Well, it's finally happened. My KnitPicks ballwinder has died. I bought it for about $20 maybe 8 years ago and it has served me well. For Tipsy Sheep alone, it wound nearly 51,000 yards of yarn, and who knows how much more for personal projects.

But something inside it has stripped, its wibbly-wobbly base-bit is slipping, and it's making some truly horrifying clacking sounds that I'm going to interpret as its death rattle.  I'm going to give it a proper Viking funeral in my bathtub to honor it for its many years of loyal service.

And yet something wonderful will arise from this tragedy, as I've just placed an order for a truly magnificent heavy-duty ball winder from Nancy's Knit Nacks.  It was shockingly expensive, but since Tipsy Sheep is now officially a business (I got my license, registered the name, and everything!) it counts as a business expense, which softens the blow a little. And she offers a wholesalers discount for licensed businesses with a Tax ID number, so that helped, too.

The best part about this winder is that, when Tipsy Sheep inevitably becomes an enormous success, I can purchase a power base for the winder that will make it fully automated, so I can wind up to 5.5 yards per second instead of the measly 1/2 yard MAX I can wind by hand.

It will be a few weeks yet before the winder gets here, and in the meantime I'll be winding the rest of Alaskan Ice Tea by hand. I'm sure the pins in my wrist will just love that, but that's how much I care about my amazing customers :)

Details for December - Alaskan Ice Tea!

Now that those cute little hanks of Blue are winging their way across the globe to their new homes, it's time to look toward the next colorway: Alaskan Ice Tea!

The yarn is mainly a cool, bright blue reminiscent of a glacial lake; a deep arctic ocean blue forms a small area of lowlight, while a streak of gradiated lime, lemon yellow, and bright orange creates a bright and lively contrast. It's like a Bob Ross winter seascape you can knit with. The cocktail itself is a variation on the classic Long Island Ice Tea, using blue curacao to give it its signature color and flavor, and a splash of lemon-lime soda to make it sparkle.  

Within each shipment you will find:

• 100g (approximately 463 yards) of soft, durable, and machine-washable fingering weight yarn in a blend of 75% superwash merino and 25% nylon.
• A peek into the process with dyers notes about how the cocktail's ingredients translated into the colors used, and funny anecdotes ... and, yes, me drinking the inspiration.
• Learn an interesting new technique (such as fun cast-ons and edge finishes).
• Learn to make the signature cocktail yourself - the recipe is right inside the yarn label!
• I am addicted to candy, and you should be, too.  Allow me to enable you.

As with previous colorways, only 20 will be produced in the first run.  You can choose to receive just the Alaskan Ice Tea, or sign up for 3 months and get one ball of new yarn each month until February! If you go for the 3 month option, you will receive:

December: Alaskan Ice Tea - see above.
January: Pretty Rickey - pale peaches and pinks, rich cherry red, and flecks of lime
February: Tequila Sunrise - a smooth gradient of sunny yellow to orange to pinkish red

Each month is $25 for US customers, with the 3-month option being $75 - it includes everything listed above plus shipping costs.  International customers, please select the international option from the drop down menu.  All yarn goes out on the first of each month!

Sign up soon, as only a limited number of skeins are available!

Choose your subscription!

December (Alaskan Ice Tea) Only $25.00 USD 3 months! $75.00 USD INTERNATIONAL December (Alaskan Ice Tea) Only $35.00 USD INTERNATIONAL 3 months! $105.00 USD

A few more pics of Blue

I got all the skeins dressed up in their pretty little labels, so I thought I'd post a few more images. As always, they're behind a cut to keep it a surprise for those who don't want to know ahead of time!

Pictures of all the things!

Now that the last ball of KdR is safely in the hands of its new owner (be sure to feed and water it regularly and take it for nice long walks!), I've updated the official gallery post.  I'll be putting KdR as well as the other colorways from Round 1 up for sale in a shop early next month.

I've also spent the last few days dividing and skeining Blue. I'm about halfway through the second kilo now, and haven't made the labels yet, but this colorway is just too pretty not to share.

