Silky Awesomness!

As I mentioned before, I went on a trip and did some stuff.

Mostly, I paid my very first visit to a specialty thread shop: Creative Stitches and Gifts!

Imagine a kid in a candy shop, 

Times ten.

In the end, I walked out of there with a nice little selection of silks and a metal awl...which I promptly had to turn around and return when I realized that I didn't have a checked bag to stuff it into for the plane ride back. 

>_<

But all was not lost! 

From Needlepoint Inc., observe:

From left to right, we have: 855, 857, 571, 862, 863, 864, 865, 225 and 224

^_^

Ohh have mercy....

Here's something to know about me: when I really like something, I start swearing. 

To be more clear, I say things like: 

"Oh d***!"

and "Son of a *****!"

and of course: "sh**!"

I think my computer was electronically wincing when I found this: 

THE SILK MILL

Now, like many textile enthusiasts, I'm an admitted threadophile, and since my introduction to Chinese silk embroidery, I have been searching high and low for a filament silk thread supplier with a wide variety. 

Previously, I had landed on Needlepoint Inc., because they produced their own Chinese silk <-- emphasis on the Chinese.

But DAMN! The Silk Mill has 600 colors!

Six hundred!

Granted they're in France, so shipping might be a little interesting... but I'm not above digging around seat cushions for loose change ^_^

Here's a screenshot of their website.

O_O

p.s., thanks to Mary Corbet for letting me know about this!

So, I went a little nuts... o.0

But I gotta say that now I have a pretty good stash! 

I should be set until the next ice age.

Yellow Dye strikes again

I should've seen it coming. 

The light blue from before is now Pine Green.

Mark my words, one day I will get that teal/green/blue color!

Better, but not quite right either... 

This one actually turned out the way I wanted it to! 

^_^

In an alternate universe I'm sure it's deliberate.

What? You ask.

The fact that I can't remember the last time a dyeing session went according to plan.

I'm sure it's a conspiracy.

The Proof

First up: Blue 1 and Blue 2

These correspond to our first two colors in the color palette below. 

I was sad to see that in Blue 1, only a tiny quasi-microscopic hint of purple made it out... 

Both are up for overdyeing. I have this obnoxious pink that might just make a purple out of that navy, while the light blue is the right color, just a shade too light. It's getting the same bath as before.

Next up: Egg Yolk

I kid you not, my yellow dye is strong... I keep forgetting that.
>_< 

This corresponds to the one variegate that could've been... 

Last but not least, a complete miss...

Peridot

My camera refused to take a good picture of this thread, so I had to fudge with the colors of the image a little, but this is pretty dang close. The real one is a little more yellow, giving it a gorgeous golden hint.

And it was supposed to be grey.

What I'd originally had in mind...

Despite the fact that they were all pretty different than what I was going for... I have to say that I like them. If the two blues weren't practically identical to threads that I already had I wouldn't even bother touching them. As for Egg Yolk and Peridot, I gotta say that I really like them.

^_^

Update!

I'm keeping the dark blue!
It's henceforth known as Berry Bubble Gum.

^_^

A little more than nothing =)

So, I realized yesterday that I did in fact have something to post about ^_^

First of all, I think I'm gonna call this one "lotusness". It reminds me of these bizarre backgrounds I'd downloaded back when I was learning HTML, and even though they looked nothing like lotuses (lotusi?), they were called that. 

Behold! 

Aaaaand, remember this ol' guy? 

I remembered that despite having worked on it in little bits here and there, I hadn't actually posted an updated picture in forever and a day--and le masterpiece has actually changed a lot! 

Also, before I moved I managed to squeeze in one thread dyeing project that I completely forgot about. The thing is, that I keep forgetting that my yellow dye isn't completely dissolved and add waaaaaay more than I'm supposed to. 

It was supposed to be blue and gold. 

You can't really tell in the picture, but there are splashes of red and green in there that make it look like ketchup, mustard, and relish look like when you spread them onto a burger/hot dog. 

Ergo, "ketchup and mustard".

It actually looks kind of cool in person. 

^_^

[insert clever post name here]

Okay! I haven't been posting lately >_< this I know, but hopefully things'll lighten up once I hit my next English class. 

Good news! I've progressed on Dunno --> but I've renamed it Duna! 

I've since finished this round, but the trick is figuring out what the frack to do as a fifth round. I'm leaning towards trying to keep the square thing... it's been harder than I thought =S 

Aaaand, I dyed some more thread! 

Now, I had a really lovely time trying to photograph this thread. It was absolutely amazing--I only had to take about a million different pictures at a billion different combinations of settings before I realized that this thread will probably never show right. It's actually a lot redder than it looks in the picture--but yes, it's very bright. I was hoping for a scarlet, but I got more cherry. 

It's still really pretty though! 

