They're ba-a-a-a-a-ck! ... UPS, that is!

So happy to report that very soon you will be able to choose UPS as your shipper on orders from Wool2Dye4. We are working out details just now, and have now got the web designer involved in the process, and soon you will have the option of UPS ground or 2-day service. Many customers have asked me to offer UPS as a shipping option, and I am happy to say that they are back!

This should take effect around the middle of August. When ordering, once you reach the check-out page, you will be given the option of choosing which service you prefer: UPS or USPS.

Currently, we only offer USPS service, and I have noticed that people are choosing the Parcel Post option over Priority Mail, probably thinking it will be a cheaper service. Everyone may not be aware that Parcel Post is not always the cheaper choice, especially on shipments going to the West Coast.

My advice, especially with UPS coming on board, is to click on the service you really want, then on the next slower one to compare. I think we will all be glad to have UPS as our main shipper again.

Glass Spinning Wheel

Take a look at this lovely spinning wheel!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzYB1o9YRUc

ReName That Yarn! ... contest

I have been contacted by the nice folks at Cherry Tree Hill yarns, and they have asked me to rename my signature yarn, known as Wool2Dye4 SuperSock. They've had their own Super Sock since 1998, and have worked hard to establish that as a unique name. Actually, when I named my own yarn, I did an internet search on SuperSock and not a thing came up! Not even the two word variety!

So, we are doing the right thing and will be renaming the yarn. What is interesting is that a couple of my customers called them asking if they could get a better price on Wool2Dye4 SuperSock! They had to be retail customers, because this name is not used for that yarn when it is sold to wholesale customers. I am guessing that people were 'price shopping' and that's what led to this situation.

Trouble is that it is so very popular and I need to come up with a very good name. One which will send the message that this is my flagship / signature yarn. Until I find a new name, the yarn will be known temporarily as 'Wool2Dye4 Sock.' simple and to the point.

Help me rename this yarn. There is a prize of $100 of W2D4 yarn of your choice from stock for the winner. I will choose the winner and if no name is chosen from those entered in the contest, the best second choice will win $50 free wool. You may enter more than once!

Here are the guildelines for Rename That Yarn contest ... Name must ...

--Be submitted by eMail to info@wool2Dye4.com
--Associate the yarn with my company or company image
--Be memorable and unique
--Reflect popularity of the yarn (it is my best-selling yarn)
--Be submitted by eMail to info@wool2Dye4.com (oh? Did I say that?) In other words, don't post the name here on the blog!

Deadline for entry: August 10, 2008

Where Do All the Old Phones Go?

From a friend.

Phone Sheep ...

Artist: Jean-Luc

Exhibit: Museum fur Kommunication, Germany

The World's Fascination with Dyeing

I get into some neat conversations with people over dyeing. Today, for instance, one of the workers replacing the walkway to the studio asked me if I saw the new season opener of Project Runway last night. (He'd told me that he liked fashion, something I would never have guessed from the outfits he wears.) Then, he launched into his surprise at the girl who grabbed paper bags and Rit dye, and then dyed them up to create fabric for her project. 'At first,' he said, 'I didn't like what she did. It looked like a mess! But, then when she made something out of it, it looked good. Now, that's creative!'

It was so good to hear about his recognition that someone had a vision of an end product and, while he may not have liked the individual parts, he loved the finished product. Which goes to prove that the whole is equal to the sum of it's parts!

New Stock

I thought I had mis-read the market just a few months back when I declared, maybe to myself, maybe to a few customers, that I had found the perfect yarn. What I was talking about is W2D4 Merino Superwash DK, one of the five new yarns introduced last summer. Evidently the market is slow to come to the same conclusion, though, because sales on it languished, then started to pick up slowly, almost without my knowing it. Well, actually, I was surprised that stock went down and then, unfortunately, out of the perfect yarn. So, once that empty shelf got my attention, I reordered skeins and cones immediately. AND they are coming in on Monday.

Funny, how it takes a while for a yarn to catch on. I realize that I am absolutely tiny when compared to the big guys, but, of course, the market for undyed yarn is probably tiny when compared to the larger commercial market which fuels yarn shops worldwide.

I think what made me realize that I had found the perfect yarn was that it could be used for several different fabrics. For instance, there are folks out there who like to knit up bulky socks on size 4 or 5 needles, strange as this seems to me. Almost unnatural, even, but hey! If customes want to buy yarn and knit up bulky socks, then I am truly happy to accommodate them! Don't get me wrong here.

