This week, I updated my website. I still have a few little tweaks to finish up, but the new website is live now, and I really hope you like it! My goal was to freshen it up and make it easy to navigate and find everything you’re looking for. If you have any suggestions or ideas or if there’s something you want to see that isn’t there, please let me know.
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Hand-Dyed Top for Tour de Fleece
Last week I mentioned that I was dyeing up some top for Tour de Fleece. The spinning competition starts on Saturday, but it lasts a whole month just like the Tour de France. If you think you may need some extra fiber to get “all the way across France” with the cyclists, I have some lovely colorways dyed up.
I dyed some extra-fine 18.5 micron merino which is great for more experienced spinners. Here is one of the colorways I dyed on fine merino:
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I also dyed some organic Polwarth, which is my favorite fiber to recommend to new and old spinners alike. This Polwarth is right around 23 microns. It has great softness and great loft too, and the longer staple length makes it easy to spin. Here is Rhapsody in Blue and Purple on organic Polwarth:
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I also dyed some Shetland, which is great for sturdy outerwear, but it is not as soft. The micron count tells how thick each fiber is, and the lower the micron count the thinner each fiber is. The lower the micron count is, the softer the fiber feels, but the higher the micron count, the stronger the fiber is. Though I tend to focus on very soft yarn and fiber, there truly is a place and a use for every fiber! Here’s the new Caribbean Sunset colorway dyed as a complex gradient on Shetland:
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I dyed several different gradients after coming up with a new way to dye them, and while I was at it I had an idea. What would happen if I dyed top to make yarn for an assigned pooling pattern? I tried it and named the colorway Mardi Gras. I included some instructions for how to spin it for assigned pooling. Here is Mardi Gras on Polwarth:
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You can see all the hand-dyed top right here, and you can see all the fiber including art batts, top, and silk hankies right here.
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Fresh-Dyed Yarn
After I finished dyeing the top, I got onto yarn. This week I dyed After the Rain on a number of yarn bases, including Buttery Soft DK shown here:
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After the Rain looks great with Lilac, Eggplant, and Purple Delight.
I also dyed up Beautiful Universe. This one takes a lot of work, but I think the results are worth it. Here it is on Sparkly Merino Sock:
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In addition to Sparkly Merino Sock, I dyed Beautiful Universe on Sock Perfection, Stained Glass Sock, and Squiggle Sock. You can see them all right here. Beautiful Universe looks great with Eggplant, Northern Lights, and the new Matcha Latte colorway too.
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On a Personal Note
Our daughter who just graduated from college is moving out to Arizona where she will be teaching! My husband and some of the other kiddos will be going out there to help her get settled, so I’m going to be splitting my time between getting lots of yarn dyed up and doing some organizing tasks that I have been putting off far too long. I’m so proud of her, but I’m going to miss her a lot. How do they grow up so fast?
I hope you have a great week and a very happy Independence Day! I’ll let you know how the move went next Friday.