From th Dyepot - A Walk in the Woods

I found inspiration for this week's colorways in the trees' reactions to the cooling temperatures. It still amazes me that such colors are possible, and I always find myself wishing the leaves could hold onto their limbs just a little while longer.

Crepe Myrtle

Dogwood

Lichen

The day after I captured these photos, a wind storm came through and blew off most of the leaves!

And here are the most recent dyeworks:

Crepe Myrtle

Dogwood

Lichen

These are available in our shop!

From the Dyepot - Hard Candy

This week's theme is Hard Candy! I was inspired by my first skein, which I just dyed because I wanted something pink. In trying to discover its name, hard candy flitted through my mind, and I thought, "That's it!" Let's make a trio.

Here's the one that started it all - Watermelon


Then - Green Apple


And, finally - Lemon



These "candies" will be available in our shop tomorrow!

Nightmare on String Street Shawl

This shawl is thusly named due to the insane amount of strings on the back that had to be woven in. I had hoped to wait to weave the ends in until after I had blocked the shawl, but could not take the strings everywhere. Thank goodness I was weaving in as I went, or otherwise I would have really hated finishing this shawl at the end. Just imagine: two ends per fan(module), plus two for each half module at the top and two ends for the garter stitch edge. That's easily 100 ends! NIGHTMARE!!!


Now, in the pattern's defense, I could have done things a bit differently by knitting diagonal columns and sewing those columns together. However, I wanted to be able to manipulate the colors and put them where I wanted them to go, instead of waiting to see where they fell on their own. I should have just done it the other way.....


As much as I really loathed this shawl, and as much as this shawl almost killed the joy of knitting for me, I still learned a few things from it that were somewhat surprising. For instance, I have surprising discipline when it comes to finishing knitting projects. Now, don't get me wrong, it may take me years to do it, but, by golly, I will get it done! Also, I found out that I do like wide shallow shawls just as much as I like wide and deep shawls. I guess as long as it's wide, I like it!


This is the Panda Silk DK Fan Shawl by Gail Tanquary using Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball in the colorway Spring Blossom. The yarn worked out pretty well, sometimes it was a bit splitty due to being single ply. I'm not sure what will happen to the ball and some I have left over. I don't want to look at it right now. I am so relieved to have this shawl done. It was a great chip on my shoulder; now I am free and back to knitting with glee!!

From the Dyepot - Tilt-Shifted Van Gogh

Now that the newest Farina is a bit more independent and regulated, I have finally been able to start dyeing yarn again!! I have missed this so much, as it is a great creative outlet for me. I have always loved painting, but I am no good at it; dyeing yarn combines two art loves of mine - knitting and painting. What could be better?!

I recently chanced upon my latest inspiration for my dye-works while searching for inspiration for a project involving my barren living room wall. Artcyclopedia featured an article on tilt-shifting pieces of work by Vincent van Gogh. It was stunning to see those vibrant paintings manipulated in a way that made one's eyes see them anew. I definitely recommend checking it out!

Here are the three paintings that called to me the most:

Starry Night on the Rhone





Snow-Covered Field with a Harrow




Landscape at Auvers after the Rain




These will all be available in our shop later today!

Guess What I Got Today!!

A new shipment of yarn!!!

Here's the replenishment of the original sock yarn PeachesNPurls carries.

I'm so excited about working with this yarn more. In fact, I am so excited that I've already dyed a skein. It's baking in my oven as I am writing this. I can't wait to show it to you!

And here's the new line making an entry.

I'm thinking of calling it Blue-te-FuL. What do you think? It's 4-ply Superwash BFL (75%) and nylon (25%).