And, it is just perfect for knitting baby clothes which need to go into the washer frequently. The superwash won't felt, so the it is basically carefree. This brings to mind the thought of how many customers actually knit up diaper covers! This is an amazing thought to me, and evokes so many visual images that I think I had better steer away from this topic. They are all tolerant of my disbelief, though, and a couple have even sent me patterns to try it myself.

But, my favorite, favorite use for my W2D4 Merino Superwash DK is sweaters and vests. For me, this is the perfect weight for a sweater. Let's face it, here in Virginia, we do not get to wear sweaters as much as we'd like to, and the older I get, the more I seem to notice that I am inside. So, the sweaters which I like are medium weight ones which keep me warm in my heated home. I don't like for my skin to be exposed during the time when the house is heated. Don't laugh. This preference to cover up skin has kept me pretty wrinkle free!

I digress.
Now, the Merino Superwash DK is back on the website. I invite you to test it out, and see if it is the perfect yarn, after all, for you.

Dancing Man ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY

This link is borrowed from the website of the Mason-Dixon gals (http://masondixonknitting.com/) and I just had to list it. Pure delight, and worth a few minutes of time. There is something so endearing about his dance!

Out of Town for 4 Days ... Sock Machine Convention!

Monday - Thursday, June 22-26th:
I will be out of the studio for these four days next week, but Debbie will be handling the orders. When I get back, I will answer eMails and questions and solve any little issues.

We continue to have some problems with the Internet. Even after moving the site to a new server, there are still some problems. I believe that these are issues related to the first host re-installing the eCommerce program, which would have wiped out all the updates and changes we had made as we tweaked the program to suit me. Now ... that is certainly not an opinion of an educated computer genius and probably doesn't even make sense! I will say I've got two computer genius guys working on it, and I believe, I believe, I believe that they will find and fix all errors.

In the meantime, I am going to Indiana to the CSM convention: that's for owners of these antique circular sock machines. Oh, and I am ready for some playtime!

UPDATE on Flats for Socks

What great response I have been receiving through eMails and on Ravelry posts about this new product, and it is fast becoming a new product. Happy to report that the trials are due next week, and I have been asked to make a quick decision of how many to have knit up because there just happens to be an opening block of time at the mill. So! By Wednesday, I will have placed the first stock order and we should be getting in Sock Flats next month.

I will tell you that I have decided to go with the upper end fibers, and the Sock Flats will be knit in Blue Faced Leicester. This will set them apart from the merino ones which are out on the market, and give my customers a little better quality fiber to work with.

Watch for the announcement of their arrival!
June 18, 2008: ...... UPDATE .......

Attaching a picture of two hats knit from this home-made flat from the SuperAran. Lovely stuff to work with, and have to say it is very soft as it flows through your fingers. The hats are lined up as they came off the flat. I just unravelled a bit and kit a bit, and then repeated until the flat was finished. As my dye patterns change, I am learning about the effects on the knitted fabric.

Flats for Socks

Here is a variation on my former project of knitting up 'round' on my circular sock machine. This is a 'flat' from a flatbed knitting machine and the yarn is from the trial run of my newest yarn, to be released this summer. It is W2D4 Platinum Sock, my first blend using nylon, a 75/25 blend of superwash merino with nylon in a 4-ply sock yarn. This is going to be a winner.
Since I still have not mastered the heel on my CSM, I'm going to knit up to the heel on the machine, then finish them on the needles. Will add a picture of the finished knitting as the project progresses.

Next day: Attaching picture of the upper leg of sock, knit on my circular sock machine, but since I have not yet mastered turning a heel on the machine, I knit up some waste yarn and will finish the sock on my 12" round needles-of-choice. See how nicely the dye pattern shows up in the knitting? This will be a short sock of 60 rows, which took approximately 2 minutes to knit on the machine. This toy is for those who are into instant gratification. Oh, well, the idea of 'instant' does exclude the learning curve of mastering the sock machine.

Now I know why there are CSM's out there in perfect condition. They lay in someone's attic for 100 years after everyone in the family gave up on the thing!
I will master the heel.
I will master the heel.
I will master the heel.

