Compare dyed / undyed Konas & BFL Ultra! yarns

One of the most frequent questions I get from new dyers is about the thickness of the yarns, so I thought I would post a picture of the three most popular sock yarns side-by-side. The top two are the Kona yarns. Yellow is the DK/light sport weight; green is Kona Fingering. Pink is BFL Ultra!

All three are superwash yarns.
All three bloom/expand/fluff up when dyed or given a very hot bath.

Kona Fingering has 2,240 yards per pound, and is a 2-ply.
Kona Superwash has 1,120 yards per pound, and is a 4-ply (Basically double the weight and plies of the Fingering)
BFL Ultra! has 1,900 yards per pound, and is a 3-ply.

Kona Fingering and Kona Superwash are merino yarns from Australia.
BFL Ultra! is Blue Faced Leicester from England.

Which one you choose depends on your preferences. I have read in people's blogs who have written that the BFL Ultra! is thinner than the Kona Fingering, and I'd disagree with that observation. The difference in yards per pound is one clue, but the most telling difference is in the number of plies. Kona Fingering is actually much more loosely twisted than BFL Ultra! making it not as firm and round a yarn.

I know I keep talking about round firm yarns because it is important to understand how a yarn will act when knit into fabric. Round firm yarns give more detail to the stitches, especially if there are cables or ribs involved. Also, the fabric itself has a better hand.

Of course, it all comes down to personal preference. Price may figure into the equation, too. Remember, though, you pay for what you get, and while the BFL Ultra! is a little more expensive than Kona Fingering, it is a different breed, a different ply, a different twist.

U.K. National Knitting Week Pix

Author and knitting teacher, Ann McCauley, of Colorado -- and originally a Virginia gal! -- sent this link to a public relations event in England. The picture above is a unique weaving loom from this site. Click on the link to see a wonderful variety of needlework that is innovative, beautiful, and inspirational. Here goes ...

http://www.bhkc.co.uk/data/national_knit_events06.htm

Merino Shortage from an Australian's Viewpoint

I recently stumbled across a wonderful site and new magazine.. well, new to me, but I ordered a subscription and all of the back copies. Here is the link to Barbara Coddington's blog and magazine info: www.yarnmagazine.com.au

This merino situation has me fascinated and frustrated at the same time, so I wrote to her to see what her thoughts on the subject are. She has given me permission to use parts of her letter, and I think it will make interesting reading for American merino knitters who are experiencing the frustrating wait for Australian merino yarns.

Hi Sheila,
That's a very interesting query. I have been looking into it a bit for my own research and writing purposes, and I think I can give you a short answer.
As you already know, we've had a series of droughts in Australia. Flock size is down over the last several years and overall, wool production is down somewhat. I don't believe the situation is considered a sheep shortage, however.
What has changed quite a lot, though, is the type of merino available. There's actually been an overall increase in the finest quality merino fibre (19.5 microns and under). Some of this is known as 'hunger fine' wool and is due to poor nutrition in the sheep due to the drought -- they produce less robust fleece when stressed. But some of it is also due to really good growing conditions a year or so ago in parts of Australia. It can take awhile for the seasonal ups and downs to trickle into the market.
So the combination of there being fewer sheep and each sheep producing a bit less wool which is finer than usual means the increase in fine merino has come at the expense of middle range merino around 21-22 microns which I imagine is what may be back ordered in NY.
I can't comment on the marketing campaign you mention as we are not subjected to it here! The Australian market is quite small and I feel the global market is usually the main focus of their efforts. (As you've seen in my blog already.)

Looking through the return comments on Barbara's blog, it is evident that many Australian knitters have a hard time finding yarn in one of the largest merino producing countries in the world.

Selling Your Hand-Dyes

To get started with selling your handdyes, you could go the eBay or ETSY route. Lots of my customers do that and it is easy to set up. The other route is to find an owner of a local knit shop who is looking to stock some different yarns than everyone else has. They are definitely out there, especially as the popularity of handdyed yarns begins to penetrate the general knitting public's consciousness. New shops are a good place to make that connection, or shop owners who are innovative themselves. You need to come up with a set of samples, a list of your prices, and an agreed upon policy about color matching. That is so hard, but being a scientist, perhaps you have solved that problem.

Try to compete with a best seller in your area. I have two personal examples, one of which I followed through with, but will not repeat because it would be like starting a new business for me and I just cannot take on any more work just now. We have a shop owner in a small town nearby who is a master knitter, has been to the conventions for years and knows all the designers, takes the big classes, etc. When she opened her shop, her vision was to carry yarns that you don't see everywhere. We talked about me supplying my handdyes to compete with a popular light sport weight yarn (which starts with a "K"). That's her best seller, but hard to reorder without an extended wait. Also, even though they use the same numbers for their colors, the dye lots cannot be counted on to match. The other was a new shop, opened by a former yarn rep, and he, too, wanted lines that are not all over the place. He was targeting the beginning knitter folk and giving lessons for small projects to reel them into his new shop. Sock yarn was his thing, so I dyed up 3 dozen skeins and he loved them and they sold very well. I didn't follow up quickly enough with the first shop, and also didn't present myself well, I now know. My presentation was more polished with the second shop I described -- samples of dyed and undyed yarns to show fiber choices and colorways. Price lists. Discount policies. Suggested retail pricing. That sort of thing.

The other way to go is to dye up as much yarn and spinning fiber as you can manage, and to attend a local fair, a fiber festival, a small business expo, etc. There are always fiber folk in every crowd, and you will sell yarn at events which are not related to our field at all. Better, of course, if it is at least on the artsy side of life. Sometimes there are events open to the public for privately owned historic properties, and they might be open to the idea of a quaintly dressed fiber artist selling baskets full of colorful yarn. You will never know unless you ask. AND, you'll meet some interesting people along the way.

BFL-DK ... My new favorite yarn?

With so many yarns and samples, I try to experiment with each one so that I can have a feel for some of the properties of the yarn. I'm looking for how it feels as I knit, how needle sizes create tighter or looser fabrics, how the yarn absorbs dye, what changes in the yarn occur during the dye process or just from a hot bath.

I had worked my way through the Blue Faced Leicester yarns on the website, and two weekends ago decided to gift myself a cone of the BFL-DK, a round creamy 4-ply. Boy, was I in for some fun! This yarn has enough heft to it to make you actually feel the yarn as it slips through the fingers. It is so very soft and knits into a beautiful fabric.

Elizabeth Zimmerman's patterns fascinate me, so I decided to try the BFL-DK on her Ganomy hat pattern (from Knitting Almanac, from Schoolhouse Press). The Ganomy pattern neatly places increases at the ear level and decreases at mid-forehead to give a comfortably curved hat. The picture above is of the hat as it reaches the point where I must divide the work onto two circular needles. It was knit on US Size 8's, and I will do the next one on size 7's for a little firmer fabric. Unfortunately this hat is too small for me, since it is lighter than the weight that EZ used for her Ganomy. I'm going to increase the next hat by 8 stitches, and place markers according to the percentage of distance between markers on her original pattern. Hopefully, I will come out with something I can wear to keep my head warm when I go to an April event in central Virginia. It looks sort of like what Colonial women would have worn, right? Oh, well. I'm planning to get away with it, even if it has to be worn under my colonial bonnet, as I head up a group of spinners, weavers, knitters and fiber processors (is there a better word?) in the old Spinning House on one of the few remaining plantations in the area. Should be fun!

This sounds like I have actually constructed a bonnet and a costume, but that is not the case at all. In fact, just writing this, reminds me that I need to pull the fabric and pattern out and get to work!

But, back to the yarn. I think I like the DK weight because it is not too heavy, and I can see doing one of Karen Alfke's Top-Down sweaters in it, and in the natural ecru, too. This cone that I gifted myself is not even from the new batches which are being processed in Italy and have even more loft and luster showing through! Imagine what that next batch will look like. Luscious!

