Ted - bad poodle

Likes to sit on his chair, if you ever notice me talking about dog swimming Ted is the dog in question. He hardly has any hip bones left and needs hydrotherpy every other week to keep his muscles strong enough to keep him on his feet.

He might look cute and cuddly, but is a smelly thief, who like nothing better than to eat rabbits the cat brings home - but we love him and I couldn't resist sharing this photo.

Friday Updates

I have managed to sort myself out and re-start the friday updates.

So todays is......

http://www.dyestudiowoolshop.co.uk/new-this-week-214-c.asp

They are timed to coincide with the friday riddles on the Ravelry Unicorn group, if you get the answer to the riddle you get a 10% shop discount.

If you want to join the group here it is

http://www.ravelry.com/groups/the-unicorn-club

Twitter

You may have noticed I have a twitter account.
If you look at the top right hand corner of the blog you will see my twitterings.
At the moment I am struggling to find the time to write paragraphs, but it takes 2 seconds to write a sentence.
So if you want to follow my twitterings, you know where to find them - :-)

The Unicorn Quest

The Unicorn Club is a exciting new club run by Fyberspates and The Natural Dye Studio. Its a yarn club with a difference - you don't have to buy any wool - :-)

This is not a normal yarn club, this is a club to have fun and help us through 2009.

Even though there is a gorgous luxury yarn involved - you only need to buy it when you want to.

We are having a custom sock/4 ply yarn made especially for us, with our own blend of fibres etc, which is a secret.

This very special yarn is simply called Unicorn and will not be available anywhere else, its totally unique and very luxurious.

The Unicorn quest runs for 9 months from April to December, each month’s yarn will come with a clue to the yarn’s identity. All you have to do is answer all the clues and send us the answer by the 31st of December 2009.

The lucky quest winner will recieve one whole kilo of Unicorn dyed to order.

However we will also be setting lots of side quests, just to get and keep you in the spirit of questing.

Prizes will include website discounts and skeins of yarn. You can find all the side quests on the club pages http://www.ravelry.com/groups/the-unicorn-club/pages

ALL ARE WELCOME - Even if you are on a yarn diet - :-)

You can find lots more info on the group’s info page - :-) http://www.ravelry.com/groups/the-unicorn-club/pages/The-Unicorn-Competition-2009

Home for a detox

Back home now, had an amazing new year with amazing freinds - Thank you amazing freinds - :-)

And have devised an amazing new club/competition with Jeni.

Its called The Unicorn Club 09 and is a joint Dye Studio/Fyberspates club.

We will tell you more in the very near future, but for now I'm going to have to un pack, have bath and start adjusting to the fact I have work tomorrow and have a million parcels to send.

And need to do some serious detoxing.............................

Lula

The newest is Lula.

On the site as a pattern and kit.

http://www.dyestudiowoolshop.co.uk/queenies-crochet-scarves-209-c.asp

Iv'e also added some mini skein collections, so if you become addicted you can keep crocheting.

All the patterns are now PDf's, some of the older ones are going to be re-vamped, but for now they are still the originals.

http://www.dyestudiowoolshop.co.uk/patterns-202-c.asp

And...

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

I would say I'm not going to eat or drink too much, but I would be lying, just have to do extra dyeding after christmas to work it all off again, but theres plenty to do in the new year so thats ok.

I am hopeing to get some serious crochet done, as you may have noticed I have turned into a one woman design factory - :-)
I'm going to make the most of it before I run out of steam, so for the time being there will be lots of new designs appearing.
I am working on a sweater at the moment, is driving me mad, but I will conquer it and if its good enough there will be a sweater pattern in the new year too - :-)

Christmas Treat

As a thank you to all our lovely customers we have a special Christmas treat.
Everything in the shop has a 10% discount for the month of December.
http://www.dyestudiowoolshop.co.uk

Excuse the brief posts - my fingers are numb with cold!

Flora

Introducing Queenies Flora Crochet Mobius Scarf

Kits now in the shop.

http://www.dyestudiowoolshop.co.uk/queenies-mobius-scarves-209-c.asp

And Queenies Cassia Crochet Mobius Scarf
These kits will be in the Laughing Hens shop in a few days

Home

For anyone who has tried to phone me here in the afternoon.

Sorry, but I have to go home early.

The photo is of my office door, on the outside a cold wet murky farmyard and the east wind. The photo doesn't show the gaps very well, but believe me there is lots of day light and wind and rain.

My fingers don't normally start to freeze until miday (unless I am dyeing) and by about one o'clock my hands are going numb too. I don't mind the cold, but sitting here in my coat with the heater on seems stupid, when I have a nice warm house 2 mins away.

Luckily I am managing to get all the dyeing done in the mornings, and of course I have the laptop at home, so inbetween answering e-mails and stuff I am doing LOTS of designing.

I have just finished the Starry Bessie (photos and pattern to follow when we get some sun) and have just started developing a new product - many thanks to the Bessies Blanket Ravelry girls - :-) What would I do without your help?

Love Amanda

Ravelry Happy Dance

After several weeks of preparation and a steep PDF learing curve I finally have my Ravelry pattern store up and running.
At the present I have the 5 Bessie patterns, but will be adding a couple of sock patterns and the new Bessie when its finished (next week I hope)
All the patterns have been re-vamped with more details about measurements, yarn needed etc and photos

And here it is….. http://www.ravelry.com/stores/amanda-perkins-designs
What do you think?? :-)

Inside Loop - Winter 08

My lovely freinds at The Inside Loop have made The Natural Dye Studio the featured business this edition. Several photo's including me under a lot of wool.

