Happy Sunday!

I started last night’s dye session with the idea I wanted to try a cool gray, a warm gray, and a French gray.  These are colors in my big collection of Prismacolor color pencils, with (if I remember correctly) 5 gradients in each range, from 20% to 100% saturation in each.   I know that cool gray leans toward blues, warm gray leans toward reds, and French gray leans toward browns/neutrals.

Obviously I don’t have computerized color/dye matching or a huge manufacturing plant; I could not hope to create the correct proportions for those gradient saturations in each range.  But I could try mixing my base gray with “just a smidge” of a primary blue, a primary red, or brown.  Apparently what I considered a smidge turned out to be quite overpowering so I ended up with a slightly grayed blue, slightly grayed red, and slightly grayed brown.   UGH!  Not at all what I wanted.   Next time (if I grant myself another attempt) I will have to increase the gray by a factor of three or four, and reduce the add-in colors to barely a hint or suggestion.    However, Twinset #498-499 is almost the French gray I was hoping for, even though it is still more brown than I’d like.

Even with my disappointment in the grays, I think all of this week’s Twinsets came out pretty good overall.   Twinset #496-497 in particular reminds me of a partly cloudy sky over a meadow in full  riotous bloom.  Similar meadow colors appear in #506-507 and #512-513. Twinset #502-503 is a straight gray fade.

All of these are on Phydlbitz Sock, and would normally be $27.50 on the Blog Reader Specials page, but for today and tomorrow (Sunday and Monday) you can claim any two or more, matching or not for $25.50 each skein.

To claim the ones you want just send me an email with your requests.  I’ll mark your requests off the Available Yarns tally chart below and then send you a PayPal invoice.  Even if you don’t have a PayPal account, they can process your credit or debit cards, and they collect your shipping information to expedite the shipping process. Upon payment I will prepare and print your shipping label right away, so that when the yarns are fully dried and reskeined, I can ship without delay.    I expect this week’s collection to be ready to ship on or about Thursday Friday of this week.  (I forgot that Thursday will be a postal holiday.)

Available Yarns
Rack 1 – 496, 497, 498, 499, 500, 501, 502, 503, 504, 505, 506, 507
Rack 2 – 508, 509, 510, 511, 512, 513, 514, 515, 516, 517, 518, 519

This Trio is now sold.

Recently I was asked to create a custom-dyed set of Phydlbitz Sock in an amethyst color, but with lights and darks similar to all the array shown on a cut or faceted stone.  So that’s what I did.

And since I had so much extra dye prepared, and some extra yarns ready in case I needed them, I decided to make some extra purple skeins.

These were all dyed as individual skeins, so they are NOT Twinsets and can’t be sold with a Twinset claim.  But they were all dyed the same day with the same batch of dye.

Normally, Phydlbitz Sock is $27.50 per skein, and would be $82.50 if bought normally.  BUT if you email me and ask for the Grape-ish Trio I will let you have them for $70.00 as a bundle, plus normal shipping/handling.   🙂

Happy Monday, Everyone

I don’t know where you are but in Houston it is hot.  Just plain hot.  I saw a meme this morning that said, “Remember to drink lots of water and stay indoors between 11:00a.m. and November 1.”  Yeah, for real.   And I’m of an age and condition where I need to seriously pay attention to air quality warnings, pollen warnings, and all the rest.

So I take my morning walks as early as I can.  If you follow me on Facebook, you’ll know I carry dog biscuits to feed the friendly dogs along the way.  Today I set out with a pocket full of treats, and didn’t see a single dog anywhere on my route; none of my regulars and not even a wandering stray.  And it was barely 8:00a.m., so I guess they’re already all staying cool somewhere.

Anyway, I hope all of you are staying healthy and protected from the heat.

Last night I dyed up another collection of Blog Reader Specials, all on Phydlbitz Sock (75/25 Superwash Corriedale/Nylon, 430 yards).

As is my custom, these were all dyed as Twinsets, to allow for larger-than-socks projects, but a single skein is more than adequate for an average  pair of adult socks, although knee-highs would need both skeins of a matched Twinset.   My Twinsets aren’t always identical twins, although I do try to make them as similar as I can.  And to ensure you can see all the colors within a Twinset, I will twist the bottoms on the rotate as well as rotate one skein of each pair.  I hope this helps.