Although the cocktail for this month is called "Blue," the actual finished color of the drink is mostly a strawberry pink, a result of the pale blue of the blueberry liqueur mixing with the natural orange of the OJ.  Since strawberry is also a dominant flavor in the cocktail, I made a soft pink a dominant color in this yarn.  I also spent a long time experimenting with this one, trying to mix just the right shade of blue to represent the blueberry element of the cocktail, and I think I finally got it.  It's a navy blue with faint purple undertones, almost the exact same shade as a ripe blueberry. The transitions between the navy blue and pink fade to this really lovely lavender color that reminds me of summer sunsets - very fitting, considering that this cocktail basically tastes like summer in a glass.  I kept the orange and lemon yellow elements rather small, with a smooth gradient between them, further reinforcing that sunset feel.


Without further adieu, here are some pics of the yarn!

Notes on Dyeing, Part 5

The second kilo of Blue is steaming away happily on my stove, and the first is nearly completely dry and should be all skeined up by Tuesday.  I've said it before and I'll say it again: each time I dye yarn, I get a little bit better at it. Here are the things I've learned this time:

1. When I'm all alone in my garage, my furnace is the scariest thing ever.  Remember in Home Alone, where little Kevin is terrified of going into the basement because of the monstrously terrifying furnace down there? I sympathize. Mine is a much more modern furnace, but it still roars like the bejeezus when it comes on, and therefor scared the crap out of me about 4 times.

2. Cough medicine + empty stomach + long hours of dyeing = no fun at all. I mentioned before that I'm getting over a cold, and was still all hopped up on Dayquil while dyeing the first kilo.  I don't really feel hungry when I'm sick, so I guess I hadn't eaten enough that day because I started to get super dizzy and nauseous.  Miraculously I managed not to cough, sneeze, or vomit on any of the yarn. You're welcome.

3. There is a new love in my life, and his name is navy blue.  I am totally in love with the dark blue used in this month's colorway.  Some blues get so dark you can't tell what they are, but this maintained its blueness very well even in the darkest areas.  It also fades beautifully into this lovely twilight lavender color, which made for some really cool transitions into the strawberry pink.  I'm considering dyeing a few balls of worsted yarn with this dye and making a blanket or something.

4. Some of these colors change dramatically when they hit the yarn.  That same blue above looks positively purple when it first touches the yarn; similarly, the berry pink starts off with a strong orange undertone.  But both of these colors change significantly after a few moments. I don't know if it's a reaction with the protein fibers, or maybe with the acid agent, but it's really cool to watch.  It's also why you ALWAYS DO SWATCHES. Because the color of the powder doesn't equal the color of the dye, which doesn't equal the color on the yarn, which doesn't always equal the FINISHED color on the yarn.

5. The more I like a color, the more of it winds up all over me.  My nails have navy blue dye under them, my forearms are stained blue, and there's even some in my hair. I have no idea how any of this happened, but I'm okay with it.

I'll be updating the gallery post on Monday with pictures of Kir de Reddit (which all US customers have received by now), and then stay tuned for preview pics of Blue!

Halfway through Blue

And you guys are gonna love it. It took me way longer than usual to dye the first kilo - because no amount of cough medicine is helping at this point - but it was definitely worth it.  The first kilo is drying over the bathtub right now, and I'm hoping to finish the second one this week so I can put up preview pics on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Now back to my blanket cave and kitty snuggles.

Details for November - Blue!

With Kir de Reddit sent on its merry way, it's time to open up subscriptions for the first colorway of Part Deux: Blue!

As was the case with Part One, your shipment will consist of:

• 1 100g skein  (approx 464 yards) of hand-painted yarn in a colorway inspired by the cocktail of the month.  The yarn is a fingering/sock weight in a 75/25 blend of superwash wool and nylon that is SUPER soft but has enough strength to make for a good sock.  And because it's superwash, it's machine washable, which was a must for me as I was shopping for yarns. (I loathe and despise handwashing.)  The yarn compares most favorably to KnitPicks Stroll Fingering.
• Dyers notes about how the cocktail's ingredients translated into the colors used, and funny anecdotes about the dyeing process which, yes, includes me drinking the inspiration.
• Instructions for an interesting technique (such as fun cast-ons and edge finishes).
• The recipe for the inspirational cocktail, which will be printed on the yarn label.
• I am addicted to candy, and you should be to.  Allow me to enable you.

