From Rock, to Lucky Penny and back again - a colour story.

Psst :: I reference the Etsy Update a lot in this post! If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out Tuesday's post here.

Some colourways just happen. Once in a blue moon I know exactly what I want, I make a plan, dye some yarn and everything comes out exactly as intended. More often, however, colourways are a tad more mysterious to me and kind of take on a life of their own. They start with an idea and end up wherever they are supposed to. Developing Club colourways can be difficult because I'm usually aiming for something very specific. Working on Etsy update colourways is a completely different ball game. There is so much freedom, nothing is planned, we just experiment as much as we want to and are always surprised and *usually* are thrilled with the results. 

Every colourway has a story. I thought it would be fun to start sharing some with you here.

ROCK version 1.0

Back in November 2012 we came up with a lovely, soft colourway that I called Rock. It had a little bit of grey, some beige, soft turquoise that in some places overlapped with a light mustardy yellow colourway making green spots too. I loved it. The batch we dyed had one flawed skein, which I was happy about because it meant that I could keep it!

Just a bit more saturated = LUCKY PENNY!

I loved the colourway so much that the next time we were playing around for an Etsy update I tried to recreate it. I was a little more heavy handed this time and the results were not what I was expecting. More saturated, more turquoise... more fabulous! That's how a not-quite-right Rock became one of my favourite colourways ever: Lucky Penny. 

ROCK version 2.0

Fast forward over a year later and I still had that skein of flawed Rock sitting in my stash. I still loved the soft colour and decided to use it to cast on for a new sock design that had been brewing. After having spent a bit of time with it, I was re-committed to giving it another shot in the studio. Knowing that we went too saturated the first time we tried to recreate it, we used our Lucky penny recipe as a starting point, then paired it down, made a few changes and came up with a brand new version of my lovely Rock. Looking at these photos it looks like Rock has come a long way from it's original lighter-Lucky Penny self, but in person the two versions were actually very close, our new Rock is just a bit more grey, which I love - I've never met a nuanced grey that I didn't like!

Smokestack Socks - pattern coming soon!

So there you have it! Rock inspired Lucky Penny and then Lucky Penny was the key to cracking the code to a softer, subtler Rock. It's a very complex colourway, difficult to photograph (aren't they all!) It's sometimes grey, sometimes beige, sometimes green, but always lovely. I've finished up the socks I was knitting with my skein. The Smokestack Sock pattern will be available within the next week or two. If you'd like to knit yourself a pair in Rock just like the sample, Friday is your chance to nab a skein!

A different kind of Etsy Update

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7th FROM 8am - 8pm EST

LINK TO SHOP

Shop will appear empty until exactly 8am (EST) on Friday at which point the yarns will be listed.

We are very excited to be trying something a little different for this Etsy Update. We have chosen 6 colourways and will be dyeing to order. This allows us to offer these 6 colourways pictured in large quantities in the following bases:

Green Label Aran Weight
100% superwash merino
115g (4oz) = 187m (205yds)

Purple Label Cashmere Sock
70% superwash merino, 20% cashmere, 10% nylon
115g (4oz) = 365m (400yds)

*New* Amber Label Cashmere/Silk DK Weight
75% superwash merino, 15% cashmere, 10% silk
115g (4oz) = 242m (270 yds)
Edited to add: this base will be listed at $32 a skein, just like it's big brother - Orange Label!

These yarns will go live in my Etsy Shop at 8am (EST)and will be available for 12 hours only or while quantities last. I really hope to have some available for a good part of the day. However I'd definitely recommend checking in early in the day if you have your heart set on something specific. I have allotted a certain number of skeins for each base. I'll start out the day with an even number of each colourway but am reserving the right to redistribute yarn availabilities as I see fit throughout the day.  For example, if one colourway sells out in Green Label very early on and I've got another colourway that isn't moving, I will borrow some from the less active colourway to add stock to the sold out colourway.

I am pretty crazy about all 6 of these colourways. Right this moment I'm staring at a skein of Aurora on my desk and I'm thinking that it just might be the best colourway that we've ever dyed. I love it. I'm also very happy to be able to offer a new base in this update. A very luxurious DK weight, merino/cashmere/silk blend that would knit up beautifully in any use; sweaters, shawls, accessories, this yarn takes the dye beautifully and I think you'll love it.

