home again!

Our 10-day trip to Florida has come and gone already. It was a great visit. We spent time in Orlando first, going to Disney World. My sister and her fiance joined us in Epcot and it was so COLD. I wore my hat all day long. See below.

Later in the week we also went to the Magic Kingdom, which I hadn’t been to since I was in high school. Needless to say, this was a much better visit. But it was still quite chilly and I continued to wear my hat, although the sun finally came out. Hence the squinting.

At the weekend we went down to the West Palm Beach area where my grandparents, aunts, and sister live. I got to see my sister’s new apartment and go wedding dress shopping with her too. Rich and also went to the beach and I got to dig my toes into the sand.

The only fibery thing I did the whole week was wear my hat and mitts. I started the Baby Surprise Jacket on the plane, but never got back to it. In fact, I lost my needles at the hotel! Disaster. And I messed up the BSJ, so we’ll have to start over.

etsy thursday

Two brand new yarns added to the shop today and two yarns renewed. Next week I will be vacationing in Florida! Very excited about that. And I will not be doing an update on Thursday. However, the shop will remain open while I’m gone. Orders will be shipped Monday, February 8.

See you in a week!

reckless dyeing!

I’ve been using Lanaset dyes for about 2 years, but I have recently thought about trying a different type of dye. While at The Mannings, I picked up a few packets of Cushings Perfection Dyes. Once my jars of Lanaset run dry, I’ll be mixing up stock solutions of Cushings.

Today I dyed some Corriedale top and Columbia locks. I turned up the techno music and dumped in the dye! For some reason staring at those half empty jars inspired me to just pour it in. Let’s get on with it and try something new. Also, I’m bored of those froofy pastels that keep turning up in my dye pot. Bring on the strong colors.

It’s Thursday!

Thursdays are for shop updates and that would be today. These are the new yarns plus there are a few more combed tops for sale.

1. transition phase, 2. antique, 3. goldfish, 4. lettuce leaf

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys

jazzed up!!

I want this to be the year I finally take ahold of my business. Last year I realized I needed to have goals to meet, so I made the effort to have regular weekly updates. It made a big difference, but I lost the momentum halfway through. This time around I’m going to set up specific days for each primary activity. Monday afternoon = dye-day; Tuesday evening = weaving; Wednesday afternoon = photos; Thursday = Etsy update. I will continue to take my knitting with me when I’m out and spend evenings at home spinning. Along with better time management, I am going to have goals for numbers of items completed each week. I’m hoping that these changes will help my business and decrease frustration.

Monday, by Rich’s suggestion, we took a trip to The Mannings in East Berlin, PA. It was supposed to be a 4.5 hour drive there, but I’m sure it was longer. Both of us picked up some goodies – the type of things that renew your excitement for the craft. I bought Cushings Perfection Dyes and will try those once I finish my stock solutions of Lanaset dyes. They had a lot of great weaving yarns with samples, so it got me jazzed up for weaving again. It was a nice little adventure, unexpected. That’s Rich for you!

PREVIEW

After closing the Etsy shop in October, the time has finally come to reopen and begin diving into fiber once again. I have taken this opportunity to rename the store – “gwen.erin [natural fibers]“, though the location has not changed. You can still find me at granolasuit.etsy.com.

These items will be listed for sale on Monday, January 18. Henceforth regular updates will occur on Thursdays.

1. back in your arms again, 2. expect me when you see me, 3. long time, no sea, 4. sweet summer romance, 5. return to sender, 6. remember when

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys

mmm… oats!

Today’s food adventure included Step One of homemade granola bars. I followed the recipe from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman, though I didn’t use all the ingredients.  I wanted to start with basics and add more specific items to separate batches of bars. The plan is to have two different granola bars: a peanut butter/chocolate bar and a fruit/nut bar. That’s a job for tomorrow afternoon.

And in order to have a successful day of baking and cooking, the two other necessities are great dance music and a funky vintage apron. Done and done!

happy birthday, hubby

Today is Richard’s birthday. He likes cherry pie, so I tried to make one for him. So far all I’ve made is a mess…

and the pie…

first dye of the new year

Through December I had been frogging sweaters to get ready for January dyeing. Finally on Saturday I had a chance get out the dyes and go to town. The last time I dyed was the beginning of October, so it’s been about three months. Yikes!

There are two sweaters represented here. One is Express 65% Merino, 20% nylon, 10% angora, 5% alpaca; the other is Sonoma Jean Company 53% silk, 30% nylon, 10% angora, 6% wool. 13 skeins total.

Using Lanaset dyes, the experiment went something like this…
I went through each color and dyed a skein without mixing it with anything else. I wanted to have an example of the pure colors of the dye. For the secondary colors, rather than mixing dyes, I overdyed. Yellow on red; yellow on blue; scarlet on blue; turquoise on gold.

The pure dye solution gave me brown, violet, blue, turquoise, yellow, gold, orange, red, and scarlet.

I like the 65% wool yarn better because it has more of a halo than the 53% silk. And my favorite color is the yellow on red; it has the most variation and it’s the strongest color.

our first christmas