Whee! Pretty good weekend. A couple chances to go out, but instead I stayed home and rested a little, then went to visit my parents on Sunday. I think this was a good choice.

I’m gonna go backwards. ‘Cause I feel like it and you can’t stop me! Bwaahahahahaha! Ahem.

Sunday I went home to visit my parents. Always a good time. Said hi to the goose.

::waves to the goose:: Isn’t she a pretty goose? She’s lonely.

We worked on the garden, the bed that’s where the tulip poplar was before it blew over. Got it pretty much done, plants moved in, weeds pulled out, and mulched nice and deep. This is as we were just a bit into it.

Mmm dirt and green. A good day, even if it meant sacrificing some spinning time with my spinning buddies.

Saturday I didn’t accomplish very much. I’m fine with that, I wasn’t trying to. I needed a day to decompress. I did get a few things dyed and done though.

It’s always interesting to see how different fibers react to the same colors and process. For example, here’s the same colorway I posted earlier, but in Wensleydale instead of Cashmere/Tussah

“Press closer, little Nightingale,” cried the Tree, “or the Day will come before the rose is finished.”

The Nightingale and the Rose – 4oz x 2 – Combed Wensleydale Top

And a fun one, rather than my usual “serious” colorways…

Yeah, it’s that color. You remember, when you were a kid, how every superhero was made by a radioactive pool or bug or monkey? The color that turns small reptiles into ninjas? This reminds me of exactly that color. Yes, it is that bright.

If you’d prefer, you can also call it “Matricaria” because it’s the color of the little Pineapple Weed blooms.

How to Make a Superhero – 4oz – Combed Wensleydale Top

The deepest purple blue, intense and saturated, shining and softly heathered…

Deep Centauria – 1oz – 50/50 Cashmere/Tussah Silk Combed Top

A soft heady scent floats up from the deep pink rose petals, the soft sheen gleaming in the romantic candlelight…

Dried Damask – 1oz x 2 – Combed Tussah Silk Top

All of these are up on the shop.

These are two that are dyed, but someone already has first dibs on.

Dark Rhubarb Cobbler – 4oz – Combed Wensleydale Top

Amethyst – 1oz – 50/50 Cashmere/Tussah Silk Combed Top

I also made these, sock stitch markers! The rings are much smaller, sized for size 5 needles or smaller, and made to be overall very light so they don’t disrupt your lace or sock knitting. The middle and left will be up on the shop when I actually manage to take real photos of them (probably tomorrow). The ones on the right were on my long to-do list (which I’m SLOWLY catching up with). Stones are…

Amazonite – Malachite – Garnet
Leopardskin Jasper – Agate – Leopardskin Jasper
Lapis – Aventurine – Lapis

Aaaand I think that’s about it.

~The Gnome

Gnomespun now has gift certificates.

Whee!

Sorry it took so long to get them. But, on the main site, you can now click on the button in the navigation bar to purchase gift certificates.

~The Gnome

A couple people have asked me how I dye.

Now, I hesitate to let the cat out of the bag, but probably not for the reasons most people would expect.

You see, most independent dyers are loathe to make a post like this because their patterns and dyeing methods are all they have to separate them from the scads of other indie dyers out there doing similar work.

But you see, here’s where my real deep, dark, and dirty secret arrives…

I am not those dyers.

I have one trick which I think is uncommon, but that’s because it doesn’t work on a lot of fibers.

I don’t have big secrets of dyeing methodology. I use very basic methods and very basic tricks.

So, how do I get the effects I do?

Easy. I know my fiber and my dye. Really the singular trick to dyeing, whether you want a semi-solid or wildly variegated yarn, is to know your fiber and dye.

This means more than, “I have superwash merino.”

I’ve written before about how I don’t dye scientifically. Perhaps that was a bit disingenuous, because the truth is that while I use dyeing like an impressionist painter’s palette, I cannot (and wouldn’t desire to) escape the fact that I have an academic’s mind.

When I say, “know your fiber” I mean you have to know why things happen like they do. Pick up any introductory dyeing kit or go to one of the dye company pages, head over to knitty and put “dyeing” into the search, and it will give you a set of directions. Great, you can dye now, right?

Wrong. You should, if the directions are well written, be able to reproduce whatever effect (often solids) the directions are written for. Because, if you follow the directions, you are essentially being a machine, there is no understanding.

But what if, instead of leaping in and following the directions, you sat and said, “Huh, why do they say to presoak it? Why do I need to add dawn to the soak?” Then, you’d have understanding of what you were doing, and suddenly you’d not be a machine trying to duplicate a process, you’d be a comprehending artist with the ability to say, “but I want THIS effect so then I should be able to…”

I don’t use fancy tricks. I use very very basic methods, with no fancy ingredients or tools, all in my kitchen, in an oven, one really big canning pot, one medium big heavy stainless pot, and a small stainless pot. Most of my methods use simple resists very much like what you learned at summer camp when you tie dyed a t-shirt.

Because in the end, the real “trick” to dyeing, no matter how fancy the end product, is to know your fiber, know your process, and then to… be creative.

I make the colors I do because that’s what I see in my mind. I could no more describe to you the process by which I look at a wet fiber and say “huh, you know that needs more brown, then it will look much more like the mottle of a sphagnum moss.” than I could describe the reason one rosemary cutting roots while its 10 neighbors just rot off or shrivel up.

That said, I’m going to do a series of posts here about dyeing. I know, I know, I just told you I can’t teach you to dye like me. But see, that’s good! You can dye like you instead! Cool, huh?