Since we will be dyeing to order for this update please allow 2-4 weeks for shipping and 4-6 weeks for delivery.

Holiday Haze

Painting Jeans - one of the most requested colourways from our latest Etsy Update. We only had one batch of this colourway in Purple Label Cashmere Sock yarn available and it went quickly, I've added it to the list of colourways to try and reproduce in other bases for the next update! Thanks so much to everyone who stole a moment from their holidays to pop by the shop and grab some goodies! We are working furiously this week to get all your orders shipped. I am completely humbled and overwhelmed by your continued support of our dyeing experiments. Chris and I feel so incredibly lucky to have such wonderful customers who get as excited about our dyeing experiments as we do!

Our holidays were fantastic and went by in a blur as usual. We spent every day with family and just soaked in festive cheer. The holidays were made extra fun by the presence of two adorable babes, Rowan and his cousin Annika. The kids certainly add to the whole magical family holiday experience. Contrary to my usual style, I actually took a whole bunch of photos this past week. Too many to sort through this morning, but here is one that I think really captures our holiday experience. I call this shot: "Babies in brand new Christmas Eve pj's smiling and laughing with Aunt Lilia and Uncle Vince!" 

Boxing Day Etsy Update - Preview the yarns!

Here they are! All of the yarns that will be featured in the huge Etsy Update happening on December 26th at 12:30pm EST. Some of these collages seem to be showing up a bit foggy... I spent all morning working on them, so forgive me for just leaving them as is, the yarn shots will be crystal clear on the Etsy site! 

This time we've repeated several fan favourites (Tartan, Canyon, Stained Glass) and have also made an effort to represent lots of my personal favourite colourways in several different bases, so hopefully if you spot a colourway that you can't live without, chances are you'll be able to nab a skein in one weight or another. We have quite a few of each of these colourways, so fingers crossed that there won't be too much chaos at checkout. But, just in case, here are a few tips for you:

1) Be sure that you've set up your Etsy account/Paypal account ahead of time, be logged in, have the right shipping address and credit card info entered so adding items to your cart and checking out will be as quick as possible. 

2) Don't worry about placing multiple orders, I am happy to combine shipping. If you see a skein or two that you know you want, just buy them! Then you can peruse the site at your leisure and if after a bit of browsing you've found a few more things that you'd like feel free to place a separate order. Upon processing the orders I always check to see if multiple orders were placed and will issue a refund for the overcharge in shipping. However, BONUS! For this update I'll be charging a flat $1 shipping per skein, so no matter how many orders you place, you won't be overcharged. 

3) Remember that cart jacking is bound to happen and try to keep a sense of humour about it! There will be more Etsy updates in the future and you'll have plenty more chances to grab One Of A Kinds. I'm trying to make little changes to my system in order to keep frustrations and disappointments to a minimum, but to be honest, at this point I'd rather cart jacking then overselling! At least with the Etsy format we can be certain that if paypal takes your money, the yarn is yours! 

Enjoy this little preview, and please feel free to let me know which are your favourites so I can start making notes about what we should be working towards next!

BLUE LABEL FINGERING WEIGHT


PURPLE LABEL CASHMERE SOCK

RED LABEL CASHMERE/SILK SINGLE

COSMIC BLUE LABEL FINGERING WEIGHT

75/25 MERINO SILK FINGERING WEIGHT

GREEN LABEL ARAN WEIGHT 

ORANGE LABEL CASHMERE/SILK WORSTED WEIGHT

YELLOW LABEL DK WEIGHT

Etsy Update - preview #1

The big Boxing Day Etsy update will be on December 26th at 12:30pm Eastern Standard Time. This will be our biggest update ever! Hopefully we've prepared plenty of stock for you, so there should be something for everyone. We've tried to dye larger batches of each colourway. Rather than having just a few skeins of each we've got 10-20 of lots of colours. 

I am doing my best to get all of our One Of A Kind gems photographed and ready for a preview (like I did here). But we plan to create up until the very last minute, so there may be some surprises that I'm not able to preview for you in time. 