This is the reason some people call Blue Faced Leicester 'the poor man's cashmere.'

BFL Ultra! now in one-pound skeins

A new shipment of BFL Ultra! arrived today. Unfortunately, the new mill wound our skeins into one-pound skeins, instead of the usual 8 oz skein. We'll just have to try out the one-pound skein of this great yarn until the next regular shipment of 8 oz skeins comes in.

One pound of this yarn has 1900 yards. It is a 3-ply superwash in the 'poor man's cashmere' yarn, Blue Faced Leicester, nice and round and blooms just a little when dyed/steamed/washed.

The 8-oz skeins will be back in stock around April 15th. Until then, we have this yarn in one-pound skeins and one-pound-plus cones.

$46.40 per pound.

When filling orders after the new shipment, I wrote a note of apology to a customer about the larger skein. She responded immediately, 'I love the larger skeins!' I am sorry if this is inconvenient for anyone, and promise you that my exporter and I are working to get new 8-oz skeins back into regular stock.

Let's Organize a Write-In Campaign to HGTV: Bring back Knitty Gritty and Uncommon Threads to the Morning Schedule!

OK, Knitters and crafters out there! Let's show the power of the needle or the power of the computer ... you pick! I invite everyone who reads this blog to write to HGTV and ask them to put the only knitting show on their lineup back into the mid-morning schedule, Knitty Gritty and the other show that features all sorts of needle arts, Uncommon Threads. These two great shows are now hidden in the 7 a.m. slot and have been replaced with yet another real estate program.

The world and HGTV do not need another program about remodelling/ selling/buying/lusting after houses. What the world needs is more knitting! These two shows are the only national shows that reflect our art, and they are being shunted to the early morning hours, and away from the prime morning spot they had enjoyed. I am sure this was a marketing move. Let's face it: houses cost more than yarn, though some of us could probably vie for the budget of a small house, at leaset! This seems to be another example of the artsy side of life being pushed aside to make room for the main stream to expand. Please, please join me and send a tastefully worded request to bring these shows back to more reasonable hours.

I ask you to do two things:

1. Send an email to the programming department of HGTV. Here is the link to the email comment page on HGTV's website:

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/about_us/article/0,1783,HGTV_3080_1433559,00.html

Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the Customer Services link to email the programming department. This link is printed in brown and is underlined. It is hidden --- hmmm, what does this suggest? -- in the very last paragraph titled "You Still Didn't Answer My Question."

2. Contact the major bloggers and spread the message. Let's see how many people we can get to join us in this email campaing and our efforts to save the fiber arts programming.

I recall reading a well-read, well-written blog by a Canadian fiber artist about a situation within the knitting field where the everyday marketplace was shocked into recognition of the buying power of the knitting marketplace. There were literally hundreds of responses. Many people clamored to get the contact name of one of the parties involved, exclaiming (through print with many exclamation points!!!) that the world didn't know how many knitters were out there and that there was power in numbers.

Remember the old country adage: The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Well! That's what I hope will happen now, and that this powerful number of knitters who represent a considerable buying power in the arts, travel to do our arts, publishing, advertising, etc., will make an effort to bring the programming folks at HGTV into the fold! Please write an email yourself, and spread the word to your favorite blogger, to your knitting group, to the local knit shop.

Will you join me?

Top-Down Designs in new Knitter's Magazine

The next issue of Knitter's Magazine will feature top-down designs. Wool2Dye4 carries patterns from the queen of top-down design, Karen Alfke. In fact, I started carrying Karen's UnPattern designs after I took her class at a Stitches East a couple of years ago. Finally, here is a formula to make a sweater that fits, and fits superbly! Check out all of Karen's patterns on the website. Her lines are UnPattern and Second Nature Design.

Closeout yarn BFL Special Purchase: Sold Out

My thanks to the wise and quick customers who took advantage of the BFL Special Purchase sale. It is now sold out.

Next Special Purchase: Merino/Bamboo blend with 10% nylon binder. This yarn is 60% superwash merino with 30% bamboo. Due at the end of March.
Stay tuned ...

BFL Special Purchase ... almost gone

The special purchase of BFL Superwash is now nearing the end of supply. This is a closeout yarn and will not be available again. Many thanks to my customers who wrote to say they love it, and to those who have been stockpiling it for shawl use. It does plump up nicely after the dye or warm bath, and has been a hit with many. $22 per one pound cone.

Price Increases Soon to Take Effect

Unfortunately, some prices on a few Henry's Attic yarns are being increased. This is due to the shortage of the raw material -- sheep! -- in parts of the world where there have been severe droughts. The new prices will soon be posted on the website, and until then, the posted price will prevail.

Andee .......... 8 oz skein @ $16.25 ........ one pound cone @ $29.50
Crown Colony, 2, 3, and 4-ply ....... $19.00 per pound
Kona Superwash ......... 8 oz skein @ $13.00....one pound cone @ $26.
Kona Fingering ........... 8 oz skein @ $13.00 ...one pound cone @ $26.
Texas & Texas Big Horn ... $ 36.90 pound

Kona Fingering is due mid-March ...

I do apologize for the delay in shipping the backorders for Kona Fingering, but it has not yet arrived at the supplier's, Henry's Attic. The yarn is manufactured in Australia, and, as we know from recent news items, there is a shortage of sheep because of recent years of drought. I am officially out of both the skeins and cones of Kona Fingering now.

If you are looking for a good yarn of this weight, I suggest that now is the time to try BFL Ultra! if you haven't yet tried it.

My Favorite Model in BFL Ultra! Sweater and Hat

First, let me introduce the young lady sitting in my knitting chair. This is MIA, our newly adopted little Chinese granddaughter, a treasure. She is wearing a top-down sweater in BFL Ultra! yarn, a hat from one of the space dyed skeins, and she is holding another hat where I held two strands together to get a more mottled look to the pattern. Beautiful, huh? That is, beautiful sweater, beautiful yarn, and beautiful little girl!

This great sweater pattern, by the way, is in the book Dyeing to Knit, which we have in stock.

Update on Kona Fingering Cones: Due Mid-March Now ... Sorry for the wait!

Kona Fingering in the one-pound cone is on backorder from the supplier, Henry's Attic. They do expect it to arrive and be delivered to Wool2Dye4 by mid-March. I have very few skeins left to last until the stock is renewed, and once they are gone, skeins will be on backorder until this date, too.

Sorry, sorry for the shortage, but I understand that it could not be helped. Henry's Attic folks are such nice people and on top of all the manufacturing and shipping details, so we will just have to sit out the wait, it seems. The shortage has only just hit Wool2Dye4 because I planned ahead and last summer I ordered ten pounds each week to build up my supply. Now, unfortunately, I am beginning to see the bottom of the yarn bin!

If you are mad for fingering weight in superwash yarn and cannot wait, then you should try BFL Ultra! Fingering weight, 1900 yards per pound, 3-ply with a twist that is perfect, in my opinion. Many of my customers who dye in bulk and sell to local yarn shops have switched over to the Blue Faced Leicester. Lately I've been trying it out on baby sweaters, caps and wrist warmers, too, and have a nice batch dyed up for a special turquoise blue sweater all for me! (using Karen Alfke's Top-Down Unpattern, which is a sweater that actually fits.) Of course, I have to get to the actual knitting, but I confess that I do love to simply look at a pile of handdyed yarn. Simple pleasures, indeed.

Virginia Native on Knitty Gritty Show!

