Happy Friday! Happy Boxing Day!
I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday, in whatever way you spend it.
Hey, it’s that time of year! Last weekend of 2025 and everything needs to go! From now through December 31, everything shown on the Blog Reader Specials page will be invoiced at just $20.25!!
Meanwhile, I will spend the next few days trying out some better-looking page themes.
Happy Saturday!
With (almost) everyone moving into year-end holiday-making, I hope your time is filled with joy, spend with family and friends.
This is the last new BRS Collection of the year, and I’m pleased with it. With Christmas coming this week many people will be busy. At the suggestion of one of my regular customers, I’m holding shipping until Monday, December 29, to ensure the post office is cleared of all the holiday packages.
There are several multi-color dye jobs with a 36-inch repeat on the center color — #925-926, 931-932, and 937-938. There is one monochrome fade, #929-930, a sort of light celery color.
Twinset #927-928 is a Teal sprinkle.
Among the solids, I’m thinking the light blush of #921-922 will pair well with the deep browns of #923-924 (a DumpDye of chestnut and brown) for an amazing two-tone shawl. Twinset #919-920 is a blend of a leftover blend from last week with a variety of reds, and modified this week with the last of the yellow. Twinset #933-934 is a DumpDye of all the remaining blues, gray, and teal, creating a beautiful deep shade.
This week’s confetti dyes are #917-918 and 393-940. Confetti dyed yarns are amazing for socks, but can also work well for larger projects like scarves or shawls.
I did want to especially point out Twinset #935-936 — it is a “smoosh-dye” mix of chestnut and brown, and came out reminding me of a lightly scuffed old leather journal. This Twinset would be perfect for a lightly textured scarf-and-hat set for mid-Spring or mid-Fall wear, while the weather is cool-ish but not cold enough for heavier protection.
All of these are on Phydlbitz Sock 2.0 (75/25 Superwash 25-micron Merino/Nylon), and are normally $28.00 each. For Saturday and Sunday, visitors are invited to take any matching Twinset for just $26.00 per skein.
To claim the ones you want, send me an email (ray@knitivity.com) request with your selections. I’ll mark your requests off the Available Yarns tally chart below, and send a PayPal invoice. Please let me know if you are outside the U.S., so I can calculate your shipping charges.
As noted above, I will be shipping on Monday, December 29, mostly to avoid any postal service holiday package issues.
Available Yarns:
Rack 1 – 917, 918, 919, 920, 921, 922, 923, 924, 925, 926, 927, 928
Rack 2 – 929, 930, 931, 932, 933, 934, 935, 936, 937, 938, 939, 940
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Happy Sunday!
Another chilly day of windy-windy, with leaves blowing all around. so another day of yarn pictures taken indoors. <*sigh*> No matter, I suppose. I should be happy to have some amazing yarns dyed and ready to show as best I can. 🙂
The phrase echoing in my head as I opened the pouches was “A Touch of Class.” I am deeply impressed with how colors blended last night — both as I was dyeing, and then as colors migrated during the steaming beyond my control. The colors don’t harken back to any particular era, but as most of the Twinsets were dyed with multiple colors, they just looked (or felt?) somehow different to me, in ways that would suggest some amazing knitting projects in the future.
These are all Phydlbitz Sock 2.0 (75/25 Superwash 25-micron Merino/Nylon, 460 yards), and are available at $28.00 per skein. for Sunday and Monday, visitors are invited to take one or more matching Twinsets for just $26.00 each skein (or $52.00 a pair).
To claim the ones you want, just send me an email with your requested item numbers. I’ll send you a PayPal invoice for your yarns and shipping inside the U.S. If you are outside the U.S. please let me know.
I expect to have this week’s collection ready to ship on or about Thursday.
Available Yarns:
Rack 1 – 893, 894, 895, 896, 897, 898, 899, 900, 901, 902, 903, 904
Rack 2 – 905, 906, 907, 908, 909, 910, 911, 912, 913, 914, 915, 916
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In the previous post, I talked about self-striping spiral stripes with my yarns dyed on roughly 36- or 72-inch centers. In that post I showed the socks I am currently working on using monochrome fades. I also mentioned I would try to knit up some multi-color socks to show a similar effect.
The next day a long-time friend and customer (Hi, Chris!) just happened to post his current project using one of my yarns.
