Whee! I been dyein’!

My dye pot and I got some quality time this weekend.

10 rovings! Including some fibers I hadn’t dyed before.

You will not, however, see, all 10 beyond this photo. Because 4 of them were promptly snapped up on Sunday when I went to spin with Lynn and Marcy.

Including my personal triumph of the group, and one that’s convinced me I want to mess more with tencel… Amethyst Cystals

Warm and deep shot through with quartz. Mmmm. SW Merino/Tencel. I’m going to have to explore this fiber more.

The front one in that first photo, the dark olive-y green, “Deep Forest Depths” is BFL which I haven’t dyed before either. Also love, also snapped up. Also gone are Rose Dreams and Ecclesia, a soft red semi-solid, and a split gold and purple.

But in ones I do still have to take photos of, another new fiber, Merino/Bamboo. We have a cool color, “Into a Cerulean Sky.” Getting the blue right in the photo is hard. It’s exactly like clear sky with stratus clouds blue. Inspired by the beautiful clear weather we’ve been having as Spring seems to be ramping up for a grand entrance.

Also nice, and very different in blending and texture.

Then I made some semi-solids. I compromised and let myself do one, and Self do one. So, surprisingly, there’s a warm and a cool.

“Winter Sunbeams,” a deep heathered gold. Thinking of warm cozy cats sitting under window sills, soaking up the heat.

and “Mediterranean,” blue/bluegreen fading into eachother

And we again split the difference on mottled/variegated rovings, and each did one of those too.

“Frog and Toad” (inspired by the kids books)

and “Waterfall” cool water sliding over slate stones.

Finally, one in the split style, a 6oz run called “Gems in the Rough”

I also dyed up a little blending silk. “Gold Mine” gold with touches of brown, for carding into fiber for texture and color.

Finally, I made another set of stitch markers.
Fancy Jasper – Amazonite – Garnet

All of these will be in the shop.

Sunday was lovely and my poor thirsty wheel got a wonderful woodbeaming and smells of lemon and wintergreen. She glows. Now I’m gorilla glueing two of my bobbins, and will be doing more shortly. Bah! Don’t know why all the ends (both old and new bobbins) are coming off all at once.

Oh, right, and I added a page to the site. “So you want to buy your friend a yarn?” It’s about yarn, and what you need to know to buy one. It’s focused on the sort of yarn that I do, fiber-wise, but the information is fairly generalizable.

That’s it for now

~The Gnome

Did finish a small bit of spinning. Emphasis on small.

I’m rather fond of the dyeing though, since it’s not my usual but very pretty and spring.

Robin’s Egg

88 yds
Superwash Merino/Cashmere/Nylon
80% / 10% / 10%
2-Ply
Soft-spun

~The Gnome

The afghan has been given to Travis. It was well received.

At the memorial, I said this (with some tears):

Jen wasn’t one, in my experience, for fancy words or flowered frippery, which is good. I’m usually verbose, and I feel like I should say something eloquent, something wise. But though I am someone who bases my life on word and description, I have nothing wise, nothing eloquent, nothing elegant, nothing that can truly do justice to her life. So I guess I’ll have to make do with heartfelt. My poor attempt at poetry, it’s all the words I seem to have right now.

I remember.
I remember “Morning!” every day as I came through the door,
and “See you tomorrow guys!” every afternoon at four.
I remember a light and a grin whenever the word “hike” was spoken,
And a laughing, “there’s no crying in science!” when another experiment proved broken.
I remember a quick smile and quicker offers of assistance,
And kind supportive suggestions of persistence.
I remember a kind heart, an open mind,
And strong opinions of the well informed kind.
I remember one of the strongest, smartest, best people I have ever met.
I remember someone who makes me happy to have known her, even if it was for far too brief a time.
I remember… Jen.

I’ve never been one to believe in angels or the like, but I did – and do – believe in Jen. Thank you, Jen, for making the world a better, richer place, even if you had to leave far before you should have. Everything you did, you did completely, with all you had, from football to science to mothering. You are an inspiration.

There are no words that can capture the strength of her personality or the depth of her character, so this will have to be enough… I’m going to miss you, Jen.

~The Gnome

So last night, I got home at 7:00 pm to start working on the afghan, which needed to be done for me to come in to work today.

It started at this

At 7:00 am this morning, it looked like this

Or, in lab in the light, like this

Yes, you read that right. 12 hours later. I fail at figuring out how much is left when I’m not seaming in easy to follow square order.

Which is why it doesn’t have a white border. Which bothers me, but most people won’t notice. And Travis won’t care. But it still bothers me.

Final listing (if you’re not on this and think you should be, let me know today if possible so I can add you to the list I’m giving Travis).

USA Kentucky C-Ville
Canada Manitoba Woodlands
USA Utah Logan
USA Texas Katy
USA Arizona Glendale
New Zealand Unknown Wanaka
USA New York New York City
USA Wisconsin Madison
USA Oregon Gearhart
UK Unknown Unknown
USA Florida Crestview
Norway None Bergen
USA New York White Plains
USA New York Endicott
USA Minnesota Columbia Heights
USA Washington Lacey
USA Maryland Columbia
USA California Redlands
USA New York Binghamton
USA Illinois Chicago
USA North Carolina Hendersonville
USA Pennsylvania Conshohocken
USA Washington Tacoma
USA Oklahoma Broken Arrow
USA Alabama Huntsville
USA Maryland Huntingtown
USA Georgia Acworth
USA Idaho Moscow
USA California La Habra
Canada Ontario Oshawa
USA Oregon Portland
USA Massachusetts Somerville
USA Massachusetts Worcester
USA Wisconsin Madison
USA New York Babylon
USA California San Francisco
USA Washington Renton
Canada Ontario Stouffville
USA Nevada Boulder City
UK None Bedford
USA Ohio Northfield
USA California Oak Park
USA Minnesota Chanhassen
Denmark Unknown Kobenhavn
USA Ohio Cleveland
Denmark None Aarhus
USA New Hampshire Belmont
Canada Ontario Oshawa
USA Waretown New Jersey
USA Dallas Texas
USA Washington Kent

So yeah, it’s finally, finally done. I didn’t sleep. Hopefully Travis will like it, and find some comfort there.

Squares that weren’t used (ended up with more than fit) will be made into a pillow to go with the afghan.

~The Gnome

Which is good, since I have to have it done completely by tomorrow. Whee!

I’m seaming, still. Almost all the green seams done, a few white ones left.

Here’s two photos of progress.

And one with the white spiral seam begun…

Memorial is at 4:00 tomorrow. Which is when I have to give it to Travis. I’m hoping to all that’s Holy that I remember to take a finished photo, since it will likely be very late at night.

~The Gnome