So, aside from Hayden moving to New York this week, our babysitter moved to North Carolina (this week),

and another fiber-appreciating friend is moving to Turkey next month. I threw her a farewell BBQ yesterday.

This so royally sucks.

Nate keeps asking me if I’m ok, and I’ve caught him looking at me like I’m going to break at any second. I guess I’m not handling myself as well as I think I am.

So, I’m ignoring my house and laundry and playing with fiber. I guess that the official term for what I’m doing is R&D, or Research and Development. I was talking with Nate and a bunch of men at a social gathering last night who were surprisingly interested in my little business and asked a ton of questions (that was flattering. They also made fun of me, but that’s how it goes with these guys, and I throw plenty their way as well). And that’s what they called it. Research and Development.

I’m good with that.

SO, I’m doing Research and Development, which sounds so much nicer than “ignoring my house and laundry to play with fiber”, but they’re essentially the same thing.

I took some of my dyeing disasters (the silk was the biggest disaster) and made some batts. Then stripped them in half lengthwise to experiment.

I spun up little half/batt skeins

balled them up and have begun knitting a swatch to see which fibers and configurations I like, trying desperately to ignore the fact that the colors are heinous.

And knitting a swatch with what looks like Hunter Orange flecks of silk in it is what drew the attention of the men. My participation in the conversation ended when I was asked if I could dye and spin belly button lint. I said, “probably”, they started chortling and lifting their shirts, and I left to find some women to talk to.

So, aside from working with the batts, I dyed more yesterday. This first picture is Tussah noil, Bombyx noil, and a clump of the romney locks I’ve been working with, all dyed in the same pot at the same time. I added salt this time to see if that would help the wool dye evenly.

Nope. But the silk did fine.

So I mixed up my little jars of Jacquard dyes, blended a couple colors together to re-create the blended nature of the Judith dyes that are giving me trouble.

Though the orange wool looks the same in both photos, they’re completely different. The wool in the top photo is distinctly red and yellow, and the bottom photo is a lovely, dark rust color. The rust dyed pretty even, just a little darker at the tips, which is fine. The blue/wine locks are divided like my Judith dyed wool.

SO, I emailed my wool supplier, and when they are back in town in August, I’m going to get me some new fleece. It has to be the fleece. I probably bought the one freaky fleece out of 5,000 that is dye resistant. They want me to bring some of my wool down with me so they can check it out. They’re stumped, too.

And my sister-in-law just called to confirm that I’m hosting our get together this morning.

Oops. Forgot about that.

So I have 45 minutes or so to shower, get dressed, and try to clean up a bit for company.

Oh, and one more thing. We changed the font on my Tweedy Batts website/logo. Do you like it?