See I can knit a pair of socks.......

Well a pair, but not matching pair.!

Ariel all gone........

I can't believe the reaction to our Ariel sale, it was all gone within 4 days, so I know a lot of you missed out.

I know its not silk, but I have added a selection of our Cobweb Kid Mohair to the sale instead. And of course it is gorgeous.

http://www.dyestudiowoolshop.co.uk/hand-dyed-yarn-sale-128-c.asp

Knitting Group - 4/3/08

Our dye Studio Knitting group is meeting here at the farm on tuesday (4/3/08) night.

To quote one of our members we are meeting for cake, tea and gossip - there will also be a small amount of knitting done - :-)

March Yarn Sale

The Natural Dye Studio’s March Sale Special is ARIEL - Lace weight pure silk flamme, gorgeous for shawls.
On special offer at £2.99 ($6), normal price £4.50 ($9)

http://www.dyestudiowoolshop.co.uk/hand-dyed-yarn-sale-128-c.asp

The answer to guess

Version 2 - still a bit hazy, but by now you should get the idea......

Version 3 - still not quite right, but looking good.

I have revised the design since this and now one of my lovely sock club ladies and my official sock guru is knitting the possibly final last version. If it works out the chart will be available to buy in the near future.

Am now working on a new design, but have a bit of a cold and so its not going to plan!!!!

Guess what

Guess what???

If it helps Heidi took one look at it and was right.

It is a fairisle sock design, needs a bit of revision and recalculation as fairisle pulls the stitches close together, therefore meaning you need more stitches....

Dazzle labels

I am so proud of our new Dazzle labels, we have been licensed by the wool marketing board and all our Dazzle now comes with its own certificate.
And you get a glossy photo of sheep, the BFL's are not awfully blessed in the looks department, but they make up for it in the quality of their wool.

Winter sun

My photograph a day resolution like all good new year resolution made it through the first month and slide into oblivion.

I decided there are only so many photos you can take in the dark winter, so here is my back garden, the dip in the trees behind the silver birch is a view of the sea.

Not very visable due to the winters sun.

Open day's 2008

I was going to post about something else as well as the open days, but my already damaged brain has been full of cunning plans and has forgotten

So..............

We are planning an open weekend, here are the details, which amazingly enough have already appeared in several threads on ravelry!

"The Dye Studio is small and will only hold 30 - 40 people maximum, we would hate for you to all be squashed in like sardines, so have had to limit numbers per day.
The tickets are free, but I am afraid I can’t remove the postage charge from this listing, instead if you book you will get a £5 voucher to spend on the day in the studio shop. http://www.dyestudiowoolshop.co.uk/dye-studio-open-days-2...

Amanda will be doing dyeing demonstrations and talking about what she does best all day, we hopefully be able to get a spinner to come and spin. We would love you to bring your knitting, share projects and stories. And of course meet up with fellow ravelers. We will have free tea, coffee and biscuits, but would like you to make a donation to the Suffolk Widlife Trust as we sponsor a Hebridean sheep called Bracken.
We are difficult to get to without a car, but as there are only a few trains to Woodbridge each day, hopefully you should be able to do a taxi share. The drive through the forest is well worth the fare.
If you want to make a weekend of it and visit Sutton Hoo, Orford Castle, the forest and beach, we do have a list of B&B’s, hotels and campsites - please mail us for details."

Rubbish

I know I am being rubbish about the blog, am having an intense Ravelry session, which is lasting longer than I thought.
Lots of ideas, which I am blurting out, I know Heidi would like me to stop as all I am doing is making tons of work for her - well at least she won't get bored - :-)

4/2/08 - Gargoyle

I like outside sculpture, slightly evil sculpture and bought the gargoyle last winter. He or they are a reproduction of a gargoyle from Norwich Cathedral, wish I could afford more....

3/2/08 - Cow Girls

As heavy snow was forecast the cow girls came in from the field. Two mummy's and one of last years babies. They have had the bull in the field this winter, so hopefully we will have some new babies soon.

