Happy Sunday!

Thunderstorms are forecast to move in shortly, so the yarns are already back inside to dry in the fan room for a couple days before reskeining and shipping.  I hope to have this week’s collection ready to ship on or about Thursday.

On Friday I posted a picture on Facebook and Instagram of the day’s yarns ready to go, and asked if anyone had ideas or preferences for how to dye them.

By the way, do feel free to follow me on FB or IG — the more people who follow and interact on social media, the more frequently my posts are shown to others as well.  I don’t entirely understand the algorithms involved on social media, but I know that when people Like and Share my posts, or even just comment, the platform will then further show my posts to even more people.

Anyway, a Knitivity supporter on FB (Hi Karen!) reminded me that the holidays are coming, and wouldn’t it be good to have colors for holiday stockings and caps.  So that was my starting point — Christmas Green (#491-492) and Red (#503-504).

I had originally wanted a Twinset with both the green and red, but the green I was using (Emerald) is apparently made of colors that separate, so the green broke and some blue bled out, as you can see on #495-496.  Fortunately the bleeding was consistent and isn’t ugly, it’s just not the look I was going for.  If you want #495-496 I’ll take an extra $2.00 off per skein.

But before Christmas there is Halloween.  So I made a Twinset of Pumpkin Orange and Purple (#487-488), as well as some feiry yellow-and-orange (#493-494) and a wild-and-crazy candy-bowl of mixed colors (#485-486).

We can’t forget the Winter Solstice on December 21.  Twinsets #489-490 and #497-498 both look sufficiently moody for the longest night of the year.   Both Twinsets were made of a random mix of blues and other colors, so there’s no way I can duplicate either of these two Twinsets.

All of these are long skeins (about 115g/460 yards in real life) because that’s how they come to me in pre-formed hanks instead of me pulling hanks off the cones myself.

These are 75/25 Superwash 25-micron Merino/Nylon, and will be $27.50 when they land on the Blog Reader Specials page.   For Sunday and Monday, however, you can take any two or more skeins from this week’s collection – #485-508 for just $26.00 each.

To claim the ones you want just send me an email with your requests; I’ll mark your selections off the Available Yarns tally chart below and send a PayPal invoice.  If you are outside the U.S. please let me know so I can calculate First Class International shipping for you.

Available Yarns: 
Rack 1 – 485, 486, 487, 488, 489, 490, 491, 492, 493, 494, 495, 496
Rack 2 – 497, 498, 499, 500, 501, 502, 503, 504, 505, 506, 507, 508

Did y’all see these yesterday? Some were claimed, but half of them are still available. To be honest, I need these all to be claimed (large electric bills suck!) as soon as possible. Take any two or more from this collection OR from the previously posted Blog Reader Specials, and I’ll take 20% off your total invoice.
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Visit http://www.knitivity.com OR the BRS page
https://knitivity.com/index.php/blog-reader-specials/

#indiedyedyarn #indiedyer #sockyarn #sockknitters #phydlbitz #shawlknitting

Available Yarns:
Rack 1 – 461, 462, 463, 464, 465, 466, 467, 468, 469, 470, 471, 472
Rack 2 – 473, 474, 475, 476, 477, 478, 479, 480, 481, 482, 483, 484

Happy Saturday to you!

Shortly after my big surgery in early 2020, when I was slowly getting back into routine, I dyed a collection of Sprinkle Dyes.  I showed this on Facebook and asked if I should do some more:

These, of course, are no longer available, but I got some interesting feedback so I decided to try it again.  The results are shown down below.

One thing about hand-dyed yarns, but especially the sprinkle dyed yarns, is that while you can make matching socks they are more often of the Fraternal Twin variety.  That is, you can see they are a matched pair because of the same colors, but they are not identical.  There are many commercial companies who make identical yarns (I’m thinking of Opal and Regia, just for example), but while you can make identical matching socks, you will have socks that match hundreds of other knitters.

With my hand-dyed yarns, every Twinset is truly unique and will create socks (or shawls or sweaters or whatever) that are not identical to what anyone else might knit.  I’m not a  large commercial concern, but an indie art yarn dyer; when you buy Knitivity yarns, you’re dealing with just one person (me), and I hope to provide what the big companies either can’t or don’t.  🙂

All of these are on Phydlbitz Sock 2.0 (75/25  25-micron Superwash Merino/Nylon, 430+ yards per skein), and are normally $27.50.  For Saturday and Sunday you can claim any matching Twinset at $26.00 per skein.  They will, of course, be reskeined and properly presented for shipping, but claiming early means I don’t need to photograph, edit, and post pictures of the claimed ones.  You save me some time and labor, and I save you a little money.  Win-win!

To claim the ones you want just send me an email with your numbered requests.  I will mark your requests off and then send you a PayPal invoice.  Before payment, please make sure PayPal has your correct shipping address, as that is where I print your shipping labels from.

Given the conditions of the 10-Day weather forecast, I should have this week’s collection ready to ship on or about Wednesday or Thursday of this coming week.