Today I'm sharing the kits! Yup, we've put together a bunch of One Of A Kind kits for this update. There will be Snowfling Mitten kits in the following colourways (the colourway on the right in every shot is the cashmere lining):

TARTAN/NATURAL + FRESH SPRINGS

MIDNIGHT/NATURAL + ORANGE BLOSSOM

LUCKY PENNY/NATURAL + BUTTERCUP

IRIS/NATURAL + HOT TODDY

CHARCOAL/NATURAL + POPPY

Though I love all of these combo's, I think that my favorite might be the black, white and red pairing. So classy. 

We've also got two custom Palettes:

The Nursery Palette (inspired by Rowan's nursery and seen here knit into a blanket that I WILL be publishing soon!) And a perfect Grey Palette. I've been wanting to do a Grey Palette forever but was missing that one perfect shade. The Grey that falls between Stormy and Dove, the perfect shade of Slate. Not too light, not too dark, a gorgeous neutral. I'm smitten. 

Weekends are for dyeing one of a kinds!

There will be an epic Etsy Update, as big as we can manage, on Boxing Day. We are spending every spare second between now and then preparing for it! We may take a day or two off at Christmas ;)

Cosmic Etsy Update on Monday!

TFA's One Of A Kind Etsy shop will be jam packed with sparkly yarn goodness on Monday, October 14th at 12:00pm EST (noon Eastern Standard Time). We've dyed up this new base in many of our permanent collection colourways as well as several One Of A Kind's including the Tartan that I used for my Glitz at the Ritz shawl. There will also be a whole bunch of the coveted Stained Glass colourway dyed up in Red Label Cashmere Silk Single ply yarn. 

Here are the yarn new yarn details:

Cosmic Blue Label Fingering Weight Yarn:

84% Superwash Merino Wool, 16% Nylon Sparkle

115g. (4 oz.) = 365m. (400yds) Enough for one pair of socks for almost any size foot.

gauge: 8-10 stitches per inch on 2.25mm needles (US size 1)

Machine washable and dryable.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Etsy Update!

Big One Of A Kind Etsy Update on Tuesday, Sept. 3rd at 12 noon EST!!!

This might be a tad overwhelming, but I thought it might be neat to showcase almost all of the yarns that will be featured in Tuesday's big Etsy Update. This way you can get an idea ahead of time of what your favourites are and how to plan your shopping. I've got several skeins of most of these, the ones that are pictured as single skeins are just that, total o.o.a.k. single skeins, but most of them have between 6 and 9 skeins per colourway. 

BLUE LABEL FINGERING WEIGHT YARN

GREEN LABEL ARAN WEIGHT YARN:

ORANGE LABEL CASHMERE/SILK WORSTED WEIGHT YARN

PINK LABEL LACE WEIGHT YARN

RED LABEL CASHMERE/SILK SINGLE PLY YARN

YELLOW LABEL DK WEIGHT YARN

PURPLE LABEL CASHMERE SOCK YARN

See you on Tuesday!

Etsy Update

Wow, what a difference a year makes! On the left we have me in March 2012 modeling the Sencha Scarf. On the right we have me in March 2013 modeling the Strathcona Scarf. Two lovely, slinky scarves knit in the same 75/25 merino/silk base but too completely different models! I can't believe that my glorious pregnant belly phase is almost over. I doubt that I'll be that girl on the left any time soon (she's one skinny b*tch!) but the thought of not having this big belly that I've become so used to makes me a little sad. Don't get me wrong, I'm dying to meet our baby, but I've loved every second of being pregnant.

So, want to knit yourselves a slinky scarf too? I've got lots of merino/silk yarn going up in my One Of A Kind Etsy Shop tomorrow night, Sunday, March 24 at 6pm EST. There will be plenty of other goodies too. One last Etsy hurray before the baby comes!

Etsy Update tonight!

After way too long a dry spell the TFA One Of A Kind Etsy shop is officially re-opening for business tonight at 8pm EST with a beautiful selection of yarns and Thrummed Mitten Kits! 

Featured in tonight's update is: Green Label, Orange Label, Blue Label, Purple Label, Red Label and a few other special skeins all waiting to find their forever homes! There are several colourways in tonight's update that I would rather not part with... it's one of the toughest parts of my job.

Tour de Fleece

psst :: Etsy Update tonight at 7pm EST! Lotsa goodies!