So, if you’ve made it this far, you’re probably asking what’s going to be in these posts, right?

As I noted waaaaay up top, before I got all verbose and circuitous, there are a lot of dyeing tutorials out there. Many of them are excellent, so I won’t duplicate them. I will likely link a few, but the actual process of dyeing is not what I’m going to talk about.

I can hear you saying, “Ok, Gnome, so what are you going to talk about? Quit lallygagging and tell us!”

I’m going to talk about the science of dyeing. That is, what things do what, and why. I’m not going to tell you how I do dyeing, I’m going to tell you how i think about dyeing.

Here are some examples, in approximate order:

Dyeing 101: Acid vs Reactive – What’s the Difference between Acid and Reactive Dyes? Direct? What’s that?

Dyeing 101: Animal fibers vs Plant fibers – Protein vs Cellulose and What that Means

Dyeing 101: Fiber Structure – Animal vs Plant Structure

Dyeing 101: Wool Structure – Longwool/Fine wool/Downs wool, Huh?

Dyeing 101: More Structure – Alpaca, Why is it Different? Silk, Why Won’t it Get Wet? Cashmere, Eep?

Dyeing 101: Stuff You Add – Why Detergent? Why am I Soaking it? What’s the Vinegar for? SALT?

Dyeing 101: Things Which Resist – How Pattern Happens

I will try to get to as many of these as possible, they’ll be spaced out as time permits. Because you know I have so very much spare of that.

Also, I am sore. My living room is all reorganized, though not clean yet. I might actually be able to use it. I think I might need to get rid of my spare couch, but I don’t know for sure, or how I’d do it.

That’s it for now.

~The Gnome

That’s about the extent of my vocabulary right now.

So yesterday was a rough day in lab, and I was still sore from my weekend workout, so I figured I would burn one of my non-gym days and go home and rest and maybe clean a little.

Yeah. That so didn’t happen.

I get home and the landlord’s downstairs (the neighbors moved out), and it turns out he wants to put in new pipes to my apartment… this week. Now, this *needs* to get done, because the water pressure to my apartment is… suck. So, no resting, instead I spent 4 hours straight cleaning. The cleaning makes it to my living room and then stops. Hopefully the landlord and plumber will not have come today and I can get the living room done tonight. Which will be fun, because… well it’s going to take some moving of furniture, and I haven’t bought the shelf and bins I need to organize the fiber. Grah. Stupid money.

I got a bit more dyeing done.

The soft green of faded, just cut hay, wilting and drying in the sun…

New Hay – 6oz – Combed Corriedale Top

The dark, dappled green of a secret shaded evergreen grove, a cool and secluded place to hide from the world, and create your own…

Secret Glade – 1oz x 4 Combed Tusssah Silk Top

and, for the literary, something by Oscar Wilde. A drop of heartsblood…

The Nightengale and the Rose – 1oz – Combed Cashmere/Tussah Silk Top

Also, because I was bored and a few people have shown interest…

Gnomegear

Gnomespun shirts, mugs, and what spawned getting off my butt to do it, something that occurred to me yesterday…

If life were a shawl, mine would be a Clapotis

That’s it for today.

~The Gnome

Got a full updated draft of the paper to my boss on Friday, yay! If I can get some stuff done this week and next, I might get this thing out by the end of next week. Assuming the rest of the week isn’t like today. Today is very Monday.

Cleaned my bedroom. Moved Ash in there, and currently the click reel. Bought a new belt for my vacuum, hoping it comes in this week so I can vacuum again. Apartment is still a disaster, but it’s slowly slowly coming under control. I think I might have figured out to solve the problem of my living room not being the TARDIS. Now to figure out how to afford the things I *have* while still squeezing out enough for the new shelf unit and cloth boxes to go on it.

And got a little spinning done. Not as much as I’d like (when do I ever?)

This is one of the finer yarns I’ve spun. Made from lovely hand-carded batts from the fabulous Bowerbird.

Across the Sea – Mostly Merino – 2-ply – 230ys – 16wpi (light fingering)

This is what’s on the wheel right now. Some true laceweight polwarth/silk. Mmm.

I also got quite a bit of dyeing done in between cleaning. Some will go up in the shop, some is for other things.

We’ll start with the things to go up in the shop…

Yay wensleydale!

Summer flowers always make me happy, and I just love the way this particular wildflower turned out. Warm and creamy.

Buttercup – 4oz – Combed Wensleydale Top

Another summer flower, bright and bold, in dry gardens…

Rose Campion – 4oz – Combed Wensleydale Top

This ended up a little more brown than the original intent, but I like it. Just have to go back and do the original attempt again. Brown with rich red under tones.

Red Oak – 4oz x 2 – Combed Wensleydale Top

And some luxury fiber… mmmmmmmm silk!

Summer Berries – 1oz x 2 – Combed Tussah Silk Top

And REALLY luxury fiber…

Gold Mine – 1oz – 50/50 Cashmere/Tussah Silk – Combed Top

These were done as part of two trades I’m behind on.

Muted Burning Bright in BFL. A massive dyelot for me. Really beyond what I’m equipped to do. Fiber ended up more compacted than I like do to that.

Middle Sea in Corriedale

And some stuff done and gone already.

Cashmere/Tussah Silk

Tussah Silk

Whee, fiber!

This is slowed down, really. It’s actually allowing me to do some colorways I otherwise have difficulty fitting in. Most of these take much longer times to get the needed saturation. I have a hemlock in silk and an oxblood in cashmere/silk (though it fell into three pieces) drying right now.

Back to trying to salvage today’s experiments which are so not cooperating.

~The Gnome