Happy Saturday!

Can’t go wrong with brilliant color, and I hope this week’s efforts measure up to expectations. See discussion further down for how to claim the ones you want as well as the Available Yarns tally, so you can see which ones have been claimed at the time of your visit.

Available Yarns: 
Rack 1 – 592, 593, 594, 595, 596, 597, 598, 599, 600, 601, 602, 603
Rack 2 – 604, 605, 606, 607, 608, 609, 610, 611, 612, 613, 614, 615

Last week I did mostly solids, so this week I decided to mix it up with some brilliant combinations.  Some are sprinkles, some are sprinkle-and-smoosh (yes, smoosh is a technical term within the industry), and some are clearly segmented.

These are all dyed as Twinsets, allowing for larger-than-socks projects, but you can always take just one of  a pair.  Due to the variations, I have rotated one skein from each pair, and twisted both skeins to show off all the colors available on each skein of a pair.

These are all Phydlbitz Sock, which are normally $27.50 apiece, but for Saturday and Sunday you can have any two or more, matching or not, for just $25.00 each.

To claim the ones you want just send me an email with your numbered item requests.  I’ll mark them off the Available Yarns tally chart above and then send your PayPal invoice.  Even if you don’t have a PayPal account, they will process your credit/debit card for me and let me know your invoice is paid.

I expect to have these all processed and ready to ship on or about Wednesday.

Happy Saturday!

What a blistering summer it has been, and we’re not even half done with it.  I hope all y’all are finding ways to keep cool and avoiding the perils of overheating.  I normally do my exercise walks early in the morning, and it is still obnoxiously hot here in Houston.  I didn’t get to the dyeing until after 7:00 last night, which is unusual for me, but it was just too dang-blang hot to work yesterday.

There are far too many multi-color yarns still available on the Blog Reader Specials page, so I thought I’d try again for compatible and/or contrasting solids, aiming for mostly darks and as fully saturated as I could make them.  Some of these are not as fully and evenly colored as I’d like, but  I am mostly happy with how these turned out, and I’m confident when combined with a multi-color yarn, the solids will contrast just fine as they are.

Most of the colors are self-evident, and most were dyed with single mix dyes, rather than combined.    Twinset #568-569 is a dark charcoal gray; #572-573 is a sort of taupe; #590-591 is a mostly gray with hints of a greenish-gray undertone; #580-581 is a combination of all the remaining dyes at the end of the night.

These are all  Phydlbitz Sock (75/25 Superwash Corriedale/Nylon, 430 yards), normally $27.50 but for Saturday and Sunday, you may select any two more more (matching or not) for $25.50 each.  And for this weekend, if you take any two or more from this new collection (BRS24 – #568 – 591) you can also select any previously posted yarn on the Blog Reader Specials page for the same discounted price.

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

I expect to have these all processed and ready to ship on or about Wednesday.

Available Yarns: 
Rack 1 – 568, 569, 570, 571, 572, 573, 574, 575, 576, 577, 578, 579
Rack 2 – 580, 581, 582, 583, 584, 585, 586, 587, 588, 589, 590, 591

Happy Saturday!

It is another full day of rain, with more forecast over the next few days, so I’m not even going to try to do.  I will likely try to dye on Wednesday or Thursday.   And this is timely, because once again it is time for a Last Weekend of the Month sale!

This is the best time to stock up on yarns for your winter holiday gifts — socks, scarves, shawls, cowls, and all the rest of projects you can make for your friends and loved ones.

Here is a group shot of all the yarns I posted to the Blog Reader Specials page.  (All the ones claimed were shipped out on Thursday.)

Everything posted on the BRS page will be invoice at 15% off on Saturday and Sunday.  Just make your requests by email, same as normal, and I will take your End-of-July deduction on the invoice.

I expect to have all orders from this weekend packed and shipping on Tuesday.