Few days later ... Adding a picture of one finished sock against the knitted flat. I tried to line up the colorations in the flat with the resulting fabric to show the effects of color and pattern from the flat to the fabric. This is my first experiment. I chose to use only two colors with white space, effectively 3 colors. Just dumb luck that the colorations came out so well distributed in the sock elements of leg, heel, foot and toe.
I do have a problem with the flatbed machine because it is made for worsted weight and here I am playing with fingering weight. A friend who has three machines, is playing around with some BFL Ultra! on her machines, and I hope to learn a bit more about which machines will produce the best flats for socks.
Not too bad for a first experiment!

Maryland Sheep & Wool...

I'll be at Maryland Sheep & Wool next month, so if you would like to meet face-to-face, come to the main tent where the fleece sales are. Then, listen for whirling sounds amid lots of laughter, and you'll be in the right place That is where the circular sock machine Crank-In is being held on Saturday.
If you are one of my customers and you'll be there, please come up and introduce yourself. It is always so much fun to put a face with a name!

Flatbed Knitting and Dyeing

Yet another Internet seller is showing handdyes using knitting machines. (Google 'flat feet yarn' to see what I am referring to.) A couple of months ago, I wrote about 'dyeing in the fabric' -- a method of dyeing swatches of yarn which have been knit up on a flatbed knitting machine. I had just 'invented' the same method, without knowing about Nancy Roberts's work and classes, when I came across her beautifully dyed fabric. My experiment was knit up on my circular sock machine, and I was able to knit up a chevron vest with long swaths of color. Either way -- knitting up fabric on a circular sock machine, or a flatbed machine, or even one of the automatic sweater knitters on the market now -- the idea is the same and the results are pretty spectacular.

We all know that to get long swaths of color and to blend it nicely into the next long swath, the skeining process is the key. Dyeing a knitted fabric takes most of this difficulty away. Simply knit up a fabric to the weight measurement you need, dye it, and unravel it as you knit. You might want to wash the yarn before knitting to get the kinks out of the yarn. (I did not do this, and my vest didn't seem to suffer, but this is strictly up to you to decide.)

Great fun, and a fun twist on the dye process. Oh, and it was so neat to hear from many readers who had also 'invented' this method on their own. Great minds think alike.

Knitting Retreat and DyePot.Com

My life is just like everyone elses ... rushing around, completing most of the items on my ToDo list, grabbing knitting time at every opportunity, taking care of business as well as home and hearth. It is hard to remember that work is designed to increase the quality of my life, round the clock, so when there is the happy co-incidence of going off for a few days of fiber fun, I take it.

That's just what I have done with a weekend up in the Alleghany mountains bordering Virginia and West Virginia, lovely rough country where the Episcopalians decided to build a retreat more than 100 years ago. There are more than twenty buildings, a couple of community dining halls, a small lake, mineral springs, rooms with no doors, playing fields within sight of the meeting rooms, lighted grounds ... really a well put-together retreat for families and groups in the beautiful commuity of Orkney Springs, Virginia.

Virginians are inordinately proud of simply being from Virginia, and we love to discover new little spots and remind ourselves how lucky we are to live in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Years ago, I spent ten years in Los Angeles. It seems like another lifetime ago, now. When people would ask me where I was from, and I'd say 'Virginia' nearly every one of them had something nice to say about my corner of the world.

But, I digress. This little knitting retreat was the third consecutive annual weekend get-away organized by Christina Parham, of http://www.dyepot.com/. There was nothing formal about the weekend, but everyone showed up with food to share, donations for drawings, and stash to share. We took tons of interesting roving -- BFL Superwash, Tencel/Merino blend, Baby Alpaca -- and some dye kits, and I made up some sample packets of three different sock yarns in one package. I took mini-sock blocker keychains, and some books from my fiber library which I knew I would never read again. The mini-sock blocker keychains sold out! and most of the books went! I don't think there were many dyers there.

Except for Christina Parham, of course. It was such a revelation to see the amount of work which one dyer can put out. I was in awe of the sheer amount of handdyed yarns and spinning fibers that she brought. Beautiful colorways, and creative names! 'Sicilian Harvest, Sweet Violet, Clay Pots, Sahara Sunset' are the ones I bought. She has a great knack of choosing just the right names for her colorways.

It made me realize how much work the handdyer actually does to produce a line of handpainted yarns or fibers. Only once have I made a big effort to supply a yarn store with a line of handdyed sock yarns, and I learned to respect the art and craft of the handdyer! No, I will leave that work up to my customers, and continue to dye for my own pleasure.

