Sock Yarns

Wow, can you believe it? I actually stopped felting long enough to put some new sock yarns in the shop. Here they are...







It had been awhile since I'd painted sock yarn...it was nice to play in the colors again! :)

Patchwork Quilt Yarns

I think I've talked about my "Patchwork Quilt" yarns here before...I have a new one in the shop. Here's a picture:

I read that there are actually about 4,000 different names of traditional quilt block patterns. Lots of them are really interesting, so I decided to do sort of a series of my "Patchwork Quilt" yarns and name them after the quilt patterns. That gives me lots of ideas for names. Sometimes I have a hard time coming up with names for my yarns, especially when they have several different colors and don't remind me of anything in particular. This newest one is called "Broken Sugar Bowl." It has lots of little bitty patches of color on a white background, so I thought the name fit.

You might remember that one of my small wooden needles broke on the Jaywalker socks. I ordered a set of metal ones so I could finish them, and they came yesterday. So I transferred what I had done so far over to the metal needles last night and started where I left off. I don't think I like the feel of the metal needles, but at least I don't have to worry about them breaking when I do the double decreases. I think I'll probably stick with the wooden ones for regular ribbing and stockinette socks, though.

I've been doing so much yarn painting (using the mill spun yarn) that I haven't done much spinning for awhile. I hadn't ordered any roving for awhile since I was planning to use the wool from our Rambouillets. After that didn't work out so well (though it does work well for needle felting), I ordered a pound of Merino the other day, so maybe I can get some more handspun in the shop before long.

I'd better get busy...there's a new sock yarn waiting to be rinsed. :)

Superwash Merino/Nylon Sock Yarn

Yesterday I talked about the new superwash Merino/nylon sock yarn I was going to rinse out. Well, here it is (boy, is it bright):

After a little research, it appears that lots of people like the superwash wool/nylon blend for easier laundering and better wear. I wasn't sure what it would feel like, but it's really soft. I just listed it in the shop if you'd like to take a look.

Jaywalkers on Hold

Well, the progress on my Jaywalker socks came to a stop a couple of nights ago. They've been giving me kind of a struggle anyway. I had to rip out probably at least an inch first, and then one of the needles broke! I was using wood #1's. I noticed one evening that one of them looked kind of bent, but kept on knitting. Then later...snap! So now they're just sitting there in the basket. I'm thinking of trying some metal ones, especially with the double decreases on the Jaywalkers. I guess I can still do my regular sock pattern with the other four wooden ones...it only uses four needles. I was hesitant to try the metal ones, thinking they might be too slick, but I think that's what I'll order. I started on a pair of mittens from some of my handspun to do in the meantime.

The wool/nylon blend sock yarn arrived a few days ago, and I got the first one painted yesterday. After I get this posted, I'm going to go rinse it out and hang it up to dry. I did it in my "Prism" colorway, and from what I can tell, it looks like it's going to be bright. I'll try to post a picture when it gets dry.

New Sock Yarn and Jaywalker Socks

First of all, I'm still working on the garage. I started loading up the new shelves over the weekend. There's still a lot of progress to be made before it actually looks organized.

I have a new sock yarn in the shop. It has colors of the Southwest...turquoise, maroon, sand, and cactus, and it's called "Saddle Blanket." You can find out more here. And here's a picture:

I really like all natural fiber (Merino wool especially), but from what I read, there are lots of people who like a superwash wool/nylon blend for socks. It probably would give them better wear than 100% Merino. Anyway, I placed a small order for some superwash Merino/nylon blend base yarn to try next.

I cast on the other evening for a pair of Jaywalker socks. I guess practically every sock knitter but myself has done a pair. I'm usually a plain old ribbing and stockinette stitch kind of girl, but I thought I'd try something different this time. I did this yarn in similar colors to the November yarn in my Sock Yarn Club. Here's what they look like so far.

It's not really a hard pattern to do, and you don't even have to concentrate too hard (which I like). You do have to pay attention now and then, though, or you'll have to do like I did and back up once in awhile because you don't have the right number of stitches on the needle. I think they're going to be cute, though.

I'm on Ravelry!

I've been behind in my blogging again. I'm working on cleaning out our garage. Oh, my, how much stuff you can pile in a garage! We've used it mostly for storage instead of a garage, but I'm trying to get it into some sort of organized chaos. My husband built some heavy-duty shelves for me over the weekend, so I'll try to start loading them up soon.

I'm on Ravelry! It took about a month from the time I signed up until I got my invitation. I'm there as prairiedaisy. Come over and say hi sometime!

I put my first worsted weight hand painted yarn in the shop recently. Here's a picture:



You can see it in the shop here. It's called "Western Sky." It reminded me of a sunset picture I took sometime ago. You can see part of it on one of the listing's photos, too.

Also, here's my newest sock yarn. It's called "Luscious."

You can see it in the shop here.

Now, back to the garage!

Silver Dollar City

We visited Silver Dollar City over the weekend. Their music and crafts festival is going on now. I got to talk to a lady who was demonstrating carding and spinning. She had a modern wheel that she was using and also had an antique wheel that she said was from the 1800s. It was huge!

She also had some flax there...I don't know why I didn't take a picture of it. She said she raises it. You can see the yarn from it in the picture on the right side, closest to the spinning wheel. The other yarn in the picture is wool.

Here's a picture of my latest hand painted sock yarn:

It's a bright one!

Drumroll, Please.......

