This weeks weekly sale is colours beginning with the letter S

A selection of S sale yarns

I really like the idea of a themed sale, it all depends what I feel like on monday mornings

Designer sock patterns.

We now have a section on the website dedicated to designer socks.
Designer Sock Patterns

The Dye Studio has a small stable of designers who are designing socks especially for us. So far we have 3 designs with a couple more in the pipeline.

They are

Gina's plaited cable sock

Phylls'Ribbon of Hope Sock

Phyll's Swirl Sock

Discontinued and home now

Am back from my travels - will tell you about it tomorrow, forgot to bring the camera to work, but only took 7 photos so you are not missing much - :-)

I have decided to discontinue several of our yarns so I can concentrate on lace, dk and sock yarns.

All our chunky, aran and mohair loop are reduced to half price, go see, and if you are tempted buiy now as we have sold 3 kilos (30 skeins) in the first hour of them being on-line, they may not be there tomorrow.

http://www.dyestudiowoolshop.co.uk/weekly-sale-142-c.asp

My holiday

Off for a week to see my girlies and who knows what else?

My ever faithful side kick Heidi will be dye studio queen while I am away.

Have fun - :-)

My baby

My baby is 18 today, I feel sad and kind of old, how did he get to be that big or old, I guess he is classed as a man now and in september he will be gone like his sisters.
I will be left with a empty nest (which isn't too bad as I am never there), mr dye studio and "the" dye studio which sucks my life away like a huge baby bird.

Fred's prom photo - 2006 - and not of the Fred I know.

He is not like other 18 year old boys/men that people talk about, he is Fred, calm, sweet natured, kind, loving and a complete cyber nerd.

The only thing he really swears about is his pc, when he is having motherboard problems, his bedroom looks like the inside of a space shuttle and he helps me when I get stuck in games on the PS 3.

3/5ths of my family - Mr dyestudio, Fred and Daisy Maisy - Jan 2008

He is nothing like either of his sisters, who are both hysterical drama queens with traumatic lives, they are both superstars in their own rights Feppy a illustrator (she would kill me if I said fine artist) and Daisy Maisy a writer, their loves and lives would make a fantastic novel hopefully Maisy will write it one day, or maybe a collaborative graphic novel.

Feppy - christmas 2007

I would write about how much I love him ( and them), but know I will cry, so won't.

The Rabbits are mocking me!

Last years pathetic attempt to keep the rabbits out of the dye garden didn't work. This year they didn't seem interested - I shouldn't say this (tempting fate) but they haven't eaten the plants. Admittedly we haven't weeded, so the beds are full of weeds, thistles and stinging nettles, which I decided were good rabbit deterants and seemed to be working.

BUT look what the little buggers have done overnight!!
Watership down is being replayed in my dye garden!

Weekly Sale 19/5/08

Weekly Sale - 19/5/08

http://www.dyestudiowoolshop.co.uk/weekly-sale-142-c.asp


RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its flying out of the door, so if you want a bargain.....

Yarn Snob

Have just been offered some sparkly cheap stuff for toilet dolly knitting, I am such a yarn snob that I had to say no.

I love pretty sparkly, glittery sequined shiny stuff to look at from a distance, but to touch it makes my skin crawl.

I only ever use my own yarn, as much as I lust after others, Fyberspates had a stunning colour combination at Wonderwool, I think its plum and gold. I remember dyeing a similar combination in cotton several years ago. I did a bit of stroking, before forcing myself to be strong.

So here I am a self confessed yarn snob, who luckily has the perfect job - :-)

And just to boast about how lucky I am I have added the above photo, unfortunately you can't have it as its wholesale - but then again I can't have it either and there are some stunning colours one Dazzle sock in particular - :-)

If you would rather not knit a toilet dolly.....

You can now give a donation to the Mirasol via paypal.

This is the e-mail address to send to
Mirasolproject@btopenworld.com

Weekly Sale 12/5/08

This weeks sale yarns are now uploaded.


The theme is luna, you need to be quick as we have already sold out of our Chi - :-)

The Demise of Ebay & Weekly Sale

And even more stupidly I forgot to mention we have decided to stop selling on ebay.
Today is our last day of auctions - its all a bit scary as we have sold on ebay for 6 years.

But I am so pissed off with them, they made listing more and more difficult, it was ok if you were only listing one ot two things, but when you had 20 to do.

And as for their new feedback rule - I understand their reasoning, but when I had a couple of customers from hell I couldn't warn other sellers....

And of course there are the astronomical fees!!!!!!!!

I could go on for hours, but it would get really boring.

So from now on all our on-line stock is on the website and we have devised a substitute, we will now run a weekly sale each monday, 2 colours of each type of yarn, which will be changed every monday morning

WEEKLY SALE

Angel and Cloud

Yet again I have forgotten to mention my lovely new yarn.

