I'm still only halfway done winding the second kilo (curse you, fragile wrist!) but I just couldn't wait any longer to show off Pretty Rickey. This is one of my favorite colorways so far, and not just because I'm obsessed with the color peach and managed to mix very nearly my favorite shade for this yarn.

Seriously, I have several nail polishes, lipsticks, scarves, blouses, and dresses all in this color, and it was the main color for all the flowers of my wedding earlier this year. I <3 peach!

Click ahead to see previews!

Preview photos: Alaskan Ice Tea!

This is a first - posting photos of the yarn before giving a little summary of the dye experience.  Truthfully, at this point, I'm not finding any major revelations with each dye any longer; mostly it's just small refinements of technique and resolving minor annoyances. For example, this month, one of the colors just did NOT want to go into the yarn and I wound up using twice as much dye as usual.  My ball winder also committed suicide, resulting in some pretty horrific tangles that took up to five hours PER BALL to fix. But now I have an excuse to get a bitchin' new ball winder, a million times nicer than the dinky plastic one I've been using, so that's a plus at least.

Despite its resistance, this yarn turned out beautifully. The main blue is bright but cool, nearly a perfect match for the finished cocktail and reminiscent of a glacial lake. The darker blue provides a subtle lowlight, the color of an arctic sea, while the streak of lime-lemon-and-orange gradient creates an engaging highlight.  

Words can't really describe it, so I'll quit wasting bandwidth and just show you some pictures. Click the cut to see more :)

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!

Kir de Reddit preview!

This yarn came out AWESOME!   The finished cocktail (which is delicious, by the way) is this lovely plum color that became the center of this colorway.  Deep bluish purples represent the black currant of the creme de cassis liquer, with rich tones of raspberry for the raspberry liqueur.  Rosé wines come in a variety of shades, from deep reds to warm blush to bright cantaloupe, so I chose a middling blush and an orange/peach to bring in the champagne element and to add pops of brighter color to the finished yarn. The orange/peachy color came out a little bit more on the orange side than I had anticipated, but the color creates a very interesting contrast to the pinks, plums, and purples present in the rest of the yarn so...

And now some pictures, for those of you who want to know what's coming.

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!

Mint Julep preview!

I know a lot of the original Tipsy Sheep supporters are huge fans of the Mint Julep and it was one of the most requested colorways when I first brought up the idea.  I spent a lot of time doing samples trying to capture this particular cocktail and hopefully it's up to your exacting standards.

Apparently I feel the same way about my yarn dyes as I do about my paintings: by the time I'm done with them, I kind of hate them.  It takes a lot of time for me to like a painting after it's finished, and to stop obsessing over the flaws.  When it comes to yarn, it takes re-skeining from the big hanks into the 100g skeins for me to really be able to see it.  Something about the way the colors interact on the smaller scale makes the yarn appear fresh and new and beautiful to my eyes, and I fall in love with it all over again.  It's like magic. Wooly, delicious magic.

So without further ado, I'm going to put a preview image of Mint Julep behind this jump. Hope you like it!

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...