When I hang the yarns to dry in this manner, I do try to make sure each Twinset is different from its neighbors on either side, but don’t normally try to show off any particular Twinsets.  This time, however, I put Twinset #483-484 deliberately next to #485-486 — there’s just something striking to me about the apparent orange and apparent purple.  I say “apparent” because both of these Twinsets were made by layering multiple colors, repeatedly dipping into one and then another color to create the end result.   Actually the colors layered in #483-484 are the same colors that were segmented for Twinset #469-470.

While part of me feels like I’m getting (almost) too old for this sort of work, I am pretty sure I could go several more decades before running out of ways to make new combinations.  Other dyers like to create a stable of special repeatable colorways, I prefer playing with colors and discovering new things each week so there is always something new to inspire your knitting and crocheting adventures.

Phydlbitz Sock is normally $27.50 each skein, but for Monday you may claim any two or more skeins, matching or not, for just $25.50 apiece.

To claim the ones you want just send me an email with your requests.  I’ll mark your requests off the Available Yarns tally chart below and then send you a PayPal invoice.  Upon payment I will prepare and print your shipping label right away, so that when the yarns are fully dried and reskeined, I can ship without delay.    I expect this week’s collection to be ready to ship on or about Thursday or Friday of this week.

Available Yarns
Rack 1:   469, 470, 471, 472, 473, 474, 475, 476, 477, 478, 479, 480
Rack 2:  481, 482, 483, 484, 485, 486, 487, 488, 489, 490, 491, 492

What a month it has been.   Last weekend I talked about the long power outage and the interruptions it caused.  This Tuesday I went to see my endocrinologist (no big deal, regular check-in) and came home expecting to finish reskeining last week’s dyes.  Instead, I got to wait out another power outage, but it was only about 5 hours or so.  And another storm on Wednesday knocked power out again for a couple hours.   I am SOOOO over this nonsense, but it is Texas and (apparently) Texas does power outages.  UGH.

As a result of the long outage from the 16th, my daughter’s mother-in-law was kind enough to have a spare back-up phone charger.   It was enough to recharge my phone 3 more times before I drained it out, but that was enough to last until power came back.   I liked it so much I went and got myself two more of the same model, so I will not fear running out of phone battery quite so much.  They arrived Thursday morning and they are now both charged and ready for the next outage.   

I can’t tell anyone what to buy, but I bought the INIU brand, which was marked as an Amazon Choice, and they were under $35.00 each.  If you’re in an area prone to various natural disasters and weather events, I recommend having back-up power banks for your devices.  

Onward to newly dyed yarns!

I went into yesterday’s dye session wondering how to use the colors available.  I knew I wanted mostly darks, but in order to highlight darks there needs to be some lights for contrast.  I ended up doing a few Jewel Tones, and some Confetti  dyes, as well as some that remind me of Mountain Fog and Forest Floor.  None of these descriptors identifies a specific color but rather they suggest the myriad colors that can be embraced by those descriptors, if that makes sense.

One Twinset in particular (#435-436) practically screams “Autumn Shawl” or “Harvest Socks”.    It was dyed in a Confetti technique, as were #423-424, 429-430, and 439-440.  These won’t easily pool or stripe, but should present a sprinkling of color when knit up.

The rest were dyed in either a pouring or a dipping method, each with multiple colors being layered one over another.

These are all  Phydlbitz Sock (75/25 Superwash Corriedale/Nylon, 430 yards each), and normally sell for $27.50 each.  For this weekend (Saturday and Sunday) you can claim any two or more (matching or not) for just $25.50 each.   And when you claim any two or more from this week’s collection (#421 – 444), you can also claim any number of previously posted Blog Reader Specials for the same price.

To claim the ones you want, send me an email (ray@knitivity.com) with your requests.  I’ll first mark them off from the Available Yarns chart below and then I will send you a PayPal invoice with your pricing discount calculated.

I expect to have these ready to ship Wednesday or Thursday.

Available Yarns
Rack 1 – 421, 422, 423, 424, 425, 426, 427, 428, 429, 430, 431, 432
Rack 2 – 433, 434, 435, 436, 437, 438, 439, 440, 441, 442, 443, 444