Just dyed: Cool Colors

I'm posting my latest batch of hand-dyed yarns in small spurts... It may be a while before I get them all listed, due to my busy end-of-the-quarter schedule. Exams are soon, and you can bet I am studying (that is, if I'm not knitting). But in the meantime, I wanted to show off the colorways I've created for this batch in case any of them catch your eye. I've divided the yarns into two groups, warm and cool. These are my cool colors:

Chlorophyll - A semisolid green, ranging from mint to grass to yellowish green. Lace weight.
Grass Stains - A yellow-green base with spots of grassy green, like its namesake. Merino-silk sock, fingering weight.
Aqua Vitae - "Water of Life". Clear blue with spots of darker teal. Merino lace yarn.
Birch - One of my favorites, though it was sort of an accident. Mauve with light gray, and a few small spots of green. Sock weight.

I'm photographing and posting these yarns as quick as I can. They'll be up in I made yarn soon. Contact me if you're interested in a yarn I haven't listed yet and I'll set up a reserved listing for you.

By the way, I got a shoutout by the St. Louis Green Living Examiner, Annie Mueller. Needless to say I totally agree with her stance of supporting handmade! She also featured some other great knitting shops, and will be running a regular column on great handmade sellers.

~Joyuna

I Made Yarn's first FO!

I always encourage people who buy my yarn to show me pictures of what they have knitted, because it's exciting to see how my colors knit up and gives me an idea of what dyeing methods work and what doesn't. Now I've got my first picture of an FO made from Palladium luxury sock, the cashmere sock blend.

Jen of Hanks in the Hood (which makes some wonderful yarn and spinning fiber, by the way) showed me her cashmere merino socks, in the colorway Beach Surf.

Don't they look cozy? Plus they've got a neat diagonal striping thing going on.

I'm busy posting some new lace and fingering weight yarns in the shop, in some really nice colors (in my humble opinion ;), plus don't forget to enter the Handknit Heroes giveaway!

~Joyuna

My first foray into the world of needlefelting

Since learning to spin, I've accumulated a lot of roving. It will take me a long time before I can spin it all... I just got two more pounds of wool! So, I'm learning something new to do with my roving. That new skill is needlefelting.

Needlefelting creates matted mounds of fiber by using a sharp, barbed needle poked repeatedly into the fiber. Normally you use wool, but other fibers can be needle felted too. As opposed to wet felting, which can only be done with animal hair fibers, you can needle felt other kinds of fiber such as silk and bamboo.

You can either needlefelt flat shapes onto another surface (such as decorating a sweater or a hat), or you can create 3D needle-felted forms. This is my first needlefelted creation, after a little bit of practice:

It's a black panther, which kind of-sort of stands up by itself. You have to adjust the legs or it will fall over. It's hard to make long, thin, detailed things like the legs and tail though. It was fun, but it does take a while to get the wool felted together. My felting needle tool has three needles in one, which makes the felting go a little bit quicker.

The felting needle is sharp... very sharp... Not a good thing for clumsy me ;) But needle felting is definitely a good way to release pent-up anger... just stab, stab, stab the wool to your heart's content! And when you're feeling all calm and relaxed, you'll have a fun needle-felted sculpture. :)

Books on Needle Felting

~Joyuna

GIVEAWAY - Win the first issue of Handknit Heroes, the knitting comic book! Free!

This giveaway is now over. Thanks for entering!

The moment you've been waiting for... I'm holding a giveaway! I have acquired a brand-new first issue of Handknit Heroes, sealed in the bag and ready for you. And I'm giving it away to one lucky blog reader!

Read more »

Sheepy and Owly welcome another new friend!

Meet Kirby!

I received him today courtesy of Nooshka and the Salad for Breakfast blog. He's so totally adorable, and you know I love owls... I think I may be starting a collection.

Read more »

Memorial Day

Hope everyone's had a good Memorial Day long weekend (or bank holiday, if you're in the UK). Tomorrow I will be back in Columbus and back to promoting and blogging (...and studying...). Things to look forward in the coming week are newly handdyed lace merino yarn and fingering weight wool-silk blend yarn, some new handspun yarn, and a giveaway on the blog. I hope you all will stay tuned!