Expert knitter and Virginia-born Ann McCauley has just filmed an episode for Knitty Gritty. The episode is called 'Delightful Details' and will first air on February 16th on HGTV at 11:00 Eastern time. Ann's knitting is truly beautiful -- full of cables and ribs in delicate yarns, many of them natural colors, too. Her book, The Pleasures of Knitting: Timeless Feminine Sweaters, features beautiful sweaters that I imagine in the Blue Faced Leicester yarns. She signed a copy for me two years ago when she visited the Bedford VA shop, Yarn Theory, for a book signing.

The Pleasures of Knitting received 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon.com's rating! Lovely book, lovely lady! ... and from Virginia, too!

Ann will be teaching for Yarn Over in the Minneapolis/St.Paul area over the weekend of April 21, 2007. If you are going to Yarn Over, stop by and say hello.

Wool ... Renewable Resource?

In recent weeks there have been reports of price increases in the Australian merino market, source of most of the merino that makes it's way to local yarn shops. Drought and excessively high temperatures have reduced the number of sheep available in Australia. Merino has been bringing in high rates on the wool trade market.

We always think of wool as a renewable resource. As knitters, we are seeing the effects of a changing global weather pattern in the merino situation.

Kona Fingering Cones

I am now out of one-pound cones of Kona Fingering. Henry's Attic expects to ship cones at the end of January. We have good stock of the 8-oz skeins, though.

Kona Fingering Cones shortage

Henry's Attic is out of stock of the one-pound cones of Kona Fingering, and expects to begin shipping at the end of January. My own stock is dwindling fast, as well. If I run out of the cones for an order placed before the end of the month, I will notify you of the backorder and give you an opportunity to substitute 2 eight-ounce skeins for the one-pound cone.

Undyed Yarn Bloom

Recently a couple of customers have hesitated when choosing yarns because they think a certain yarn might be too thin. I think we need to remind ourselves about the unique qualities of the yarns in the undyed market. Most are unscoured, which means they haven't been through a hot bath, such as what they get when going through the steaming process of dyeing. At some point in the yarn preparation process, the yarn is wound by machine onto a cone. It could be a very large cone of several pounds which serves as a sort of holding station for skeining, later. All of this handling stretches the fibers and squeezes the air from between the individual fiber strands, making it appear to be thinner than it will be when it fluffs up again.

I tried an experiment the other day with the new BFL Ultra! and soaked it in hot, hot water. That's when the bloom came upon it! What I discovered is that I was more willing to try my swatch with a larger needle than I would have if I had judged from the unscoured/undyed/un-soaked state.

Bloom is a natural process that yarn just does, well ... because that's how it is. Remember that the spinning and winding processes that undyed yarns go through will compact the fibers. What makes the fibers seek their natural space within the yarn is when we apply heat. When we dye protein fibers, one of the elements used is heat. If you're not going to dye these yarns, then be sure to give them a good soak in hot water to allow them to bloom and to permit you to judge the actual diameter. Yarns from commercial manufacturers have gone through these steps on their way to becoming perfectly formed little mounds on the shelves of the yarnshop. We have to put a little elbow grease into our yarns, all a part of the creative process. I love to observe the stages of the yarn as it soaks up water, absorbs dye, rests before steaming, begins to change tones in the dyepot, as it is unveiled when the dye process is finished, and -- best of all! -- as it slides through my fingers on the needles. The knitting just goes so much faster when you're knitting with your own handdyed yarn. The aniticipation of what that next row will look like up against this row drives us.

The BFL Ultra! which I dunked in hot water is destined to become a cable sweater for little Mia, newly adopted Chinese granddaughter. It will be knit in the natural white and will look so pretty against her skin.

Please don't hesitate to experiment, and expect yarn to expand. The customer in question wanted a worsted weight which would not pill, so I suggested that the Kona Superwash might be a good choice. It is a light worsted weight, a nice firm and round yarn, and it definitely does bloom when subjected to steaming or hot water.

SALE: BFL Superwash

This yarn is a loose twist of three strands of fine Blue Faced Leicester Superwash yarn with 2,000 yards per pound, put up on a 1-lb cone ...
BFL Superwash Sale Price: $22.

I have written about this yarn a couple of months ago when I was disappointed that it was not the firm, round yarn I'd been looking for to top out the sock yarn list. It is, however, an excellent yarn for shawls. If you know anyone who is participating in one of the shawl knit-alongs, tell them about this sale!

It is natural white, of course, and of the unique and top-quality Blue Faced Leicester, but the makeup is one that will not be seen again. It was a specially manufactured for Wool2Dye4 in my search for the perfect sock yarn. (The perfect sock yarn, by the way, was found in BFL Ultra!)

When the heat of the dyebath or of a warm wash permeats the three strands, the BFL does it's natural gentle bloom into a beautiful and soft yarn -- perfect for the elegant drape of lace work, shawls, fine sweaters, baby clothes and fine gauge socks. Click on the picture to enlarge it, and you'll see what I am trying to describe about the bloom. It is a pleasure to knit with, by the way, and the BFL just slips through your fingers. I love Addi Turbo needles, and the way the yarns slides along effortlessly.

Once gone, this yarn will not be seen again. It was one of those manufacturing errors which did not give me the yarn I was searching for, but did give me a beautiful shawl / lace work / delicate yarn. Go to the website and click on ...
Fingering Yarn ... or ... Blue Faced Leicester. A great addition to your stash and at a price that you will not see again for Blue Faced Leicester!

Green BFL Ultra!

Check the picture for the previous entry to see how the greens used on the BFL Ultra! turned out. I once had a painting teacher who loved to intone a great truth about color: There is no light without dark, and there is no dark without light.

I kept his mantra in mind as a dribbled and squished and blotted and dotted color on wet white yarn. Could there be more fun for grownups?

Dye Up Some Stash!

Today I am dyeing a pound of BFL Ultra! to send to Karen Alfke, the designer who's patterns I carry on the website. She does the 2nd Nature Designs and the wonderful Unpatterns. I took a class from her at Stitches a couple of years ago and she kept pulling out green sweaters and yarns from her sample bag. She said, 'If it's green, I'm in!' and I recall thinking that one day I would dye up some green yarn and send it to her.

What better gift for a sweater knitter who loves Koigu, than BFL Ultra! -- so close in weight, but, of course, made of the luxurious and lustrous Blue Faced Leicester wool. So, that is what I am dyeing, in two 8-oz skeins which I am doing my best to make identical. I mixed up five different greens, plus two each of blue and yellow. All was going well, until at the end I decided to flick some dry dye powder over a band through the middle of the skeins. Yes, you can guess what happened ... a little too much dry powder here and there and a strange chemical reaction that may turn into 'art' as it steams. As I write, I have the big time steamer puffing away just outside the studio door, where I can get up and check the water level while the steam does it's magic. I am hoping it is magic, naturally, a sort of beautiful arty magic that I will be proud to send to Karen.

In the meantime, I thought I'd just grab those partial skeins of mystery yarn that seem to accumulate around the studio. Brilliant idea! Now I will have a little stash to add to my knitting in colors that I do not normally use. This is something I try to do when I dye a major project -- dye up a little stash with leftover dyes, sometimes mixed together, sometimes watered down to a pale shade. When I first began to dye, everything was heavily colored, deep and bright. As I have improved my technique and maybe added a little skill here and there, I find myself going for softer combinations, striving to separate delicate tones so that they do not become mud in the steaming process. Today I think I will come up with some nice bright tones. Can't wait to open all of those little colorful packages!

Website: All's Well that Ends Well

Back online, back in business. Boy, it feels like I have been let out of jail! Things got back to normal yesterday.

• Hopefully, the two new yarns will be posted within the next couple of days.
• 1. BFL Ultra! is new to the permanent lineup. (fingering weight, 3ply, superwash in Blue Faced Leicester; this is my exclusive yarn)
• 2. 50/50 blend of Tencel and superwash Merino will be added to SPECIALS page. 400 yard skeins are $10 each. Cones for handdyer suppliers,too.

