Everything’s coming up Rainbows!

Well, after being caught with my dye coat off (so to say) by the Yarn Harlot; I’ve kept myself very busy dyeing rainbows on all my major yarn bases.  Here’s the tour:

On Panda:
Rainbow on Panda

On Peruvian Worsted:
Rainbow on Peruvian Worsted

On Tiger Supersock:
Rainbow on Tiger Supersock

On Superwash Worsted:
Rainbow on SW Merino Worsted

On my newest sock yarn, Tiger Twist:
Rainbow on Tiger Twist

 

And just for good measure, here is some rainbow roving I’ve been spinning up for what seems like months.  I’m maybe halfway through plying, now.
 Wool/Mohair on my Lendrum

I shipped out the July sock club on Saturday, and so far one ‘Squee’!  Once everyone has enjoyed their surprise, I’ll post a picture.

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I’ve been Harlot-ed!!!

I woke up this morning to piles of Ravelry mail congratulating me on being mentioned by the Yarn Harlot.  Scroll down to Sunday’s entry, and she is discussing rainbow yarns.  From what I gather, this is a great honor, and results in being flooded with orders!

So if you don’t hear from me, I’m busy dyeing to meet demand! 🙂

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Fiber Friday, June 27

Lots of lace this week!

Electric Blue on Merino Lace Yarn
Country Roads on Merino Lace
Wisteria on Merino Lace
Peonies on Merino Lace
Monet Sunrise - on Merino Lace
Shhhh.... on Merino Lace

Some of my supersock (yay, huge new box full!)
Chocolate Bomb Pop - Tiger Supersock
Country Roads - Tiger Supersock

And my new sock yarn, Tiger Twist …it’s oooh so lively and springy!
Wisteria on Tiger Twist sock yarn

We’re busy from now (honey, I’m coming, really….I gotta post the yarn pictures first!!) through Saturday having our garage sale, so I will get these listed on ThePaintedTiger on Saturday evening (maybe) or Sunday afternoon (more likely).

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The new ‘Slice of Heaven & Earth’

Winging its way to California at this moment, is a batch of ten of these:

 A Slice of Heaven and Earth Sock Yarn

Yes, it is the titled yarn, but with a twist.  This batch is using my new dyes, so it is much much brighter and (I think) stunning.  Much more true to what I was trying to create the first time I made the yarn.  Yay for the new dye!  Anyway, these will soon be for sale at Yarny-Goodness, please be sure to say Hi to Pam while you are there!

Yesterday, we took the kids and grandparents to the Quad-City airshow.  Not sure the kids enjoyed the actual show (although all the free stuff from recruiting military branches and helicopters to walk through and tanks to climb on were very well received by them), we had a nice day, and I managed to only burn a sliver of skin on my wrist (the sun reflected of the metal, I think).  The Navy’s Blue Angels were there, and it is always amazing to watch them fly.  I also raised my level of respect for military pilots when I watched the PBS ‘Carrier’ series.  Watching them try to land planes on 30 degree pitching deck, and going into darkness without all the planes in….terrifying.  They did all get back safely, with the senior pilot taking the place of a rookie who was to fly the refueling plane.  Whew.   Anyway, a big thank you to anyone who is or has served our country.

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Tiger Finds – Chemistry

As promised, here are a few Chemistry inspired items.

Toybreaker creates fabulous screen printed ties. This one reminds me of the days in Organic Chemistry….yes, we really got to put together the cool glassware….like an expensive tinker toy set.

Chemistry Glassware tie

MolecularMuse creates jewelry based on the chemical structure of things such as Seratonin, Dopamine, Estrogen, Ethanol, etc, etc.  Yep, I drew these out in Organic Chemistry, too.  Wish I had thought to be so creative this those (Uh oh….inspiration is striking…..hold on to your hats)!!  Below is Caffeine.

Caffeine necklace

Ikyoto creates these t-shirts with designs taken from Japanese textbooks.  Below is Evaporation, and it’s never been so cute!  There are also Oxidation, pH neutralization, and a tie with calcium hanging out in a mineral oil bath.  Interesting….

Evaporation T-shirt

Hope you enjoyed my finds for today.  I needed something to do while my skeins of Heaven and Earth are roasting away.

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Fiber….um…Monday?!?

Yep, I was too busy Friday to get these up, so your ‘Fresh from the Dyepot’ fix is coming today.   Ah, the sun is out.  I hope it lasts this week, I don’t think Iowa can hold any more water!  Anyway, on to the fiber….

Rovings:

These first two, I’m going to spin myself and sell as yarns.

Paradise – about 10.5oz worth of blue, green, brown, and cream.  I’m thinking a bulky weight yarn.
Paradise roving

Blue-green – this one is going to be my next beaded yarn.
Blue-green roving

The rest of these I’m listing for sale at ThePaintedTiger this afternoon.