~Joyuna

Guest post by Espanolbot: Handknit Heroes review of first 2 issues

Today I am featuring a guest post by Espanolbot, otherwise known as "the boy". He usually blogs here on his Livejournal, but today he has written a post for me about the first two issues of Handknit Heroes, the knitting-themed comic book. I gave my opinion of the first issue previously, as a hardcore knitter and casual comics fan - Lewis, on the other hand, is a hardcore comics fan and a casual knitter.

I'll tell you what I think about the second issue once I have read it - I just received it. In the mean time, here's Lewis' thoughts.
~Joyuna

In a city plagued with crime, three teenaged superheroes are out to bag the bad guys, while mysterious experiments by those close to the heroes are performed in the sidelines...

Oh, and knitting’s involved.

Handknit Heroes is an independently published comic that started in spring 2009, out of creator Stephanie Bryant’s desire to combine the current popularity of superheroes with the knitwear available on such sites as Ravelry.com.

The result is... enthusiastic but flawed, to put it mildly.

Read more »

Long Lazy Weekend

I won't be too active this weekend, as I have gone home to Cincinnati for the long Memorial Day weekend. I'm hanging out with my family, looking for a summer job, and dyeing up some gorgeous lace yarn. I don't have any beefy blog posts planned, but there will be a guest post this weekend... stay tuned. I wonder who the mystery blogger will be? ;)

I am also currently planning a giveaway... stay tuned for that as well! It will run for two weeks, and I will probably start it sometime this coming week. It is knitting-related... but it isn't yarn... wait and see what it is.

And now, back to dyeing.

~Joyuna

I made yarn: Featured on Alterity

Lisa at Alterity Button Jewelry has posted a feature on me in her blog. She did a wonderful job! She sent me some interview questions, and then wrote this article based on them. It's an honor to be featured, and it looks like she really worked hard on it. It includes some advice for other sellers and business owners, as well as a few fun facts about me. It's a very interesting read, if I do say so myself ;)

~Joyuna

Delicious cashmere Kiila socks

Since finishing 'brainless', I have started another Yarnissima sock pattern. Brainless was the first toe-up heel flap gusset sock that fit me really well, and the cables weren't that difficult, so I'm looking forward to knitting more Yarnissima socks in the future.

I've started Yarnissima's mystery sock for Sock Knitters Anonymous on Ravelry, which is called Kiila (Finnish for 'gusset'). It's knit in my own hand-dyed cashmere merino sock yarn, Palladium Luxury Sock, in the colorway 'Canary's Song'.

If you're interested in seeing how this colorway and the other semisolid yarns should knit up, here is what it looks like:

I love semisolid yarns like this. They knit up so beautifully, with all the fun of variegated yarn without obscuring intricate cables or lace patterns. In fact, they can even accentuate the pattern.

I'm working on the gusset on one, and the foot on the other. Working the socks two-at-a-time is great for low-attention-span me. I don't feel like reading a chart? Just switch to the other sock, where I can mindlessly knit away.

Clue 4 is released on Friday, which I think is the last clue(?). That works out great, because even though I started this mystery sock late, I don't have to wait around for clues, but I still get the fun of the knitalong and some of the "mystery". I think I'm too impatient to cast on at the beginning of the month if I can't finish them til the end of the month. ;)

~Joyuna

A Dyeing experiment - Tulip dyes on roving

Normally, when I dye, I follow a very simple formula: Soak, add acid, add dye, add heat. However, my friend Lianali alerted me to a new possibility: no heat, no acid, just dye. And dye that can dye a whole variety of fibers, not just animal fibers! These are fiber-reactive dyes.

At Jo-Ann's, I purchased two bottles of Tulip One-Step Fashion Dyes, in blue and turquoise. Tulip uses Procion MX dye, and is marketed for Tie-Dyeing. To use these fiber reactive dyes, all you need is cold water and time.

Read more »

Simply brainless socks

Finished the 'brainless' socks. :) Finishing them in just 11 days, they are my second quickest socks to date, the first being my socks for the boy.

These are the first pair of toe-up heel flap socks that I have knit that really fit me well. The other heel flap socks I've done have been based on Cat Bordhi's pathways model, which seems to be loose in the heel for me and a little too long.