This is a rack done in the Spring of 2023, a multicolor with 72-inch repeats, #337 in particular.
Here it is all neatly reskeined…
And here is how it knits up. You can see the spiral effect works on socks, even when you are ribbing and not in stockinette stitch.
Much the same as with paisley neckties, even colors that don’t look like they’d work together, when actually put into a project like this, the overall effect is beautiful.
Your own needle size and stitch count will make your socks unique, as will your particular tension as you knit. Every pair of socks knit in the round can look fabulous, even without a lot of textured stitching or lacework.
Happy Monday!
These are the socks I am working on, which might help to better illustrate the end result of my monochrome fades. My skeins are up on roughly 72-inch loops for dyeing, so the monochrome fades have repeats with roughly 72-inch centers. I say “roughly” because while the skein winder is set for 2 yards around, as yarn is wound round and round, the final few rounds are slightly more than exactly 72-inches.
I know I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s good to actually show the result of this dye technique. You can create self-striping spiral stripes for socks quite easily, allowing the yarn to do the work without having to calculate where the color(s) will land. Of course this is true with all my dyes, but it is very evident with the monochrome fades such as Twinsets #869-870 and 889-890 shown in the pictures down below with this week’s yarns drying on racks.
By the way, ignore the safety pin on the toe — it is there so I can remember which is the top side and not the sole. 🙂
Besides the monochrome fades there are several two-tone fades that were dyed on roughly 36-inch centers, like Twinsets #879-880 and 885-886. Along with the multi-color fades there are other dye jobs built on 36-inch centers, like Twinsets #873-874 and 891-892.
Other dye jobs without regulated repeats include #877-878 and 887-888. These can work up into some amazing sequences depending on how they are knitted or crocheted.
There is also a three-color blend, #883-884, with a sage green, russet, and navy, with a 24-inch span of each color to make a 72-inch repeat. If you select this Twinset and plan to use both skeins in a project, I recommend making sure you use the same sequence from both balls to ensure they are both running the sequence in the same direction — wouldn’t want to start a project with red-blue-green and then switch balls to knit in green-blue-red.
All of these are on Phydlbitz Sock 2.0 (75/25 Superwash 25-micron Merino/Nylon, 460 yards) and are normally $28.00 each. For Monday and Tuesday, visitors are invited to claim any matching Twinset for just $26.00 each.
To claim the ones you want, just send me an email (ray@knitivity.com) with your selections. I’ll mark your request off the Available Yarns tally chart and send a PayPal invoice.
I expect to have these ready to ship on or about Friday.
Available Yarns:
Rack 1 – 869, 870, 871, 872, 873, 874, 875, 876, 877, 878, 879, 880
Rack 2 – 881, 882, 883, 884, 885, 886, 887, 888, 889, 890, 891, 892
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Happy Tuesday!
Thanks to the weather and other conditions, I couldn’t get the yarns photographed until this morning, and even now I had to get creative about it but I really wanted to show you what I dyed on Sunday. Those of you familiar with my normal preview pictures, please let me know if this alternative is better, worse, or about the same as always.
While I am thinking of it — my preview pictures aim to show color range and distribution along each hank, which I think is difficult to discern once a skein is twisted and labeled for presentation. Does it help you when I show the yarns this way?
I got into the session unsure how to use all the available dyes to best advantage, but I wasn’t going for a particular outcome. There are several monochrome fades this time (#859-860, 861-862, and 867-868), as well as a two-tone segmented (#863-864). There are two solids — a rich rust color (#857-858) made of gold, yellow, chocolate, and gray; and a nearly solid navy (#849-850).
These are all Phydlbitz Sock 2.0 (75/25 Superwash 25-micron Merino/Nylon, 460 yards), and are normally $28.00 each. For Tuesday and Wednesday you may claim any matching Twinset at just $25.50 per skein.
To claim the yarns you want, just send me an email (ray@knitivity.com) with your numbered selections. I will send you a PayPal invoice; it’s okay if you don’t have a PayPal account, as they will process any debit or credit card.
I expect to have these ready to ship on or about Friday.
Available Yarns:
Rack 1 – 845, 846, 847, 848, 849, 850, 851, 852, 853, 854, 855, 856
Rack 2 – 857, 858, 859, 860, 861, 862, 863, 864, 865, 866, 867, 868
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Happy Saturday!
