a smaller life

on the color pink

Cosyknits recently wrote a post about her changing views on color that is so appropriate to how I've been thinking, lately. I am coming to view colors differently- I've been watching myself shift from murky deep dusk colors into the bright and clear tones. There is still depth there, but I've been feeling a lot more playful with my color choices lately.

 

(This amazing, thigh- high sample sock was knit out of Skinny Bugga summer colorways by the lovely and talented Katydid Knits.)

This summer is full of surprises for me- some positive, some negative, some just… well, surprising. Looking at all my new colors on the lines, I can't help but wonder exactly what is happening with me, lately; my colors are bright and rich and jewel- toned. There are even a few strong pastels in there- strong enough to almost not qualify as pastels, but so light… well, maybe I need a new word for whatever those are.

They are gorgeous, though. That word fits. They are lovely and they just flash out at  me. They are influenced by the time of year, I'm sure, but even more by the people in my life; a lemon- chartreuse for Pamela, a darkish blue for my sister Megan (like her eyes), a purple- magenta for my aunt Karen. But there is nothing in there to explain the pale pink, or the orange with hot pink flashes; they are just there, lovely and colorful, and I've no idea where they have come from, of why I want to make them. 

It is the pinks that startle me. I've always hated pink; I've seen it as insipid, or obvious, or silly. But I don't, any more: certainly there are pinks that fit that description- Barbie pink, how I hate you- but there's something sweet and sensual in the pinks I've been making lately, delicate and generous.

 

 

Somehow, I am turning into a girl who loves pinks. Peachy pinks, nude negligee pinks, soft buttery yellows with pink tones, it's in everything. I've dyed a champagne color that I am so in love with, and I have thoughts of dusky grey- pinks, too. 

I have no idea what that means, but while I'm figuring it out, I'll be dyeing silk scarves for myself in every pink I can dream.

I leave them alone for one afternoon...

And this is what I come home to.

(I love my job.)

in which the week gets better, and not just because it rather had to

 

We're busy over here, packing for Stitches South in Atlanta this coming week. I don't know how communicative I'll be while we're there, but I'll give it my best. I've spent the weekend pouring through my outfits, trying on corsets, trying to decide which pieces of taffeta frippery will pack best and realizing that it really doesn't matter. All hotels have irons in them these days, right? 

Outside of packing ad preparing, though, there's been some fun. We spent some time making fun of our smart- phone addictions. There are three iPhones in this picture, and that's not counting Pamela's Blackberry, which was taking pictures for Twitter at the time. We are information addicts. Oh, or my own iPhone, tucked in my pocket. I remember a time when I couldn't understand why anyone would need a portable phone at all. Hm.

This week also brought about the end of a long- standing mystery, which was wonderful. I'm usually so let down when one of my Great Mysteries is solved- those un- Google-able things that you puzzle over for months. I usually prefer the things I've imagined to the real answers, which are generally far less exciting. This, though, wasn't a let- down at all.

 

 

We've been acting like children a lot in the house- I've been chasing Kiddo around the kitchen pretending to be a love zombie, or running our dogs around until they collapse. Or, in Hugo's case, hide in the bottom of the cat tree.

 

 

The best part of this week, though, began in the grocery store. We found Magic Grow Sea Beasties. Do you remember those? The giant colorful capsules that turned into sponge critters in hot water? I always wanted to take one like a pill as a child, although now, I think that would be pretty gross... but I'm still tempted.

 

 Look at all the options! We only allow ourselves to "release" two of them a day, and we pretend it's all very scientific at the time. Me, I'm waiting for the giant squid. Or the octopus, that would be pretty rad. Kiddo is waiting for the manta ray and Sam just likes flicking water on everybody.

 

 These things are so cool.

 

 

That's really all that's happening, lately. I still don't have a banjo- not for a lack of looking, or desire. I have this feeling that the right banjo will come to me, or something. My Banjo Destiny. Maybe I should check Atlanta's Craigslist? Atlanta seems like a great place to find a banjo.

Long story short- too late, again- the week got better, just as we'd suspected it might, and next week looks pretty good, too. Atlanta, here I come. I hope you're ready for me.

 

 

on Homespun Yarn Party 2010, dyeing and a dash of gratuitious puppy

  

 

Homespun Yarn Party was this past Sunday, and it was intense- it sure packs lot into a small show. It's a great show, short as it is, and I loved meeting some of the other vendors- I got to meet the lovely Cosy, of cosySpins, and I brought home a skein of her supersoft orange handspun, Buy Nothing Month be damned. Our neighbor Jenny runs 8th Street Soap Kitchen, and she smelled amazing. Okay, I didn't sniff her, exactly, but I her booth smelled pretty damned good. Remember when I said I'd come back to the espresso- Guinness- dark chocolate soap? That's her, and in case you were wondering- yes, it really is every bit as good as it sounds.

 

 

In other news, all of my summer test- dyes are coming out in these strangely bright, clear colors- even the dark ones. I tried for something a little more moody yesterday, and I'm not in love with it. I fails to move me at all.  Who the hell am I, again?

I'm at a complete loss. It's like I've replaced myself with someone else, a stranger who wants to wear sunny sweet rich jewel- toned things. I'm not a jewel- toned girl, people. I like murk, and subtlety, and grey- lots and lots of grey; if you saw my clothing you'd never guess I'd made a career in color. Grey makes me happy in ways I can only barely begin to describe.

