Need some color in my life..........

This week I find I need some color in my life.  My family lost my cousin in January, he was way too young but had many health issues..........and no, it was not to covid. So now I need to deal with his affairs so am just taking it one day at a time as the process will go on for months. I'm also feeling the need to get back to something that resembles normal in my life.........I mean the new normal in covid times which other than not being able to go to a fabric store to pick out fabrics in person for a quilt and eat out it really doesn't affect me much, I'm happy staying at home. 

I just put this towel warp on the loom. This is where I'm auditioning wefts just weaving an inch of a color to see what I like. Not sold on any of them so far so will come back to this project in a day or so.

Yesterday I decided I needed to get back to spinning while we watch tv in the evenings and I just found out season 12 & 13 of Heartland were up on Netflix streaming so we've started our binge watching in the evenings. In my stash was a small amount of this Dicentra Designs roving - what fun to spin these bright intense colors.  I have no clue what I'll do with the yarn, will have to think on it once I see how much I get. I'm spinning fingering weight. 

I'm going to make an effort to post more often and maybe I'll actually have something to share. Hmm, where are those pictures of some gifts I made this year..........

Currently on the wheel......

Yesterday I start spinning some of my hand-dyed merino - I had stashed this colorway before anyone could buy the last 8oz, am wishing I had set aside more for myself. I'm not usually not attracted to blue but these days I love seaglass or tropical colors. Since I don't have much of this I'll ply it with another color to make it go further. No idea what it will grow up to be yet.........spinning what will probably be fingering weight when plied.

New roving in etsy shop

I finally listed some newly dyed rovings in the etsy shop. Last night while we watched tv I spun up small sample skeins of each roving.  Not sure when I'll get back to the dyepots with the 100+ degree temps. This week will definitely be a week of inside projects.

Another dye day.....rather morning.....

This morning I thought I'd take advantage of the cooler temps, this afternoon back into the 90's, after that for at least the next week into the 100's again so I had to sneak in some more dyeing while I could stand the temps.  This morning it was merino/tencel. I was focusing on silvers and golds as I have customers asking for them. But then that last little bit I had to throw in some color - purples.

I'm thinking I love these purples so much I might have to keep this roving and spin it for myself.

Dye day

Today the temps were in the low 80's, only in the 50's in the morning - a perfect day for dyeing. What a change from the 100+ temps for the past few weeks.....but it's coming back - 100's starting Saturday all the way through next week.  Friend Kathy G asked if she could come over and help me, she's not a spinner so doesn't deal with roving but that didn't matter.  It was a fun day of dyeing and visiting.

I asked Kathy if she wanted to dye 2 pounds of roving - she mixed up southwest colors.

There's Kathy's roving on the left,  a bit brighter than southwest colors now but really nice.

Dyeing hundreds of pounds of roving every summer is wearing me out so this summer I'm only dyeing around 50 pounds. It's hard on the body standing on concrete all day plus I want to spend more time painting/dyeing warps for weaving.  Those will come after the roving is all dyed..........and after I wind a ton of warps.

Itty bitty skeins

Finally.....here are the itty bitty skeins of the newly dyed roving for sale in the etsy shop. Please don't critique my spinning, it's quick and dirty spinning just to get an idea of what the roving will look like spun up. There are 3 of these I'm thinking of putting away a bit of for myself to spin, can you guess which ones???

Newly dyed roving for sale

Yes, a shameless plus - roving dyed earlier this week is now listed in my etsy shop for sale. Roving dyed yesterday will be listed as soon as it's dry and prepared for sale so stay tuned.

50% Alpaca/30% Merino/20% Silk

60% Merino/40% Bamboo

 

100% Merino

 

Hand-dyed Merino Roving and more changes.....

Finally I finished with the photography work on the recently dyed merino roving, all are listed in my esty shop along with a picture of what each looks like spun. See more hand-dyed roving here.

I'm making a major change in my two etsy shops, and I'm hoping it doesn't backfire on me. I've been finding that my handwovens and other handmade items are getting lost mixed in with all the hand-dyed rovings in the first etsy shop I opened. So, I'm going to be gradually moving all the hand-dyed roving over to my etsy shop where I sell the Ashland Bay Fibers. To start the above rovings are in the second shop. So, for a while there will be hand-dyed roving in each shop which may be a bit confusing but I just can't sit in front of the computer for that long making the change all at one time.....plus I don't want to repay fees I've just paid in the first shop, I'll move them as I renew them or as they get close to renewal. I realize it will take a while for return shoppers to get used to the change but hopefully they will eventually figure out what's going on - I've put notices on my front page of each shop about the change.

Handspun done....

I finally finished spinning and plying the merino/tussah silk roving I started a bit ago. It's from some of my hand-dyed roving. This is one monster skein - it's 1810 yards of fingering weight yarn. Not sure what it will become yet....will have to percolate on that for a while.

I was asked by several spinners/felters to let them know when I get to listing recently posted items in my etsy shops. As of today the new Fiber Landscapes Kits are available in my one shop.......and the Merino/Tencel hand-dyed roving is available in my other shop. I don't list every braid as they're all different weights, if someone wants more than what's listed just contact me through etsy and I'll let you know what else I've got in stock. I still have the hand-dyed Merino/Bamboo roving to get listed (won't happen for a few days) and the remainder of the hand-dyed Merino/Tussah Silk roving....well, what's left of that one, much has already sold. Oh, and the hand-dyed silk hankies are showing up here and there in my shop, there are a lot of them to list so they'll go up gradually.

