Thursday, March 09, 2006

Reader input

Okay, readers, since you are a very knowledgeable and august body of knitters (read: I'm sucking up), I would like to ask for your input on something. I am toying with the idea of selling some of my hand-dyed yarns and rovings, now that I'm getting a bit better at the process. Here are some examples of the most recent stuff I've done.

Lace-weight wool, in shades of sage with a little yellow and a little teal:



And some roving:







What I ask from you, dear readers, is for you to kindly tell me your druthers: what do you think? what weights of yarn do you think are most tempting: lace weight, sock yarn, DK, bulkier than that? What about roving: any specific breeds (Blue-faced Leicester? Corriedale? Targhee?)? What colors do you find most tempting? What colors do you like but are hardest to find? Any other suggestions you'd like to share? Feel free to use the comments section or you can email me privately via the link over to the right. I thank you for your help, and for your honesty.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Decent purple colours are hard to come by. And I would look for lace weight. Hope this helps, good luck :) http://www.theswitchboards.com/switchboards_home.html - this site might be useful to you

Stacey said...

I like the DK weight too - even for socks for the hubby. I can't find too much in the more "manly" tones that would work for him. Oranges arent' that common either, I usually snatch them up when I find them!

Anonymous said...

As a spinner and lover of green, I'll vote for targhee roving and greens of all colors: light greens and dark greens, greens together and solid greens. Have you ever noticed how hard it is to find a nice array of green rovings? Believe it. Green. yum. mee. Nice dye job on the other colors, and lets see some green!

Anonymous said...

Funny how we tend to see lack in terms of what we love.
I'd've said there's no end of purple hand-dyed yarn, and yet the second commenter sees nowhere near enough purple.
How about some yellow shades, for us jaunatre (add a circonflex)fans?

And, yeah baby, Targhee wool and Blue-faced Leicester.
Gorgeous stuff there, ma mie.

Anonymous said...

sock weight and lace weight are my interests. Colors--I am a blue, grey, black, wine, deep green person. I could not would not spin a yarn--so no comments on the roving (although, my cat loves the leftovers from my one attempt--perhaps he would like some color?)

Anonymous said...

Another not-a-spinner here, so I won't comment on the roving.

I love sock yarn and it always seems more affordable as you don't need as much of it. And I agree that lace weight should be very subtly variegated....otherwise it overwhelms the lace pattern.

I would love some worsted weight in very subtle colors...like the solid Koigu skeins that, when you look at them closely, have slight shadings of color.

Another thing I like in variegated worsted weight yarn are very short stretches of color so that stripiness is kept to a minimum and you get more of a speckled effect.

And I love all colors...though it does seem hard right now to find yellow/orange combinations.

Anonymous said...

I'm stuck in a sock phase, so that's my first choice anymore. Also, like most everyone said w/ the laceweight, very subtle shadings within the same color. Though, in a simple pattern, more colorful yarn may work- you'd probably want to knit up a sample so people could see that.

Rovings- my personal fav is merino. I'm not a "warm" color fan, but your orangey/peachy roving is calling me.

I think your best bet would be variety- and experiment outside your color comfort zone- I've gotten some pleasant surprises doing that.

Rana said...

I like sock weight and DK weight, but I'm far more willing to splurge on an untried yarn in sock weight -- the commitment is so much less.

I second the appeal of greens, especially leaf greens, intense dark greens, and clear greens in general (versus muddy yellowed greens or blue-greens). Russets and browns are also nice, and often hard to find in sock weights.

Hard to offer an opinion on the roving... I'm a spindle spinner, and a few ounces tends to turn into a life-time supply, as I am such a slow and sporadic spinner!

Anonymous said...

In roving I am colour junky magpie and anything weird I'll buy. (my supplier knows now to wave them at me)
I strongly agree with Janice that the hand dyed display better in the skein. Friends who sell it sell way more displayed that way.
Barb B.

Anonymous said...

Green yarn!
Green! Lovely mossy greens, earth toned greens, greens going to blues. Keep the values similar, so the knitting shows up!

Anonymous said...

I say there isn't enough hand dyed yarn in dk and worsted weights. Eggplant purples, blood reds, and very rich, vibrant colors really appeal to me. If you really get good at this spinning, maybe you can feature machine washable yarns too. Truthfully, I wasn't too fond of the colors on the skeins that you placed on your blog, but I must say that you are on the right track.

Anonymous said...

Bring on the sock yarn!

Anonymous said...

I WANT that purple roving! Lace weight, sock weight, and also bulky/super bulky are wonderful, and I like merino, Cormo, anything soft and silky. You could keep it as roving for me too... I like your color values, they blend together really nicely. I'm not so much of an orange/yellow fan (it makes me look jaundiced), but the blue/teal/green was pretty, too, and I also really like the pink/red/blue - I think that would spin up really nicely with long repeats if you did it as a fine yarn.

Anonymous said...

Another vote for tonal, subtle variegations, DK-to-worsted weight, and muddy and olive greens.

But not socks. I usually prefer to buy enough for a sweater.

Anonymous said...

Sock yarn please. I love knitting socks from yarn dyed by individuals. I also buy it compulsively with greater regularity than I knit it. There's always room for another ball of sock yarn (or 20) in my house. Looking at all those lovely little hanks seems less intimidating than gazing at a sweater project waiting for me quit my job and knit full time.

Anonymous said...

How about some graduated colors--from indigo depths to glacier blue, saffron through pale pansy, cabernet through virgin's blush?
I think graduations of color could work in anything from lace weight for shawls(I'm imagining Lotus Blossom, which I still haven't started, in those blues) to bulky for scarves (how about a commie reds cable scarf).
I think you should add the disclaimer that the yarn will self destruct if it's stranded with Fun Fur.

Rana said...

Ooh. I hadn't thought about graduated colors -- michelene, that's genius!

Liz said...

another vote for sock yarn - it doesn't require a lot of yardage, so it's an easy "ooo gotta have it" thing. Deep, rich, fun colors rule!

aija said...

Its all about sock yarn for me, its so versatile and as another commenter said... low commitment. Splurging on a $20 pair of socks isn't as much of a jump as a sweater's worth of yarn. My own desire for colors? Less bright, less "kool-aidy"... unless you add a dark color (brown/black) to offset the lite-bright colors. I'm always a sucker for orange and when blue is paired with orange...!!! Good luck on your endeavors!