I got to learn cabling without a cable needle for this pattern, and it really wasn't that bad. It helps that the cables are very simple, all going in the same direction and only 4 stitches wide.

The yarn is something from my stash, Lane Cervinia Calzetteria in an orange, brown and green print. I like it, it's very nice autumnish colors, and I'm happy to report that the variegation doesn't obscure the cables too much, and looks fabulous on the stockinette portion of the sock.

Since I finished these, I have now started Yarnissima's new mystery sock pattern, Kiila. It's going well, and I'll have pictures soon. I'm very excited to start the beautiful cabled gusset, and to see what the leg looks like (the fourth clue is released on Friday).

~Joyuna

Etsy tips: Promoting on Etsy

Now that you've set up your Etsy shop, it's time to take the next step.

The hardest thing about running an Etsy shop is getting seen. The methods sellers use to get seen are known as promotion. There are a huge number of different ways to promote outside of Etsy; but I'll discuss those another time. Today I will be dealing with what you can do on the actual Etsy site to help your shop stand out.

Read more »

Sheepy has a friend

Remember the other day, when there was a mysterious owl in the background of my photo? He fluttered into my mailbox last month from England, and I dubbed him Owly. (Creative, ain't I?)

Owly is a sweet little snowy owl, and he and Sheepy became fast friends.

Owly is not as keen on a modeling career as Sheepy is, but he is rather famous across the internet. Does this look familiar?


(If you're confused, check out Know Your Meme.)

~Joyuna

Smells yummy - Oh, Soy! - candles

I got an awesome package in the mail... A whole bunch of soy candles ("Oh, Soy!") from Things that Make Scents.com. I won a $25 gift certificate from J. Leigh Designs' blog. Thanks! I got a really nice haul!

Here's what I got with my gift certificate:

-Red Velvet Cupcake Candle
-Orange Caramel Crumble Cupcake Candle (say that five times fast!)
-Cinnamon bun tealights (set of 12)
-Pears & Petals votives (set of 6)

Read more »

I got tagged- survey

Miriam of Silver Sachet tagged me in her blog post for this survey. Here I go.

Read more »

Featured on Gems by Jerri

My shop was featured on Gems by Jerri yesterday. I got to answer a whole bunch of interview questions, about what I make and why. Do check it out, maybe you'll learn something about me. :)

~Joyuna

Yarn! In my mailbox!

I got some truly BEAUTIFUL yarn in the mail yesterday.

It's a skein of laceweight 100% wool from Wintechog Hill Farm in North Stonington, Connecticut. I received it as a prize from Sandi (Sandispins on Ravelry), because I was one of the readers in the Jane Austen Book Club readalong/knitalong on Ravelry.

The colors are so gorgeously vibrant. The colorway is called "Brilliant", and it lives up to that name. It's a variegated mix of blue and turquoise, and the variegation is nice and subtle. I think it will look killer in lace. There's 266 yards in this skein, so I'll probably go for a scarf. The texture of the yarn is 2-ply, with just a little bit of fuzz.

To add to her already generous gift, Sandi also included in my package 2 ounces of "Rock Us roving blend". It's 60% Coopworth Hoggett wool, 40% Shetland Hoggett wool from Wintechog Hill Farm, and a little sparkling angelina. The color is called "Paradice City Green", which is a beautiful pale heathered mix of green, turquoise, yellow and brown, along with just a little sparkle.

Thank you so much Sandi!

The Jane Austen Book Club group is great. I read Pride and Prejudice with them. It was my first time reading, and they helped me notice a lot of things in reading the book I never would have noticed alone. If you're looking for a nice read-along/KAL, at a leisurely pace, give them a look. They just started Mansfield Park. I'll be hopping back in when they do Emma in the summer.

~Joyuna

MORE LACE! Wings of a Dream

This is the Big Shawl Project. The perfect yarn, the perfect color, the perfect pattern... but such a big project, such a mammoth task, who knows if I'll ever finish it. Here's hoping.

Ravelry page
I've finished the center section of this Wings of a Dream shawl, a modification of the mystery stole Swan Lake. I only knit a small piece of the center section, because I want the wings to be the main focus of the shawl.