The cap remains at 20 subscribers per month.  You can choose to get one month at a time or sign up to receive one ball of yarn each month until February!  If you choose to sign up for the 4-month option, you'll receive packages for:

November: Blue - see description below

December: Alaskan Ice Tea - aqua blue with highlights of pale yellow, lime green, and bright orange, and a bit of darker blue thrown in for fun.

January: Pretty Rickey - pale peaches and pinks, rich cherry red, and flecks of lime

February: Tequila Sunrise - a smooth gradient of sunny yellow to orange to pinkish red

Each month is $25, with the 4-month option being $100 - it includes everything listed above plus shipping costs.  International customers, I'm afraid shipping costs have gone up recently so it's no longer feasible for me to cover the difference in shipping costs; please choose the international option from the drop down menu.

Despite its name, this cocktail is actually a fruity strawberry pink, which will be featured strongly in the yarn.  There will also be a large swathe of deep blueberry and highlights of lemon and orange.  This yarn is a nice balance between dark and light, making it perfect for simpler lace and cable patterns that show off the yarn without overpowering the stitch.

Sound good? Great! Here's the button!

Choose your subscription!

November (Blue) Only $25.00 USD 4 months! $100.00 USD INTERNATIONAL November (Blue) Only $35.00 USD INTERNATIONAL 4 months! $140.00 USD

Kir de Reddit Dyeing Complete!

I was waaaaaay ahead of the curve this month and actually had both kilos of KdR all dyed super early.  Hopefully this whole "getting things done ahead of time" thing will be a new trend for me. Makes things so much less stressful.  With four whole kilos of yarn due to arrive by Friday (for the upcoming Blue and Alaskan Ice Tea colorways), I'm thinking I might actually be able to have the next four month run completed by December so I can begin working on other projects.

As seems to be the way of things, each subsequent dye gets a little bit easier as I work towards perfecting my methods.  Successes and failures this month:

1. More intense colors tend to wick beautifully. Both the dark purple and the raspberry dyes used in this month's colorway require heavier concentrations of dye to get just the right color - roughly 3 times as much dye per kilo as for the softer colors.  Because of this, it seems like the dye gets sucked up by the yarn much more readily, so that it wicks (spreads through the fiber) very easily.  This created some really beautiful and subtle transitions between the colors.

2. Fiber content matters way more than you think for some colors. The dyes I use are good for all animal fibers - wool, silk, nylon, angora, alpaca, etc.  Up until now, I've been doing samples on 100% wool even though the yarn for Socktails is 75/25 SW wool/nylon, and there hasn't been any difference in the colors on the sample versus the finished product. Until now. I did a couple samples on the wool which were nice, but ran out before getting it just right... so I switched to a 75/25 blend just like the sock yarn. Wow, so different!  I'm so glad I ran more samples using this new yarn because otherwise you would all be getting some really weird looking skeins later.

3. Nitrile gloves are the way to go. I've been trying to salvage my nails, which got all messed up during the move up here, and a big part of that is keeping them dry and away from weird chemicals.  Especially my right index finger, which was severed (and reattached, thankfully) straight across the nail bed when I was a kid, resulting in a "trauma nail" that has a lot of problems.  I've been wearing regular kitchen gloves while dyeing but find that they (1) leave my hands smelling funny and (2) make it hard to feel the yarn and know what I'm doing.  This month I switched to blue nitrile gloves - the kind your doctor probably uses - and they felt way more natural and comfortable.  I still can't find any small enough to fit my apparently freakishly tiny woman hands, but the nitrile fits better than the rubber gloves and that's a start.

4. Raspberry colored dye is just as messy and unpredictable as actual raspberries.  You know how, when you eat fresh berries, you tend to find stains and splotches even in places you SWEAR were nowhere near the berries in question?  Raspberry-colored dye is the same way.  How did it get on the bottom of my socks? I wasn't even wearing socks while I was dyeing!  Sigh.

Anyway. Those were this month's grand revelations.  Stay tuned later this week for preview pics of Kir de Reddit!

White Russian Preview!