Wooo!

It turned out better than I thought it would!

And here's my pugger wuggers (real name: Pugsley), waiting for me while I take pictures!

^_^

Alrighty

Okay, so give me a minute to figure out what I was going to post. 

I had a list... in my head... but I forgot it >_<

***

Okay, so first, check it out: 

Look familiar? If not, might I direct you to the Etsy tab near the top of a certain sidebar? 

Anywho, I whipped up the first four rounds of my own self-designed, super totally awesome doily so I could upload it onto my extraordinarily cool fantastically marvelous listing on my incredibly amazing, stupendously mind blowing Etsy shop.

^_^

And look! I dyed more thread! 

Pretty, isn't it? And it only got just an itsy bit tangled =D 

I basically haven't done any significant tatting in the past few days, so this is all I've done since sometime during the weekend... I think --> I haven't even untangled that thread yet! 

I have finished Day 10 of the TIAS (a little late, I know), but I'm working on it!

The good thing is that my chemistry class didn't know what hit it. 

^_^

Succeeesssss!!!!!!

First of all, I would like to point out that I need to work on my time management. 

Second, I have finished some projects, and am close to finishing another... two, I think... but Chemistry's still being pretty work intensive, so we'll see how often I can get to my little ol' blog over here =D 

As you can see, I finally had enough scraps for the second round of Scrappy!! The difference in colors make it look different, but I like it =D 

Next, I'd like to announce: SUCCEESSSSS!!!!

Remember how I tried to get an aqua color, and it kind of didn't really work and I changed it to a funky green variegate instead?

*** (thirty seconds later)*** 

Okay, so I just read my post and realized that I didn't mention trying for an aqua... but it was supposed to be an aqua--it really was.

Back to my point, I was trying for an aqua blue-green, aaaaand: 

It's a little lighter than I wanted it to be--but it's an aqua. I'm telling you, it's an aqua (you can't really see the green in it, but it's there).

I'm happy =D 

Also, I realized that I'm not exactly aware of all the colors I've died, so I decided to find out. 

I love the pretty colors =D 

At this time, I'd like to give a shout out to Rebecca's tutorials over at: Chemknits, they are totally cool and really easy to follow. I didn't dye wool, though, so I used a dye for cotton, but it's the same basic process =D

Also, regrettably, I have fallen behind on the TIAS.  I have yet to begin Day 10, but I will ASAP.

Oogh, I've got a lot of work to do >_<

^_^

Day 8 and more thread!

For the record, pink and I have a precarious relationship. Normally, I just simplify it by saying: 

I hate pink. 

However, I have recently matured, and while I don't write it off completely, it's still not my favorite color. 

There will be, however, one shade of pink that I will despise until the end of my days. I know this because every time I look at it I feel an incredible urge to vomit. 

The pink in question is none other than Bubblegum pink. 

Also known as: Pepto Bismol Pink. 

You can now understand my horror when, upon lifting the lid on my stewing thread, I see nothing but 

Pepto Bismol pink. 

Why? I asked myself: Why did this happen? How could such a horrible thing come to pass? 

So, in a last minute rush to save the thread, I squirted more red dye, and some purple directly onto the thread and even though you can't really see it that well, I experienced the sweet savoring of 

SUCCESS!!!

I have yet to completely unwind it, and since I threw a whole ball into the batch (as I will do from now on), it may take a while... =D 

***

Okay, I have now decided to go with a baby basket... thing like everyone's been saying. 

It really does look like it.

Either that, or some type of squashed hot air balloon.  

^_^

Day 7

So, to put it simply, Chemistry's trying to whack me over the head--but I'm not letting it. 

Therefore, I'm a little pressed for time on the blog-thing, but here's the low down. 

I got day 7 done! aand, I dyed a new batch of thread (this time a WHOLE ball!): 

Day 5 and whaaaat?

Okay, so when I first saw Day 5 of TIAS, my exact words were: what the fraaaack?

On another note, I very happily completed my very first lock chain =D =D 

I think it might be a gondola--or a viking ship, I saw that in a few guesses on the TIAS blog  and I kind of dig it =D

My own guesses include:

• the gondola 
• some other type of boat
• a swan-type thing
• a basket with flowers. 

Annnnd, I dyed some more thread =D 

As you can see, it's RAINING here! 

The cold front (79-72 degrees) was supposed to be gone the day before yesterday and then it started RAINING!

I'm not exaggerating, I've been wrapped in a flannel blanket all day while I tried to understand the equation for the change in enthalpy (I had to look it up to make sure I spelled it right--I keep saying enpalthy) in a chemical reaction.

In thermochemical terms, let's just say I was a walking (more like curled up) exothermic reaction all freaking day.

