Created By Artsygal

Just about half of the colourways I put up in the shop today! I've been having fun with this stuff.. can you tell?

There was a point where I thought this was a lot of naked yarn for me to have in my possession.

Then.. that became a small amount compared to this.

Of course, all that pales in comparison to this.

As recently as last month I posted this.

I spent this week reorganizing my undyed yarn stash. Here's how it looks right now.

It would be more helpful if I'd put the labels for each tote on the side that is facing outwards, but originally I'd had them all with short side out - only to decide AFTER labelling that side that I wanted them the other way so I could put my printer on the top of the dresser behind them. All but 2 contain yarn. One contains merino roving, and the other contains shipping supplies. Oh, and there's a 22 lb box of roving in my bedroom currently functioning as a nightstand. It's getting a little crazy in here! I do love the fact that I can keep each type of yarn separated in its own tote though.. no more looking at skeins of white yarn trying to remember if it is bamboo/merino/nylon or merino/tencel.. There's been a few times where I've dyed up what I thought was 4 skeins of one type of yarn only to discover that one of them is a completely different base yarn!

After all that nekkidness, I have to counter it by showing you some dyed up yarn. Here's a couple of my favorites from my current shop inventory.

Yeah.. it's been one of THOSE sort of days. I looked away from the skeiner for just a moment and this is what happened. This being the third reskeining tangle of the day, I'm calling it quits for now. Fortunately I'm pretty much done. Here's just a few of the ones where I didn't mess up.

He left me 2 boxes by the front door today. Look what was inside.

15 kilos (or 33 lbs) of my 3 ply merino base yarn. For those of you doing the math, that's 150 skeins worth. Of course, before I can start to dye it, I need to skein it up.

Wheeeee.. round and round it goes! This is what I have fill up.

As you can see, I'm not leaving this room for quite a while! If you haven't heard from me by Sunday, send help (and chocolate!)

Oh.. and stop by SonnyandShear.com if you get a chance. I shipped them a box of yarn recently and it just went online!

I've been teasing all of you for a while now with pictures of kinky yarn, and partially knit socks in stripey gradient colours. It's time for the reveal!

Some time ago I posted this image on ravelry in the Artsy Addicts group.

Here's how that little toe turned out!

Nothing too fancy - just a basic toe up sock, knit till I ran out of yarn - quite literally.

From top left, going clockwise -

• How much yarn I had left when I finished these socks. I couldn't have knit a single round more on them!
• Pretty toes - knit using Judy's magic cast on. I love the way these look!
• Calf shaping. Notice how the left and right aren't quite symmetrical? The right side is actually the front of the leg, while the left side is the back. These socks fit like a second skin. I don't know about you, but the front and back of my shapely calves aren't identical, so I don't think that the shaping on them should be either. I'll write an explanation of how I shaped these if anyone is interested.
• Short row heels - I finally figured out how to turn a heel with no holes! I've tried every tutorial I can find, and this heel is a hybridrization of several of them. I won't knit a short row heel any other way now!

Over all, I'm quite happy with these socks. I dyed the yarn up for myself on a whim while I was testing out a new base, and when I posted pictures of them on Ravelry the response was an overwhelming 'Where can I get this yarn NOW!?' Good news - you can now get it in my shop! There aren't many though... I'll be doing just a few skeins of this yarn once in a while, so get yours before they're gone!

Also in the shop today is some new roving. It's been a long time since I dyed any roving and I'd almost forgotten how much I enjoyed it! These are all kettle dyed and the colours go all over the place. It's hard to resist the urge to keep them all for myself!

Yup, it happened again - I took pretty pictures of yarn, planned on blogging on Friday, and the day just got away from me. Where does the time go? In my defense though, I was busy dyeing up lots of yarn and roving in preparation for next Friday's shop update. In fact, the pictures I took were of some yarn that are going to be included.

Last week I introduced a new yarn base to my shop - my 3 ply merino that up till now only sock club members have seen. Next week I have some more of that yarn, but in a completly new product! Can you tell what it is?

Here's a little hint Yup, it's finally here! There won't be that many of them though - they're fairly labor intensive to make so I'll be doing them in very small batches here and there. Plus, I'm tempted to keep every single skein of it. Each skein is unique and I want so much to knit it up and see how it turns out! But I'll be good and share... probably.

It's Friday! And since I'm in a blogging mood, that means it's YPF, right? Today I bring you a brand new yarn. It's so new that I just added it to my site this morning as a matter of fact!

Yarn: Artsygal 3Ply Merino in Raspberry Truffles
Fiber: 100% Superwash Merino
Yardage: 470 (!) yarns
Weight: 3.5 oz (100 grams)

Yes, it really is as squishy as it looks. And that yardage is crazy! I knit a pair of socks out of it for myself, deciding to go toe up and keep knitting until I ran out. They sit right below my knees, believe it or not! I love how this yarn soaks up the colours and am having lots of fun dying it up in all sorts of different ways. Want to see a couple more colours?

See even more colours in the shop: http://shop.artsygal.net - there are also lots of new colours in all the other base yarns too! And sock club has some openings too! Lots of them as a matter of fact since I'm expanding the number of memberships each month!

Oh.. and in a totally unrelated to yarn photo...

Precious would like her belly rubbed now please. She's my roommate's cat (who is not allowed anywhere near the rooms that the yarn is in!) who has decided that I'm not dangerous and she no longer has to run away each time I enter the room. Nope.. instead she just plops herself down by my chair and demands a belly rub. And even though I insist I'm not much of a cat person, I find myself scratching that belly for her. Go figure.

It's true, I'm moving! Bright and early tomorrow morning me and that car are headed towards California! It's going to be a long 5 days to get there, but I've got lots and LOTS of knitting and great company to keep me entertained. It should be a blast!

And once I'm there.. I'll actually have the time to start blogging again regularly!

I spent much of the last week and a half feeling utterly miserable with that plague that's been making the rounds. This also means I spent much of that time hopped up on all sorts of cough meds and sinus meds, and god only knows what else. You'd think that with that, I'd know better than to attempt to skein yarn. Especially using an electric skeiner that moves pretty damn fast. But no, I *HAD* to get some skeining done.

Which means this weekend, I spend a good amount of time dealing with this mess.

(The colours of the yarn have been disguised since this is a sock club skein)

Looks like fun doesn't it? That's as far as I got after about an hour. I'm sure there are many more hours to go before it will be done. It's hard not to shove it all in a bag and shove it all under the couch where it can be forgotten until some day far in the future it surfaces due to furniture being moved around. But.. it's such a lovely colourway that I really do want to knit it up!

Send courage!

Yes.. yes.. I know. It's been months and months and months since I last posted. And there has been knitting, and spinning and dyeing galore in that time. I'll catch up on all that later. Maybe. But for today I need to share something.

A little over a year ago I posted this picture:

My first outgoing shipment of hand dyed yarn ever. Today I had another first.

There's this box:

Now who could possibly be buying THAT much yarn at once? 4 skeins each of 7 different colours? Why.. it must be someone who wants to sell them, right?

SQUEEEEEEEEE!! Yes.. coming soon, my yarns will be available on the Yarn4socks.com website! They had contacted me right after my very first batch of sock yarns I had listed, asking if I were open for wholesale. At that time I wasn't, but when the time arrived they were right there ready to place an order! I am so excited about this! I can't wait to see my yarns listed on their site!