I really love this yarn. It might be my favorite dye yet.  It's a rich palette of browns and cream with a spark of pure, undyed white. Deep chocolate fades into a warm coffee, which in turn fades into toffee and soft cream and finally warm white, and then goes down through the spectrum again. There are slight tonal variegations within each color, adding a richness and texture to the yarn.

It looks delicious. I want to eat it.

So without further ado, here are some preview pictures for those who don't mind spoiling the surprise!

Dyeing Round 3 is complete!

I dyed the White Russian yarns on Tuesday and Wednesday and spent most of yesterday winding the first kilo (which dried super fast, yay!) into 100 gram skeins. It looks AWESOME. And I kind of want to eat it. It makes me think of vanilla-chocolate-swirl ice cream, which is kind of what a White Russian tastes like to me anyway, so I guess that's a success. How'd it go? Well...

1. The Dexter Kill Table method is holding strong. Excessive use of plastic wrap is definitely making the whole steam bath process easier. I think I may have to cover more of the garage in plastic sheeting, though, since I'm starting to get very faint stains on the floor. They'll probably wash out with bleach (like the ones in the kitchen did...) but I don't want to risk permanent staining.

2. I have to accept that I will always hate the big skein. I love the samples, I love the little 100g skeins, but for some reason, when I finish dyeing the big kilo skein, I just hate it. Maybe it's because at that point I've been staring at it for several hours and fighting it to get the dye to penetrate through.  Maybe my brain just can't wrap itself around that much yarn. By the time I pull it out of the steam bath, rinse it, and hang it to dry, I'm convinced that it's the most hideous thing ever and my subscribers are going to hate it, and all I can see is the flaws. Then I divide it into smaller skeins, and suddenly it's beautiful and all I want to do is hug it. I have to learn to trust my samples, which I keep making until they're perfect, and just keep reminding myself that the final product will look better than the intermediate stage.

4. Dyeing earlier in the day is the way to go. My garage starts to get super hot at like 2 or 3 in the afternoon, so I planned my dye sessions this time so that I'd be done around then. It's a lot less exhausting without heat and dehydration sapping all my will.

3. Dubstep is surprisingly good music to dye to.  I'd barely heard of dubstep until a classmate of mine at SFSU shoved his headphones over my ears and made me listen to it. Not bad. I recently got the whole Skrillex  discography from iTunes and decided on a whim to put it on while dyeing this time. It was actually a really good soundtrack. Upbeat enough to help me forget how tired I get while dyeing, but not so melodic as to make me zen out to much.  When I paint, I like to go into that quiet, still place where the act itself becomes a meditation (which is why I listen to the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack while I paint), but I feel like dyeing requires a different mindset. The only dubstep I have is Skrillex, so if you'd like to recommend others, please do so in the comments.

Yeeeeeeep, that's about it. Great life lessons from dyeing. I'll post preview pics of White Russian on Monday (behind a jump, as usual, so those of you who wish to can keep it a surprise) and maybe some other stuff too. Yay stuff!

Details for September - White Russian!

I am so excited for this colorway.  White Russians are pretty much my favorite cocktail, and apparently after 1 or 2 of them I'm completely hilarious. The dye notes for this one should be pretty interesting.

As stated before, your shipment will consist of:

• 1 100g skein  (approx 464 yards) of hand-painted yarn in a colorway inspired by the cocktail of the month.  The yarn is a fingering/sock weight in a 75/25 blend of superwash wool and nylon that is SUPER soft but has enough strength to make for a good sock.  And because it's superwash, it's machine washable, which was a must for me as I was shopping for yarns. (I loathe and despise handwashing.)  The yarn compares most favorably to KnitPicks Stroll Fingering.
• Dyers notes about how the cocktail's ingredients translated into the colors used, and funny anecdotes about the dyeing process which, yes, includes me drinking the inspiration.
• Instructions for an interesting technique (such as fun cast-ons and edge finishes).
• The recipe for the inspirational cocktail, which will be printed on the yarn label.
• There may or may not be candy. Just sayin'.

The cap remains at 20 subscribers per month.  If you choose to sign up for the 2-month option, you'll receive packages for:

September - White Russian
October - Kir de Reddit (a variation on the Kir Imperial suggested by reddit user SewHappyKnits)

Each month is $25, with the 2-month option being $50 - it includes everything listed above plus shipping costs.

