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Ceallach Dyes Too!

Thanks to everyone coming by Ceallach Dyes.

If you would like to be the first to learn about new products or learn more about Solar Dyeing, please sign up for the email newsletter today on the website…..right at the top. Our email newsletter will contain more information about Solar Dyeing, new products, free patterns, information about chances to win our products and other exciting Ceallach Dyes information.

I have been very busy with getting some of the other business items in order, like licensing and new inventory and the like. I am also working on accepting credit cards on the website.

Spinning fiber is also coming soon to the website, as soon as I decide on the grade and type of roving to add….I have a few that I am looking at and thought I would mention them here, so that those of you who spin can chime in on what you would like. Unfortunately, I don’t yet have the fiber, so I can’t show you pictures.

The three spinning fibers I am considering are:

52s Gray wool blend: A lovely gray wool, that passes the Ceallach Test* for softness, and will be stunning dyed into darker shades of my colorways.
56s Australian Wool: A white wool, also passing the Ceallach Test for softness, I think it is also a merino
62s Superwash Merino: Why superwash? Well, because superwash is great…..felting is not an issue, unless of course you are setting out to felt with it. and obviously, it can be washed. I happen to also love the way superwash dyes…..the colors are deeper somehow.
Please feel free to comment on which fibers you would like, and that will be taken into consideration.

I will also be ordering more of the Twist, as a couple of people are asking me to dye larger batches for them, which I am happy to do. A sock yarn is also in the works, more later on that! