October Sneak Peek

Dyeing with cochineal in an alum dye bath.


---Sneak Peak for the October Sock Club---Don't look past the cat if you don't want to know what is coming in the mail, k?



Joey, acting as a buffer between pictures.
(and, the new rug)



This month's theme was "The pink scare". It took FOREVER to dry. I might have to move up the time I make payments due, so there is more time for proper mordanting (two day+ cure process if I have my way, plus a day to dye and let it cool properly to set for best color and light fastness, then rinsing and drying). Some day I will actually write an article on how time intensive the dye process for this actually is.

buy handmade

I am totally prone to forgetting stuff like this, so before I do...



Everyone should go pledge to be handmade (or at least local or eco-friendly) stuff for the holidays as much as they possibly can.


(clicking brings you to the crafty/diy section of Mixed Plate, which is featuring Midnightsky Fibers as part of their holiday guide!)

Pears and ethics

A normal pear, A seckel pear, and mini seckel pears. Seckel pears are my current favorite pears of the moment, they are super sweet and have a moderately firm flesh.

From the depths of discussing due process...
Inquiring minds want to know- could I be legally served with a summons at my Seattle location if it isn't my legal residence (legally my "permanent address is in another city, as is...everything else, of course)? Not that I have any plans with being served with anything of course.

Likewise, how often does the phrase, "rutting like weasels" come up in your classes/fields of work? Though I would be willing to bet most people don't have to sit through classes on legal ethics (i.e. thou shalt not practice law or sleep with your clients) either. I've had Build God, Then We'll Talk stuck in my head ever since.



Every time my mom comes down she vacuums for me. Scared my cat half to death while he was sitting on me the second time through (unrolling a new rug left bits of fiber places), and I have the scratches to prove it- ouch! Point being, that I now have a new lamp that can actually hold a CFL in it that won't overheat or be knocked over by the cat (which kills other light bulbs anyways), so I can...



...knit on these. Preferably while avoiding any mention of the THE BLUE BOOK: A Uniform System of Citation
, which can best be described as the great pit of evil that people in the legal profession subject themselves to (o yea, and each state has a DIFFERENT version separate to the THE BLUE BOOK: A Uniform System of Citation
).

Partridge heels on socks make me so happy...thought he KPPPM is currently not on my best of sides. When I opened up the second skein to wind it, I found not two, but SIX ends. Six! I've never had that happen before with KPPPM, though the colors make up for it.

New Haircut

New HaircutMy mom wouldn't let me leave town until I got a proper haircut. I always look so terribly emo when I take pictures of myself.

(O, and my new favorite winter coat)

New Site Background

Did you notice the new background up on my site? (clicking on the image will show you) I'm amused, despite not being able to line them up Escher like way, like I wanted. Kind of makes you do a double take though, to see if those are really sheep you are seeing!

Tatting and knitting

I've managed to be monogamous to a knitting project for three days. Three days. I think that is a record. I would be working on it now, but the cat is sleeping on it. n It's giant, candy apple green, with brown chocolate trim.

We are ignoring the second time cotton sweater thrown to the wayside and the uncounted pairs of socks and other languishing projects- like a half warped loom- waiting in the wings. They are simply not the right season to be working on. Too light weight or too heavy, not able to be carried with easily.

And then there is the tatting. O, the tatting. Specifically, on needles, since while I prefer tatting with shuttles, they simply do not lend themselves to lectures and walking around (try that for weirder looks than spinning). The delicate picots, joined in circle after circle after circle, creating delicate borders (for who knows what) are absolutely captivating to me.

David learning to card

David learning to card. Funny, the room is in an entirely different configuration now, needed more space to spread stuff across the floor

Life has been busy with classes and filling orders. I haven't slept much recently (for entirely separate matters), and it is making me dragggggg.



I did get new business cards though! Punching holes is reallllly tedious, fast- never mind how hard it can be on your wrists.



Indigo at work. Finicky beast that it is, it is the best/only decent blue in the natural dye spectrum. I dyed lots of sock yarns, some fibers, and overdyed a couple others. And didn't turn my fingers (very) blue.

Socktober!

(click to see the new yarns!)

New Yarns for socktober (the act of knitting socks during October- incidentally, there is a flickr and raverly group about it, with contests!), including lots of new naturally dyed sock yarns and plied handspun yarns. Check out the new yarns in our shop!