And what am I dyeing? Berries, sunshine, afternoon skies, baseball fields and sari silks. I can't even let my browns just be brown any more; I tried for a sweet midtoned brown for the Spring colorways and before I knew what I was doing I added all these rosy tones. It's definitely brown, but a ruddy brown, full of caprice, although as though my hands were laughing at me. They are, I know it, especially that right one, but it was never good for much, anyways.

I love the new colors I'm making, which seems significant to me. Unexpected as they sometimes are. I wonder what changed? It must have been me, but why? I'm still waiting to see how our customers react to this movement towards bright and clear that started with the Spring 2010 colors. The true test will be once they have them in their hands. And I'm learning to have faith that they can follow the direction I'm moving in these days- something I talked with Steph about this weekend, and something on my mind in general these days. 

In other, other news- because really, this blog post was already disjointed, why not?-have some puppy.

 

It's ridiculous, right? Huuuuuuuugoooooooooo.

 

in which I am a day late, and a pug short

  

 

I know, I'm a day late. There were sleep issues and updates to worry about, but I didn't forget, I promise. Translation on Flickr! Can you tell I was hungry when I wrote this one?

We're still looking to adopt a pug- happily, the one boy we went to meet today was returned to his owners. Not happily for us, of course, but that's a nice outcome. We're still looking. We were in PetSmart this afternoon and a woman walked in with a baby pug and we both, briefly and crazily, considered a puppy. Madness. I recommend a new law against puppies in public. Either way, we're not puppy people. Puppies always find homes. 

This week is all about resting up and stretching for the Homespun Yarn Party this Sunday- eeep! I'm so excited to finally get to go to one- I've missed them all so far. Oh, and dyeing for our Summer and Fall releases. It's a little weird to be that far ahead of the game, but I think I could get into that. Planning and organizing and all of that.

Haitian Relief Auction

"My own experience and development deepen everyday my conviction that our moral progress may be measured by the degree in which we sympathize with individual suffering and individual joy." -George Eliot

Haiti's recent misfortunes are hard to write about; how do you even begin to get a mental grip on suffering at such a scale? It's mind- boggling. In case you've missed the news this week, Haiti has been hit by a series of terrible earthquakes which have devastated the nation. The number of dead, dying and injured is staggering, but aid is finally reaching the country; supplies are being flown in daily, and more and more aid personnel land every day. The outpouring of support and assistance is one bright, shining point in all of this; there has been a stunning amount of fundraising and humanitarian aid offered.

While we know we can't fix the world via yarn, we do make our efforts. Tonight, from 7pm EST to 10pm EST, we'll be auctioning off 4 custom- dyed skeins of Bugga on the Ravelry CPA Haitian Relief Auction boards- a sweater's worth of yarn. We'll dye the skeins in any colorway past or present- you name one of our colors, and we'll make it for you, whether it's a current colorway or a discontinued one. All proceeds go towards Doctors Without Borders.

The details are in the auction thread itself, but to sum up: the auction occurs on the actual thread itself. Winners of every auction- and there is a lot more going on there than just us, some really lovely items!- are asked to pay their donation directly to the charity itself, and then to forward the reciept to us, at which point, we'll get into our dyepots and get working on your skeins.

Please, do take a look at the auctions, and if you've got a Facebook account, or a Twitter account, or any other social networking website, please help us spread the word. Thanks, everyone.

details

 

In the rinse bins.

 

photoblog

In the Easton studio today, and to hell with the snow. (The snow! I love the snow!)

I woke up this morning to Cacie knocking on my door- which seemed rather inevitable, I suppose. I've always known that in working from home I was running the risk of oversleeping and thus waking up to my employees, but I only just got to experience it today. Agh, fail. I'm spending tonight making up for my lost morning knitting/ coffee time.

Instead of a post, behold: the Easton Studio.

Herod, lolling about in large quantities of silk- cashmere yarn:

Steam off the dyepots.

 

     

Yarn in the racks...

 

  

Elissa beating Gryphon with a skein of yarn...

 

 

 

A pretty typical day, really. :)

 

oh my coldness

It is freezing out here. Literally. FREEZING. This was our rinse water at the Baltimore studio today.

 

 

Cacie and I went out to the barn this morning to fetch tools; we just stood there, staring at our frozen bins of water, rather in shock. This isn't even the worst month of winter- we still have January and February to look forward to! That measuring cup has hot water in it, to help us unfreeze some skeins that needed repair- didn't make a dent in that frozen water. Luckily, we're doing repairs (indoors!) and twisting/ tagging today.

 

 

 

Even with the weather, though, I'm happy. The overall vibe at the studio (and oh, how I hate to use the word "vibe") is one of cheerful industry. This is so different from so much of my previous work; even when the weather is miserable, when we're outside working with cold water and wet fiber, I'm 329472390358 times happier than I ever was in a warm cubicle. That seems to me the biggest indicator possible that I'm exactly where I need to be right now; working in the winter wind, huddled over a stove, making colors. It's definitely not everyone's idea of a dream job, but oh, it's nice to be happy. I think about where I was at this time last year, and it all seems like another life.

 

 

 

a quick peek

 

It's been a good week- decent weather, a fair amount of yarn and lots of rovings dyed up- and a ton of laughter.

 

Exhibit A: Baltimore Elf Corrine with a merino- silk Fu Manchu.

 

 

 

Exhibit B: Baltimore Elf Cacie with her hands of blue.

I wish I had a photo of our third Elf, Noelle, but she always seems to be moving whenever I have my camera out. As proof, I offer about three seconds of video, instead.

 

We're having a good time out here. How many people have this much fun at work? It makes up for those cold, rainy miserable dyeing days we occasionally have.