Let's Get Going!

I love the holidays. Definitely.  But I'm soooooo ready to get back to work again. Pondering colors like mad. Looking and looking at the world, flipping through my books, watching the light change...Which color next?

Here's the beautiful violet color I achieved last dye session.  I carded the mohair with some Romney - isn't it delicious?

While I was sighing & longing over one of my British interior design books, I hit on the idea of trying to get that most serene of all colors, Duck Egg Blue, frequently featured in historic British homes.

The slightly greyed-out Coopworth I was working with helped me get REALLY close. On pure white roving I got aqua, a whole different mood.  Duck Egg is a slightly "dirty" color and the packet labeled Robin's Egg Blue just didn't cut it on its own, so I added a teeny bit of plain yellow.

I need some more baskets, obviously!

A VERY FULL BASKET of 

Random Roving Yarns!

New Year's Goal: a full stock of my own yarn in my shop (www.villagebooks.info) by the time I re-open in April.  Stay tuned....

A Day to Dye For!

While I was working in my bookstore & yarn shop, I realized that I had WAY TOO MUCH brown & grey yarns (even tho' the Maine Shetland has just about sold out)!  So out came the Cushings acid dyes and my pots and some Romney batting from my friend Betty's farm in Winterport.

Royal Blue + Buttercup Yellow + Romney = lovely, Park Bench Green!  One of my husband's very favorite colors.

Watching the dye bath change from green to a series of gorgeous yellows was a treat too!  Mohair locks from Jefferson gleam in the 3 shades of olive, warm yellow & peach-yellow that resulted.

Of course, PURPLE just had to follow - my painter's soul cried out for it.
And guess what? Royal Blue + Magenta + Romney = purple.  Or periwinkle & lilac.  LOVELY.  Ran to the last, clean mohair locks I had and threw them in the pot.  The final color is a stunning violet that just glows on mohair.  The result is on the wheel right now & will be viewable in the next chapter.

But THIS YARN does me (& Betty & Cushings) PROUD:

Don't forget to check out my website at www.villagebooks.info for the latest in great used books and fabulous Maine yarns!

Bright holidays to you & yours.

Karen

Last Day!

The Holiday Open House at Village Books ends today at 5 pm.  Stop on by for some hot, mulled cider!
 Last day of this season will end Christmas Eve, 3 pm.  Until April please either call me to arrange a visit (207-845-2133) or go the new website www,villagebooks.info for updates on book titles and hand spun yarns..

New Stuff!

So it was time for the Knitting Guild of America Conference in Manchester, NH and I was READY.  Here we see a tiny bomb (knitted by my sister Kathlene) in place at a McDonald's in Augusta, Maine.

Later that same day -

A railing outside the Radisson Hotel, Manchester, NH, was hit!

Then the KNITTING OUT LOUD team got to work!  We had a great weekend!

In other news -
I'm working very hard at my spinning.  Here's my first attempt at plying two of my handspun yarns together!  The grey is hand-picked, hand-carded & hand-spun Romney, and the gold is hand-spun from merino roving I bought in NH.  Very excited about the way the gold gleams through the grey.  We see this colour range a lot in late fall in Maine.

I'm also trying to hone my designing skills.  Here's a little sample I came up with, holding two yarns together & working in stockinette.  (one commercial yarn, one my Romney). I love the way it appears to form a pattern, just because the mohair I used and the Romney both have beautiful fuzzy bloom.

Washing & drying more Romney now in the cool, fresh wind that we're being treated to here today.

More soon!