Wow, this has been a wild month! Early in the month I had some health issues requiring extra expenses, ending with a colonoscopy on the 14^th.  (No sign of cancer, but other issues going on as my innards rebel against me as I age.)  As I was getting my system back into sync, southeast Texas experienced a freak powerful storm on the 16th, with winds reported over 100mph, wreaking havoc across the region. I’m guessing it was reported on the news in other places. I lost power Thursday early evening, as did most of the greater Houston area.

I sat in the dark, no electricity until Monday afternoon. I lost most of my food and all my refrigerated insulin as a result.  (Thankfully the pharmacy is replacing the insulin Friday afternoon, but I still have to pay for the replacement — eek!) Then I discovered my Internet provider was also wiped out by the storm. At the time of this writing (Wednesday afternoon) I still don’t have internet access, but I’ve been promised it should be up this evening. I guess if I am able to prepare this mailing and send it out, it means I have Internet access. We shall see.

Meanwhile, I’m putting time into preparing yarns to be dyed tomorrow (Thursday) and shown to you on Friday.

*****

It is now Friday morning.   I finally got Internet access Wednesday evening, got yarns dyed up yesterday, and after the wash-and-rinse this morning, I am really excited by many of this week’s dye jobs!

Knowing I had many techniques to choose from, I decided to combine several techniques, and I am thrilled with the results.  I could not have created these exact combinations if I had tried!  And, as you know, I don’t really take notes or attempt to duplicate colorways repeatedly.  I tried that long ago, and for me and for my available resources (workspace and conditions), it just doesn’t work.

Several Twinsets came out looking “Deep Woodsy/Mysterious”, such as Twinsets #397-398, 405-406, and 413-414.   Others look to me more like “Fairies in the Meadow” sort of colors, as on #403-404 and 419-420.   And still others were dyed in layers of softer colors, overlaid with darker splatterings in various ways.

I do know that Twinset #411-412 might look a sort of purple, it is actually a blackened red — think “regal velvet”, perhaps?

These are all Phydlbitz Sock yarn, 75/25 Superwash Corriedale/Nylon, 430 yards each.   These are normally $27.50 apiece, but for Friday and Saturday, you can claim any matching Twinset for $25.00 each skein.

To claim the ones you want, just send me an email with your requests.  I will mark your requests off from the Available Yarns tally chart first, then prepare your PayPal invoice.  Upon payment I will purchase and prepare your shipping label so when this week’s yarns are dried and process, they can ship right away.

Monday is a mail holiday, and I will be in clinic on Tuesday, so I expect to ship these yarns either Tuesday afternoon or on Wednesday, weather pending.

Available Yarns: 
Rack 1 – 397, 398, 399, 400, 401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407, 408
Rack 2 – 409, 410, 411, 412, 413, 414, 415, 416, 417, 418, 419, 420

Last week I offered Blind Bundles made up of three skeins of Phydlbitz Sock yarns.   What made them “blind” was that I would be combining the yarns and offering each discounted trio as sight-unseen.

In the last couple of days, I have gotten emails from each of the individuals who bought one or more such Blind Bundles.  I don’t always get comments but each of these customers sent a note to let me know they were very much pleased with the selections I made in trying to make eye-pleasing combinations.

This pleases me enormously, and suggests I can move forward making future three-skein bundles to show for sale in the future.

There are several unclaimed solid-dyed Phydlbitz Sock from the most recent collection, so I might be combining at least some of them with previously posted multi-color Phydlbitz Sock yarns.  I will, of course, show them as visible bundles, but still at a bundled reduced price.

Today I am recovering from a colonoscopy after some horrendous preparations.  Basically, you have to spend a day on a clear liquid diet, then drink some nasty concoction to clear out the bowels.  Turned out my system didn’t like the concoction and half of the second batch came back up.  Yuck.  I’m fine now, but exhausted, and under strict orders to not drive, make no big decisions, and do no important work.

So I’ll tackle the most recent yarns tomorrow, but I did want to share my glee with you that all the customers buying Blind Bundles were really pleased with the color combinations I had selected. 🙂

Good morning and Happy Saturday!

