Hello friends! Our farmers’ market starts on Tuesday, so we’re all getting ready for new routines and tasks for the summer. This morning, Bill was interviewed for the local paper (I’ll send you a link if he’s included in the story), and we’ve been riding our bikes a bunch to get our bums in shape!
I will admit that I am always intimated by the first few weeks on my cargo ebike. It’s really big and heavy and I feel a little bullied by it. But this afternoon, we rode to the post office to drop off some orders (and to pick up a puzzle at the library puzzle exchange), so my first cargo bike ride of the year has been accomplished. Tomorrow, we ride again! :-/
Okay…but YARN! Yarn also has a new season. I like colors…I know you know how this feels. And I’ve always enjoyed trying to nudge the dyes I have to create new colors - like adding a golden brown to a bright red-purple to create, uh, a moody brownish purple. It’s really quite fun and I felt like a genius that time when I finally created coral after failing for months.
But sometimes I get in color funks, so I went totally wild and ordered 10 new dyes in colors I’ve never used before. To figure out how they looked, I test dyed a few skeins of yarn, which are now listed in the shop.
These are non-repeatable colors with five stripes each. They have very silly names based on the names of the dyes. Above is Sangria and Raspberry Sorbet as the Death Star Approaches Endor (because one of the colors is Imperial Blue, and another is Forest Green). It is a yarn that is really, really outside my typical style. What do you think???
This second yarn is If you Give a Mouse Lobster Bisque and a Lavender Cantaloupe. Both colorways are available only on Sport weight, and I’m not planning to dye them again. I just needed a sample of each color to refer to when designing new yarns, and the best way to do that was to make a few skeins.
Are there any colors in here that you can’t wait to see more often? I’m pretty excited to see how gray blends with my current dyes, and will probably include Cantaloupe in everything until you demand that I stop.
The last new thing is this fabulous gradient! Does the world need more gradient yarns?? I looked everywhere for a lace weight gradient at a recent festival, but couldn’t find one. So, Bill and I are starting to figure out a process for dyeing them ourselves. This is a test on 100% merino Fingering weight. I dyed two skeins, and will start knitting mine soon. The other is in the shop.
I’m planning to test two small, matching gradient skeins for socks, and (hopefully) a lace weight as well. Do you have any gradient requests? How big should the skeins be? What weight of yarn? I’m in the optimistic phase of planning where everything seems possible, so let me know your gradient dreams.
Thanks so much for interest in news from our shop and farm. I’ll be teasing you with so many farmers’ market bread photos soon!! Until then, be well!
ALL the Cantaloupe! I don’t like to eat it but it’s the best color!