I started this shawl... let's see... the first of February, and now it's May, and I still have a long way to go. I've just started the first wing section. I should be working on this at a little quicker pace though, because I received some inspiration in the mail (see earlier).

It's a necklace called Verna, from The Pebble Collection. I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it, and it matches perfectly.

It's pale silver-blue pearls and sterling silver. I hope to wear the necklace, along with the finished shawl, to my cousin's wedding in September.

The shawl, by the way, is 55/45 Cashmere Silk fine lace weight, doubled, from Colourmart. It's totally luscious, and was way cheaper than you'd expect. Cashmere silk... more than enough for a shawl. I think I'm even going to have enough left in the 150g cone for another shawlette, probably an Icarus to give as a gift.

Of course, before I start that Icarus, I have to finish this shawl. I have too many projects going, I know. What's an ADD knitter to do?

~Joyuna

Happy Mama Day

Happy Mother's Day, everyone. If you're not with your mom, give her a call. If you are with her, give her a hug.

(Rav)

Coming up tomorrow: Shawls! Shiny things! Cashmere! Doesn't it just make your blood run hot?

~Joyuna

Thank you Balanced Crafts!

I received this totally lovely pair of earrings today! They're from Rachel at Balanced Crafts. The design is called Dusk Earrings, and I got them by winning a giveaway on the Balanced blog. They came to me all the way from Ireland. :)

This was a really fun giveaway... The challenge was to guess how many bottlecaps were in a pictured jar. I got it right on the nose, with my estimate of 115. :D

The earrings are totally stylish, too. I hope I can wear them well.



If you're curious about the necklace, or the owl in the background... Stay tuned. In the next few days, all will be made clear. :)

~Joyuna

Great new site: Craftgawker

This is a great site for eyecandy... I could waste a lot of time here. A sister site to Foodgawker, Craftgawker is a moderated collection of craft pictures. The photos are so amazing, and there's some really great stuff to look at.

I submitted a few items when I first heard about the site, not expecting anything to come of it, and lo and behold, my yarn got in! :) Red Sea, Berry Sweet, Canary's Song and Sugar and Spice handspun are on Craftgawker.

~Joyuna

I have a problem

Today I skipped class in order to knit.

Next thing you know, I'll be out on the street corner begging people for string or meeting with cashmere dealers in the middle of the night.

~Joyuna

Etsy shop critique checklist

When I'm reading Etsy shop critiques on the forums, I see the same suggestions coming up over and over. I've rounded up my observations into one place, so if you're a new Etsy seller (or even an old one!), I have some basic things you should make sure you've done to help make your shop effective.

Let me start by saying I'm not pretending to know it all - my shop has only been open for two months. I don't assume I know the 'secret' to Etsy success. But I'm an avid reader of the forums, and I've achieved modest sales in my shop, and these are the basic suggestions that every Etsy shop should take into account. Read more below.

Read more »

If I only had a brain... new socks

This is my newest project. Since finishing the Coriolis socks, I needed some class knitting. Since the only other things I'm working on are lace, I figured I might as well start a new project. Socks, naturally.

The Sock Knitters Anonymous Sockdown challenge for May is cables. I'm really rotten at cables, but I chose this design by Yarnissima, 'brainless'. I've never done a Yarnissima pattern before, so I think this will be a good introduction to her construction.

It's not bad so far (I haven't started the gusset yet), and I'm shakily doing the cables without a cable needle. It's going okay, ish.

After I'm comfortable with these, I plan on starting the SKA mystery sock, which is also designed by Yarnissima, named Kiila. I'm going to do it in one of the skeins I held back from my most recent round of dyeing (I liked them too much to let them go!).

Like I said, I'll be knitting these 'brainless' socks during class (at least 2 hours every day), so they should go pretty quickly. I'll keep you updated.

~Joyuna

Cashmere merino socks... mmm...

I finished the Coriolis socks a few days ago. Then I put them on.

Mmmm.

The biased coriolis band is definitely tight, but it has stretched out a little in pulling them off and on, and it should even out a little better with washing. If you have a high instep or large calves, take the biasing into account if you knit these socks. It is way less elastic than the surrounding knitted fabric. I've heard people having similar problems with knitting Jaywalker socks.

