Okay, I admit:  that is cheesy title. It harkens back to decades-old and admittedly terrible joke:

“Hey, should we stop at the burger joint for our picnic?” 

“No, alpaca lunch instead.”

Anyway, this will be a different sort of collection of Blog Reader Specials, so I figured a funny start would help.  🙂

As I mentioned a few days ago on Facebook, I have some yarns that were purchased many years ago that I failed to properly mark.  It’s the age old failure of thinking I will always remember exactly what this is.  I know it is alpaca, but I don’t remember if it is 100% Alpaca or an Alpaca/Merino blend.  It feels lovely and soft, and in the handling it feels like it may be superwash if there is Merino involved.

I got it from my previous supplier before that supplier retired and turned over most of their lines to another supplier.  I was sad to see the first one retire, as I’d been with them over 10 years, but they picked an amazing supplier to take over and I’m happy with them as well.  I looked on the new supplier’s Web site and I can’t find the same kind of yarn in the same put-up that I had, so I confess I can’t guarantee a particular fiber content beyond a rough estimate (“guess-timate”).

I do know each skein is about 210 yards each, so it’s a nice worsted weight, suitable for a quick-knit winter cap, or even a nice bundling cowl or scarf.   Ravelry has an advanced search function where you can find over 60,000 patterns for hats and neckwear!  Pick any two of these for some amazing contrast knitting!

One of the issues with dyeing solids the way I do it is that when yarn is wet during the dyeing, it all looks evenly colored no matter how many times I dip it and rotate it around to get even coverage.  The less-saturated sections are visible until the yarns are rinsed and spun out.   This issue is most noticeable on #793 and #798.  I didn’t find any undyed sections, just areas where the dye didn’t strike as fully.  I like to think these less-saturated areas will add an organic look to your special project rather than being knit with a flat solid  color from a commercial mill.

#799 is a dark-dark green, while #802 is as nearly black as I could make it.  Most of the rest of the colors are more clearly visible, and I present my photos unedited.

Each of these will be $28.00 on the Blog Reader Specials page, and I expect to have these ready to ship on or about Thursday.

To claim the ones you want just drop me an email.  I will mark your requests off the Available Yarns tally chart below and then send a PayPal invoice.  Upon payment I will purchase and print your shipping label to ensure the label is available when the yarns are ready to ship.

Available Yarns:  (all claimed now!)
793, 794, 795, 796, 797, 798, 799, 800, 801, 802, 803, 804, 805

Sure, why not!

I’ve just photographed and posted the unclaimed yarns from the most recent collection of Blog Reader Specials.   Shown here is the group as a whole.   All orders now through Friday will be invoiced at 15% off your total order.

To be honest, sales are slowing and my reach is decreasing (the Knitivity Insider list is lower than 250 individuals now), but my bills are increasing.  I need to create an additional $300 this week in order to pay my overdue light bill.  I seriously need to find more ways to expose knitters to my yarns, but I understand not everyone needs (or can afford) more yarn.   I would seriously prefer selling my hand-dyed yarns, but at this point, though, I’m not above asking for help — you can either drop a few dollars through PayPal or Zelle (ask me how), and it would be much appreciated.  🙂

Happy Sunday!

Per the 10-Day forecast, just a few more days into the lower 90s and then we’ll start seeing more autumn-like weather.  Even now as I type this paragrapyh at 10:00a.m. it’s just barely 80º, for which I am quite thankful.  🙂

Last week I dyed a lot of darker colors, so this week I deliberately pulled out some fluorescent yellow, a chartreuse, and fuchsia, along with some other colors.  These colors appear across several Twinsets this week.

Many of the colors/combinations seem obvious.  One Twinset (#789-790) looked better wet — when I sealed it into a pouch, it reminded me of watermelon rinds cut into random chunks; it is actually a combination of spruce and chartreuse.  Perhaps I just need to remember to eat so that all my yarns don’t remind me of edibles. 🙂

At the end of the day’s dyeing I created a genuine DumpDye (#791-792)  — using all the remaining red, fuchsia, brown, and gray into a combined vat that reminds me of dark red wine.  Very rich, very beautiful.

Twinset #771-772 is a two-color fade featuring fluorescent yellow and gold ochre.   Twinset #775-776 is a splattered combination of sky blue and pale gray, while #783-784 is a base of palest seafoam with a gradient fade of medium charcoal gray; #779-780 is a slightly deeper semi-solid in a similar seafoam green.

