Experiments went well last week, so I got the weekend to myself. This was good, both for my mental state and the state of my projects.

Sadly, it didn’t help the state of the mess that is my apartment very much.

Anyway, I did three sets of things this weekend:

Dyeing (Mostly roving, one yarn)
Seaming
Stitch Markers

The seaming will be split off into its own post about the memorial afghan. The rest I will talk about here.

First, stitch markers.

I made two more sets of the stone chip markers, in the short variety. Same stones as before
Lapis – Onyx – Moss Agate – Onyx – Garnet – Onyx

With those done, I put on my creative hat again. I thought maybe I should try some more “delicate” stitch markers. Delicate in the light and refined sense, not the fragile sense. I came up with this, and made a set of six…

Labradourite – Garnet (x4) on a gold pin

Then I decided to go the other direction entirely and make some beefier markers. I really like these, except that the hematite they’re made out of is magnetized. That means you can’t keep them really close to each other on a project. I want to get some more hematite that isn’t magnetized to redo these.

Then I got down and dyeing. Mmm, it’s been too long since I’ve had a day to mess around with the dyepot. I started with two slight variations on something you’ve seen before.

A muted and a dark version of “Gold Road.”

Then I started messing with colors a bit more. Tried some more directly related colors, and got Edge of the Sea (A reference to the song, “Far-Off Shore” by Kate Wolf)

Then a person favorite, red, and got Claret Sunset

Then I thought to myself, “Self, these browns and golds and reds are great, but you haven’t tried anything bright. Some people like bright, you know.” And I responded, “Hrm… maybe you’re right, self, I suppose I should try one of those. Blue and yellow? Green and yellow?” Self happily replied, “Green! You never let me do green. It’s all elfin and planty and you never let me play with it! Hell, you’ve only bought me one premade green to play with! Why are you such a jerk, you should let me do more green you big meanie!” And so I gave in, waving my hands, “Ok, ok, ok! Green it is! Never mind Edge of the Sea which you just did, or Into the Green you did a while ago, green it is… whiner.” Luckily for me, Self didn’t catch that last bit.

So I came out with… Pollen Dust. Pollen scattered across the green leaves. Very spring, even if spring isn’t here yet.

Self had a great time with this one. Which is why the yellow is so vivid. Luckily I managed to keep it heathered or it would have shamed the actual flowers!

Well since Self got to play, I wanted to as well. So I did something I rarely do on roving… a semi-solid. A rich dark purple. Like plum juice on your chin. Like berry jam. Like the deep flaws of the darkest purple amethyst… and thus, Amethyst Depths. I like this one. Self thinks it’s boring. I told him to shut up.

Since both I and Self had been satisfied and it was getting later, we decided to work together on one more roving. Hrmm… “Why not one with more colors?” said Self. “Huh, that’s an idea, and we can do it with 6oz instead of 4oz so there will be more space.” I agreed. “But what colors?” Queried Self. “Now THAT is a very good question. If we do three colors, how about starting with a version of that color I used for Amethyst, and work out from there, see what inspires us?” I responded, not quite sure myself.

So I did. And as I pulled out the first part, Self started jumping up and down, “Flowers! FLOWERS!” “Huh?” I quirked an eyebrow, “Yes, they’re lovely… and?” “Our garden! When we were a kid, remember? They had those pretty flowers, that were gold and brown and exactly that burgundy!” I cocked my head, “Wait, the one Matt picked out? The gaillardia?” “Yeah, yeah! The blanket flower! Why do you always use the prissy stodgy name?” Self bounced. “Oh hush you, it’s an excellent idea though, let’s do it.”

And so we did. Gaillardia. Which Self still insists on calling Blanket Flower, which I think is a silly name for a roving, but he insists I point out he disagrees and thinks it sounds too much like a disease and people will think it’s gross.

Guess that’s about all for today. Hopefully, it’s enough! I’ll get these up on the store shortly, except the Gold Road, which someone has dibs on first. If they don’t want them, then they’ll go to the store as well shortly.

So, we’ll leave you with a little seed-headed grass fairy.

~The Gnome

More dyeing done, will post as soon as it’s dry. There’s even a new yarn, though it’s nothing fancy or long.

I did get a bunch more seaming done on the memorial afghan. Oy. It’s not as fast as seaming pure crochet squares, but it’s a LOT faster than if I was knit seaming. The most fun part is combining knit with crochet and small yarns with thick yarns, and double-knit squares with single knit ones. But I’m progressing. I’ve got 3 rows done. 5 rows to go, and all of Saturday to myself I think.

Which is good. Experiments in lab have gone well this week. We’re talking about possibly shortening the time to write my dissertation

And I got two more sets of stitch markers done, slightly different style than the last two.

Both are made from the bottom up, with Lapis – Onyx – Moss Agate – Onyx – Garnet – Onyx

First the “Long” model

And then the “Short” model

Both are sets of four (as opposed to the last, which were sets of two).

Guess that’s about all for today. More soon, since I don’t want to talk about politics or the news.

I have been thinking a lot about tea lately though.