Chris and I spent Saturday morning dyeing up a whole bunch of roving for tonight's Etsy Update (a few of my favourites from the day pictured above!) After having worked with the roving all morning I got myself pretty worked up about how much I love it! So I got out my spinning wheel and spent some quality time with it all weekend. Then I remembered that the Tour de France, and more importantly, the Tour de Fleece was coming up. After a quick google search I found out that it actually started on Saturday, the very day that a wave of spinning enthusiasm swept over me. I don't have any set goals for the Tour de Fleece, only to make a conscious effort to spin more than usual between now and July 22nd. I'll let you know how I do!  

Etsy Update!

There will be a pretty big Etsy Update tomorrow night, July 3rd, at 7pm EST. I'll be listing a whole lot of Blue, Purple and Red Label (maybe you want to pick something up for a special Stella Collection project!?) There will also be more of the March merino/silk Club base, some Orange Label and lots of amazing roving. Chris and I spent Saturday in the studio dyeing roving and we cranked out some real gems. Honestly, I might just keep them all for myself, so forget what I just said about lots of roving... there may only be a few braids left to spare! 

Above are a bunch of the Blue Label colourways in this update, and what I think is super cool is that they all started out as the same orange colour! I was experimenting with oranges, trying to get something earthy and pumpkiny, and I ended up with a few batches of not-quite-right orange. So I tossed them all into a few different colours (brighter orange, pink, blue and green) and got all those awesome layered shades. Isn't that so fun? 

In other news Kelly over at the lovely CelticCastOn blog is doing a review and a giveaway of the Stella Collection this week, so go check that out and leave a comment for your chance to win! 

Also, I've shared a knitting nightmare story in the most recent Never Not Knitting podcast. Go take a listen and find out how I made my cousin's life miserable by knitting for her baby! There's also a chance to win a few special skeins of yarn there too! So much excitement going on!

Etsy Shop Update Tomorrow!

Set the alarms on your cell phones! There will be an Etsy shop update tomorrow, Saturday June 2, at 12pm (that's noon!) Eastern Standard Time. This update will feature a bunch of almost everything, Green Label, Orange Label, Purple Label, Red Label, Blue Label a teensie bit of Pink Label and Yellow Label and a few batches of the March Club base, a gorgeous merino silk fingering weight blend dyed in One of a Kind colourways. Below are a few of my favorites from this update: 

Mmmmmm so pretty! Dyeing One of a Kind colourways makes me soooo happy.

People often say to me: "Tan, since you love the ooak's so much, why don't you just make them permanent colourways in your collection?" To that I say: very good question, here is the answer:

A) A lot of these colourways are not exactly reproducible. What makes them so awesome is that they are layered in such a way that I just couldn't achieve the same look in my production dyeing. Sometimes I'll try a combination of colours and it just doesn't work, so I mix up some more dye and throw in "a little bit of this and a little bit of that", I pour it on, swirl it around, take the yarn out, look at it in natural light and then put it back into something else until the colours come together to create something beautiful. By the time I'm finished I have no idea what I've done, I just know that the colourway is awesome and truly One of a Kind!

B) Hopefully some of these colourways will eventually make it to the permanent collection! It's a great way for me to experiment, think outside the box and try new things, if they work, and they fit in to my vision for the TFA colour collection, then there is a good chance they could. Or maybe become a future Club colourway...

For now, I'm very happy to just play around in my dye studio from time to time with complete reckless abandon, not worrying about writing things down or taking careful notes. It's dyeing at it's most fun, most carefree. I love being able to do it, I hate having to part with them, but I appreciate so much that I live in a world where there are other knitter's who love the One of a Kind's as much as I do!

Don't forget, tomorrow, Saturday, June 2 at noon for the update! 

Etsy Update, plus some spinning!

There will be a Etsy Update today at 12pm (EST) aparently we had a thing for greens this time around. So many lovelies! You know I hate to part with them, I just hope they go to good homes!

We also dyed a whole bunch of roving for this update, which I'm pretty excited about. I LOVE hand dyed roving and I'm really happy to be back in the roving game. Below is my favorite braid of the day. 