For those of you who don't know, The Inside Loop is a really fab on-line British magazine, run by Diane and Kate.
There are some gorgeous patterns in this issue, I just love the vulture bag and the seahorse mitts.
And there is Amiga using our very own Chi, which has a 10% discount code, which all being well (fingers crossed) will give you a 10% discount.

And talking of PDF

I have just written 3 of the Bessie patterns in PDF, can't put them in the dye studio shop as I can't make them free postage, so have opened a etsy shop for them, along with other Bessie stuff.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6388152

Am goin to add the sock patterns and some other stuff.
What do I do when I have run out of patterns to convert???????

And...

The other thing that is taking over my life at the moment is PDF files.
I am busy turning all the patterns into PDF and am sooooooooo proud of self - :-)
The first one looks so fantastic, I can't wait to finish all the others.

You may have guessed I am very impatient, as I get bored very easily and easily obsessible

Dropped off..

Have I dropped off the world??

No - I am still here, well on my sofa most afternoons (when I am not dyeing)

I am totally obsessed with this...................

(The world's most rubbish photo and you only get to see a little bit of it)

It is Starry Starry Night Bessie and the first Bessie I haven't got bored while making it. The block/motif is a really simple one, but the arrangement of blocks complex.

My arms hurt as I am crocheting so much, but I can't wait to see it finished, watch this space I am getting near - :-)

Thanks for damp support

Dear everyone who mailed me

Thank you for your words of support in my cold damp crisis.

And please do not be alarmed the dyeroom is staying exactly where it is!!
There is no way I could dye wholesale, let alone anything else at my house.

And todays cold update is.......
Its pouring with rain, puddle on the office floor and the dyeroom is freeeeeeeezing (I would use very strong language here, but don't want to offend anyone - :-)

love amanda

The Mirasol Toilet Dollys

If you are not on my mailing list you may have missed this

All the Mirasol Charity Toilet Dollys are now listed on ebay UK.
Please do lots of bidding, I would love to sell all of them so we can raise money for the Mirasol Project.

We went to dinner with one of the project founders while we in London for The Knitting & Stitching show.
He was a lovely man, very passionate about the project,
says it is so sucessful they now have a waiting list for children who want to attend the school.

The best way to find the Dollys is from the page on the website, each dolly has its ebay auction address on its page.
http://www.dyestudiowoolshop.co.uk/toilet-dolly-competition-194-c.asp

And as a big favour can you tell all your freinds - :-)

Grumbles...

Its so cold and damp and murky here at the moment that I am seriously considering shutting down the showroom and taking the office home for the winter.
It was ok last winter as I had Heidi to keep me company and I could ignore all the problems, but Val's only here a couple of hours each day.
Its lovely in the summer, but its yuk at this time of year.
My office door is rotten, has bits crumbling off it the whole time, when the wind is in the right direction and it rains I end up with a big puddle on the office floor, need my wellies on just to get to my desk.

And I am soooooooooooo pissed off with my broadband connection, which clicks off every 10 mins, means the computer crashes and then I have to start all over again - thank god Blogger saves your posts as you write them, otherwise you would never be reading this.
I think its the damp, the printer is the same takes it about an hour to warm up, if I try and print anything too soon the carriage gets stuck..

Keep thinking about the nice warm empty room I have at home, I am sure the printer would be happier, the home connection is more reliable and there isn't a howling gale coming under the door......................................

Its good!!

I have copied this entry from some of my Ravelry posts.
A lot of you have asked publicly and privately about the new Starry, Starry Night Bessie, well until it looks the way its going to when its finished I am keeping it top secret.

However here’s a teaser. The photo is of a early test sample, its not the right pattern, in the right order and some of the colours are different, but the final Bessie has a lot of the same elements - :-)

I have recently come to realise, I am not making crochet/knitted throws, afghans or blankets, I am making quilts.
Back in the distant past I used to make a lot of bed quilts - most of the sold or given as gifts.

I was part of the Ipswich Quilters Guild and one of the members I used to know came over for a chat at Ally Pally and the first thing she said was I like your quilts! I also had a fellow stall holder who was a patchwork shop owner telling me the Bessies were like quilts.

Sitting for the last few nights obsessively crocheting I realised they are right in a way, I am designing as I crochet and thinking about them in the same way as I did about the quilts.

Had a eureka moment about 11.30 last night, looking at the Starry Starry Bessie on the floor trying to work out which bit to do next, the finished throw revealed itself to me - its good, very good - :-)

Now all I have to do is finish it, when can I go home??? It is work - honest!!

Sooooooooo quite

Sooooooooo quiet - where is everyone.

What have I been doing???

Wholesale, wholesale and wholesale!!

Spent the whole weekend winding sample skeins for new customers, 1.5kgs into 10 gm skeins, watched all 5 Harry Potter films - :-)

My arm hurts now, but have to do more today.

Working on 2 new Bessies
Stared a sparkle one, only have a photo to show of the test blocks

Think it will make a perfect baby shawl or blanket, so soft and delicate.

And the other one Starry Starry Night Bessie is amazing!! No photo, but I know you are going to love it, am totally addicted can't wait to finish it!!

Just have to finish the samples first! And what to watch this afternoon while winding, might be lord of the rings, might be pirates of the caribbean or star wars, don't know as long as its something I don't need to concentrate too hard on - :-)