Website Live-and-Learn Lessons

If you are able to read this post on this day (Dec. 11) then you know that the website is down. I have just gotten to yet another business decision, and that is to go back on my big business decision of last week! Yes, I am returning to my former webmaster, whom I have said many times that I love but who was a little busy for my own timetable. The almost-new group couldn't give me control of two pages on my site where I was able to post some SPECIALS and pictures on GALLERY pages, pages which are actually very important to me. Sometimes I get in a new yarn and post it on the SPECIALS page for two or three weeks, sell it out and people send me their comments. If the reaction is good, I add the yarn to the permanent lineup; if not, then I find another.

Right now I have a yarn to post to the SPECIALS page, and as soon as everything returns to normal ... when? oh, when? ... then I will post the 50/50 blend of tencel and superwash merino in 400 yard skeins. ($10 per skein). Also, I have the new sock weight yarn, BFL Ultra!, which I am so anxious to get out there.

I have to say that I am more upset about hurting either of these nice and talented web guys' feelings than they are about losing my business! I guess it is the Southern girl in me. We don't like to make waves!

So, the lesson today is that sometimes a business decision is not the best move for the company. That is the case today. I'm going back to my old guy, who has all the kinks worked out. Things will be better, I promise!
If you have missed out on ordering yarn in these couple of days, please wait a day or two.
Thanks so much for your patience!

Website is Off Line Today

In an earlier post, I told you how the website is being moved to a new host, new server, new webmaster. Unfortunately, Wool2Dye4 is offline for today, and the new webmaster is working furiously to get it back. This also means that email is not working. I am assured that this is a temporary business problem and that my site will be back online soon.

I am sorry for the inconvenience it causes us all!
Sheila

BFL Ultra! in Intermezzo Gloves

Here is a picture of BFL Ultra! knit up into Karen Alfke's pattern, Intermezzo Gloves. I took the liberty of adding two stitches on either side of the thumb to accommodate my square palm, and did a single crochet around the thumb opening. Great pattern for fingerless gloves!

As I was knitting this hand painted skein (shown earlier in November in comparison to the merino-tencel blend), I was struck by the luster of the yarn fibers. There is a silkiness to the look, a subtle visual enhancement -- for lack of a better word -- to this fiber. I know that I do need to come up with a clearer description of how truly lovely the BFL is to get the idea across. Words are just not adequate for this yarn.

Website Changes

Yesterday I made two big business decisions, one of which is a legal matter, the other of which is website related. An Internet business has to devote focus, energy, money, imagination to the behind-the-scenes workings if it will succeed. For me at the very basics is that my site must be colorful to catch the potential customer's eye because what I sell, really, is a pile of white stuff and white stuff doesn't look very interesting unless it is surrounded by color. The very, very basics, though, have to do with the ease with which the customer is able to see the products, make a decision to buy, and execute the purchase.

That last part is where my website has been floundering. I have written about it before, even posted notices that soon, yes! soon the site will offer true eCommerce functions, not just PayPal. We live and learn, and yesterday I moved the site to a new company with the capability of changing the payment mechanism to true eCommerce. Soon, yes! soon customers will not be forced to use PayPal, but can pay securely with any credit card. Or, they can use PayPal if they wish. For me, this brings new advantages which I sorely need -- tricks like reports of customers' purchase history by date, by product. This sounds like a simple report, but operating without it has been difficult if not impossible. Customer history will probably be my happiest moment with all of the upcoming changes.

I don't know why I took so long to make the change, except that I really like and admire my first webmaster. He is brilliant, a young man with a growing business and a growing family, and I just like the way his mind works. The only problem, was that the website didn't grow in proportion to the business growth. This was a decision from the head, not the heart.

This new company is not actually new to me. The owners and I were in a business professionals' group a few years ago. That was when I had a wallpaper shop and was operating as a contractor for my husband's commercial wallcovering business. Another life ago, it sometimes seems. One of the designers helped me develop the logo for the wallpaper business. Yesterday he heard my voice and stuck his head around the corner to say hi. What a pleasure to see him again! I asked if he was still drawing and publishing his comic strip. (He is.) The website design director is an old familiar face, too. We were in the ill-fated Italian club here in Lynchburg VA several years ago. That was the year that we pulled out all reserves and all of the Italians in town put on a huge Italian festival complete with four nights of big-name rock groups. The only problem was that one of the worst hurricanes in Virginia's history hit Central Virginia that week and uprooted tents, turned the ground into soup, and generally ruined the Italian Club's festival and finances in one fell swoop.

The new webmaster and I worked alongside other Italian American townsfolk to make the best of a terrible mess, and then we all went our separate ways. So, to see his handsome Italian face yesterday was such a welcoming sight.

I promised, back when I started the blog, not to weigh it down with too much personal reflection, and I am close to that edge as I write this morning. I just wanted to let you know that there are changes coming and from people I know, so I am expecting them to ease the site and me through the changes with few bumps in the road. This morning, when I first woke up and lay there having those stream of consciousness morning thoughts, the website quickly claimed attention, and I felt at ease about my decisions. It will be fine. I live by my gut, and it tells me I made the right decision.

Readers? You are always invited to respond to any of my written thoughts.

Dyeing Experiment: BFL Ultra & Tencel/Merino

Top Picture: Tencel/Merino on the left and BFL Ultra! on right after curing, washing, drying. Since the Tencel/Merino is a blend of a cellulose fiber (which dyes up with fiber reactive dyes) and a protein fiber (which dyes up with acid dyes), I did an experiment using both types of dyes. The two yarns on the right side are the BFL Ultra! which is a protein fiber and were dyed with acid wash dyes. (If you click on this picture to enlarge it, you will see the silky sheen in the Tencel/Merino."

The multi colored yarn on the far left (Tencel/Merino) was dyed with fiber reactive dyes, using urea as the mordant. The Tencel/Merino two-color skein, which is second from the left, was dyed with acid wash dye, using white vinegar as the mordant.
In an experiment like this, I tried to come up with dye solutions of equal intensity so that if there were a difference in dye absorption, it would show up easily. In the middle picture, the two-toned skeins are shown: BFL Ultra! in the inside curve, and Tencel/Merino in the outside curve. The turquoise did not absorb as well on the Tencel/Merino; the purple/rose absorbed about equally.

This is a picture of the BFL Ultra! before being steamed. It shows a rawness to the color absorption which disappears entirely once the skein is wrapped and steamed. BFL Ultra! takes color beautifully, blooms just a bit to make a nice, round yarn, too.

It is the Tencel/Merino blend which will require some decisions when you are ready to dye it. Looking at the top picture, you'll notice that the result for this yarn, on the far left, is a muted and lovely color combo. This skein cured for about 6 hours before being rinsed out. The fiber reactive dyes released quite a bit of color, the reds especially, but the end result was so muted and beautiful, that I might forgive the additional work required to get to the result.

The turquoise and purple skein of Tencel/Merino did not release much of the acid dye at all, and the colors were not as vibrant as with the wool yarn.

Conclusion: BFL Ultra! takes acid dye beautifully. No problem, beautiful results.
Tencel/Merino can be dyed with either acid or fiber reactive dyes. In either case, one of the fibers will not absorb the dye and the rinsing bath will show a release of dye. This yarn yields muted blends of color, very beautiful and almost shimmery in appearance.

Both yarns are available, but just not yet posted on the website. They're coming, I promise. In the meantime, email me to order:
BFL Ultra! $ 23.20 for 8 oz skein, $ 46.40 for l-lb cone (1900 yards/lb)
Tencel/Merino $10 for 400 yard skein (1650 yards/lb)

... Meanwhile, Tencel ...

