Before we moved to Singapore, I remember going through my shop stock and putting some aside so that I could continue the trade after Eva was born. But things got sidetracked (a lot, I’d say) when she came. Suddenly I was not just swamped with running errands and housechores but tackling a newborn and later an infant. Despite my crazy schedule and breastfeeding, I wasn’t on a quick weight loss diet at all.

So my undyed fiber and yarns sat in its box, waiting to be unpacked. Until today…

I finally got my arse moving and spent some time sorting the store stash before deciding on dyeing up about 900gms of undyed superwash merino. It was a little tough trying to get started, especially with the colour combinations and mixtures but once that was settled, I discovered that dyeing can be quite fun although time-consuming and utterly tiring. It made me feel like a little kid again, playing with all those colours and imagining things again after months of routine and schedules with a child.

As the fibers sit on the clothes dryer, water dripping from its dyed ends, I’m awfully tempted to open up my handdyed fiber and yarn store again. But that’s just the keyword “awfully tempted”. I don’t know if I’ll have the stamina to do this regularly once I start work. Hm. We’ll see how it goes.

In the meantime, I’m happy – my dyeing mojo is back!!!

These just arrived and while I’m so so so very tempted to start on the 2nd one from Squoosh, I’m wondering if I should work on the ones that have been part of my stash for a while already.

Yes, I have just finished spinning up my current WIP and will get started on plying it tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll be done with it by Friday since we’re leaving for Lyon to spend Easter with Nil’s parents. When we get back, it’ll be up for sale.

Didn’t you know? I have a job and it’s running my shop.

In a nutshell, there are all sorts of wool fibres in there (Gotland, Falkland, Corriedale, Merino, etc), blends like merino/bamboo, merino/seacell, BFL/cashmere, Shetland/silk and then lovely soft stuff like alpaca. To find out more about them, click on the pictures and check out the notes!

And like Nil said, this isn’t junk…it’s money and I’m not kidding.

Despite the snow, I thought it best to whip up the camera and snap some pictures anyway. The keyword, if you will ignore the mention of snow, is SOME.

Yes, my fiber stash is overflowing and right now, it’s for a good reason. But rest assured that unlike my knitting, I spin up stuff relatively quickly.

I thought this blog might be in need of some colour-related cheerfulness. Over the course of a few weeks, I’ve caved and purchased OR handdyed some fibers to spin up for either keeps or the shop. So my fiber stash has grown somewhat considerably, even more than the stock for the shop, dare I say. What’s worse is that I haven’t had the time to photograph them all. ARGH!

On the list of To-Take-A-Snapshot are…

• Romney in Creme Brulee (8 oz) from ironjohn04
• Seawool in Delight (4 oz) from Dyeing For Colour
• Seawool in Scottish Heather (4 oz) from Dyeing For Colour
• Seawool in SR25 (8 oz) from Creatively Dyed
• 60/40 Merino-Bamboo in Evening Shade (4 oz) (FatCatKnits) from a trade on Rav
• 50/50 Merino-Tencel in Green Tea (4 oz) (Pigeon Roof Studios) from a trade on Rav

Of course, I shouldn’t forget the fibers that are supposed to be on their way or will be on their way over the next few months!

On the list of Items-To-Be-Received are…

• A fiber club installment of 4 oz of merino-silk from JulieSpins
• Next year’s 3-month fiber club installment from Ewe Give Me The Knits!

There is a perfectly good explanation for this stash enhancement…

Unfortunately, I can’t say it. You’ll find out soon enough.

More to come…really…just one more!

It was an unexpected purchase really, but since I was branching out into items for the store, I thought why not. You may think it’s strange purchasing items that I could easily dye up for myself but don’t be surprised. Sometimes dyers themselves buy from others…especially when it comes to blends which are hard to come by in this part of the world/Europe. So for your viewing pleasure, may I present some fibrey goodness…which soon will be turned into handspun yarn for the shop.

And oh, another gift that came by my way involves some Swiss/French keys, Vista and a very yummy function. Nil got me this simply because I was hogging his PC for far too long. The timing is right, really. With the shop and all, I am now able to update as and when I like without interfering in his online activities. And of course, I have no excuse when it comes to churning out my wedding dinner album, which is still in the works. Time to kick my own butt, really.

And oh, there is the matter of some gift baskets or such lying around…I ought to take a snapshot of that. When the next gift(s) arrives, you can bet that I’ll blog about it!

Yes, I plan to spin these up into yarn so keep your eyes peeled out for more goodies!

Pastel Spring I
Fibre | New Merino Wool
Weight | 50 gms
Dye Type | Wiltons
Colours | Brown, Juniper Green (*) + Black, Moss Green + Kelly Green, Ivory + Buttercup Yellow

Pastel Spring II
Fibre | New Merino Wool
Weight | 50 gms
Dye Type | Wiltons
Colours | Brown, Juniper Green (*) + Black, Moss Green + Kelly Green (*), Ivory + Buttercup Yellow (*)

(*) denotes dominant colour

This time, I used less dye and soaked it for about 45 minutes to an hour in 300 ml of vinegar and half a bucket of water (approximately 6 litres). I’m planning to spin and then ply this up, hence the very subtle difference in colour intensity. Yes, I’m still experimenting with the amount of dye and the level of colour intensity.

Still, I like the pastel soft hues. I’m hoping to get more fibre soon (but mostly wools) to concentrate on these little dyeing experiments. With any luck, I think I’ll end up with more fibre than yarn for the special project!

Y’know, sometimes I wonder why I get assignments like this – auto insurance online quote. I don’t even own a car!!!!

Blue Fire
Fibre | Corriedale
Weight | 35 gms
Dye Type | Wiltons
Colours | Creamy Peach, Delphinium Blue (*) + Royal Blue, and Pink + Aster Mauve (*)

Summer into Autumn
Fibre | New Merino Wool
Weight | 100 gms
Dye Type | Wiltons
Colours | No Taste Red + Burgundy, Brown + Black (*), Ivory, Golden Yellow, and Pink + Aster Mauve (*)

(*) denotes dominant colour

When I first took Summer into Autumn out of the pot, I was a little disappointed with how the colours ran/stuck onto the fibres. I’d blame it on me wanting to braid the roving first before the whole dyeing process. Later, as I was separating the braid to split the roving into two – 50/50 grams – I found that the colour combination and appearance wasn’t all that bad. The white adds a nice touch to it and looking at the colours reminds me of flowers, and autumn leaves – hence the name.

Blue Fire was a good one right from the start. The colours are, honestly, a little on the bright side for me but I like them! They remind me so much of shimmering jewels and fire. It’s just sad that I didn’t have at least 50 gms of roving for this. It would have been great to spin up some laceweight and knit a lacey scarf with this or use this for a special weaving project.

Still, I think this is a wonderful craft; heaps of surprises at every turn! Now, I’m looking forward to spinning up these little babies. Pity I just have two spindles.

Just to side-track, in terms of fitness equipment, I wonder if Nil would want to bring his exercise bike over to Switzerland…