Check out Christina's website: http://www.dyepot.com/

Yarn News

From Yarn Market News, here are a couple bits of news ...

Hazel Tindall is the queen of speed knitting. The 55-year-old Shetland Island native was crowned the winner at the World Speed Knitting Championships, held during February Mall of America Knit-Out. She lined up a remarkable 262 stitches in three minutes on custom-made steel needles. In comparison, her closest competitor, Miriam Tegels of the Netherlands, who holds the Guinness World Record as fastest knitter, worked 243 stitches in the same time span. Named Fastest Knitter in 2004, when she worked 255 stitches in three minutes at Ally Pally (London show), Tindall traveled to the competition under the sponsorship of the UK Hand Knitting Association. “I think you need to have good technique and move your hands as little as possible,” she told The Scotsman, Scotland’s national newspaper.

An online petition, demanding that the DIY Network (owned by Scripps Networks) give the green light to a new season of Knitty Gritty, has drawn almost 2,200 cyber-signers. They want a fresh lineup of shows, with Vickie Howell retaining her hosting duties, and to make sure episodes air during an hour conducive to viewing -- not in the 5 A.M. slot in which repeats from previous seasons are now broadcast. Interested in adding your name? Go to www.petitiononline.com/1234lulu/petition.html.

Contests and tournaments continue ... a fact noted by no less a journalistic bastion than the Wall Street Journal, which ran a feature article (“Sock It to Me: Competitive Knitters Get Deadly Serious”) about Sock Wars last December.

Magazine readers are also getting a shot at socky sport: Vogue Knitting is currently judging its Ultimate Sock Contest, while Knitter’s is gearing up for its yearlong Think Outside the Sox challenge.

W2D4 Line grows ...

Monday we'll be adding five new yarns to our exclusive line of W2D4 yarns. They are merino yarns which will round out our base yarn category except for one spot (worsted superwash), but that will be filled in late spring. The new additions are Lace Weight, Sport, Superwash DK, Worsted, and Bulky.

They are put up on skeins for retail customers and on kilo cones for wholesale customers. We have actually pre-sold more than half of the Lace Weight kilo cones, and quite a few of the Superwash DK, so I had to reorder them even before this first batch arrived. Exciting times! It will take a while until I understand the demand of the new yarns, and I will try to keep good stock on hand while they get introduced around.

For the past couple of weeks we have had several new inquiries from customers on the Ravelry discussion boards. Seems like there my have been a few nice words said about Wool2Dye4, and people began to check out the website. I do appreciate it when customers spread the word.

Help me spread the word now about these new base yarns. They are very nice, good merino with bounce and spring to the fiber, and well priced.

Dyed from Sock Machine Tube

Here is the beginning of a chevron stripe, knit from the dyed tube of my new W2D4 Merino SW DK. You can see, on the right, several folds of the knitted and dyed tube. In my enthusiasm to see how it knit up, I really should have washed the skeins, but I just wound off a ball and started knitting. As with every handdye I ever knit with, my needles are flying and I anticipate what the next color change will look like.

Weights of Yarn

I have had several customers lately refer to 'Sock Weight' as though it were an actual name of a yarn weight. The words 'Sock Weight' are used by sellers as a general descriptor of a yarn's weight. It is not an actual weight of yarn.
True descriptors are Lace / Fingering / Sport / DK / Worsted / Bulky.
Within these weight classifications there is room for argument. For instance, some writers state that DK is the British yarnie's equivalent of the American's Sport. Others say that Aran is the British version of the American's Worsted.
Speaking of worsted, people often get confused with this term because it refers to a weight classification as well as a production style. In weight, it's the sweater weight and can be light worsted or just plain worsted, and it's usually a round fairly solid yarn. In production, it is a combing process which makes fibers lie parallel to each other before spinning, and the result is a stronger knitting yarn. People who prepare their own yarn from hand-carded wool, for instance, are not creating a worsted yarn, which is usually something done in a mill with larger machines. Of course, the hand-cranked carding machine will produce beautiful roving batt which is a true worsted product.
BUT ... back to actual classifications. You can find charts with classifications written out in the backs of many knitting magazines, or online. Some will give a suggested gauge, recommended needle size, and wraps per inch. I never trust those numbers, though, and always knit a swatch myself. That way I can choose what I want the fabric to look like, based on my own experiences. Here is a chart of generally accepted numbers for weight classifications. There is always room for personal interpretation, and some yarns will lend themselves to a weight because of how they bloom, yet not actually reach a weight classification. You'll notice that 'Sock Weight' does not appear, and that's as it should be!