It has been months since I pulled out my spinning wheel. I don't think that I've done any spinning since last June! Shame on me. I think that one of my problem's is the fact that I cherish my handspun so much (probably because I'm no expert and it typically takes me 2 or 3 nights of dedicated spinning time to spin a skein of yarn, it's a lot of work! I need to make sure I find just the perfect project for the special skein when it's all done.) Anyways... After knitting the adorable little Garter Yoke Baby sweater with some handspun I have made a new commitment to spin more often. For me, spinning is really quite a bit like meditation. It's repetitive, slow movements, I don't count, I don't really even think while I'm doing it. It makes me feel very relaxed and very zen. I could use a little more zen in my life, so I'm going to try and spin once a week from now on. Like most things, my spinning mojo tends to come in fits and spurts, so we'll see if I can keep it up... I'm going to try my best! 

On that note, last week I dug out these braids of roving that had been marinating in the stash for oh, maybe 3 years or so! I spun the singles and thought that they were just lovely, but the pale, silvery blue braid on the right was so subtle and beautiful that I decided to pair it with some merino/silk silvery grey roving that I had bought at the same time. 

I plied the soft silvers together and got a really pretty, soft grey skein. Then, I navaho-plied the pastel singles. That was cool. Watching the colours shift was really fascinating. I even made Chris watch me while I navaho-plied for a bit, man, he's a real trooper. 

I'm not sure what the skein on the left will become, but the skein on the right will most likely be something baby-oriented. Those soft pastel shades just have baby written all over them! And with only 50g, maybe I can get a wee hat out of it. 

Etsy Shop Update!

I've listed a bunch of new yarns in the One of a Kind Etsy shop today. I think that Chris and I had a particularly successful day last week when we dyed all of these gems. I love them so much that I've been postponing listing them because I don't want to have to part with them... I may have squirreled one or two skeins away for myself to reduce the sting of parting with these beauties. 

Here are a few favorites:

Red Label in Delightful - Need I say more, this is so my colour!

Red Label in Stained Glass - this was a bit of a happy accident, I'm so happy with how it came out.

Purple Label in Blue Lime - I love this bright colour for accessories, a Rae knit up in this colour would rock! 

Purple Label in Bright Grapefruit - Another great bright,  I would knit a Sunnyside, or the worlds happiest socks with this colour.

Blue Label in Watercolour - This would make a beautiful Clara Dress, it's got lots of pastel tones but without being too "baby". I't demure and I love it!

Silver Label in Green Ink - The Silver Label Mulberry Silk yarn is notoriously difficult to get dark and green, Getting really saturated rich results like this is a real treat. 

Strada Headband & a question

I test knit Julie's Strada Headband pattern, and clearly this is the worlds cutest headband. I'm crazy for the bow! It's just such a perfect, quintessential bow shape. The next time I need a bow to adorn a project (and I'm starting to think that it's a mistake that more of my projects don't have bows) I'm going to be using this pattern. 

I knit mine with just under half a skein of TFA Yellow Label DK Weight yarn in the Atlantic colourway. This was a really quick and effective knit, great for leftover yarn and the perfect knitted gift. Yay Julie!

Ravelry project page here.

On another note, I spent an afternoon dyeing one of a kind colourways for the Etsy shop last week. Most were snatched up over the weekend, but there are still a few of my personal faves available. 

What yarn weight/bases are you guys mostly looking for in the One of a Kind Etsy shop? A little bit of everything? Mostly sock yarns? Sweater quantities of Aran and DK? I really enjoyed my afternoon of dyeing without any rules and plan on doing it more often, but I'd love to hear what you all think!

Shop Update

Spent a bit of time on Saturday experimenting with a new method of dyeing. The results are sometimes unexpected but always exciting! I've listed a few skeins in the One of a Kind Etsy shop.

Etsy shop mini update

I haven't been adding one of a kind batches of yarn to the Etsy shop as often as I would like to and there are two reasons for that. First, TFA is pretty busy dyeing our regular colourways and don't often take days off in the middle of a busy week to dye one of a kind's. And the second reason? Well, I think I might be a bit of a hoarder when it comes to my special one of a kind skeins. Since I don't have a recipe for them, and I know that I'll never be able to reproduce them exactly the same way, I am very hesitant to give them up. I've been holding on to that batch of 9 skeins of DK for way too long now, I think it would make a perfect casual, comfy cardigan to wear with jeans. But alas, it's better for everyone if I force myself to unload my special skeins every once in a while.