2/2/08 - Serpent

We went to see our very dear friends Matt and Carmen on saturday night. Matt is a full time artist and used to make garden sculptures, our serpent is one of them.

Carmen is almost a sister and spent a year or so almost living with us when our babies were tiny, she had a very bad relationship break-up and as she is Dutch was a long way from home and became part of the family.

Now she has Matt and their daughter Fleur, we don't see them often enough, but when we do its always lovely.

1/2/08 - Fierce Bad German Shepard

Designing new wool labels can be so exhausting.......

31/1/08 - Christmas Birds

Heidi and I had a bird each as christmas decorations, somehow they didn't get put away with the other decorations. Laziness tells me they will still be here in december, in which case do we buy another 2 or be happy with the ones we have still got?

FEBRUAY'S SALE

I know we are being ahead of ourselves, but we have already put february's sale on-line.

This month it is SAGA our lovely BFL/Merino aran.

http://www.dyestudiowoolshop.co.uk/hand-dyed-yarn-sale-128-c.asp

Daisy's Blog

For those who know her.......................
And maybe some who don't and she says she's coming to the Woolfest again this year with her lover (not sure if he's been told yet) and Gert

http://theorderofpies.blogspot.com/2008/01/beginning.html

Venus

The venus is nearly all dyed and in the shop, a lovely soft set of colours.

http://www.dyestudiowoolshop.co.uk/venus---alpaca-lace-weight-134-c.asp

30/1/08 - Primary School

Yesterday's photo isn't a photo at all, but a scan of a couple of the thank you letter we recieved.
I spent the morning with the local primary school kids, they had been brought to the farm on a school trip to see the dyeing.
They are studying the Saxons and have already been to Sutton Hoo, so I managed to tell them stuff about some things they already knew.
I demonstrated indigo for them, its always a real buzz watching peoples faces as the wool turns from green to blue and especially good when your audience is 20 six to eight year olds.
Its nice to be able to put something back into the community - :-)

29/1/08 - Pigeon

This is the view from the office door at the farm.
The pigeon died sometime last august and as you can see is still there, I am sure it doesn't resemble a pigeon anymore.
I think maybe we need to celebrate the pigeon's life and demise in august, maybe we will have a pigeon party..........

28/1/08 - Finished Tits - :-)

Finished and as you can see too short, next pair will be the right size (possibly), as for the tits they need a bit more developing.....

27/1/08 - On the way home.

Just to prove we made it to Oxford and back.
I have decided rather than go lots of places and never take photos I (or Homer depends on who is driving) will take photos while we are sitting at traffic lights.

I had a fantastic shot of the zoom in a cinema door, but stupid bloody camera is playing up, think its a business essential so will try and persuade Homer I need a new one

26/1/08 - Better late than never...

Went to Oxford to meet our woolly friends for a posh meal and heavy breakfast, its lovely to see them as we normally only meet up at shows. Not surrounded by wool for a change what was the main topic of conversation??
You've guessed it wool!
Drove all the way to Oxford in the zoom with the roof down, you couldn't miss us I was the big green yeti in the passenger seat trying to knit socks.

Total lack of photo opportunities when you are struggling to keep warm and stop the wool from blowing away. Still I managed these 2 stunners in the hotel before we went out to get very fat.

Being a girl I have a mirror problem, some are good and some make me look like my mother, as you can "see" from the 2 photos below - :-) (I would apologise for the photos, but amoungst other things I studied photography at art college 200 years ago - enough said I think!)

Nasty bedroom mirror

Nice bathroom mirror

25/1/08 - Tits part 2

Tomorrow off to meet up with woolly friends, so you never know I might manage to take more exciting photos over the weekend.

24/1/08 - My wellies

I proudly tell everyone about my Crocs wellies, originally they were bright pink, but as you can see they are now working wellies.

VENUS

Introducing VENUS our gorgeous new 100% Alpaca lace weight yarn.