And just for fun, here’s a shot of BigBoy using my slippered foot as a pillow for his rainy dreary nap.  🙂  We’re both being a bit lazy to match the weather’s energy

Happy Saturday!

I hope this finds you well.  It appears the post office is starting to get their systems back online (see previous posts about package tracking).  I just checked the tracking for a package I sent out on Thursday, a Priority flat-rate shipping box.

It shows a label was created here in Houston on the 13th. Suddenly it is up in Antioch, TN, and then it shows up back here in Missouri City, TX, and will then move on to its destination up in the Pacific Northwest.   For reference, Missouri City is sort of west southwest of downtown Houston, about the same distance west as I am east of downtown.  It is one of the main sorting and distribution hubs in my area.  I don’t understand why this package had to travel to Tennessee just to come back here, but I am happy to know things are once again getting tracked.

Anyway, back to the real reason you’re reading here — Yarns!

After considering all the yarns I’ve dyed still waiting to be adopted on the Blog Reader Specials page, I decided to do mostly darks and solids this week to encourage mixing and matching for those who like doing colorwork and contrasts.

All of these are done with multiple colors.  One Twinset in particular, #554-555,  is a true DumpDye done at the end of last night’s dye session.  I took the leftover portions of all nine colors I used (but not the black) and stirred them all together for a dip-dye.  When it came out wet it looks like a very dark-dark forest green, but now that’s been rinsed and spun out in the washer, I can see hints of all the colors.  It is fascinating to me how even mixing the colors in a bowl so it looks fully blended, the dyes strike the yarn to reveal a wonderful array of color.  Dye molecules are, of course, different sizes at the molecular level and so will strike the yarn in interesting ways.

All of these are Phydlbitz Sock and are normally $27.50, but for Saturday and Sunday you can claim any two or more of your choice (matching or not) for just $25.50 each.    And, when you claim any two or more of this week’s collection (#544 – 567), you can take any number of yarns from the BRS page at the same discounted price.

To claim the ones you want just send me an email with your requests, and I will mark them off the Available Yarns chart below and send you an invoice.

I expect to have these all dried, reskeined, and ready to ship on or about Wednesday.

Available Yarns: 
Rack 1 – 544, 545, 546, 547, 548, 549, 550, 551, 552, 553, 554, 555
Rack 2 – 556, 557, 558, 559, 560, 561, 562, 563, 564, 565, 566, 567

Okay, I have just posted the unclaimed yarns from the most recent collection of Blog Reader Specials!
Many of these will work amazingly well when used as contrasted sets. For Thursday and Friday, if you take any THREE UNmatched skeins I will let you have them for $70 for the three skeins. It is VERY OKAY to split up an existing Twinset, or select from any of the available single skeins. 🙂
https://knitivity.com/index.php/blog-reader-specials/

Happy Saturday all around!

As most folks may have heard, we had a hurricane come through on Monday.  I was without electricity from around 5:00 a.m. until late afternoon on Monday.  CenterPoint Energy is hoping to restore power to at least 80% of the Houston metro area by tomorrow — a whole week into this recovery!  I am thankful I got electricity back early this time, yet sad so many others are still without, including three of my children who live in the great metro area, one of whom also has solar panels and battery back-ups which for some reason also failed him.

Even though I do have power and water, it has been nearly impossible to order groceries or meals delivered.  I tried to order groceries on Wednesday, and the Instacart system tried to schedule me for delivery on Monday.   And (more relevant to my Knitivity customers) the mail systems were impacted, with packages and mail being delayed.  I have four yarn packages for which I put in a package pick-up request for Thursday, and the packages are still here.  I will try again on Monday.