Newly dyed roving ready to sell

Much of today was spent braiding, weighing, tagging and photographing the newly dyed roving. I love all the colorways......sure wish I could spin them all but next best thing is to spin a sample of each to help sell them. I am eyeballing a couple that may be snuck out of the bin into my own stash.

This is the 50% merino/50% tencel blend - the sheen on this is incredible.

And this is the 60% merino/40% bamboo - equal in sheen and just as lovely.

These will all be showing up in my etsy shop eventually, tired of looking at the monitor now after spending so much time editing these pictures plus others of scarves and towels that I have to get away from the computer.......and go spin some samples. If anyone is interested in any of these colorways before they get in the etsy shop or go to my spinning group next week just put a comment below with your email contact info and I'll get back to you.

Handspun samples

Here are some handspun samples for the roving dyed last week.....don't look too closely at my spinning quality, these are 'quick & dirty' samples. Other than the 3rd from the left which was a commission for my Burning Hot colorway all are the type of dyeing technique I devised last year. The aim is for many colors, sometimes analogous colors, sometimes not, but no stripes/high contrast barber poles. I'm happiest knitting or weaving with handspun that does not create stripes so that's what I've been dyeing. I'm not overly concerned if that limits how quickily I sell my roving or how much I sell - if someone is looking for high contrast, strong colors there are plenty of other dyers out there doing that. I'm doing what I enjoy.....

On the weaving front I finally....yes finally....finished that towel warp - 13 towels cut off the loom yesterday, washed and dried awaiting hemming.

Camera duties.....yuck.....

I've said it before the job I dread the most is the photography part of selling my wares. It takes a long time to take multiple pictures to get a decent one, then edit them, then resize them for etsy, then file them. Next was to weigh it all and tag it......then listing in the etsy shop.....long drawn out process after a dye day.....

So today I took pictures of the roving, not a bad job since I only dyed 6 pounds of this merino/tussah last week (2 braids of each). These will be going up for sale in the etsy shop as soon as I find time to list them. 

I took pictures of the silk hankies too - 22 different colorways....finished editing them and found I missed one - argh. Now I have to go open the package and take a picture of that one. Resizing of these photos still needs to be done. Oh, and then there was weighing each, labeling and packaging it. I've now spent the majority of the day on these chores.....I wished I loved this process more than I do.

Hand-dyed BFL

Quite a bit of the hand-dyed BFL that I dyed last week is already sold - a big thanks to my very own spinning group for putting a big dent in it. Two of the colorways - pinks and reds are totally sold out. These are going up in my etsy shop over the next several days....there are several braids of each colorway at this point.

Roving for sale.....

Newly dyed roving going up for sale in my etsy shop starting today, will probably list one colorway each day. This is Panda which is 60% superwash merino/30% bamboo/10% nylon - it spins up so beautifully. I love spinning up the samples to see what they'll end up looking like.....sure wish I could find the time to spin up samples of all the roving I have for sale. Big problem is that then I want to set aside too many colorways for myself and I'd never find the time to spin it all!!

More hand-dyed roving - Polwarth

I don't usually post all the pictures of the roving I've dyed other than on the drying racks but for lack of any other pictures here they are. This is all Polwarth, a merino/lincoln cross. I've spun a sample and it's lovely, soft, and springy like merino with the bit of sheen and added strength from the lincoln. Two braids are curerntly sitting in my spinning basket - two of the far right, second row from the top - I just love those purples, especially that red purple. And then below the chartreuse to black gradation which I dyed specifically for myself - there's only 6 ounces of that. I know this colorway probably repulses some but I love it! I'll divide the roving in half lengthwise, spin each and ply them together. Maybe it will end up in a scarf, who knows, that's a long way off. These will all start showing up in my etsy shop over the next couple of weeks.

On the home front - had quite a scare last night when Bailey, our golden, looked to have a seizure or some sort of episode. Of course, Sam was out of town on business last night so I was here alone. I called a friend for advice, then our vet who will answer calls until 10pm. Today Bailey is just fine like nothing happened. Am keeping fingers crossed that it's a one time event and doesn't become a regular occurance. Kids!

Latest hand-dyed roving for sale............

Pix of recently dyed Falkland Roving - some are already in my etsy shop, others will be up before the week is out. Several colorways sell out shortly after I dye them, two not pictured sold out last week before I could even get them up in the shop. Falkland is a pleasure to spin.

I'm back.........

I'm back, been absent this week attending a Summer & Winter weaving workshop taught by Linda Davis of Sisters, OR. I learned a tremendous amount about designing and some of the many different treadlings available to use with this weave structure. My samples are still on the table loom as I want to try out some other treadling variations. Hopefully I can get to that early next week since I need to get that warp off the loom and the next one on for a doubleweave workshop with Jannie Taylor (instructor for AVL) in 2 weeks. Maybe next year my two guilds will communicate better and not have workshops this close together.

So today I need to get the inkle loom warped up to weave the handles for my recycled bag project - will do the actual weaving in the evening. Then it's back to the chenille throw warp, need to finish weaving it off, wash the throws and twist the fringes so they get to the customer who ordered them.

I've still got a sale going in my etsy shop on hand-dyed roving - these are the last of these colorways. They're in the Sale Section of my shop and are marked at 25% off. These are pix of some of what's available. There is also lots of other roving in the shop that I have larger quantities of.