I said last time that I wasn't sure if I would get them done in time for the SKA Sockdown, and I finished them on May 1. I was actually knitting right up til midnight the night before... Thursday is knitting group night. I was about one inch from finishing before midnight struck. I went to bed, and finished them up the next day. I actually knit the second sock in less than a week!

Even though I didn't get these socks done in time for Sockdown, today I cast on a sock for the May sockdown, and unless something major happens in my life, I should be able to finish it in plenty of time. I cast on 'Brainless', by Yarnissima, but it's not so brainless for me. I'm learning cables without a cable needle, but cables are painful for me with or without a cable needle. I'll tell you more about my progress when I take some pictures and get a little more done.

~Joyuna

Handspun silk, part 2 - Aeolian Shawl swatching

I've fallen in love... with a swatch. (!!!)

Generally I, like many knitters, am not a fan of the swatch. It wastes precious yarn, it wastes precious knitting time! But I force myself to swatch for lace work, so I know I'm happy with the needle size I choose. I'm not a fan of lace that's too airy - that is, I would rather the only holes in my lace fabric to be the yarnovers. Fingering weight on size 8 needles? That isn't lace to me. That's just holey fabric.
Unfortunately the result is I have to do some shawls on size 2.5 (3mm) needles... Heh.

Anyway, here is the new project I was talking about. Behold... the swatch!

I love this swatch. I adore this swatch. You cannot know how excited I am about it. It's for the Aeolian Shawl from Knitty. I have 634 yards of lace-fingering weight singles (thick and thin, as you can see), itching to become a shawl. I've actually mentioned it before, at the bottom of this looong post. Click below for more info on this swatch and the yarn.


----
It was spun from 2 ounces of hand-dyed silk roving, from Enchanted Knoll Farm. It was dyed in every natural color you could imagine - greens, blues, browns, even a hint of yellow and some other colors. The colorway is called Wood Elves.

I was originally planning on plying this yarn with some wool, but the silk is just so luscious on its own. So, after testing it on the ball winder to make sure it was strong enough (there were three breaks, but I think it's safe to say that the rest of the yarn will hold up to knitting), I came up with this:



So I knit my swatch, and blocked it, and out came this ridiculous drapey colorful swatch. I cannot wait to start on the shawl, but I'll have to finish the Japanese Feather & Fan shawl first. I think I have about a third of the yarn left with that, so it shouldn't take me too much longer.

If you're not familiar with the pattern, take a look at it right now. Here is Aeolian on Ravelry. The Aeolian Shawl is sheer gorgeousness, and what else could we expect from Elizabeth Freeman, the designer of the Laminaria shawl? Sadly, those are the only two patterns she has released so far. I eagerly await her next design.



This is gonna be fun.

~Joyuna

Handspun silk, part 1 - Bleached tussah and rainbow

This is the first of two posts on the theme, 'handspun silk'. Oddly enough, two projects have come to me (I don't choose the projects! They choose me!) that deal with handspun silk. This is the first, originating with one gorgeous, rainbow skein of handspun silk.

It's called 'Festivale', and it's from the fabulous MySweetSpot2 on Etsy. She sells gorgeous handspun yarns as well as fiber. When I saw this yarn, I knew it had to be mine.

Read more »

Happy May

Welcome to May, everyone! I had a wonderful April and hopefully May will be even better. Here's some beginning-of-the-month miscellany.

• I'm listing my new batch of Sock yarns. Check out the shop to see them.
  
• Near the end of the month, I'll be listing lace yarn! I'm super excited about this, because I love lace and I'm eager to try dyeing some delicate semisolid colorways.
  
• Stay tuned also for more knitted fruit, and also a pattern in my shop to make your own knitted lime.
  
• I'd like to send out a big thank you to Nfall2rt Design Studio, for the absolutely fabulous note cards. They are too cute. I was the lucky winner of the giveaway in her blog. I'll start by sending one out with my boyfriend's birthday present. :)
  
  
  
• These are my top Entrecard droppers for the month of April. Thank you!
  
  • The Toy Report
    
  • Silver Sachet
    
  • Split Rock Ranch
    
  • My Gypsygoods
    
  • IndieShowcase

~Joyuna