Dyeing Black and Grey

 Even though I am rather colour obsessed, when I bought the dyes I included black, grey, brown. I, of course, left those colours to the end. The brown was deep and rich and certainly an addition to my collection. So when I reached the last two dyes, black and grey, it took a little encouragement to actually do them. Once done, the BFL black was so deep and powerful and the silver silk was glowing.
Now that I have gone through all my colours once, I didn't want to go back to the beginning and do them again. So this time I took 2 colours and combined them to see what would happen. This time violet and hot pink made an awesome purple and well, what do we call that pink. Chartreuse and Emerald created a blend that is in between both of them and the second dye bath produced a blue green on the icicle. It sure was fun. Now if the weather gets nice again, I will continue with my mixed dyes. The first picture is the Blue Face Leicester and the second picture is the silk, mohair and icicle. Fun how they take on the colours differently

Knit a Hat a Week

 I had this idea that I could knit a hat a week for a year. That way I would end up with 52 hats, most of which I probably don't need. I love to knit hats. They are easy and small and fun. They fit in your purse, you can do them on the bus, or while waiting for an appointment. I work in a well stocked yarn store and there is no way I could possibly make something out of all the variety that there is in the store. If I knit hats, I can try all the yarns I want to try and I haven't invested a ton of money or time and it satisfies my sanguine nature. One day it will be pink, the next day blue.... or whatever I want.
I consider this Hat #2 as last week I made the baby hat out of my handspun.
This hat is also my own design which I posted on Ravelry
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/pink-passion-hat

Baby Hat and Handspun

 I wanted to try out the fleece I have been dyeing, so I carded up a bunch of merino, bfl, silk, and sparkle in various colours of blue, purple, turqoise, with bits of even pink and yellow. I spun it and plyed it and only ended up with 42 yards. So what do you do with 42 yards of One of a Kind yarn. It was really soft and the colour variations were quite beautiful. So I knit a hat, my husband looked at and said, 'another hat'. I guess I am a little hat crazy. It is adorable and though the picture doesn't truly show it, there are so many nuances of colour in the yarn. My cannon point and shoot doesn't seem to like blues and purples.
It was a quick spin and knit and fun to make.

Abstraction and Soap

I think its fun to make the fleece covered soap. Everytime I make one it ends up more elaborate. I am not really one for needle felting images onto the soap as you often seen on Etsy. The first ones I made were mostly different colours, but now they are colour and texture and fibre and things hanging off of them. I am not surprised that they resemble my paintings. As I was making the last ones, I felt as if I was using different textures and mediums just like I did in my paintings. I want them to be interesting. I want one to be able to discover all the different nuances of colour and texture in this small surface.I went to the health food store and bought a natural soap from Mountain Sky was in crafted here in British Columbia in the Kootenay's.They even have my favourite flavour Fennel.
http://www.mountainskysoap.com/

New Hat Patterns on Ravelry

 I added another two patterns to my ravelry store. The top one is a free pattern. Really easy, made for beginners or a super quick easy knit. It's great because you can turn up the ribbing and make a cap out of it.       

http://www.ravelry.com/designers/judith-mueller

Pink is For Girls Slouchy Beret

I added a new pattern to my Ravelry Store

http://www.ravelry.com/designers/judith-mueller

the hat looked great on me, Kensi, Melissa and Amy. It is knit with Noro Shirakaba a wonderful blend of cotton and silk and was purchased at The Art of Yarn.
www.artofyarn.com

Dye Pots are On

 Well, finally got organized and am ready to do my dyeing. I have been waiting all this past school year to add to my colour collection. I got a new fleece of BFL from Ranfurly Farm and what beautiful soft and curly wool it is. I will use it to both felt and spin.There is silk noil and spun silk and icicle and mohair in the dye pot. I don't do alot at a time as my goal is to get a colour stash. Whatever I don't use, I will share, but once I get it in my stash, its hard to let it go.
Today there is Gun Metal and Gold Ochre.... yummy