Today’s fairy is a Maple Seed Fae Administrator. Doesn’t he just look official?

~The Gnome

First, the memorial afghan update:

I’ll get photos up soon of the seaming as it processes.

We have: 57 squares
They have arrived from:
(Found the lost envelope for yours, RadarKaty)

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 Unknown 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 Indiana Moscow

And now for me and the yarn:

Wheee! I’m slowly… ok, not so slowly going craaaaazy! Ahem… ok, so I was already a little cracked. But I’ve got a big TRAC meeting coming up (Thesis Research Advisory Committee) in a week and a half, and I’m not ready. It could be the biggest, and last one of my grad school career. Eep.

In pursuit of that I’m madly trying to gather data for my paper for publishing, trying to keep myself fed, and as minimally sleep deprived as humanly possible… and keep all my other projects in the air (believe it or not, they help my sanity, hey, you there, stop laughing, right n… ok fine).

I got back to the gym last night. It’s been a few months. Ow. It hurt. A lot. But I need to do it. It keeps my back aligned (something I’ve been having trouble with), is a mild mood enhancer, and generally helps my body keep functioning. The final one is perhaps the most important, since I have kidney difficulties which have been acting up. Working out helps my body clear toxins, and forces me to put large amounts of liquid through the system, all good things for getting my kidneys back in working order. Despite being sore, I am feeling paradoxically a little less haggard today.

I also finished the Dionysus yarn the other day, and it’s finally dry and skeined!
The small skein will be up in the shop shortly. The large skein was commissioned. Sport-weight, Noiled green and purple silk (ivy and wine) plyed with brown beaded serger thread (vine and fruit), skeins are 360yds and 140yds respectively.

Ivy and vines twine with the flowing river of wine that symbolizes this Greek god of epicurean tastes. Spun from hand dyed, noiled silk as soft and decadent as Dionysus could Himself desire, the Dionysus yarn is beaded with dark subtle grapes and shining tempting fruit touched by the madness of the Maenads. Drink deeply, but which fruit will make your wine?

The Gnomespun website and shop:

So, I’m now capable of, and considering at least a trial run of migrating the Gnomespun Shop to the Gnomespun server, instead of hosting it on Etsy.

I don’t think I’m getting that much traffic from there, and it would allow me more freedom in how I organize things.

Now, the first iteration wouldn’t be searchable, most likely, but really neither is the Etsy shop. The question that remains is really whether paypal allows for a way to indicate stock, such that I don’t have a pile of “add to cart” buttons that will only disappoint people because I’m out of stock when they click. Mostly orders aren’t very fast/large so I can keep up with taking things down, but I’d rather not make things harder on customers than needed.

~The Gnome

Lest you think that in between postings and panicking about failing research the Gnome actually sits and rests… let me explain a little known fact about gnome physiology.

You see, gnomes are like suns. We are actually hyper dense matter. So, we have to run around like crazy all the time, putting out large amounts of energy, because if we don’t, we will collapse like a dying sun and become little gnome blackholes. So, no resting for the Gnome, unless you want me to become a little vortex.

Here’s what I’ve been doing lately. First, a new yarn, “Lichen” a super soft two-ply merino/alpaca blend I spun for a hat/scarf commission.

Next, I did a bunch of dyeing of silk roving. Here they are, silk roving for “Amaterasu,” “Dionysus,” and “Anubis.”

I’m also working on two more with two new dyeing techniques. New techniques also mean, of course, a learning curve. Here’s a technique I haven’t quite mastered yet. Ignore the poor photography.

~The Gnome

Mother of the Twelve Moons is spun, skeined, set, and listed in the shop!

Managed to get MotTM finally skeined up and photographed. I have a new lightbox I made and some new lights to go with it (nothing fancy, we’re talking a gooseneck desklamp with a full spectrum bulb here). I’m still futzing with exactly how to take photos such that they show up well.

I am, in fact, a geek. Mythology is one of my favorite geekeries. Thus, the Mythic line of yarns.

Inspired by the legend of Chang’e, mother of the twelve moons. Chang’e was wedded to the divine Archer and, depending on the myth either stole, or accidentally swallowed the pill/herb of immortality. She lives on the moon and is also the mother of the twelve moons (one for each month) as both a woman and a toad.

This is a sleek and soft, slightly fulled silvery blue variegated tussah silk yarn plied with beaded thread. A fine yarn with some thick-thin character, this would be suited for an open work scarf or shawl. This yarn has a small halo, reminiscent of a ring around the moon

2-ply
100% Silk plied with polyester thread
~21wpi (Some thick-thin character)
Laceweight

200yds

And currently on the wheel, Lichen, a Woodlands yarn I’m working on to knit a commissioned hat/scarf set with. 80% Merino, 20% Alpaca, it’s a dream to spin, drafts beautifully. I’m currently trying to see if I can get more of the fiber, as this is not a yarn I dyed myself. I need a carder so I can do blended colors like this.

Sadly, this photo does not do justice to the heathered grey/green color. As I said, still learning to use the lightbox and new light.

~The Gnome