... A small shipment of Tencel/merino sock weight yarn has arrived, and I am trying to get it posted on the SPECIALS page of the website. Unfortunately, there is a glitch that has prevented me from posting SPECIALS for the past three weeks (since the website migrated to a new server).

This is a trial for this yarn to see if there is a demand: $ 10.00 / skein of 400 yds. It dyes up with either acid wash or fiber reactive dyes, and there will be a release of dye into the rinse bath because 50% of the yarn will reject one of those dyes. I will post pictures of my experiment.

Until it is posted, please email me to order: info@wool2dye4.com.

Dyeing my first batch of BFL Ultra!

At last it is my turn to play, and I've rolled up my sleeves and am dyeing a skein of the new British Blue Faced Leicester, BFL Ultra! This skein soaked for an hour or so, and I am sprinkling good ole red-blue-yellow around in tiny dots. I am using slightly 'off'' shade of fuchia, colonial blue, and Italian yellow which is one of my favorite combinations (or to use a turquoise based blue for slightly more vibrant results).

The yarn is taking the dye beautifully. As I write, it is resting, but I did dye up the small sample that my British supplier sent me and it bloomed every so slightly. Remember, this is a three-ply yarn at a fingering weight, so it is already a nice round yarn, but after the dyeing/steaming/drying process the yarn comes into its own -- firm enough, yet still a luxuriously soft yarn which feels so nice against the skin.

BFL Ultra! All weighed and counted

I almost deleted the entry made yesterday afternoon, because I realize that I was showing some panic. Ah, well. Here's the weight issue, in brief:

The skeins all weigh exactly 8 oz or 8.2 oz, a difference of 25 free yards.
The cones, though, range from one pound exactly to 1 lb-6 oz, a hefty difference of 750 yards. What I have decided to do is to come up with three categories and charge a median price so that everyone will get some free yardage, and some will get even more. That is the only way I can figure out how to even out the differences. This was my webmaster's idea and I need to give him credit. So! Here are the categories for the cones:

1 lb. to 1 lb. 2 oz ........ $ 49 (1,900 yards per pounds)
1lb. 2 oz to 1 lb. 4 oz .... $55
1 lb. 4 oz to 1 lb. 6 oz ... $ 60

These undyed yarns are called 'gray goods' in the yarn world. They are spun and skeined or coned in one mill, and then they usually travel to a processor who dyes up large quantities, winds them into center pull balls or smaller skeins of 2 oz or 4 oz, and labels them with the yarn company's name. When the process is interrupted and the undyed yarns are sold as is, the weights are not exact from the mill.

Actually, this is one of the reasons that I decided to mark all of my prices at 20% off suggested retail price. I didn't want someone complaining that they were shorted half an ounce. Most of the skeins weigh in a little heavy, and I have never, ever, ever had a customer complain that they received too much yarn!

I want to keep the BFL Ultra! pricing fair and consistent, so having the three weight categories seems the best solution. This may be a problem which will work itself out in future orders from the British mill.

You may not know it, but I am from the South, and we don't like to complain a lot. Well, we do complain a lot but we apologize for doing it and then go ahead and complain in a sweet tone of voice, which is what we call 'talking Southern.' I am working with British folks who have been doing this for a couple of generations, and I want to seam myself into their operation well and get what my customers want at the same time. The trick to learning this new side of my business is doing all of this with a touch of the Southern tone of voice.

Let me know what you think of the BFL UltraI!

BFL Ultra! In stock now

It's here! BFL Ultra! is now in stock.
Just a quick reminder of the basic facts ...

BFL Ultra! is a 3-ply British Blue Faced Leicester in superwash. 1,900 yards per pound, prox. Medium twist on this yarn makes it slightly firm, yet it maintains the softness which BFL is known for, in a nice and round yarn. Great for cable work and detail. Excellent for socks. Also great for shawls, baby sweaters, fine sweaters. A strong yarn with an innate luster to it which comes through even when dyed. Designated as a rare breed by the British Wool Trade Board.

.............Prices: 8 oz skein, $23.20 .......... 1-lb cone, $46.40.
.............Email me for a sample. (info@wool2dye4.com)

It is at the end of the day of arrival, and I have just discovered that the skeins and cones are not uniformly measured. This means that a cone could weigh anywhere from 15.8 oz to lb.5 oz. Skeins are a little better, but I will have to invoice you individually for the yarn. Email me your order, I'll weigh out the yarn and invoice you through PayPal. If you are also placing an order for other yarns on the same day, I'll lump the two together when charging postage.I

Sorry for this inconvenience ... to you and to me!
Sheila

BFL Ultra! ... Due by November 20th

The wait is over for BFL Ultra! My new British Blue Faced Leicester sock yarn is due early next week. Over the weekend it will be added to the website.

BFL Ultra! is a 3-ply sock weight yarn in superwash Blue Faced Leicester, a nice round yarn that is compact but not too tightly twisted. It is packaged in one pound cones and 8-oz skeins. It is a soft yarn, yet very strong with a long staple length. 1,900 yards per pound.

One of the factors that sets the Blue Faced Leicester breed apart is that the fiber has a natural luster to it, and this is eveident both in the natural state as well as when it is dyed. BFL Ultra! will knit up into beautiful cables and detail work, fine sweaters and openwork. In Britain, BFL is preferred by manyfor Aran work.

BFL has been designated as a rare breed by the British Wool Trade Board. We have several American shepherds who are raising BFL here in the states, but this is a British Blue Faced Leicester, imported exclusively by Wool2Dye4.

For the past several years the yarn manufacturers have worked hard to establish the credibility and excellent qualities of merino wool. I believe that the American yarn market is ready for Blue Faced Leicester.

Price: $46.40 per pound cone ..............$23.20 per skein.

Tencel Yarn tryout

People are asking for some of the new fibers and I am looking for good sources all the time for bamboo, corn, and tencel. Some of them are produced as blends and I especially like merino used in the blend.

I have found a tencel/merino blend and have ordered a small amount to try out. It should arrive next week (around Thanksgiving), and will be posted on the SPECIALS page of the website. It only comes on 3-pound cones but I am going to skein up smaller amounts to try out. If enough serious dyers like it, then I will stock it fulltime.

New Book: Dyeing to Knit

A new book, Dyeing To Knit, has caught my eye and I like it enough to offer it on the website. Elaine Eskesen has written a book this is a good combination of inspiration and scientific method, and the pictures are thought provoking.

What attracted me to this book is a section on how to dye with a specific project in mind. Eskesen does a good job of differentiating between space dyeing and hand painting, something which I was glad to see since those two terms often seem to be used interchangeably. She talks about pooling of colors -- is it such a terrible thing, or could they be welcomed into our work and used to advantage? It makes no difference whether you dye with acid wash dyes, as does the author, natural dyes, Kool Aid, Easter Egg dyes, or food dyes. The bulk of the book is not about how to dye with acid wash dyes, but how to manipulate color, predict a color pattern in the fabric, how to combine some new techniques with your tried and true methods.

Her work features many examples of smooth and textured yarns used together to create new affects which color, alone, will not achieve. What I call 'visual texture,' or used to in my wallpaper shop when people would agonize over color choice and often leave with beige wallpaper. Visual interest is what gives the pop to a final knit piece!

Many of us have probably not taken advantage of incorporating more than one yarn in our final knitted pieces. I know that my own needles began to truly fly once I started knitting with my handdyes, and knitting socks out of my dyed yarn became so satisfying that I quickly became obsessed! Once I began to incorporate some Fair Isle work into the cuffs, my work stepped up a notch and became more interesting. Now, there are small handdyed yarn companies which are capitalizing on this very same concept of knitting with more than one of your handdyes at a time. They are reaching the people who don't do what you and I do, who do not invest the time and space and mess and creative juices into dyeing up a marvelous stockpile of colorful fibers.

