Dyeing like a mad woman!

I am dyeing and spinning like a mad woman in order to be able to cast on the Kimono Wrap for the first day of the KAL .
At first I thought my first skein of spun yarn was more DK than worsted, but upon washing, dyeing, and finally drying it, it has fluffed up a bit! So I will knit a swatch out of it to see if it will work....or not.
I decided to stripe dye the yarn in purple and royal blue with sections tied off to get specks of white. I cannot wait to see what a swatch will look like!


And my craft area is always cluttered...but who said being a craft bug would be neat and orderly?! HAaaaaaaaaa!! I have found that swiffer dusters make cleanup under the carder when I am done go a lot quicker. It doesn't grab all the crap that comes off the fleece onto the table, but it's like a whisk-broom.

You can see my production line in the pic with the drum carder. Merino to the left, Alpaca to the right...all ready to be blended together.

An interesting thing happened in the dye pot with this blend of yarn. Alpaca is notorious for needing twice as much dye to get a complete dyeing than it would wool. The dye striked the Merino in the yarn first leaving the alpaca only slightly dyed with color. It's a neato and unexpected effect! I love dyeing!!!

My LYS, the one I work at now, is gonna carry MERINO ROVING!!! How lucky am I?!! I can order just about any kind of top through the LYS now and...get my premo-employee discount to boot! I did take next weekend off so I could go to the wool festival. Yippie!! Speaking of wool festival, I get a "Get in free" pass from the local spinners guild since I am planning to come and help with the sheep to shawl demonstration. Sweeeeeeeeet!!! I tell you what...the right attitude in life makes one a very lucky person!!

The BF has been calling me "Pretty-thang" after a clip on one of his favorite cartoons "Samurai Jack". He is just the cutest thang when he says that! I miss hearing things like that from him. The experiment is working!!!!!!!

The Fiber Frenzy pal got my package and she was all giddy over it all! I sent a lot of fiber and bought a few well priced extras to send along. I am so happy that she is happy with the swap! I still need to find maple candy to send along as a thank you to the lady that sent me fiber goodies. I just don't have the money at the moment. I don't even have the money to send out the red scarf to the Orphan Foundation!! Oye. I should have some to use for postage Tuesday, but most of that is gonna get put back for the fiber festival. I really ought to start a savings fund JUST for this fiber festival. I really enjoyed it last year even though it was unseasonably cold and rainy. This year, I plan on bringing some pants, my shawl, and a jacket...just in case! Because you know if I come prepared it will be unseasonably warm!! At least, that is what I hope will happen!!!

OH! And I finally got my needle tips from Knitpicks. I dunno why, but it takes seven days to get tips from them, and only three to four when I order yarn...on the rare occasion that I do buy yarn. Weird aye? Now I can transfer my two socks on the one circular to a larger cabled circular.

Until next time...

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