I was worried this one ^ wasn't going to work out. I had to mix up brown dye and then pour it into yellow dye, but I was worried it was going to come out mottled, or an icky barf color. I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture, but it's actually a really rich wheat/gold color =D 

Oh! And I have made some progress on Gemmy Bear. Not much, but progress nonetheless =D 

I'm trying out a gimp, but I'm like 97.3% sure I'm screwing it up. 

Oh well, haha =D 

^_^

TIAS Day 4 and more thread!

So, yesterday I had a weird headache (I couldn't even look at my computer screen O.O) and I ended up taking a five and a half hour nap--so I think maybe it was a bug or something that I just had to sleep off. 

I did in fact, do Day 4 before I fell bedridden--and I re-dyed (over-dyed?) some thread that came out a little funky the day before. 

I noticed that my chain came out a little bumpier than some of the other people's... hmmm. Either way, I stand at: basket/tea cup --> semi-final answer.

Here's the first batch of thread from the day before yesterday. It was supposed to be an attempt at a 3-way variegate between purple, blue, and green....

it was not meant to be.

You can't see it that well, but instead of a gleaming, jewel colored beauty--I got a stiff, snot tinged something that I kind of had hope for until it dried and looked as you see above--except with unsightly splotches of blue, yellow and red. 

Well, positive thinker that I am (believe it or not), I decided to add more blue to the same dye bath I used on Phlegmy, and came out with this:

Pretty, huh?

And theeeen, since I couldn't stand looking at that poor, probably never to be used Phlegmy, I re-dyed it. I stuck it in a bath of pure red and nothing more.

 At first, it came out purple, but I kept adding red until it looked less like the colors I've dyed before. It is very similar to the pink and purple I whipped up a while ago, but there is a difference--which makes me happy =D 

^_^

Cheerer Upper (does that make sense?)

Remember that thread I dyed to make me feel better after a less than bright and shiny morning? 

Ta daa!!!!! 

^_^

What I've managed since.... the last time I posted

First and foremost, I would like to say: 

Dear little neighbor boy,

Please stop walking around your back yard shouting gibberish at the top of your lungs because it makes my yappy, nervous, even louder pug run around the house huffing and puffing and sounding the alarm. I worry for the strain all of this excitement puts on his little system, and I believe my ears are about to start bleeding. 

Thank you. 

Second, 

Evelyn's doily is a bit of a thinker--buuuuut I do believe things are progressing nicely. 

Since this round had a version 1.0, which is currently residing in my scrap box, I present to you: 

Evelyn's Doily Round 4: v. 1.0

As you can see, that's about as far as it got--you can't tell that well in the picture, but the pointy parts were tilting because the round bits were too big =(. I saved the pointy parts--but that's the only hint your getting for round 4. =P 

Please note, that I tried very hard to save the round bits--but you may end up seeing them in the center of a future doily/motif.... ;-) 

Also, I have found the smallest crochet hook I've seen to date. It's so small in fact, that I've actually used it when I tried to tat with sewing thread!

Aaaaaannnnnd look what I've cooked up!

I went a little nuts with the dye and squirted more in there than was actually necessary... but it was fun =D
And look!

I used less dye this time, but there was still enough left over to dye two half balls of thread... sooo I guess the dye I use is reaallly strong.

Also, I'm doing this year's TIAS! (For the first time). I didn't have any variegated thread (I just cooked the purple batch that's kind of variegated yesterday, and just finished winding it five minutes ago), or any size 20 thread... but I did have some thread that I haven't used yet and I figured it wouldn't hurt =)

I just hope I can keep up haha, school's still kicking me in the keister so I don't know if I'll be able to have time... but the bits are small, so it should be fine.

^_^

Bum bum ba daaa!!!!

As you may have heard me mention before... the arts and crafts market of Mexico isn't exactly what you'd call varied. I was stunned when I found the tatting shuttles, and I was freaking out when I realized that there was indeed thread sold here that could be used for tatting.

Funny thing is that there's only one company that handles crochet/tatting cotton --> Omega. My problem is that in the arts & crafts store I frequent, they don't get many colors, and when I checked the website, I found out that Omega has maybe about thirty colors for tatting thread--not bad, but it pales in comparison to other suppliers.

Enter boredom, and YouTube. I realized that a few of you tatters out there also dye thread, and I got to thinking, "hey, maybe I can do it, too" Soooo thanks to Rebecca at Chemknits  I have managed a little dyeing of my own. First, I'd like to note that I was worried I wasn't going to find any thread/fabric dye because apparently you can't dye cotton thread with food coloring...

But anywho, check it oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooout:

After a few hours of drying on my windowsill, I present to you... a really cool looking blue thread that's totally freaking aweseome!:

And since I had a little extra thread, I did a second batch with a lighter color!

Here's the two of them together =D Neat, huh? 

^_^