One of the undyed yarn distributors once told me that they had received calls from several local yarn shops who were truly upset because their customers were beginning to buy handdyed yarns directly from the handdyers. Their market share was being eaten into and they didn't like it! It seems that handdyed yarns are beginning to find their own market -- on Etsy and eBay and through fiber artists' individual websites. And -- wonder of all wonders! -- many of my customers are begining to supply the local yarn shop with handdyes.

Actually, I have just taken on one LYS myself as a sort of experiment to see what my customers go through to get out a collection big and varied enough for a yarn shop owner to purchase. It is a lot of work, but the creative process suddenly shifts into another gear as I concentrate on the range of color and intensity and hue as the pile begins to grow.

Like Eskesen, the author of this new book, I look at color trends in clothing and home furnishing and, of course, yarn. At least one knitting magazine will have a color forecast each spring, you can count on it. In the wallpaper shop, I would tell people about color forecasting and how the home decorating fields follow the color trends of the clothing market by a year or so, and they always seemed amazed for some reason. I used to ask these customers to go home and open their closet doors and see if there was a majority of one color hanging there, or if there was a color pallette which they had not recognized before.

As long as I am rambling about color families, I did want to mention another color inspiration source which was sited in the latest Vogue Knitting magazine. It is the 3-in-1 Color Tool from C&T Publishing, a set of color cards similar to the paint store's swatches, but with 6 combinations for each color. I ordered one through the local quilt shop, another good source for color forecasting, by the way.

Dyeing to Knit by Elaine Eskesen is listed on my website for $22.

Feedback, please, on new trends in 'green' yarn...

I invite my customers and readers to give me their opinion and preferences on the new 'green' type of yarns that are now coming onto the market. These include bamboo, corn, and soy. Some of these are blended with other fibers which give or strengthen attributes which are desirable in yarns. I have seen bamboo/silk blends and bamboo/merino blends. Also, tencel/merino blends and soy/silk.

Have you got some insight into these yarns? I appreciate your input! This is one of the best ways I learn about new trends, fibers, yarns, methods, etc. , and I have said before that I love writing back and forth with my customers.

This time I invite you to post your comments on this subject here in the blog and perhaps we can begin a dialogue on a new subject.

Thanks so much,
Sheila

Glimakra Yarn Swift - new accessory

I am happy to announce that Wool2Dye4 now carries the Glimakra wooden umbrella yarn swift. This is the large version which expands to accommodate the typical wool skein of two yards. I use my swift almost every day, sometimes with the Royal Ball Winder, sometimes with one of my skein winders. This is one of those necessary yarn handling tools.

Glimakra is Sweden's premier manufacturer of looms and yarn accessories.
Cost: $65.
Just say 'Gleam-Oak-Rah.'

Communication Down!

The server is being moved for my website, wool2dye4.com. If you cannot reach me, I do apologize. The webmaster is working on it, and I am trying to be a good customer and to wait for him to get the kinks worked out.

I ask you to be good customers and wait for me, too. Orders are still working, through PayPal, so if you are desperate -- I know the feeling! -- you can order through PayPal and attach a note. The notes are a part of the PayPal form and I'll get the message.

It Felts, It Felts

Looking for a great felting yarn? ANDEE felts up beautifully. It also takes dye beautifully. Remember, ANDEE is a 50/50 blend of merino with alpaca, so it is a very soft yarn and makes a fulled/felted fabric that is nice to touch.

Another good felting yarn is the bulky Cestari. This one is listed on the SPECIALS page of the website.

Purses, anyone? Entrelac hats?

Royal Wool Winder

I now carry the Royal Wool Winder, which winds yarn into soft center-pull balls. This is an accessory which every knitter on earth should own. Cost: $35.

More about BFL UltraSock

We are expecting the arrival of the new BFL UltraSock around mid-November. For some time I've been talking and writing about my search for a great sock yarn, and this is it. The spinners in England are preparing this yarn exclusively for Wool2Dye4. Here are the particulars:

BFL UltraSock is a superwash yarn in fingering weight with 1,900 yards per pound. It is put up in 8 oz skeins and one-pound cones. (Actually, the weights are quarter-kilo and half-kilo, but I'm not going to fight the metric war! This means that you get a little extra yardage.) It is unscoured and spun into a nice, round 3-ply yarn. It is a firm yarn, so if you enjoy cable work or lacy detail in this weight, you will like the round presentation. You can get 5 skeins of 375 yards from each pound, enough to knit 5 pairs of socks.

Blue Faced Leicester has a long fiber staple and yarns spun from this fiber are particularly strong. One of the most notable characteristics,though, is a subtle luster in the appearance of this yarn in it's natural undyed state as well as once it is dyed. It takes color beautifully, too. Blue Faced Leicester has been designated by the British Wool Trade Board as a rare breed, making it a very exciting yarn for me to present in my lineup.

• Pricing will be:
• $23.20 per 8 oz skein
• $ 46.40 per one-pound cone

This is 20% off the suggested retail price of $58 per pound.

For several years we have all been reading about and hearing about the special softness of Merino. What you'll find with Blue Faced Leicester is a yarn which may be even softer and stronger than merino, and with the luster that is its trademark.

I am excited to present this yarn to my customers. Help me get the word out, please!

BFL UntraSock ... soon to be a reality

At last I have decided on the makeup of the BFL UltraSock, and expect to have it in stock within 8 weeks. My supplier / manufacturer / spinner in England is a delightful business companion. He even called me a few weeks ago when we were working out figures and facts such as the number of twists per inch and micron count. What fun for each of us to hear the other's accent!

The new BFL UltraSock will be a three-ply yarn in superwash Blue Faced Leicester. The feel is very similar to Wool2Dye4 SuperSock, but with a bit less twist,which is to say that it does not curl naturally upon itself as the Wool2Dye4 SuperSock does. (The curl is not a bad thing in that yarn, but a signal that the resulting fabric will be quite firm and strong.)

Three immediately apparent qualities of the Blue Faced Leicester UltraSock are the natural ecru color, a slightly golden tone, and the bloom of the fibers when subjected to the dye process. The third unique quality is the slight luster of the fibers which is also apparent when the fibers are dyed. It is truly a beautiful and soft yarn.

It will be available in 8 oz skeins and one-pound cones in approximately eight weeks. The development of this new yarn is a very special undertaking for me because I have exclusive distribution rights in the United States. It did take a while to come up with the right yarn, but the results are just right. I expect this yarn to set the standard for hand-dyers.

Folk School

Back from a weekend course at John C Campbell Folk School. Located in the farthest southwestern tip of North Carolina in the Great Smoky Mountains, this place has perfected the entire experience of adult classes, mountain getaway, casual learning environment, and all at a relaxed pace. I definitely recommend it. Website is www.folkschool.org.

Out of Town for 4 Days ... Folk School!

I will be out of the studio for four days, Sept. 14-17, 2006. All orders received between Thursday and Sunday will be shipped on Monday.

This will be my first trip to the John C Campbell Folk School, just outside Asheville NC, and I am looking forward to being a student. Everyone who has been says it is like summer camp for adults ... except that it runs all year long. I convinced my husband to go, too, and he's taking Barbeque & Open Kettle Cooking. My class is Landscape Quilting. (no fiber classes available)

Here is the link to this special place: http://www.folkschool.org

SuperWash Is Not SuperDry

When a yarn is described as 'superwash' it means that the fibers have been treated so that they will not grab onto each other and felt, with normal wear and tear. This means that they can be washed by machine, but my advice is that if you do wash superwash wool by machine, use a gentle cycle and a wool wash such as Eucalan in a shortened cycle, if possible. There are other good wool washes / conditioners on the market, and some people even use hair conditioner in the rinse cycle. We want to limit the amount of rough treatment on the fibers to the bare minimum. This means we should add the item to the tub once the water has already filled so that the water will not be rushing onto the fibers, giving them another opportunity to felt/full.