Emcee: "Introducing Prairie Daisy Handspun's new collection of hand painted yarns!" *curtain opens*

"Ta Da! It's the Patchwork Quilt Hand Painted Yarns!" *music*

I'm being silly, huh? Oh well. I've done several of my sock yarns in this same style, but I thought it would be cool to give them a name. They're the ones with short color sections, so when they're knitted up, there are small patches of lots of colors. Thus..."Patchwork Quilt" yarns. I listed the first one using the new name this morning. It's called "Look at Those Maples." Here's a picture:

We'll have to wait and see if giving them a name makes them more appealing! :)

New Yarns

I've kind of been on a yarn painting kick lately. I'm low on spinning fiber and rather than order more right now, I'm going to wait and see what our fiber is like that we sent off to the mill. Here's my latest sock yarns...first, "Prairie Meadow."

And then, "Wild Rose."

"Wild Rose" has longer color sections than some of my other sock yarns. I have another one in the crock pot right now that I did in longer color sections also. It's another one in fall colors--chestnut, orange, yellow, ecru, and olive green. It should be out sometime this afternoon.

Don't forget to check out Fiber Friday going on today at Etsy!

Behind

I think I should get a T-shirt that says "I'm Behind." I'm not sure if I'm not well enough organized or if I'm just slow. Probably both. I wonder how someone can be so far behind on so many different things. I finally got the yard mowed again. The crab grass had just about taken over. There was a section of the yard that I didn't get done the previous time, and it was so tall the cats could hardly find their way to the barn. It was really dry when I mowed it the time before, and I was riding around the whole time in a cloud of dust and dirt. I guess I'm allergic to dust (it's a wonder I can stay in the house) because I've coughed off and on ever since. So when I mowed yesterday, I put on one of those white dust masks and wore that to go mow. I'm sure it was quite a sight. I usually wear my red cap with the big bill to keep the sun off and my sunglasses. Now add a white mask to that and it's probably frightening to small animals and passersby. But anyway, now the yard looks like a yard again instead of a hayfield. The cats are glad.

Now back to yarn. I've gotten part of the bamboo spun and plied. Here's a picture:

It's a little hard to see because of the flash and the natural shine of the bamboo. Also, here's a picture of my newest sock yarn that was in the shop..."Kaleidoscope":

I'm waiting for my order of base yarn to come in so I can do some more sock yarn.

Better get off for now and do a little catching up. :)

The Dye Studio

I spent quite a bit of Saturday working on straightening and organizing the basement, which, by the way, is where my dye "studio" is located. Nothing fancy, just a nice little corner of the basement. I invested in a 4-tier shelf the other day to kind of get things a little more organized and give me a little more room to work on the table. Here's the result:

It would be a little more impressive if you'd seen how cluttered it was before. Anyway, I'm anxious to try out the extra space.

Here's another sock yarn I had in the shop. It's called "Autumn Delight."

It sold, but there's another one ready to list, probably tomorrow. It's called "Gems and Jewels." Here it is:

Better go for now and get some actual housework done. :)

More Sock Yarn

I haven't been doing much spinning lately, but am trying to get a little more sock yarn dyed. I said in the previous post I was going to maybe do some brighter colors for fall. Here's the result. It's called "A Touch of Autumn."

This one already sold, but I may try to do a similar one next. I have a skein of sock yarn soaking now. It may not be hot enough today for solar dyeing. Might just use the crockpot.

The mill that's supposed to process our fleeces has us scheduled to send them in in September, so I'll have to finish getting them ready to go and packaged up to mail before long. I'm anxious to see what the roving will look and feel like.

Well, I did it again. I set the alarm last night to get up and see the lunar eclipse. At the time I saw it, it wasn't really a total eclipse. The upper two-thirds of the moon were in the shadow and did look kind of copper colored like they said it would. The binoculars gave a better view than just my sleepy eyes through glasses.

I'd better get busy...the yarn will be ready before too long.

Here I am...

I haven't been getting much blogging done lately, but here I am. We had some out-of-state company the other evening, and of course to get ready, I was doing lots of cleaning that I should have been doing all along. I remember on the show "Everybody Loves Raymond," Debra was cleaning up for company, and Raymond said it was going to be the "fake house." Sounds like around here...

I finally finished the first sock of a pair I started a while back. (I'm not a very fast knitter.) Here it is:

Now, to cast on the next one...

I listed a hand painted sock yarn in the shop called "Brunettes Are Fun Too." It goes from really dark brown to a reddish brown. It should make some dark tweedy fall socks. I enjoy doing the sock yarns. There are about four more in the order I received the other day. I'll have to do some experimenting...maybe some brighter fall colors.

New Shop Section

I'm all excited! I got my second skein of sock yarn painted the day before yesterday. So I started a new section for hand painted sock yarn in my Etsy shop and listed my first one this morning. It was also Fiber Friday at Etsy, so after I got the new yarn listed, I started to post about it on the Fiber Friday thread, only to find that it had already sold! I could hardly believe it! (A big "thank you" to my customer in case you're reading this!) Anyway, I thought I'd go ahead and post a couple of pictures here. This yarn was my entry for the EtsyFAST August Challenge. The theme is "Celestial." When it was hanging up to dry, it reminded me of pictures I had seen of the Northern Lights, so that fit right in with our theme this time. Here are a couple of pictures:


I'm hoping to order some more yarn and do another batch before long.