More spinning colors

This is a fuzzy picture of my single before coiling it.

The next picture is of it as I am coiling it on the bobbin.  

This next picture is a 50/50 wool and mohair 2 ply yarn blended from my new colors.  

I have listed these two skeins on Etsy and have not had anyone buy yet but have lots of lookers.  I think Etsy is good in that it has an established customer base.  I will be working on some knitting jewelry and some other things to add to these items.  It is fun at least getting people to look at stuff.  

I also managed to link my blog to Ravelry.  I have not been up there in many months but decided to go back in and had some nice messages from some people on there.  So I will try to keep that up.  It would be better if I got notified when I had a message as I forget to check.  Oh well.

My Ravelry name is Yogini25.  I was going to look for the little icon.

Charting software and novelty yarn

I have been doing a lot of blending and spinning lately with my new colors.  I have also put a few things up on Etsy, so we will see what happens there.  I'll put my beaded yarn picture up and have some coiled yarn that is really pretty that I'll post tomorrow or soon.   This yarn is made by blending the pink and purple colors with some white mohair and plying with one sided beaded.  It is pretty.  I am trying some thick and thin now.  It's OK, but not great yet.  

I have been interested in charting software for some time, mostly knitting because that's what I do.  I'd love to write a knitting chart software program and have toyed with the idea a bit.  Then my friend also asked me about a crochet charting program.  I did find one that is in a beta version form.  It does have some limitations but does do (only) circular charting.  It is cool for what it does so if you are looking for that, it's right up your alley.  The URL is http://nhswinc.com .  Go check it out and if you like it, tell the author so she will keep working on it.  I also have a few knitting programs I have tried but they are easier to find.  This is the only crochet one I have found, especially that does in the round.   I may do a java version.  I think I will make a list of software as I find it and list it on my blog.  This crochet software will be the first one.  

More novelty yarns tomorrow.  Kathy has taught me some really cool things.  She's so creative!

Dyeing with Wilton's Cake Dye

Well, I finally plunged into the world of color.  Kathy from UniqueDesignsByKathy.com has gotten me inspired.   Since I didn't have any regular dye (it's in Chicago), I used Wilton's Cake dye to dye my washed Romney.  She let me use her picker (wonderful invention) and then I dyed a bunch of fiber.    The colors tend to fracture but if you don't get freaked out about it, it is actually kind of pretty.  But they are all very florescent, very bright.  So I will hopefully tone them down with some grey, white or black fleece blended in.  We will see.  I have one more color to card out and then I can blend.  I also did a bit of spinning just using handfuls of color to switch as I spun and made a few samples.  The grey tones down the pink and purple, for sure and the brown and blue tones down the green.  

The sample at the bottom is an attempt at coiled yarn from the Spin-Off magazine, last issue.  It's OK, but I made some other coiled yarns at Kathy's that I like better.  This is so stiff and bulky, it wouldn't be good for knitting, in my opinion.   Pretty colors, like an Arizona sunset, but not soft.  It might make a good necklace actually.  

I will post pics of my other coiled yarn and will be blending up some batts to try.  I also opened an Etsy account called Fiberaddict2 and will be posting up some of my yarn and maybe some fibers to sell.  We will see how it goes.