• Lace Weight ......... 2300 yards per pound and higher
• Fingering Weight.. 1650 to 2300
• Sport .......... 1150 to 1600
• DK....... 1000 to 1200
• Worsted ........... 850 to 1100
• Bulky ... 500 to 900

Circular Sock Machine - Dyeing Project

Circular Sock Machine Dye Project
This project is actually a test of my circular sock machine and one of the new yarns coming in next week.
First, I will confess that I have yet to make a sock with the CSM! I am like an amazed child every single time I sit and crank out a tube of knitted yarn. Mostly I have used up some of the yarns which have been sitting around for years, and then I finished off edges to make long skinny scarves. Some have fluted lacy edges, others are straight. Some 'kitchenered' together, others ribbed then bound off, and all provided some good clean fun!
While mindlessly cranking out the tubes, I did have a few cogent thoughts, one being that it would be neat to dye a tube and then unravel it and knit something out of the yarn. My thinking was that it might be a way to create larger stripes or repeating patterns, a la Fair Isle, but that no matter the dye pattern, dying a tube would give a measure of control. More control than the experiment with a 40 foot long skein. How I wish I hadn't given away those socks, because I will surely never dye a 40' skein again.
But, to today's experiment ... The tube was knit with a mock rib ... 4 needles and one blank, all around the cylinder. I marked out a pattern repeat of 6 in and 4 in along my dye table, then dyed the 6" sections with Seabreeze Blue (from ProChem). My plan was to come back and paint one edge, along one of the mock ribs, with yellow so I would have green where the blue met yellow, and yellow across the swath of white.

That was the plan, but I picked up the wrong blue when I refilled my squirt bottle, so I wound up with two different blues. Actually, it all turned out to be fun because I had to change the plan. Instead of painting one 18 foot long yellow stripe, I decided to apply the yellow to the edges of blue. You can see where the blue had already bled slightly into the white space, and there is a yellow line along that area.
The steamed knitted tube is now out of the dyepot and coming back to room temperature. I will post a picture of the finished yarn, and a knitted sample.

April Retreat for Knitters & Spinners in No. Virginia

I must tell you about an absolutely beautiful corner of Virginia, Orkney Springs, and the weekend retreat planned for the first weekend in April 2008. Actually, I'll copy the link here to DyePot and let you read it for yourself.

Here is the link. I hope to see some of my customers there!
http://www.dyepot.com/
The area is fantastically beautiful, and the resort property, ShrineMont, is lovely and here is a link to the property... http://www.shrinemont.com/activities.html

I will be there Friday evening and all day Saturday with a little booth set up. Hope to meet some of my customers there!

New Website ... up and running

Whew. We are putting out little fires here and there as glitches in the newly revamped website show up. I am learning so much about how every little choice in style affects content, and vise versa! Lots of fun!

If you are confused about your customer status, send me an eMail and I'll clarify things for you, and my eMail is SheilaMahone@wool2dye4.com.

We've added two more spinning fibers ...a 100% Baby Alpaca, and a blend of 100% Baby Alpaca with Merino. These two are super soft, and luscious.

The BFL Bulky looks like it will have a long life on the backorder list, so what we are doing is having a merino bulky yarn made up from fibers of the very same micron count as the BFL. The fibers are practically identical, except for the BFL innate sheen, of course. Otherwise, for Bulky/Chunky customers, look for this new yarn at the end of January / beginning of February 2008.

We are phasing out several yarns to make way for new additions to our exclusive line of yarns, manufactured exclusively for Wool2Dye4. Those being phased out are Andee, Alpaca Lace, Kona Fingering, Kona Superwash, Montana, Monty, Pony 2-Ply. They are priced for sale on the SPECIALS page of the retail site.

The new formula yarns will be hits! They are soft and beautiful, and the biggest reason is that the merino we use for our yarns comes from South America. (Not the rough highland yarn!) Ours comes from folks who are known for their humane treatment of the fiber giving animals, and the quality of the fiber is just fantastic. We are so happy with this new connection, and think our customers will appreciate this new level of quality fiber, as well.