Drying in the dryer is definitely not recommended, though. Superwash might mean you can wash your fabric by machine, but the best way to dry it is to lay it flat to dry. Lay the wool fabric on a heavy towel and roll it up; then put pressure on the roll but do not squeeze. Squeezing puts strain on the stitches and on the fibers themselves and shortens the life of your precious work of art.

If you must wash the item in the machine, put it in a lingerie bag before you drop it into the water. I keep several lingerie bags in my laundry room for use in dye classes. After the dye process, after that final rinse in Eucalan (which is what I use), I place newly dyed skeins into lingerie bags and toss them into the washing machine. Then, with the water taps turned OFF, I run the spin cycle. I have never had a felting/ fulling problem with this procedure, and also use it when I wash my handknits.

Mantra time: SuperWash is Not Super Dry.

Update on Blue Faced Leicester Sock Yarn

About two months ago, my enthusiasm for creating a new Blue Faced Leicester sock yarn surely came through in my writing. I had the Name-That-Yarn Contest, exchanged letters with many of my customers and new folks as well. Before the naming contest I sent out a skein of the sample yarn to ten of my customers with whom I had established a sort of email acquaintance, and I asked for their feedback. Generously and frankly given, it was apparent to all, including me, that this particular yarn was twisted too loosely to be a good sock yarn; however, it is the perfect shawl yarn.

All of this was passed on to my colleague in England, with whom I am working to create this new BFL sock yarn. I had bought 120 pounds of the disappointing yarn, sign unseen, and decided to sell it off at rock bottom prices. (It is listed as BFL Special Purchase on the website under the Fingering category.) I admit that buying sight unseen was not a smart business move, but this is how we learn. It was an expensive lesson.

My manufacturer has been trying out different weights, trying to match the micron count of the samples I sent him of my best selling sock yarns (Wool2Dye4 SuperSock and Kona Fingering.) On Labor Day he called to say that he has just received the sample BFL top (roving) back from the superwash process and his mill is about to spin up three samples for me.

This is exciting, really interesting, an entirely new venture in my little business. Again, I plan to send out samples to my customers who are known sock knitters. If anyone who reads this is also interested in trying out the new yarn by dyeing it, washing it, knitting or weaving with it, please send me an email (SheilaMahone@wool2dye4.com) or post a reply here in the blog. I will be choosing a new Yarn Review Board when the samples arrive.

Stay tuned. I hope to chronicle the development of a yarn in the blog. This does not happen overnight, though, and that is something I am learning. The busy season is just starting up again, and I have no idea when the new yarn will become available. In the meantime, I continue to offer a good variety of undyed yarns for sock knitting. Click on the links on HOME page for a list.

September Shortage of Kona Fingering CONES

During the month of September, the importer of Kona Fingering on CONES will be out of stock, cones only. The skeins will still be available, though. At this writing I am waiting for my last shipment of cones and that may just be a few dozen, if that.

If you absolutely must have this yarn on cones during the month of September, I can have it wound from two 8 oz. skeins. There will be a winding fee of $1.75, which is just what it costs me to have the one pound cone wound.

Watch for further notices about the stock situation of the Kona Finger cones.

Dye Classes

Dye classes are available to groups here at the Wool2Dye4 studio. Group size is limited to 5 students (six, if you beg me). Classes last four hours. Cost of the class is $20 plus purchase of one 8 oz skein of yarn to dye in class. Students bring a lunch, and I furnish drinks and dessert.

To organize a class and reserve a date, email info@wool2dye4.com. My studio is in Lynchburg Virginia and there are terrific Bed and Breakfasts nearby for lodging.

The picture is of the most recent class's dye jobs -- all colorful and vibrant, and one black skein of Licorice Twist (which will become part of a Halloween stocking).

Felting Yarn at a Good Price

I have in stock about 40 pounds of a bulky yarn that felts very well. Cestari Fine Merino, Babies Breath comes in 4 oz skeins of about 210 yards each. Cost: $10 per skein.

This is a good price to try out some new skills. This yarn is good enough to give you a nice finished yarn -- if your experiments turn out well! -- but not prohibitively expensive.

It is listed on the SPECIALS page of the website. To order, just email me and tell me how many skeins you'd like. I will invoice you through PayPal and ship when your payment clears. Easy!

Good for felting, hats, Kool Aid dyeing, acid and natural dye experiments, warm wraps/scarves. This is a good deal.

Pricing Hand Knit Items

A friend who has been in the retail end of the yarn business for years recently reminded me of the formula for pricing handknit items.

Cost of materials plus $0.15 x number of yards = Cost of Hand Knit Items.

Aran Sweater Yarns

Today a customer wrote that she is about to begin an Aran sweater, and wanted me to help her decide if Andee or Montana would be a better choice. Her concerns were that the yarn be smooth enough to make good cables and that it feel soft against the skin.

My answer: Montana will probably make a nicer cable. It is a firm three-ply in a very round yarn, which always makes better cables. It is a soft Merino and will probably knit up into a good Aran Sweater.

My suggestion: Blue Faced Leicester ARAN. This is the very yarn that is used in the British Isles for Aran sweaters. It is a three-ply, nice and round. When I first saw it, I thought that it was a little big for an Aran sweater, but it has some stretch to the fiber and knits up into a truly nice fabric. It also makes cables that have definition.

My Picture from local Newspaper - July 2006

Bulky Blue Faced Leicester

A new yarn has arrived from England, a bulky BFL in two-ply. Interesting, fluffy, and definitely bulky at around 560 yards per pound. This yarn is wound onto half-kilo cones, which is just a touch more than one pound, and sells for $40 per cone. I've been needing a bulky yarn and I think that the BFL will be a good one. Yes, it is bit more expensive than merino, but not out of sight, and it is Blue Faced Leicester after all, a rare breed.

Soon a picture and description will go on the website. First I will list it on the SPECIALS page while waiting for my webmaster to post it on the HOME page and integrate it into the website.

Louet Gems Pearl in Stock!

I am carrying a new yarn, the Louet Gems Pearl. What a soft yarn this is. It is 100% SuperFine merino in superwash. My first concern is landing a great sock yarn, since I am trying to put together the best line of undyed sock yarns out there. This yarn is perfect for socks, and I'll probably use a size 2 in the 12" circular Addi Turbos which I favor. I can also see this as a perfect weight for shawls. Baby clothes and fine sweaters will be nice in it too.

My first shipment is in skeins only of 8 oz and 1 pound. Actually, they each weigh in at over 8 oz and 16 oz since they were wound off of a kilo measurement, but for argument's sake I'll stick with the ounces rather than grams measurements. This is consistent with the measurements of my other yarns on the website.

Yardage: 8 oz skeins have at least 795 yards, and the pound has at least 1,590 yards.

Before I decided on taking on the Louet Gems I browsed several blogs on the Internet and found nothing but compliments for it. Some people came out and said it was their favorite yarn to dye, others their favorite sock yarn. So, I am feeling confident that this will be a good addition to my sock yarns and fingering weight yarns.

Over the summer I am trying to locate and buy stock of some good new sock yarns for Wool2Dye4. At the same time, the website is being updated so the Louet Gems is not yet posted in the permanent lineup. It is, however, found on the SPECIALS page of the website. Also, it's mentioned in the crawl across the HOME page.

I expect to introduce two other sock yarns within the next month, also. I am having fun finding these yarns, meeting new people -- reps, spinners, etc. -- and finding space for the new shipments in the studio!