Cloud

Aqua

Scarlet Berries & Peach Glow

Yesterday's dye was lovely warm earthy madder, as I have said before many times - my Favorite

Scarlet Berries Nino Sock

Peach Glow Nino Sock

Peach Glow Alpaca/Silk Sock

23/1/08 - Door vandal

We need a new office door at the farm, its rotten and when it really rains hard we get a puddle on the office floor.
However as you can see we also have a giant furry mouse problem, the mouse eats the door and then proudly sits to have his photo taken with the evidence!

22/1/08 - Moors Farm

Just to prove Moors Farm really is a farm, with a cameo apperance by Gert in a patch of stinging nettles.

21/1/08 - Val tying.

This photo should have been taken last week before the mordanting stage, its Val tying the small 100 gm skeins into one big 500 gm skein ready for dyeing.

20/1/08 - Daisy's beloved Gert

Gert - Daisy's beloved car, she is a white golf, my mother bought her new 17 years ago. Gert then got passed onto my aunt who in turn gave her to me 2 years ago for Daisy to drive.

Gert has had a hard life, runs on thin air rather than petrol, has just had a new clutch as hers broke a few weeks ago, leaving poor Homer stranded 6 miles from home with 2 wet muddy dogs - he was a happy bunny that day - :-)

Anyway Gert had the interior designers in while Daisy was at a drunken college party, I won't show you a close up as most of it is offensive to those of us of an elder disposition.
Needless to say somewhere there is a note saying "Dear Mr MOT Man, Please do not read this car!".

19/1/08 - Tit Socks

Think the name is wrong, but what to call them?
Do I carry on the "tits" down to the toes or stop at the ankle?
Will these ones fit?
Did about 2 inches in the last 12 hours, maybe addiction could be comeing on........

18/1/08 - Finished

All finished - :-)
Four different types of sock yarn and as you can see even though they were all dyed in the same dye bath totally different.

And now in our website shop.
http://www.dyestudiowoolshop.co.uk/4-plysock-fingering-79-c.asp
They are all "Lemon Curd"



Alpaca/Silk

Dazzle - Blue Faced Leicester

Mirage - Merino/Tencel

Nino - Merino

MY SOCKS!!!

To Gina - in case you are reading, here they are!

My first pair, (exluding all the idiot socks I made over christmas).

I didn't get them right, they are far too wide even for my fat duck feet and I started the toe far to late, so there is not enough shaping, more like a wedge than a delicate curvy toe.

But all being said and done I am proud

And just in case you were wondering.....

What happens to the Annatto when all the colour has gone?

Here is the very lovely compost bin. The annatto is covered with other exhausted dyes, but you can see orangy patches. I would have taken a close up, but would you stick your head in a compost bin??

17/1/08 - Blowing in the wind

Or murk!

16/1/08 Washing

Annatto

It just struck me that I haven't told you what annatto is

Annatto is a waxy seed pod from a Caribbean shrub (I think its a shrub).
The yellow colour comes from the wax, you have seen the dyebath and dyeing, the washing is a problem as I/We have to wash all the wax out or you will get yellow hands.

If you do get yellow hands have no fear as Annatto is used by the food industry as a natural food colour for Red Leicester Cheese (you will never know how difficult it was to type red instead blue - ;-)) and Kippers. I have seen it on other food labels including squash.

I did read somewhere that it is used in Caribbean cookery and spent the whole of december trying to find a cook book with annatto in it for Homer for Christmas.
And then sorting through Mothers cook books I came upon one she bought while in Jamica or Barbados or somewhere else beautiful and sunny, so one day Homer may cook with my dyes.

15/1/08 - Annatto dyeing

14/1/08 - Boiling

Annatto boiling, it was liquidised this morning, has been simmering all day, one last boil and I will turn it off.
It will be annatto day tomorrow.

The white bits on the floor behind the vat are from the dyeroom ceiling, the steam and damp gets under the paint, every so often I "sweep" it, trouble is the room is so damp the paint flakes get stuck to the floor and are difficult to sweep up.
The story of my life - unsweepable - :-)

13/1/08 - Madder

Pure Iranian stone ground madder fermenting in its dye bath will be ready to dye with in a couple of days.

Its such a shame that none of you like orange - :-(