The White Russian is a soft, warm, creamy off-white color, which will be featured heavily in this month's colorway.  There will also be areas of coffee and chocolate browns to represent the Kahlua liqueur that gives the White Russian it's sweet signature flavor.  There will also be small areas of yarn left completely undyed, leaving the soft white of the bare fiber to represent the cream in the cocktail. Like the Mint Julep, this will be a mellow, subtle colorway with smooth color transitions and smaller bursts of heavily saturated color.

Hopefully this all sounds appealing so...

Choose your subscription

September (White Russian) $25.00 USD Two Months $50.00 USD

Spots remaining for September: 10

Reflections on the second round of dyeing...

Last month, after I finished dyeing Cosmo, I posted about the process and remarked on my successes and failures. And now, for something completely different, I'm going to do the exact same thing again.

1. Dyeing one kilo at a time is So. Much. Easier.
It takes nearly twice as long, but it was so much easier to spread out each hank into thinner layers so the dye penetrated better.  I didn't have to go over the same areas a dozen times to make sure there weren't any white spots... more like 4 or 5 times. Vast improvement.  And I was even able to lift the bundles of yarn into the steamer pot all by myself like a grown-up.

2. Going full-on Dexter with the plastic wrap is a good thing.
I covered my dye table in plastic wrap like I was about to murder somebody on it.

Glad Wrap - the choice of dyers and serial killers everywhere.

There were hardly any leaks at all, and my garage floor was mostly clean at the end of the day which was pretty awesome.  Plus I feel like the yarn retained the heat from the steam bath better without gaps for the air to get through, which means I got better dye adhesion and less bleeding during the final rinse.

3. Using a fan cuts drying time in half.

Probably the longest part of the dye process - and the most frustrating for me - is waiting for the hanks to dry after rinsing out the excess dye.  Last time it took the better part of week.  This time, the weather is super warm and I have a strong fan aimed at the yarn.  The first hank, which I dyed on Tuesday, is almost totally dry and the second, which I dyed yesterday, is well on its way, too.  Hopefully they'll both be completely dry before I pack them up for the trip to SF (it's going to be a working vacation no matter what, but packing damp yarn is just icky).

4. Speaking of warm weather, my garage gets super hot.

About halfway through dyeing the first kilo, I started to get super dizzy and short of breath. I couldn't quite figure out why until I wiped some sweat out of my eyes and realized it was ridiculously hot in my garage.  I'm really bad at detecting temperature, as I nearly always feel cold, so the symptoms of overheating always take me by surprise. I turned on a fan and aimed it at the dye area and that helped a bit, but I also had to remind myself to take several water breaks.  I don't think anyone wants me passing out and face-planting into a wet pile of yarn.

5. 1-inch brushes suck.

I apply the dye using a foam brush, and right now I'm working with ones that are 1 inch wide.  I wind my kilos into 8 foot circumference skeins and they're usually close to a foot wide and a couple inches deep.  I need to rethink my brush strategy.

YOU HAVE SPOKEN AND I HEAR.

So the poll has been up for 5 days now and the results are 5 to 2 in favor of posting a preview.  Well, okay, one of those "yes" votes was me, so it was really 4 to 2, but the fact remains that there are slightly more people who want to see Cosmo pics than do not.  However, I am a kind and benevolent blogger, so I'll place the preview pics behind a jump so that those of you who want to maintain the surprise can do so. And if you're reading the blog but haven't signed up to receive yarn, maybe these pics will encourage you, so I'll put the PayPal button after the jump as well.

Also, can I just say how awesome it is to marathon Sailor Moon while winding yarn for hours on end?  I don't really have to look at what I'm doing unless something gets tangled, so I'm free to read the subtitles and wallow in nostalgia.

These little babies will be going in the mail in less than a week! Are you excited yet????? 

Click to see previews...

All skeined up and nowhere to go...

I finished skeining and labeling the first kilo of Cosmopolitan yesterday... and I'm torn as to whether to post a preview or not.  I'm one of those people who always shakes her Christmas presents and begs for hints, but I know I'd be pretty bummed if I actually knew what I was getting.  Everyone who signed up for subscriptions has done so totally blind - which is a stunning show of faith in me, by the way, and I thank you profusely for it. So I have to ask: do you want the colorway to remain a surprise until you open it in the mail, or do you want to see pictures right now?

