setting up my spinning wheel... in the living room. (That's the only room left with any chairs.) Do you bite your thumb at us, sir? No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I bite my thumb, sir.

my new digs

Dudes, I finally got my new studio set up. Check it out.


For those following the saga, my house still hasn't sold. I was doing my dyeing in various kitchens, including the kitchen of a tiny apartment where I was staying. There was a little over two feet of counter space on one side of the sink (after I displaced the microwave), a little over two feet of counter space on the other side of the sink, and that's it. Other features included a very shallow sink, no washing machine, and a huge cloud of paranoia that I would accidentally turn something purple and lose my security deposit. But now I'm back at the house, and I've had this splendid laundry sink installed in the garage. It's wide and deep, and get this: the faucet pulls out and becomes a sprayer! So totally awesome!
It still needs a lot more light, and I want to get bed risers for under the table so I don't lean over so much and hurt my back. I also want to get some of those squishy floor tiles they have for gyms and kids. Concrete floors are not my friend. But even without all that, I dyed last night, and it rocked. All that space! That huge sink! No worries about staining something! I was in heaven.
I experimented with a new colorway. I'm not sure whether I exactly like it. Here it is still a little damp.


That yellow is so bright. The purple doesn't look quite as crazy dark in person, but almost. Hm. I'll keep working on it.

shameless self-promotion

I got some more pretties listed in my shop last night and this morning. I can't believe I got so far behind--there is still a ton of sock yarn to be listed.
Here's some BFL in my new colorway Roses. It actually came out exactly as I envisioned, which doesn't always happen with dyeing.


This one is Autumn Woods, also BFL.


And just so the sock yarn doesn't feel entirely left out, here it is in Jewel Tones.


Hopefully tonight I will do something with yarn besides take pictures of it for the internet!

late, as usual

Well, the promised influx of items to my Etsy shop has been delayed by darn stupid life getting in the way again. Last night my car quit working right, and I'm hoping it's just bad gasoline, but after a nerve-racking adventure involving getting someone to the airport, paying the plumber back home, stalling at Wall-Triana and 72 (but luckily not in the intersection), death-defying thrills and chills, and a problem that suspended itself only for the ten minutes the car was near a mechanic... I took the rest of the night off. And this morning, apparently Etsy's servers aren't feeling any better than my car. I did get a few things posted, though. You saw the Beach Dreams fiber yesterday, but here's another roving (technically top) in Jewel Tones.


And here's some sock yarn in my brand new colorway: Roses.



I've got a lot of really great stuff dyed, and I'll continue adding it in the coming days. Meanwhile, if I don't hit the shower, I will be late for work on top of everything else.