Scanner hair

For Jen - the best I can do...



Heidi was a bit cautious of me appearing on the blog in full technicolour, said she was worried about the paparazzi flocking to the farm.
So for you Jen - I have scanned my head.
And tomorrow maybe I can persuade Heidi that we will probably be safe if I put my photo on the blog.
Then of course it has to be a bright sunny day to get the full ultra violet effect.

Purple hair

I have done some chemical dyeing today or maybe I should say staining.
I now have purple hair, I don't think it looks purple as its rather dark, but Heidi says under the light it is ultra violet.
Trouble is my face and hands are purple too and I was wearing gloves - am such a messy!
Not sure if it makes me look like a sad middle aged woman trying to be trendy or not.
Will get some photos over the weekend, when my face is clean.

Down & very bitchy

Feeling a bit down, have just been reading a forum where several members where
A- complaining about how expensive my yarn is
and
B - complaining that hand-dyers don't dye their own yarn as it is all done in factories.

Wish I was a member of the forum where I could tell them that.......
A- MY YARN IS EXPENSIVE BECAUSE I ONLY BUY THE BEST QUALITY WHICH IS EXPENSIVE AND IT COSTS A LOT MORE TO DYE WITH PLANTS THAN NOT, SOME OF MY DYES COST £6 FOR 25GMS AND A DYEBATH NEEDS 100GMS.
and
B - I DO ALL MY DYEING AND ITS NOT DYED IN A FACTORY (UNLESS YOU COUNT THE FARM AS A FACTORY).

I would also tell them if you want to spend less money, go ahead and buy cheap nasty yarn that A- the only animals it has seen are the ones the lorry passed on the way from factory to yarn seller.
and
B - not only is it synthetic but also a potential pollutant due to the various stages it goes through been made.

GRRRRRRRR

Waxing lyrical

I have heard and read about Suffolk skies, the fact that they are so big and empty, but have never really noticed them much.
But this morning after shouting at the huge flock of geese that flew past my bedroom window (I am not a moring person and to be fair they were making a horrible noise) I watched the sunrise over the sea and it struck me as to how empty the landscape is.
My house backs onto the salt marshes and about half a mile across the marshes is the North Sea.
The marshes are flat and green or grey on a rainy day, its all so flat I can't actually see the sea, only the houses on the beach that mark the waters edge.
Thinking about walking on the marshes the sky is huge, almost comes right down to your feet, so maybe I do notice the sky after all.

Mean Moan

This afternoon while standing at my 3 sinks for hours washing 5 kilos of wool I started thinking about a couple of people who have known better than me in the last few weeks.....

One who lived in London all her life insisted we were driving from Suffolk to London the wrong way, and I when started to argue back she stated that I was being bloody minded and didn't know what I was talking about.
To the lady if she ever finds my blog and moaning I would like to say
"I was born in Ipswich, have lived in Suffolk all my life and no one I know (neither freind nor family) thinks the way to Ipswich is up the M11"

The other who visited the farm told me I didn't know how to use certain dyes properly and then looked down her nose when I said I refused to use extracts as they are a waste of time and an wasteful process. She then said I was a purist and should move with the times, this from a woman who was at least 25 years older than me!
I am not an expert but I dye almost every day of my life, I know within reason which dyes will do what, and how, and when. They all have their characters and even if I am still dyeing at 100 I will still not be an expert as I will be learning new things about them every day.

Just imagine how much I have to moan about when I have 15 kilos of wool to wash - which I expect will be tomorrow - poor Heidi!

2 New Cosies - pre-pattern

Yipeeeeeeeee

Have finally worked out how to edit the blog.

After 2 million years as a cyber queen you think it would be easy, but when faced with html my brain goes la la la la la, now blogger has a nice easy blog editing thingie special for html ignorants like me - :-)

And 2 more cosies

Test knitted, photographed, now all I need is a bit of pattern editing and they will be in the Tea cosy shop.