Any of these will make wonderful socks, of course, but there are so many other projects that you can use Phydlbitz Sock for — shawls, scarves, baby blankets, etc.   Because I use a limited palette each week, many non-matching skeins can be combined for some amazing contrasts.

Phydlbitz Sock is $27.50 per skein.  For Sunday and Monday, you can claim any two or more skeins (matching or not) for $25.50 off at Preview Pricing.

To claim the ones you want, just send me an email with your numbered requests.  I’ll mark them off the Available Yarns tally chart below and send out a PayPal invoice.

I expect to have this week’s Blog Reader Special Collection processed and ready to ship on or about Thursday.

Available Yarns
Rack 1 – 769, 770, 771, 772, 773, 774, 775, 776, 777, 778, 779, 780
Rack 2 – 781, 782, 783, 784, 785, 786, 787, 788, 789, 790, 791, 792

An unadvertised special — selected any three (or more) skeins on Thursday, October 10, and I will invoice your selections at $20.00 each.  Just visit the Blog Reader Specials page and make your selections.  

Good Monday morning (or whatever time you are reading this)!

My first thoughts this morning are for those in Florida bracing  for Hurricane Milton’s expected landfall over the next few days.  With the region already ravaged by Hurricane Helene just a week ago, it seems unfair the area should have to deal with another storm so soon.  I can’t do much about the storm, but I hope all my friends and family anywhere near the storm are safe, well-stocked, and able to either evacuate or ride out the storm.

It wasn’t intentional (although maybe subconscious?) but this week’s colors are mostly more somber and subdued.  I promise next week I’ll lean more into the lighter-brighter color combinations.

You can make an ample pair of adult socks with just one skein of Phydlbitz Sock, and I should mention that while I label them at 430- yards, I actually make them closer to about 460 yards apiece.  Using both skeins of a pair you can make a pair of knee-highs.

Any of this week’s solids/near-solids (#747-748,  759-760, and 763-764) will work very well for contrasting heels and toes, combined with any of my multi-color skeins (including those on the Blog Reader Specials page), but they can also be used for larger-than-socks projects like shawls, scarves, and cowls.

These are all Phydlbitz Sock (75/25 Superwash Corriedale/Nylon, 430 yards each), all dyed as Twinsets.  There is no obligation to take both skeins of a Twinset.  Feel free to take only the ones you want.

Phydlbitz Sock is $27.50 per skein.  For Monday and Tuesday, you can claim any two or more skeins (matching or not) from this week’s collection (#745 – 768) for 25.50 each at Preview Pricing.

To claim the ones you want, just send me an email with your numbered requests.  I’ll mark them off the Available Yarns tally chart below and send out a PayPal invoice.

I hope to have these ready to ship on or about Thursday.

Available Yarns: 
Rack 1 – 745, 746, 747, 748, 749, 750, 751, 752, 753, 754, 755, 756
Rack 2 – 757, 758, 759, 760, 761, 762, 763, 764, 765, 766, 767, 768

click on images to view larger versions.

On October 1, 2006, Knitivity became official.  So much has happened along the way, and I’m sure any MBA or sensible accountant would have told me to put it down, walk away, and forget it ever happened.  But I never claimed to be the smartest dude in the room, just stubborn as can be so here I am!

Many of you have been with me from the beginning, and even before it became official, back when I was just another knitter in New Orleans.  You knew me before Hurricane Katrina and heard about the changes in my life from that event.  Others have discovered me along the way.  But all of you are deeply appreciated, since without long-term friends and customers/clients, I wouldn’t be able to survive.

For this week until Friday (October 1-4), all yarns will be invoiced at 18% OFF.  No special codes or limits.  You can select from the unclaimed yarns from the most recent collection here on the Blog, or any available yarns on the Blog Reader Special page.

Just email your requests and I’ll get it taken care of for you.

Happy Saturday!

Today is the last full day of summer; the autumnal equinox is tomorrow morning.  You’d think the weather would be nicer, but the last week or so we’ve been in the upper 90s!  Yesterday and the day before we hit 99!  YIKES!  And there’s a tropical storm brewing in Gulf, but it looks like it will head east.

I set out wanting at least one or two Twinsets leaning into autumnal colors — the golds, brown, oranges, and so forth, hinting at the turning of the leaves.   I think I succeeded on two Twinsets – #705-706 and #715-716.  Both Twinsets have a random sprinkling of the brown, golds, oranges, and yellow; the first one (#705-706) also has a bit of teal laid on light with a slap-and-schmear (a technical term within the industry – hahaha).