Sample? Send me an email and I'll get out a good sized sample to you.
info@wool2dye4.com

... And the Winner is .....

... BFL Ultra. This was submitted by my husband, and he is not interested in a pound of yarn! SO ... the runner up is Susan Grogan. Susan? If you read this, please contact me and I will send you a pound of BFL yarn.

Actually, I'll send you a pound of the current BFL Special Purchase (which, if you've read previous posts, was supposed to be my big new exclusive, but which was not quite the yarn I am looking for) ... and when the actual sock yarn comes in, I will send you a pound of the real thing.

Thank you for the 65+ name suggestions sent in by readers, some to my personal email address. I loved Susan's suggestion: her group calls BFL by the name of 'Biffle' and it has a nice ring to it. I decided on BFL Ultra for marketing reasons. Currently my best selling sock yarns are Wool2Dye4 SuperSock and Kona Fingering. The new yarn, once it is approved and spun, will go in this lineup, and I wanted something to set it apart which was suggestive of my other exclusive yarn. I think that BFL Ultra will be a good companion to Wool2Dye4 SuperSock.

BFL Special Purchase Pix ...........

Please click on the image to see more detail of the yarns.

I am happy that the unique luster of Blue Faced Leicester comes through in these photos. The white is the BFL Special Purchase as it comes. The dark Green was an experiment with overdyeing three colors with the open dyepot method. The fibers bloomed the most of the three experiments. The multi-colored skein, right side, was a combination of open dyepot and steamed package. I wound up a ball and dyed the bottom half with Mahogany as it sat on a vegetable steamer in the dyepot, then skeined it when dried, rewet it, and dribbled Colonial Blue and Fuschia over about 80% of the white space. This was oversprayed with white vinegar, wrapped, and steamed. The fibers bloomed nicely, but not as much as with the first experiment. The orange wound ball and knit sample is my Kool-Aid (mango) experiment. Again, I left some white space, and oversprayed with white vinegar

before 2 sessions of 2 minutes in a plastic covered dish.

The fibers opened very well with the Kool-Aid.

Reviewer's Comments

Below are some of the comments received from customers who reviewed the Special Purchase BFL yarn. This is the one I had hoped would be my BFL exclusive sock yarn. It has wonderful qualities -- one weaver says it is good for warp, people are knitting socks with it, scarves, shawls. It would be wonderful for a fine sweater. Many, many uses for this beautiful yarn. I wanted to share some of the reviewers' comments:

"The yarn is gorgeous, a really nice drapey hand and lovely luster, *however* (this comes from my experience knitting with my handspun) I would definitely add more twist to this, especially for socks. "

"Even though the staple is fairly long - 3-4" is what I pulled out, to make socks that won't wear out I'd have to knit these on a 000 or 0000. I think this is more a laceweight than sockweight yarn."

"Originally, I started knitting a swatch with #2's, but the fiber didn't seem dense enough - I'm going to make anklets out of the yarn and didn't feel as though they'd be sturdy enough - so I switched to #1's. They seem perfectly suited to this yarn and it's final intended purpose. I'm getting right at eight stitches per inch. I'm convinced that this yarn would lend itself well to a variety of stick sizes depending on the look and final outcome desired.Only semi non positive thing I can say about it, is that it splits a bit while it's being knit - but c'mon, it's a three ply, very fine yarn that's essentially being knit with toothpicks! It's feels so nice to knit with, that I'm completely willing to overlook the splitting, and just be more careful - this probably wouldn't be a problem if I were using larger needles for an open lace pattern."

"I started my socks on #2 needles also and was not pleased, but am VERY happy with them on #1 needles. I really like the yarn it is so soft and beautiful, feels wonderful. ... I'm loving this yarn the more I knit the more I'm loving it."

"After dyeing, I washed in wool wash and then soaked in a rinse bath with a teeny bit of hair conditioner mixed in to give the yarn a little more softness. It came out feeling almost as soft as the merino superwash from Henry's Attic, but not quite. That coupled with the (in my opinion) slightly too-loose ply would make me think twice about using it instead of the merino, and the price difference would definitely be the clincher."

"I was a little concerned initially because of the looseness of the twist. Once it was soaked for a few hours in warm water and vinegar, it began to bloom a bit. As I was dyeing it, using acid wash dyes, it was apparent that it was going to take and hold the color really well. I wanted to try doing a variegation of a color, working with my Mayan Sunshine colorway. It goes from an almost tinted white to a deep golden yellow. The colors held without too much wicking or traveling of colors.
Once it was dyed and the colors were set, it took a couple of days to dry in this Boston rain and humidity. Once it was dry? This is one of the softest yarns! It has such a nice soft hand, and it drapes nicely in the skein. ... When it came time to knit a swatch, I found it best FOR ME to use a US #3 needle. (I broke a pair of US #0 while casting on… man-hands I guess.) It knitted up nicely, and very uniformly. I still felt that the twist could be a little tighter. I ran into a bit of separating of the plies while working with it. I really had to pay attention to what I was doing."

" ...my initial critique of the BFL yarn still stands -- takes the colors very well and retains them well, but the loose ply is a real downfall. I knitted a little swatch and it does knit up well, but when touch-knitting the needles tend to split the yarn a little. I have to keep one eye on it or I end up with lots of split stitches. I will say that I'm a beginner at touch-knitting so we should take that into consideration. ... I do think it has a nice hand and it's fairly stretchy once it is knitted up. It will make nice, comfy socks, so all in all I'd say on a scale of 1 to 10, it would rate about 7 or 8, so I think it's a pretty good sock yarn."

"...and I'm going to alert my yarn-dyeing addicted-to-knitting-socks friend that she should get her checkbook ready. Splitting shouldn't be a problem for her, particularly if she knows that it's an issue. Wouldn't be an issue for me either. I use sockweight for lace shawls all the time, but I don't dye (yet). I may have to start though!"

Contest ends for Name-That-Yarn!

The date for submissions to the Name-That-Yarn has come and gone, and I thank everyone for their suggestions. I have not settled on a name, but want to get a little news out there. The winner and runner-up will each receive cones of the newly named yarn, as described earlier. BUT the yarn I have is not quite the one I want to promote and sell as my exclusive BFL superwash sock yarn. Here's what I've decided to do:

I will send a cone of this lovely current yarn to the winner and to the runner-up, and when I have accepted the newly manufactured BFL superwash sock yarn, I will send them each a cone of that yarn. That yarn will bear the name chosen.

This current shipment is going to be sold off at discount:

$35 for one-pound cone

$18 for 8-ounce skein

Email me if you want this special yarn. This is a one-time shipment and I only have 120 pounds of it. The skeins should be ready in two weeks, but if you want skeins, let me know now.

I always envisioned using the blog to tell customers about new products and events that affect Wool2Dye4. Now, let's hope this will get the word out about this Special Purchase.

Special Purchase - BFL sock weight

I have decided to sell off the first shipment of the Blue Faced Leicester sock weight at a sale price. It is a nice yarn, it is lovely wonderful BFL, it is the right weight for a sock yarn ... but I want a little more twist in the new sock yarn. So ... this first shipment will go on sale at the following prices:

1-lb cone .......... $35.

8-oz skein ...............$ 18.

It is important to have the first BFL sock yarn manufactured just right -- the right number of plies, a firm but not tight twist to the yarn, and, of course, to be superwash. This yarn has all the right stuff except that the twist is just a little too loose. It does, however, plump up very nice and round when it is dyed and washed.

This is the yarn I had hoped would be the newest in my BFL yarns, and I have an exclusive on the yarn in the United States. The next batch is being manufactured to my new specifications, and I hope it will be the one that gets a name.

So, bear with me, and take advantage of this sale price early. I have only 120 pounds of it (60 lbs in cones, 60 lbs in skeins). E-mail me to order it.