As a special introductory offer ANGEL is £12.50 instead of £13.99
ANGEL is quite simply the ultimate yarn, super soft, has a beautiful sheen and drapes like a dream. Angel will make stunningly beautiful shawls and scarves.
Plus for every skein of ANGEL you buy 20p will be donated to The Mirasol Project.
100 grams and about 1200 yards in total.
70% Baby Alpaca, 20% Tussah Silk and 10% top quality Cashmere

And

As a special introductory offer CLOUD is £10.50 instead of £11.99
Cloud is a lovely soft, smooth yarn which has a subtle sheen, it will make gorgeous shawls and scarves.
100 grams and about 1200 yards in total.
80% Peruvian Merino and 20% Tussah Silk.

Green Knitter

Go and look at this site

http://greenknitter.com/index.html

I am so pleased to have found it, lots of really good enviromental/ethical info.
It has made my rabbit war filled day a happy one - :-)

(I should explain the rabbits first - the little darlings not content to eat all my lovely dye plants in my fenced off from rabbits dye garden have now decided to build a bloody great burrow in the middle of it, digging up all the plants they haven't eaten - this is rabbit war!!!!!!!!!)

Toilet Dolly Charity Auction

You have seen the photo, now knit those dolly's.

Many of you have said you would love to make one, so here is your chance! We have 2 catergories - tastefull and tasteless
The Natural Dye Studio is proud to be running a Toilet Dolly Competition. All proceeds will go to The Mirasol Project Peru.
http://www.thenaturaldyestudio.com/toiletdolly.html

The Mirasol Project

The Natural Dye Studio is really proud to announce that we are now supporting the Mirasol project.
We will be donating 10p for each skein of Alpaca sold, our supplier also donates 10p per skein which means every time you buy a skein of our Alpaca yarn 20p is donated to the project.

The Mirasol Project is named after a young Quechua girl who, with her brother, tends 350 alpacas. Its aim is to fight poverty and encourage community development. As well as providing accommodation, meals and health-care, the boarding-house will be a centre where the children can develop personal, occupational and communication skills and study techniques in specialised after-school workshops. The centre will foster the principles of peace, tolerance and equality with a respect for human rights and basic freedom. As well as an awareness of other cultures, the centre will also focus on the preservation of the language, culture and tradition of the children and their families. The architectural design of the boarding-house makes use of local materials and know-how. In its physical, social and educational aspects, value is placed upon local knowledge However, in addition to preserving local traditions, the centre has a creative and innovating function in preparing its children for a changing and challenging future.

More details and photos on the website
Alpaca and Mirasol

May Sale

Cobweb Kid Mohair

Now £5.99, reduced from £8.50
If this sells as quickly as the Ariel did it will be gone by the end of the week - :-)

Wonderwool

Still trying to find order in the post show chaos, I never take enough photos, always have best intentions, but forget my camera after about 5 mins.

I love shows, you always meet such interesting people and old friends, the show was great although a little quiet on sunday.

Can wait for the Woolfest.

Lovely B & B, fantastic restaurant where we ate 2 nights in a row with very good woolly freinds and talked wool at each other until our ears bled.

You can never have too many sheep photos, these were taken for H.

Stand set up, 6 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some people seem to manage it in a couple of hours but dear Phil is a perfectionist!

And the result, meant to take an after shot as well, but too tired to focus at that time.

Competition

As promised - :-)

More about Wonderwool when I get a few spare moments away from ravelry.

Cotton Samples

I have just recieved my cotton samples - they are fantastic, far better than I had hoped.
There are 3 that I would like to use, 2 organic cotton blends and 1 pure unbleached organic cotton.
I would tell you more details but that would be spoiling the suprise - :-)
I need to test dye them, think the unbleached is going to be really interesting - a whole new set of colours attainable.
Am sooooooooo excited - :-)

And Billy finally..................

I can only find this one, there is a photo of him somewhere looking very posh and snotty. i don't think he was very old in this, probably pre his car squashing incident.

Quiet random thoughts

Its very quiet here at the moment, finished dyeing the trillion billion kilos of wool, would photograph the last few kilos drying outside, but is too cold.

H and I trying to put the stand together, and label (well H is) and do the on-line stuff and pack the big orders.

Don't think our parcel tape is very strong so have resorted to duck tape (is that its real name?). So now have taped everything in sight, one big box gone another to go on monday, a few days rest at the show then more huge boxes to send, must get more duck tape.

have a dying bee on the window sill, do we put it outside in case its hungry or as H says do we keep it inside so it can die in the warm?

Didn't realise bees were so fluffy, makes me want to cuddle it and love it and make it better.

H bought the NDS Barry, she found him in a charity shop, unloved and battery-less.

Poor Barry - did you know all sheep are called either Barry or Bob, well all the sheep at NDS are so called anyway - apart from Bracken, but as she is only a photo thats allowed. Had planned to go and see her at the lambing weekend, but will be in Wales at Wonderwool. Aparently last year she gave birth to twins midway through the day, but we were on holiday in the zoom, the shepardess offer me her fleece ( and the rest of the flocks fleece), but as she/they are hebridean I wouldn't know what to do with it.

Barry in situ over our stunning NDS kitchen area, notice the cunning placement of duck tape on the pipe next to the wool.

And the pigeon is still there!