Black Friday seems to be an American tradition — the day after Thanksgiving is usually a day of big pre-holiday sales when people stock up on their holiday gifts and supplies. It seems in recent years the Black Friday sales are announced earlier and earlier; can you believe it — some store already have their Christmas wares out on display!
Anyway, from now until the end of Friday, Nov 28, all yarns on the Blog Reader Specials page will be invoiced at 15% OFF, and I’ll charge just $5.00-per-order for shipping inside the U.S. Just visit the BRS page and make your selections by sending me an email (ray@knitivity.com) with the item numbers you want. I’ll prepare a PayPal invoice for you and will ship the day after payment is made. Of course, Thursday is a postal holiday, so no mail that day.
If you want me to ship yarns to someone else I’ll be happy to ship to whatever address you provide.
And, of course, it is never too soon to think about all the people who deserve a skein or two of Phydlbitz Sock!
I’ll be ordering yarn this weekend and should have a new batch of yarns to show next Saturday or Sunday if it arrives by Friday.
Last night I posted all the unclaimed yarns of the most recent collection of Blog Reader Specials; here is the group shot:
For today, Tuesday 18Nov25, all matching Twinsets will be invoiced at 15% OFF; single skeins will be invoiced at 10% OFF.
I was just waking up with coffee and Facebook, and there was a Memory post from 2019, featuring “Fraternal Twins”. I had completely forgotten this technique, and I would probably do it differently today since I have gotten better at creating solid dyes.
The main concept is to have one skein with a mottle, sprinkle, confetti, or something, and the other is more of a solid color made from all the colors of the first one.
Please note: these are from 2019 and no longer available. Not all the Twinsets shown were done this way, and there are even some single skeins at the end of the second picture.
Would you be interested in seeing some more sets like these Fraternal Twins?
Happy Saturday!
I had a fun evening dyeing yarns yesterday, although I wasn’t sure where it was going, but it turned out to be a really good dye session.
There are a few unusual combinations this week. For example, Twinset #839-840 I started with a full saturation of purple in the centers with a dip into yellow that allowed the purple to migrate into the yellow; the repeat purple to purple is about 36-inches.
Other Twinsets with 36-inch repeats include #823-834, #829-830, and #837-838. Some of the other Twinsets have a roughly 72-inch repeats, like #825-826 and #827-828.
Knowing the length of the repeats is helpful in deciding what sort of pattern or design you want to appear in your knitting. While my repeats are not exact measures, the difference between the 36-inch and the 72-inch repeats is clear.
There are several Twinsets this week without clear repeats, like #821-822, #831-832, and #835-836, which were done in a variety of techniques that I use (e.g., sprinkling, confetti, random segmenting).
And, of course, I ended with session with a DumpDye (#841-842) with a blended combination of royal blue, teal, and turquoise — no measurement, just dumping what was left of those three dyes.
Need More Than Two? — many projects need more than just two skeins, like light weight blankets or adult sweaters. While I normally dye two-at-a-time Twinsets, I am happy to discuss larger order in a custom dye job, either as solids or as combinations in any of my regular techniques. Feel free to email me so we can discuss your needs.
Holidays Are Coming — If you have knitters on your gift list, it is never a bad idea to consider giving hand-dyed yarns.
All of these are dyed on Phydlbitz Sock 2.0 (75/25 Superwash 25-micron Merino/Nylon) and are 430+ yards each 4-ounce skein. Since I pull individual hanks from coned yarn, I always add 20-30 each yards to ensure ample yardage.
Phydlbitz Sock 2.0 is normally $28.00 each skein. For Saturday and Sunday, you may claim any matching Twinset from this week’s collection (#821-844) for just $26.00 per skein.
To claim the ones you want, just send me an email (ray@knitivity.com) with your numbered selections. I’ll mark your selection off the Available Yarns tally shown below and send you a PayPal invoice. If you are outside the U.S. please let me know.
I expect to have these ready to ship on or about Wednesday or Thursday.
Available Yarns:
Rack 1 – 821, 822, 823, 824, 825, 826, 827, 828, 829, 830, 831, 832
Rack 2 – 833, 834, 835, 836, 837, 838, 839, 840, 841, 842, 843, 844
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