Georgia on my Mind
Georgia on my Mind roving

Cherry Sundae
Cherry Sundae

 

Marooned
Marooned

And a couple of merino yarns….same colors, one is lace, one plain merino sock.
Bed of Roses Lace
Bed of Roses Sock

This week I’m working on another order of [‘A Slice of Heaven and Earth’][2] for Pam at Yarny-Goodness.

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Amazing weather….

Anyone watching the news will have perhaps seen a blurb about the weather in Iowa.  It has been raining buckets, and nearly everyday for about a month now.  We have been blessed with a dry basement, and few actual problems from the rain, but I know many are not so lucky.

Last night, a big powerful storm blew through here, full of lightening, hail, and high winds.  I shut down the computer early in the evening to preserve it  (I can’t live without my computer, and I really don’t want to have to find out if my backups are good!!).  Then the tornado sirens went off around 10pm.  With the tragedy at the scout camp in western Iowa in mind, we didn’t even check the news and quick grabbed the children and went to the basement.  I set them up with sleeping bags, but there was no sleeping going on.  The warning was to lift at 10:30, but instead the sirens sounded again.  The storm was upon us!  Luckily, the worst damage to our town was some flooding.  The watch was extended to 2am, so we spent quite a night crammed in the only basement room with no windows.

So, the kids and I are tired and cranky.  I could get fiber wound and photographed for you, but it can wait until Monday.  I’m sure you all understand!

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with some cute pictures of booties crocheted from my Stars & Stripes, Forever yarn.  They are by thecrochetedbaby, and are so adorable!

Patriotic Baby Socks - Edition 2

Patriotic Baby Socks - Edition 1

Have a great weekend, stay dry, and I’ll fiber you up on Monday!

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Tiger Find Tuesday!

If you know me at all, you know that I am a geek.  Yup.  I even have a degree with a major Biology and a minor in Chemistry, and I taught all kinds of science to public school kids until I took ‘kiddie retirement’.  So, in that spirit, here are some amazing geeky science things.

 

The new hip thing is knitted, crocheted, and felted little critters in lieu of genuine dead animals.  This little guy (titled Knitting in Biology 101) is a less slimy (and smelly) version of that frog you dissected in 7th and/or 10th grade.  Didn’t do a frog?  CraftHedgeHog also has a cuddly white lab rat model!  (The pins come out, and you can carry your friend around, or keep him mounted on your wall.)  Want to make your own?  There are patterns available also!!

Knitted Dissected Frog

 

One of my favorite college classes was Entomology, which is the study of insects.  With the warm wet spring we’ve had here in Iowa, we are seeing a lot of these:

although they aren’t quite so large (at least I don’t think so….!).  Weirdbuglady makes Morticia the Mosquito, and she is promised to be one of a kind.  Gigantic mosquitoes not up your alley?  She also makes ant earrings, and a number of items with pretty butterflies on them.  You MUST also see the plush aquarium set ups.  She’s made one of fish, and another special order for a bearded lizard.  The perfect pets…pet them when you want, and leave ’em alone when you don’t!

Next week, I’ll have some Chemistry finds for you!

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Fiber Friday, June 6

At long last, I did some serious dyeing of roving.  Here is what was dry, more to come soon.  I did these in the ‘jar dyeing’ method, so they are a bit randomly dyed, but it beautifully preserves the loft of the wool.  I am very pleased with them.  Click the bold titles above the picture to be taken directly to the listing and more pictures of that particular item.

Island
Island on Wool Roving

 

X & O
X & O - on wool roving

 

I’ve Got the Blues
I've Got the Blues on wool roving

 

Cake Dismantled
Cake Dismantled on wool roving

And here is some Bamboo Blend Sock Yarn….

Red Sands
Red Sands on Panda Sock Yarn

Kelp
Kelp on Panda Sock Yarn

 

Cool
Cool on Panda Sock Yarn
Cool on Panda Sock Yarn

 

Dappled
Dappled on Panda Sock Yarn

 

The Garden     (also available in a paler version on my regular sock yarn)
The Garden on Panda Sock Yarn
The Garden on Panda Sock Yarn

See you in the shop!!

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The first shipment of SSSSYC is ready!

SSSSYC all ready to go!

Here on what we affectionately call the ‘Pool Table’  (green was all they had at the store, and our oak table couldn’t withstand the boy without impervious vinyl…) is the June shipment of SSSYC, including pre-orders for Stars & Stripes, Forever.  Rainbow Brite Stripe pre-orders should ship next Friday, but the weather is continuing to be wet, wetter, and wettest.  Anyway, all of these boxes are going to the Post Office in the morning, and soon you’ll have it!  Tomorrow…..yummy new yarns, and some roving, too.

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