Stripes

A week ago, Ravelry rolled out a site make-over. Since then, there have been reports of a number of issues experienced by users, ranging from eye-strain to nausea to migraines to seizures. If you are prone to the more serious of these symptoms, I would exercise care in visiting Ravelry, even the new log-in page animation is causing issues for people. TPTB are working on fixing the issues, but the new design is still problematic for some. With Rav sticking with the new design as default, I felt the need for this warning.

There are a few options to work around the new design:

1) Internet Explorer seems unaffected by the change. So far this is working for some.

2) If you don’t mind staying logged in so you don’t see the opening animation, have someone do that for you, then have them click on your Ravatar in the far right, and select Classic. This will get you close to the original look, although users are complaining of broken things, and some font adjustments that may be related to Chrome or Edge updates. If you purchase a pattern, there is another animation of bouncing yarn balls that is causing issues for some.

3) Rav user EVM has developed a Stylish theme to bring back the Green ravelry look, it works with a few different plug-ins and browsers. You can find her theme here. It does take care of the login page animation, I’m not sure on the zippy Bob right after, nor the yarn balls when purchasing a pattern….she is continually updating it and taking suggestions. Check the theme notes on the link above. She also has more information in a Ravelry Project (<–link to Rav) , but of course you must be on Rav to view it.

Be careful and stay safe, friends.

Updates as of 6/25/20:

The login screen balloon animation has been stilled, but Bob and the rainbow will still race across. Once you’ve switched to Classic, you’ll get the old login screen, no animations.

Classic Rav is default now, however if you’ve been on NuRav, you may need to change it to Classic.

Your choice of version is stored in your cookies. If you have agressive cookie deleting on your browser, or change devices, you may have to select Classic again. Some people are reporting issues if they switch functions, like from Forums to Patterns.

It was time for something completely different, and this handsome fellow was just the subject for the job. To add to the ‘something different’, I dyed this on two different merino treatments…one superwash yarn, and one 21 micron merino…non-superwash, for strikingly different effects.

The 21 micron Merino is super cottony soft, tons of fine fibers that just slurp up dye and disperses light to give a matte look. I dyed this in a variegated pattern. Think about how you want the colors to spin out….do you want longer stretches of each for a stripe? Plan for a single, or strip it down in half lengthwise for a 2 ply, and spin across the top to keep each color together for longer. Want to mix it up more? Strip the pieces even thinner and do a true 3 ply, starting each at a different spot so more colors will line up at once. Or tear it all up and pull random bits out to spin from the fold! So many options.

Our Superwash Merino Nylon Titanium yarn is a bird of a different feather…..this yarn lets dye strike hard and bright, perfect for speckles (and hey, that rooster has some!). This colorway required a multistep process…I dip dyed the base cream color, then wet sprinkled the yarn on ‘all sides’ in a hot pan to get great speckling, then finally added the red cockscomb stripe in the middle……and then heat set the whole thing.

Here’s an example of how it may knit up, a clubber made this infinity scarf on her circular sock machine, it’s a tube of 60 stitches…..depending on the number of stitches you use for socks, your red streak will turn out differently. I hope you’ll share what you make!

Want to join the fun? I do have a few sock yarn spots still open through June 15th! https://www.thepaintedtiger.com/Category_48/Yarn-and-Fiber-Clubs.htm

Knowing that I was going to make a self-striping yarn this month, I looked for a color palette that wouldn’t play nice as a variegated yarn. The deep pink-purple of the heather against the vibrant greens would invite muddy brown colors if all in one pot, but are marvelous when kept together-apart. (A nod to the current times? I didn’t mean it that way!) I also enjoyed playing with one of my new blue dyes, combining it with my other blues made a very pretty clear sky blue.

Our yarn is Safari, a 75/25 blend of Superwash Corriedale and Nylon. Most of my personal socks are made from this yarn, it fluffs out nice and cushy after a wash, and they wear like iron. The swatch shown here is a 64 stitch tube, about 7-8 stitches per inch. The stripes of blue, purple, and green are all about 4-5 rows, with thin 2 row stripes of grey and spring green. I really love how this turned out, and plan to give it a run in the shop when it comes off the exclusive club period (hey, I want one!!).

It’s always nice to have a similar fiber to the yarn so that the colors come out similar, and I was lucky enough to have a supply of Superwash Corriedale on hand. The superwash process knocks off and smooths the scales, so while this fiber is a little coarser than merino or BFL, it feels softer than non-superwash does. It also loves the dye, as you can see from the bright colors on this wool. As always, bend these colors to your will…..I enjoy seeing the creativity of spinners!

You may also notice the new logo. I’m not sure this will be the final iteration, my daughter designed this, and wants to work on it and another possible design once she’s finished with her college semester. I liked my original orange tomcat, but it is time for an update.

Interested in getting yarn and/or fiber delivered to your door each month? Tiger Club is open through Friday, May 15th, and I have both sock and fiber spots available.

Since club ships at the end of the month, I knew you’d be receiving this in the thick of ‘all the packages’ and the festive busyness that December brings. For a theme, I was thinking of the vintage trucks hauling home the tree….and I’m rather fond of the blue trucks rather than red. I couldn’t make up my mind about vintage royal blue, or the baby/turquoise blue….so I put them both on there. In looking for inspiration pictures, there were so many….but I was charmed by this children’s book. I’ve surrounded our blue truck with festive deep red, pine green, reddish fawn of moose.

Our fiber is a special one, 50% Fawn (pale tan) Alpaca and 50% Tussah Silk. It’s always interesting dyeing a blend like this, both fibers can be hit or miss on taking up the color, which is fine…this allowed the naturally colored Alpaca to shine through at times.

The yarn is an old favorite, MCN (sw Merino, Cashmere, Nylon in a 80/10/10 blend), but the skein size from my supplier changed, so now it is 100 grams and 437 yards. I doubled the skein over and painted, which leads to two back and forth repeats of the color pattern.

I was hoping to have a swatch of the skein I got to keep for myself, but our December is being crazy busy. It settles down for me after the Symphony concert this weekend, so hopefully next week I can show that. It’ll be nice to have more time and dedicate a blog post, it is always interesting to me to see the changes a stitch count, tension, or pattern can make in a variegated yarn.

Tiger Club is currently closed for new subscriptions, however you are welcome to contact me through the website to be put on the wait list. I hope you all have the happiest of Holidays!