Available Yarns:
Rack 1 – 461, 462, 463, 464, 465, 466, 467, 468, 469, 470, 471, 472
Rack 2 – 473, 474, 475, 476, 477, 478, 479, 480, 481, 482, 483, 484

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Happy Monday!

I started the dye session yesterday with a request (or more like a suggestion) for more solids to go with so many multi-colored sock yarns.   I think this week’s colors will be amazing on their own, in combinations with each other or used as a contrast against all those amazing multi-color sock yarns on the Blog Reader Specials page or in your stash.

There are some straight solid colors, like Teal (#437-438), Gold (#439-440), Purple (#449-450), Emerald (#451-452),  Ecru (#455-456) and Turquoise (#459-460).   There were also some blended colors, like the slightly Chestnutted-Red (#447-448), a blended red and purple maroon or burgundy sort of color (#457-458), a navy-black fade (#443-444), and a blend of espresso bean and teddy bear brown (#453-454).

The ecru was dyed double-strength just to get it looking like more than undyed ivory, but that particular color comes from the manufacturer as a blended dye of many colors.  Thus, you will see the occasional blips of rust or blue where not all the pigments dissolved.   There was a small saturation of the ecru remaining so I used  it for #445-446 with a light chestnut, for a two-tone fade.

Twinset #441-442 is (to me, anyway) the most interesting.  I started with a straight yellow dye solution but it was too bright for my eyes last night, so I used the last of the dark charcoal from a couple weeks ago as a fade overdye.  The fade darkened the yellow so it is a two-tone fade.

These are all on Phydlbitz Sock 2.0, the new 75/25 blend of 25-micron Superwash Merino/Nylon, marked at 430 yards.  Since it come to me in pre-measured hanks at 115gm, it is more like 460+ yards for now.  If the coned yarn comes available so I start pulling my own hanks, I will start pulling at around 440 yards.  It’s a hassle for me to change the labels, so I’ll continue to mark them at 430+ yards for all Phydlbitz Sock yarns.  As always, better to under-promise and over-deliver whenever I can.

All of these will be going to the Blog Reader Specials as they are processed, and will be ready to ship on or about Thursday or Friday.  But you can claim the ones you want right away at $27.50 each.   For Monday and Tuesday, take any matching pair for just $25.50 each.

To claim the ones you want, just send me an email (ray@knitivity.com); I’ll mark your requests of the Available Yarns tally chart below and then send you a PayPal invoice.  Upon payment I will print your shipping label so when the yarns are fully dried and processed I can ship to you.  You should receive your tracking number from PayPal right away.

Available Yarns
Rack 1 – 437, 438, 439, 440,  441, 442, 443, 444, 445, 446, 447, 448
Rack 2 – 449, 450, 451, 452, 453, 454, 455, 456, 457, 458, 459, 460

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No special codes, just tell me “Happy Fathers Day” when you email me your order to get 15% off between now and June 15.

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Happy Monday!

In spite of how it looks, I didn’t use any straight purple dyes in last night’s dye session.  I used a couple different a blues, some leftover deep red from last week, and a little bit of fluorescent fuchsia.

All of this week’s yarns are on Phydlbitz Sock 2.0, which is 75% 25-micron Superwash Merino and 25% Nylon, and are 430 yards each, and will be available on the Blog Reader Specials page at $27.50 each.

Feel free to claim the ones you want while they are hanging here to dry, where you can see the color distributions and saturations.  I rotate one of each pair and then twist the bottoms to show as much as I can for each pair.

To claim the ones you want, just send me an email with your numbered requests.

See further discussion of these yarns down below the pictures.

Available Yarns:
Rack 1 – 413, 414, 415, 416, 417, 418, 419, 420, 421, 422, 423, 424
Rack 2 – 425, 426, 427, 428, 429, 430, 431, 432, 433, 434, 435, 436

Several of this week’s Twinsets were dyed Dye-on-Wet — instead of premixing the dyes in my dye jars, I applied an acid solution to the dyes and lightly applied dye powder straight onto the yarns.  This is more evident for example on Twinsets #421-422, #425-426, and #435-436.   That’s also how I did Twinset #413-414, but with a little more dye than I meant to use, which allowed for a much greater mixing of the dyes on the yarn.

As I mentioned above, I didn’t prepare any straight purple dye this week, but relied on dyes mixing on the yarn or in the dipping bowl.  Twinset #429-430 was a blend of Peacock Blue and the Fluorescent Fuchsia.  These were mixed in the bowl for a solid color, but the fuchsia struck first and stuck well, while the blue didn’t strike so evenly, so it looks like a bright purple, with an underlayer of pink.  I promise it was a single blended color in the bowl. 🙂

There are several two-tone fade combinations this week.  I keep thinking these need to be worked up into an asymmetrical shawl or something, to really show off the colors better, perhaps combining a soft subtle fade in stockinette,  with alternating bands of wild bright colors in a textured stitch of some sort.

I’ll be trying to put in an order for more yarn this week.

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