Thursday, December 13, 2007

Qiviut is coming...

While the weather is doing this:



I've been skeining yarns for tomorrow's update. I've spent the past week dyeing up some of the limited-edition qiviut blend -- 1/3 alpaca, 1/3 merino and 1/3 qiviut. It's been an interesting experience, as the base yarn is dark: much more of a deep taupe, rather than the ivory yarns I've generally been using. As a result, the colors I've been getting are more muted and subtle.




I quite like them -- but don't look for the brights or pastels in this batch. The finished skeins will be listed tomorrow at my Etsy update, along with some more sock yarns, like these wool/nylon babies:






The update after that will include laceweight yarns, and after Christmas, when all that holiday cash is burning a hole in your pocket, we will see at least one new yarn at BBF . . .

One thing I've noticed since I started dyeing yarns is that I seem to have a limited amount of creative mojo. When I spend a lot of time hunched over the dyepots, I knit less, and when I knit a lot, I tend to have less to give to the dye pots. It's not just a matter of limited time, either; there definitely seems to be a finite amount of creativity that gets "used up" on one or the other. Since I've been focusing on the qiviut, my knitting this week has been rather utilitarian: I've been finishing up a baby blanket for Knittah, who is gathering up some items for an orphanage in Botswana, and am sewing together a baby sweater for a new arrival named after a Pac-Man ghost and a modern French playwright, and have been playing around with a quickie sweater for Her Nibs, who complains frequently of being cold.


And then, this Christmas-present-to-myself arrived:



Noro sock yarn.

I want all the colors.

Seriously.

12 comments:

mindy said...

Qiviut looks verrrry nice. The Noro is nice too, but its just not BBF...

Marin (AntiM) said...

Ooooh, Carol... qivuit AND Noro sock yarn.

Which colourways of the Noro are those?

Carol said...

The bright one on the left is 182, and the purply one on the right is 188.

Bridget said...

Life is so unfair. No way will I be able to get anywhere near a computer when you do your update, and the qiviut is gorgeous!

I shall likely have to console myself with some Noro sock yarn soon ... ;-)

Anonymous said...

Whoa, are those quiviut GORgeous -- I love the muted. What time is the update????
chow,
Allison

Becca said...

Sheesh, it's 78 degrees here in freakin Georgia.

I, too, am wanting the Noro. I don't care if people say it's too scratchy for socks. The colors are amazing.

Also, your Etsy link is busted. You left out the i in fibers.

Anonymous said...

I really really like those qiviut colours. Really. Gives me notions.
I'm looking forward to my order of the superwash sock yarn for the baby sweater, can't wait to cast it on.

Carol said...

Fixed the Etsy link (I hope) -- update is around noon.

Thanks, guys!!

Rana said...

I like the qiviut blends too.

Do you know what the Noro sock yarn feels like? I love the colors of Noro, but the last time I worked with some, it was a bit harsh and had a lot of knots.

Anonymous said...

I love the qiviut blends but... what could one make with just one skein?

Kate said...

We charmed our yarn rep out of a ball of this, and I knitted a sock from it.

It feels much like Kureyon worsted in the ball, but softens with knitting, and feels quite acceptable on the purl side (which would be against the skin).

I suspect it will soften with washing, as well.

If you have problems with "regular" wool/nylon sock yarns, though, this one probably isn't for you.
At least not for socks.

However, I also did a swatch in Fair Isle from both ends of the ball, a la Kauni, which came out gorgeous.

Minnie said...

Gah! I was keeping an eye out for this earlier last month and then I left the country and missed it! :( Do you think you'll do the qiviut blends again? I wouldn't mind commissioning it from you since the colors are so unusual in qiviut/qiviut blend yarns.