Loading web poll...

Knee-deep in balls right now...

I've decided to use any profits from the first round of subscriptions to get a second yarn swift with a built-in counter, because my current set up is a little, uh, exhausting.  Protip: If you're going to be measuring large amounts of yarn, get a good yardage counter, not a dinky little plastic thing.  I got this little guy for under $10 at KnitPicks:

I broke all my nails when we moved and they still haven't forgiven me.

You should have seen their former glory.

And he's a little bit "special."  The yarn has to be fed in at a very specific angle for it to move the little wheel inside, so I need to use one hand to keep tension on the yarn and guide it in.  And I need to use another hand to spin my ball winder, and unfortunately lack the necessary third hand to spin my swift (holding the enormous kilo skein) to keep it from catching.

It's also supposed to secure to your work surface with these little suction cup things:

That sketchbook is where the magic happens. ALL OF IT.

Which are a joke. They don't suction, no matter what kind of surface I try them on.  So I have to hold it to keep it from moving.  My hand hurts from being in this twisted claw formation for 6+ hours yesterday winding yarn, holding the feeder strand with my ring and pinky fingers and the counter in place with the rest of my fingers.  I was basically Spocking for most of the day.

I also suspect that it doesn't keep very accurate yardage, based on the fact that when I reached the count that was supposed to be 100 grams according to the yarn manufacturer, I would weigh it to find it only at 80 grams. WTF? So I'd take it off the ball winder (still attached to the giant skein) and run it through again, to find it 30+ yards short the second time!  After I wound up on those 30 yards the weight was more like 97 grams, which was much better, but I'm still very confused as to how that's happening.

Anyway, after many hours of winding, I have 8 enormous balls of yarn off the big skein, ready to be turned into cute little skeins of their own.  Yay!

This really is my "yay dance." For reals.

I found a table-top swift with a built-in counter that measures based on turns of the swift rather than yarn passed over a wheel, but it's pretty expensive so... tell your friends to buy yarn :)  Still 15 slots left for July!

So. Much. Yarn.

My yarn swift and I spent about 6 hours of quality time together yesterday turning these:

With bonus fuzzy assistant!

Into these:

Tucked safely in a closet to protect them from said fuzzy assistant.

My yarn swift is a boss though.  I spent several weeks shopping around the interwebs looking for one that would expand to the right size to make good dyeing hanks - which, for my preferences, is about 8 feet in circumference.  Most umbrella swifts available only open up to about 60", and while I found some Amish swifts that can hold skeins up to 80", they were clearly all too small. And there was no way in hell I was winding 9000+ yards of yarn by hand around some chairs.

I'm an adult, dammit. I have standards.

After looking through several knitting websites, I finally decided to check Amazon (which I really should know by now has absolutely everything) and found one from a company I'd never heard of before: Stanwood.  Turns out they're an importer who carries bonsai tools, lawn sculptures... and knitting stuff. Interesting.  But their large yarn swift opens up to 8.5 ft circumference and was only $48 (compared to $60+ for smaller swifts from other websites), so I was pretty much sold on it.

And you guys... seriously... you guys, it's awesome.  I may or may not have hugged it when I took it out of the shipping box, and may or may not continue to lovingly stroke it several times a day.  Look at this thing:

My husband and I have side-by-side nerd stations.

Do not judge us, emulate us.

I've never in my life encountered a swift so big, and I love it.  I only have two complaints: 

1. I wish the bit that secured it to the table opened up a little further. Right now it can fit on a 1.5" thickness, which is about 1/4" too small to clamp onto my coffee table so I could watch TV while winding. First world problems.
2. I wish it had come with washers to cushion the moving parts from each other.  Wood squeaking on wood really starts to grate on your nerves after a little while; after more than 6 hours, I was about to strangle somebody.

Overall though, I am quite happy with it.  I might get my husband's former boss, who's a machinist, to make some sort of cranking mechanism so I'm not spinning it by hand the whole time.

And while hubby's out of town on business, I might just tuck it into bed beside me.