Most of the yarns this week have at least 2, and sometimes 3 colors applied in various ways — some sprinkled, some in more identifiable segments, and a few that came up appearing as solids.

These are all Phydlbitz Sock, and were dyed as Twinsets as a matter of convenience, but there is no obligation to take a matching pair. It is totally fine to request just one skein of a Twinset.  I have rotated one skein of each pair, and then twisted the lower ends of each skein so that you can see all the colors appearing on each skein.

Normally, Phydlbitz Sock is $27.50 per skein.  For Saturday and Sunday, you can claim any two or more for just $25.50 each at Preview Pricing.

To claim the ones you want, just send me an email and I’ll calculate your invoice with today’s Preview Pricing discount.  I will mark your requests off the Available Yarns tally chart below and then send a PayPal invoice.  You do NOT need a PayPal account, as you can pay your invoice with a credit or debit card, and PayPal will process your payment.

I expect to have this week’s collection to be ready to ship on or about Wednesday.

Available Yarns: 
1 – 697, 698, 699, 700, 701, 702, 703, 704, 705, 706, 707, 708
2 – 709, 710, 711, 712, 713, 714, 715, 716, 717, 718, 719, 720

Wednesday through Friday — everything on the Blog Reader Specials page will be invoiced at 15% off.  No special codes, no special math to get a better deal — just make your selections, email me what you want, and I’ll take care of it for you!

Also, I have discovered that I can ship up to TWO POUNDS (8 skeins) at First Class International rate for $37.50 if I ship through PayPal’s contracted deal with ShipStation.

Knowing that shipping costs are rising everywhere, I recognize the hesitation in ordering just a few skeins to ship outside the U.S.  when shipping costs almost as much as the yarn.

I’ll mention this again when I post the next collection of Blog Reader Specials over the weekend.

Awwrighty, then! I’ve just posted all of the unclaimed Phydlbitz Sock yarn onto the Blog Reader Specials page. I dye as Twinsets, and I show them as Twinsets only as a matter of convenience, but I’m wondering — since I DO photograph individual skeins as well as the Twinsets, would it be easier for you, the customer, to see the individual skeins? Or do you prefer that I show them as Twinsets? A lot of people do request just one skein of a pair, which is totally fine, and there are many individual skeins posted and available as well. Which do you prefer — Twinsets when available or all individual skeins? Anyway, go visit the Blog Reader Specials and let me know which ones you want.
https://knitivity.com/index.php/blog-reader-specials/

Happy Saturday!

I thought we were cooling down into more autumn-like weather.  Boy, was I fooled!  It got up to the upper 90s and I got wiped out with the heat until late in the evening.  But no matter — I got the dyeing done last night and got them all washed and rinsed this morning.  🙂

The afternoon started with a thought toward dyeing neutrals instead of the brighter colors I use more often.  I wanted to start with gray and add small tinges of various colors.  However, as they say, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”  I started with the gray, but it quickly went to pot and I knew better than to fight where the colors insisted on going.

These were all dyed as Twinsets, and every Twinset has at least 3 colors applied, either in layers or splatters.  Many of them remind me of shadows passing over.   Twinsets #683-684 and 695-696 are both DumpDyes combining multiple colors except black.  I still have nearly the full jar of black remaining.   One of them is a combination of navy and purple with a little gray, the other is the final DumpDye at the end of the dye session, using all the remaining dyes.

Oddly, even holding out in the sunlight I cannot really tell which is the navy-purple-gray and which is the one with everything including those 3  plus all the other colors.   The cool thing about these two DumpDye Twinsets is that if you need a rather ambiguous dark contrast to highlight other brighter colors, either of these should work well.  For example, if you need contrasting heels and toes on your socks, or maybe you need a clear separator band on an otherwise bright stripe design, these would do just fine.

All of these are on Phydlbitz Sock (75/25 Superwash Corriedale/Nylon, 430 yards each) and are normally $27.50 each.  For Saturday and Sunday, each matching Twinset will be invoiced at $50.00 (i.e., $25.00 each).

To claim the ones you want just send me an email with your requested numbered items.  I’ll mark your requests off the Available Yarns tally chart below and send you a PayPal invoice.  If you are outside the U.S., please let me know so I can calculate your shipping charges correctly.

Available Yarns: 
Rack 1 – 673, 674, 675, 676, 677, 678, 679, 680, 681, 682, 683, 684
Rack 2 – 685, 686, 687, 688, 689, 690, 691, 692, 693, 694, 695, 696