Stupid Blogger!

Somehow I am having problems adding text to the photos (hence another post)

The top 3 photos are Dazzle DK
And the second 3 Chi Merino/Bambo

Plus more new colours

Ebay shop

Just in case you were wondering where the ebay shop has gone -I have closed it.
Having 2 shops was a night mare for stock control etc
I have moved all the stock into our website shop, so you will find new colours that weren't there a few days ago.
We will still be running the ebay auctions and now have a much better colour selection to choose from.
If you want to go and do some new colour searching....
http://www.dyestudiowoolshop.co.uk/luxury-hand-dyed-yarn-78-c.asp

Shop update

And new to the shop this week....

Ice Venus Lace weight Alpaca

Hydrangea Dazzle DK

Spring Lime Alpaca/Silk Sock

Pale Colbolt Alpaca/Silk sock

Rock Pool Alpaca/Merino sock

Colbolt Alpaca/Merino sock

Newslettery thing.

I am being a useless at the moment with the blog.

Sent out our monthly newsletter to our mailing list yesterday.
Here are the relevant points with a few extra photos, just in case you are not on the list.

April Sale
Our April sale yarn is
Belle - Blue faced Leicester Chunky Slub

http://www.dyestudiowoolshop.co.uk/hand-dyed-yarn-sale-128-c.asp
Reduced from £9.99 to £7.50

Bessies Blanket Club
We would like to announce the re-opening of Bessies Blanket Club.
http://www.dyestudiowoolshop.co.uk/bessies-blanket-club-139-c.asp
The club is running in a slightly different format, 2 whole 100 gm skeins instead of the original one.
I am also working on several new Bessie designs which will only be available to club members to begin with.
Our Bessie Club has its own very active Ravelry group where members share stash and in progress photos.
http://www.ravelry.com/groups/bessies-blanket-club
Well worth a read if you are thinking of joining

Wonderwool
We are off to Wales at the end of the month to our first show of the season. Phil and I are really looking forward to meeting many of you.
I love show season, getting to go lovely places, meet lots of lovely people and in my case talk far too much!
If you bring a copy of this e-mail we can offer you 10%. We are offering a discount to Ravelry members, but I am afraid we can only give a total of 10% on each sale.

Un-dyed
We have had several requests recently for un-dyed yarn, so now have a small selection in the shop.
It will only ever be in limited amounts, so if you would like some its best to buy while its there.

Alpaca/Silk Sock
http://www.dyestudiowoolshop.co.uk/un-dyed---alpacasilk-4plysock-945-p.asp
Alpaca/merino Sock
http://www.dyestudiowoolshop.co.uk/un-dyed---alpacamerino-sock-yarn-942-p.asp
NINO - Merino
http://www.dyestudiowoolshop.co.uk/un-dyed---nino---merino-4-plysock-909-p.asp
Alpaca/Merino DK
http://www.dyestudiowoolshop.co.uk/un-dyed-alpacamerino-dk-910-p.asp
Alpaca/Silk DK
http://www.dyestudiowoolshop.co.uk/un-dyed---alpacasilk-dk-780-p.asp

The worlds most stupid cat - very long and boring if you are not interested in cats.

Don't you just love cats???

(Bad Billy photo will find a better one on the laptop later,

this was taken about 3 years ago when the dye studio still lived in my house)

Billy woke me up at 6.30 yowling, I thought he must have caught some poor little fluffy thing and was announcing his triumphant return, but the more I woke the closer I could hear him, so I looked out of the bedroom (2nd floor) window. Billy was wedged into the honeysuckle just below the window.

Windows and doors only have one purpose for Billy, to make you constantly let him in, then out, then in, then out etc etc etc.

He obviously decided the window was open so he would go out and forgot or was just too stupid to realise he was on the top floor of the house.

Billy is a giant Maine Coon weighs over a stone, so the poor honeysuckle was bending badly, managed to wake up Fred to come and rescue him, imagining fire engines and ladders would be involved, but Fred being practical threw a shoe at him (I only thought they did that in films), amazingly Billy managed to get out of the honeysuckle quite easily after that

And was then yowling to be let in - stupid cat why didn't he do that in the first place instead of wajking me up??

Phil wanted a Maine Coon for his 40th, he had read they were very intelligent and could be trained, maybe they are but not Billy.

At the age of 18 months he ran into the side of Phil's moving car and broke his jaw in 4 places, nice expensive trip to the vets (thank god for cat insurance!).

He made a full recovery and it didn't affect his beauty, although he does have a wonky smile and snores badly.

Billy can't jump from one work surface to another, nearly always misses, have watched him slide down the front of the fridge many times - :-)

Billy also finds it difficult to run through a door, walking is fine, but his judgement goes when he runs and again the times I have watched him run into a door are endless.

And he is such a bad bully, my poor Baby Erik is chased and sat on as often as Billy can get away with not being shouted at.

Baby Erik is a Norwegian Forest Cat and my 40th birthday present, he is so called as he sleeps in my arms like a baby, is not stupid, is very clever and the most bizarre cat I have ever met, but he is a whole new story.