We had another fantastic day at UCF today. I’m glad to see the attendance increase each year. I was so into the moment I forgot to take very many pictures, so anybody out there who has some, please let us know.

I thought Laurel was really sweet sharing her new batt.

We’re pleased to announce that we left some of our favorite skeins of yarn for you to come see and pet in person Four Purls Yarn Shop in Winter Haven. It’s an adorable shop filled with beautiful yarn and some happy knitters. We look forward to sending them more.

I started spinning again after a hiatus. I’ve just been so excited about all the new batts that I just had to try some for myself! I’m always curious if I’ve got a good blend. Do I have enough angelina or too much? did I distribute it well? What happens when I put recycled fabric strands in? I’ve been making a couple of my spinning friends be guinea pigs, but really I want to spin them! So I guess it’s been long enough that Denby and Kiara just had to know what I was doing. If I’m sitting in a chair, Denby likes to come up behind me and put his paws on my shoulders just to say hi. I scares me every time.

We’re adding new things to etsy all the time!

These just went up at Shenanigansyarn.etsy.com

We were glad to meet some new and old friends today at the Fiber-In. We’ve been working furiously to have enough to bring. I hope everyone found something that they like and look forward to being there next year. We had fun hanging next to the spinning divas from Jacksonville who were nice enough to bring Politically Incorrect batts, Kathleen from Kathleens spin, the Funny Face Farm, and Four Purls!

Here’s a close up of what you missed:

We’re excited to be going to the Orlando Fiber-in this year. We’ll be there on Sunday, September 18th in the morning for a few hours.
Here’s a taste of what we’re bringing:

Just look for the alligator!

You’ll recognize the “sky” from my hand-spun yarn in a previous post! The grey is from a friend formerly known as The Yarnside

I’ve been knitting socks furiously this month. Depending on the pattern and size I think I’m down to about 6-8 days for a pair. I’m of course just personally impressed that my speed is picking up or maybe I’m just squeaking out more minutes in the day to knit. It’s hard to say.
This is the newest pair, made of the very first thing I ever dyed–a flat from Knit Picks and Heritage silk. The pattern is adapted from Kris Carlson’s mitten pattern Tourbillon

I’m not sure which is brighter, my ankle skin, that obviously never sees the light of day, or the blues in the sock! I am super pleased with both the fit of the sock and the feel of the yarn.

I also designed a pattern for my mom’s friend, who nurses abandoned baby squirrels back to health. I’ve been experimenting with double stitching the tail to make it fluffy, but I’m not convinced. I think i need to find a way to brush out the fuzz. This pattern may become available when I can clean it up.

I also made a couple of pairs of Komet from Stephanie van der Linden
I looks great in hand dye and solids. Again I apologize for my shockingly pale leg. I’m going to owe you all sunglasses soon so you won’t be blinded by the glare.

Kimberly thought the mushroom-dyed yarn still smelled like stinky socks, so I washed it again. All those pretty highlights washed out!! So back to the drawing board. I boiled it with another batch of juice and ammonia, so now it looks like this:

It’s not as pretty as the first shot, but it seems to be sticking this time. I’m eagerly awaiting someone with a better nose than mine to let me know if it still smells if fungus is among us.

Didah!! The yarn is out of the jar and was surprisingly bright yellow straight out of the jar. It has mellowed out to a delicate tan. I’m also trying out some new fiber wash from Unicorn so it should have a very lovely lavender scent instead of stinky mushroom sock that has been perfuming the air for the past week. I’m quite happy with this and if the mushrooms keep popping up at work every few months, I should be able to dye more of this color.