Memories of the Seaside

I’ve been busy. Developing new colorways and not sleeping. The two really are not related. The latter is due to my 2nd born two year old, and my 6 month old. The new colorways are partly for Yarn of the Month and partly for the new, Top Secret Project and partly for Yarn of the Month. I’m having fun exploring fiber reactive dyes on cotton. They’re very different than dyeing on wool – the colors are hard to pin down in comparison. When I dye, I normally have a very definite idea of the colors that I want to produce. Through trial and error I can now produce (with relative accuracy) the color I want. Not so with the fiber reactive dye, not so. Sure the dye looks like I want it to, but the end result doesn’t resemble the original color much at all. I think it’s got to due with the way the dye fixes on the fiber. It’s not heated and it takes a long time to fix when compared to acid dyes. This causes a lot more color mixing than your usual acid dye. The end result is that my two yarns which started out looking very different but after they were rinsed a million times (another difference between wool and cotton) looked so much the same that my very detail minded husband mistook one for the other. Ack! So out of desperation, I dyed something VERY different. Ok, not so much desperation as exasperation. The fiber reactives and I need to spend some more time communing I think….we’re still a bit wary of each other. So here are the two colorways that I have going for this month. Memories and Seaside.

See Sharon over at Irish Baby Knits for Yarn of the Month Club. We’re currently full up, but are keeping a waiting list for when people don’t renew their subscription. Very beautiful yarns, I might add!

So the T.S.P. (top secret project) is moving along. We picked out colors over the weekend – for the new drool-worthy logo. Identity design is so tricky. You’re forming a new something-or-other and you don’t quite know what it will end up like, but you have a creative vision. Then you have the task of converting and translating that vision into an appropriate medium to be understood by others. It’s a good thing there are professionals to help with this sort of thing, because pretty things give me a distinct inability to choose. I just want them all. Soon, soon I will have more details. We’re hoping for the full roll out in about 4 weeks. Yes, I said we. I am not alone. So ponder this lovely stationary that we chose as part of our identity. What do you think we are?