I’m not a fan of Big Storms.  I had hoped Beryl would have remained aiming more toward the Texas-Mexico border area, but it turned almost directly toward Houston, mostly on the west side which put me quite firmly on the “dirty” side of the storm.  It is called the dirty side because it is where most of the winds and torrential rains occur.  It was just me and BigBoy in the trailer, and the noise was absolutely terrifying to me, with the trees whipping around beating the trailer, dropping branches and debris on the roof and all around, and generally creating an unpleasant time for me.  As we are always reminded in these storms, it’s not so much how the wind blows but what the wind blows.  I had my patio chairs and outdoor trash bins stacked and wedged next to the steps behind the porch.  The neighbors on the other side of the property had loads of stuff blown about, making the whole yard look like a disaster.

Anyway, the storm has passed, the yard mostly cleared, and I decided to dye some yarns last night, failing to realize today was forecast to have rain all day.  I prefer not to try photographing yarns in the yarn, but was able to catch a brief pause in the rain this morning and got a couple good pictures.

All of these are Phydlbitz Sock, dyed as Twinsets.  I didn’t have a particular theme in mind, but several came out looking like something from the Dark Forest (in a hauntingly pleasing way, of course) and others are a delightful mix of garden nursery displays. Or perhaps a children’s nursery.  Very lovely either way, in my opinion.   Several of the multi-color Twinsets would look terrific being knit in high-contrast vertical or diagonal stripes.

Twinset #540-541 is solid navy, but the rest are a variety of dye application techniques with multiple dyes on each Twinset.   I started Twinset #536-537 with a dipped brown, but for some reason my brown came up as a dark slate gray, so I topped that twinset with some gold ochre and sun yellow.

Phydlbitz Sock is normally $27.50 each skein, but when you claim any two or more of this new collection (BRS24 – #520 – 543) matching or not you may have them at $25.50 apiece on Saturday and Sunday.

To claim the ones you want just send me an email with your numbered requests. I’ll mark your requests off the Available Yarns tally chart shown below and then send you a PayPal invoice, which you can pay with a credit or debit card even if you don’t have a PayPal account.  If you are outside the U.S. please let me know so I can calculate your shipping costs.

Due to wet weather, it may take an extra day or two for this week’s yarns to dry and get reskeined and ready to ship.  Even so I hope to have these all ready to ship on or about Wednesday or Thursday.

Speaking of shipping costs, I noticed last week that all rates were increased on July 1, both domestic and international, so shipping will cost a little more.

Available Yarns
Rack 1 – 520, 521, 522, 523, 524, 525, 526, 527, 528, 529, 530, 531
Rack 2 – 532, 533, 534, 535, 536, 537, 538, 539, 540, 541, 542, 543

If you’ve been following the news you may have noticed Tropical Storm Beryl is coming to Houston tonight or tomorrow.  At one point it was a category 3 or 4 major hurricane out in the Caribbean, then it went over the Yucatan Peninsula and was downgraded to a Tropical Storm.  It is forecast to increase to a category 1 hurricane as it crosses the Gulf of Mexico before slamming into the Texas coast just southwest from Houston.  Far too close for comfort.

I knew the storm was coming, but hoped it would still take a more westerly route instead of arcing northward.   I also knew I had more Phydlbitz Sock yarns coming (they arrived yesterday afternoon, btw) but I didn’t want to be dyeing during a storm.  So I finally collected all the once-posted Phydlbitz Sock yarns that weren’t re-uploaded with the big Website Disaster a couple months ago.  Shown below are those  yarns, which I laid out and sorted for reposting.

I would really love to see these and all the other yarns on the Blog Reader Specials page to be adopted to find new homes and new projects.   So, for now, through Tuesday, everything on the BRS page will be invoiced at 20% off.

I am hoping we will not lose power this time, but I am able to edit the BRS page as claims are made, prepare invoices, and do most of what I need to do at this end, thanks to my new phone and better access.  But if the power is out I can’t print packing slips or shipping labels — my phone is not connected to my printer.  I hope to pack and ship all requests by Thursday.   I will, of course, update here on this page as well as on Facebook any status updates that may be needed, in case power does go out.

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.   🙂