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

Tuesday through Friday (Sept 10 -13) when you claim any matching Twinset at the regular price, you can claim another skein of equal or lesser value at 50% off.  You can even split up a Twinset to get your third skein.  So, if you claim two Twinsets, you can select any two other skeins at 50% off; claim four Twinsets at regular price, you can get four more individual skeins for 50% off.

Just email me your selections and I will calculate your invoice accordingly.

These are the most recently added yarns onto the Blog Reader Specials page, but there are many more yarns to choose from there.

Happy Saturday!

I had a marvelous time playing with color in last night’s dye session.  As always, I only had a vague idea of what I wanted to try this week, but I pulled out some dyes I don’t normally use, including a couple of the new fluorescent/neon type dyes I got recently.

Every Twinset dyed this week is a combination of at least two dyes, but most have three or more.  Twinset #655-656 is the only wet-on-dry splattered technique with sky blue, navy, and a couple other blues.  Putting wet dye on (nearly) dry yarn leaves lots of white space all along the strand.

Normally my sequence is to put all the yarns into a pre-dye soaker solution with a surfactant that helps remove any oils from the yarn-spinning process at the mill.  Oils left on the yarn sometimes act as a resist so that dyes don’t strike well.  Nearly all dyers do some sort of process to remove those oils.  The pre-dye soak also opens up the fibers better.  Then I put the yarn into the spin cycle in the washing machine to remove as much of the pre-dye soak solution; this is the part where the yarn comes out “dry,”  but fluffed up a bit.

Then I re-soak each Twinset individually in a warm bath to re-wet it so that the wet dye is better able to wick along the fibers, whichever technique I use for applying the dye.

Often when I dye I use up little remainders of dyes into what I call DumpDyes — combining all the leftover dye into a single blended color; I do this when there is not enough leftover dye worth saving, but still a little more than I want to just pour out.  It’s a way to create totally one-of-a-kind solids that cannot be repeated.  This week we have two DumpDyes:  Twinset #659-660 is a mix of magenta, fluorescent red, espresso bean, Teddy Bear Brown, and a couple others; Twinset #671-672 is a mix of all the blues that I had used last night.

Many of this week’s collection will knit up into fabulous Fraternal Twin socks; i.e., they will clearly have matching colors, but the colors will not sprinkle or spread exactly the same on each sock.  When using Twinsets for larger-than-socks projects (shawls, scarves, baby blankets, etc.)  it is recommended that you ball up both yarns and then alternate between the balls every two or four rows.

If you need more than two skeins in a coordinated set of matching colors, feel free to request it as a custom dye job.  Likewise, if you need a yarn other than Phydlbitz Sock, I can access most standard yarn bases that I don’t keep in stock.  Just let me know what type of yarn you want, how many, what color(s), and how soon you need it.

All the yarns this week are Phydlbitz Sock (75/25 Superwash Corriedale/Nylon, 430 yards) and were dyed as Twinsets.

Normally, Phydlbitz Sock is sold individually at $27.50, but for Saturday and Sunday (Sep 7-8) you can take any two or more skeins at Preview Pricing for $25.50 each.   For this weekend’s Preview Pricing these can be a matching Twinset or any non-matching skeins.

To claim the ones you want, just send me an email with your selections, I will mark them off the Available Yarns tally chart below.  This helps others see what has already been taken at the time of their visit.

I expect to have this week’s yarns prepared for shipping on or about Wednesday.

Available Yarns: 
Rack 1 – 649, 650, 651, 652, 653, 654, 655, 656, 657, 658, 659, 660
Rack 2 – 661, 662, 663, 664, 665, 666, 667, 668, 669, 670, 671, 672

Starting a new month!

I put in an order for new yarn on Wednesday.  Normally when I order on a Wednesday, my supplier is able to get yarns to me on Saturday.   I’ve checked my tracking number and UPS tells me it is scheduled for delivery on Wednesday coming.  YIKES!  That’s a long time for me to be without my regular yarns.

But nevermind — I found six undyed skeins of BFL sport (~330 yards) that I had prepared several years ago with yarn from a supplier no longer in business.   Some were dip-dyed as solids, others were dry-on-wet dyed (dry dye powder on acid-wet yarns).   As expected, the dry-on-wet dyes migrated around in the steamer after I’d sealed the pouches.  This always creates wonderful surprises, especially when I spread different dye colors around the yarns and allow those colors to mix in unexpected ways.

BRS24 – #645 and 648 were both dip-dyed in a mix of navy and purple mixed, but then topped with a bit of navy scattered randomly.  Then #643 was dip-dyed in the run off from 645 and 648 combined; #647 is a dry-on-wet with yellow and brown randomly laid, and the run off became the dip-dye base for #644, over which I sprinkled both red and pumpkin orange.  Personally, I think #644 and 647 will look amazing as two-tone stripes in a basic scarf or cowl.

Because my yarn supply is short this week I’m going to combine this week’s Preview Pricing with a deal on previously posted Blog Reader Specials.

BRS24 – #643 – 648 are all BFL sport (~330 yards) and are $26.00 each.  For now through Thursday, all yarns will be invoiced at 15% discount.

To claim the ones you want, just send me an email with your selections, and be sure to check the Blog Reader Specials page as well to combine your discount.

Available Yarns:
643, 644, 645, 646,  647, 648

Usually once or twice a year, someone will share a picture of something they have created using Knitivity yarns.  I would very much like to be able to showcase customer projects, either as occasional Blog posts or a separate Customer Gallery, but definitely more than just once or twice a year.  If this is something you would like to see, please let me know.  I’ve been dyeing yarn 18 years now and have precious few customer photographs; I started officially on October 1, 2006, but I actually began several months before.

This is also a good time to remind that while I normally dye Twinsets, I can do custom jobs if you can tell me the yarn type you want, how much you need, and how soon you’ll need it.  I don’t keep a large inventory of assorted yarns but I can get most of the common yarn bases without too much problem.

I am looking forward to getting more yarn this week as I have some ideas for different ways to do things, if the weather cooperates.  And that’s all I’m going to say about that!  🙂

Short and sweet:   August 27 – 31 (Tuesday through Saturday) — Everything on the Blog Reader Specials page will be invoiced at 15% off.  No special codes, no limits how many you need to buy.  Just make your selections and email me with what you want.  Take four or more skeins and get free shipping inside the U.S.

Meanwhile, I will be futzing around trying to find or create a poncho-style design, using up some alpaca or alpaca-blend yarn I found in my workroom.  I have 7 skeins that I created a few (several?) years ago at around 4 ounces each, plus 3 big hanks at around 9 ounces each.  They’ve not been in protective bins with my for-sale BRS yarns.  I’m not sure the actual fiber content or yardage, so I’m not comfortable dyeing and selling it.  I personally dislike “mystery yarn”.