Lotus

Jingle Bells

Finally....................

Finally the cold has arrived, am now officially a snot queen.
Have been trying to trendy up the website all day, after all we are very trendy down here in our muddy field and crocs wellies, now I can't remember which page I have done or even what I have done
So am going home early because my brain is full of snot.
Am going to drink single malt (its in the rules if you have a cold) and play the PS3 either until my hands fall off or DH comes home and moans a lot

2 new cosies

Until I can write the perfect cosy pattern there is no hope for these to become patterns.
I have to learn how to do counting and other simple maths!

Snake
Bizarre flowers

Tea Cosy photos

I have a dilema with te cosy photos, some of my lovely haybales have composted them selves, others have been moved. They look like a big sludgy strawy mess.

So where to the the photos?

Decided on the woodpile under the conifer that was massacred by eastern electricity this spring.

Think it works, what do you think?

Important people

My in-box is full of e-mail from important people..
4 magazines, 1 big foreign show organiser, 1 UK show organiser etc etc
Does that make me an important person too?
Plus all the normal "I don't know how to answer" mails, the ones that make me scream and run around the office, half the time I don't understand the question let alone be able to come up with a coherant answer.
I like to think of them as "Daisy questions", she has been harassing her bank for several months trying to get some money transfered, I am not sure what she was asking, but now the bank have kindly suggested she finds a new bank - poor Dais........

i Knits Stitch & Bitch - afterwards

Had a amazing day - A big thank you to Craig and Gerard for letting us be there.
Again it was great to meet you all and lots of familiar faces.
It was a tea cosy day and to every one I promised new cosies too, like a good ex-brownie I promise to do my best to get them in the shop this week.
(Of course that is unless we have another flood scare!)
Very, very tired.
Off to visit my darling mother and then will settle down with final fantasy 12 and a bottle of wine. (football permitting)

Environmental statement

I have at last got round to putting ours on-line.
http://www.thenaturaldyestudio.com/enviroment.html
It sounds so pompous and grown up.
But the entire statement is totally true, maybe I am pompous and grown up after all?

i Knits Stitch & Bitch

We are off (again), only seems like yesterday we came back from Ally Pally.
Saturday at i Knits Stitch & Bitch day, hopefully will see lots of lovely customers - :-)
Finished the dyeing on sunday, poor Val had about 30 kilos to wind this week, think she broke down yesterday with the cobweb (which she hates), had a anti cobweb block.
Hope she can manage to finish it..................

Knitting group on tuesday night was empty, just Heidi and I and off course lots of chocolate biscuits, which we are struggling NOT to eat, of course failing dismally.
Not sure what to do about knitting group, there is no point if no one comes.
Will leave it up on the site and remove the page next month, as the last date is december.
I suppose its because we are so far away from the real world, that no-one wants to brave the cold or forest.

Concentrating on cosies for i Knits, hope they don't dissapoint, maybe will try and get Pomme Too cosy pattern written. Have to finish the cosy first.
Heidi says I am obsessed with it, trying to get the pom poms in the right place, they have been on, off, on off all week......

Tea Cosy Shop

Have just spent the last few days (weeks) building a dedicated tea cosy shop.
I am not sure if its a good idea, do people want tea cosy shops?
Made a lovely new banner to go in the shop, am very pleased with myself, had a long hard fight with photoshop (again!) still can't do layers, but am becoming really clever at avoiding them.

So here is the url
http://www.ekmpowershop4.com/ekmps/shops/dyestudio/index.asp

Its not very full, but at present its all I have to offer the world, maybe if we don't sell all the cosy kits at i Knits thingie at the weekend we will have more.

Off to look at clothes and cheer myself up.

Possible cold

Think I may have a possible cold, either that or it is cold, feel like I am breathing underwater.
DH says its because I am always wet due to being a messy while dyeing.
BUT I HAVE BRIGHT PINK CROCS WELLIES
A total fashion statement for the under 10's.
My wellies should stop me getting colds!