I wanted to start with a reminder that there is a still a deal on the Blog Reader Specials page — 10% off all posted items, as well as the Blind Bundle deal with 3 skeins of Phydlbitz Sock for just $70 (save $12.50 for each bundle).  This offer ends tonight.

Now for this week’s new Blog Reader Special collection – two dozen Phydlbitz Sock dyed as mostly solid Twinsets.

I went into the session planning on solids because nearly all the  previously shown Phydlbitz Sock yarns are multi-color and will look amazing combined with coordinating/contrasting solids.  If there are unclaimed yarns this week, I will combine them with some other Phydlbitz Sock as 3-skein bundles, but I will photograph and post them so you can see the yarns and imagine the possibilities.  This will be coming in the next week or so.

As I prepared the dyes, I started by blending dyes into the jars — a little of this and a little of that into each jar– to create blended solids;  I specifically didn’t want just straight dyes from the jars of dye powder.  Then as I dyed each Twinset, I further blended the pre-blending dyes into the dipping bowl, further blending and combining the dyes.  Thus, none of this week’s collection is a straight dye.  On some of them there appears to be layering and separating, but they were all dyed the same way using a dip-dye technique.  It would be nearly impossible to identify each of the individual colors I used on any particular Twinset, but the pictures I show here are as true as I can make them.

If you need a close-up of any particular Twinset, please let me know and I can grab a picture for you.

Phydlbitz Sock is normally $27.50 each, but for Saturday and Sunday, you can take any two or more for just $25.50 each, matching or not matching.

I expect to have this week’s collection all processed and ready to ship on Thursday or Friday.

To claim the ones you want, just send me an email with your requests.  I’ll marked them off the Available Yarns tally chart and then send a PayPal invoice.  It’s okay if you don’t have a PayPal account; they will process your credit/debit cards just fine so I never see your financial information.   PayPal also takes care of shipping details, so be sure they have your current shipping address.  However, do let me know if you are outside the U.S. so I can calculate your shipping charges correctly.

Also, it is perfectly fine to combine requests to take some of  this new collection and any previous Blog Reader Specials and Blind Bundles.  I can manually create your invoice to ensure you are bill correctly.

Available Yarns:
Rack 1 – 373, 374, 375, 376, 377, 378, 379, 380, 381, 382, 383, 384
Rack 2 – 385, 386, 387, 388, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396

Happy Sunday!

Houston (and much of Texas) is experiencing heavy rains and some flooding in various areas lately.  My yard was slightly flooded Friday when I needed to get to clinic and the waters hadn’t gone done while I was away several hours.  Fortunately it didn’t come even as high as my ramp this time, so that was a relief.

I’ve had some ongoing health issues that I can’t figure out, and have several more doctor appointments this month so my dyeing is rather out of sync from what I normally prefer.  I’d not dyeing at all this weekend, but I was able to post the unclaimed yarns from last weekend.  Here is the group shot of the unclaimed yarns:

The Shropshire 160 yarns are posted to the Blog Reader Specials page.  The Phydlbitz Sock have been held aside to join the Blind Bundle special deal.  In order to rebuilding the Web site, I have to organize the available yarns, find and upload their pictures, and re-create the BRS page.   I’ve done that for all the non-Phydlbitz yarns, but I figured we’d have some fun with the Phydlbitz.

Empty the Bins!

All week (May 5 – 11)  Everything on the Blog Reader Specials page will be invoiced at 10% off.  Just email me your requests and I will take care of it for you.

BLIND BUNDLES!

There are still many dozen Phydlbitz Sock Blog Reader Specials not shown on this page, most from before the Web site crash.  Rather than reloading them here as I rebuild the Website I am offering THREE PHYDLBITZ SOCK for $70.00 (you save $12.50) as a Blind Bundle.   I will select three skeins for you, and I will do my best to make pleasant combinations.  Just tell me how many Blind Bundles you want and I’ll take care of it for you.  I can fit up to 12 skeins of Phydlbitz into a single flat-rate Priority ship box ($15.00 inside the U.S.).  No additional discounts on Blind Bundles. 

Once most of the Blind Bundles are claimed, I will begin re-loading pictures of any remaining yarns next week.

I will be shipping orders on Wednesday and Saturday, and hope to have new yarns dyed to show next Sunday.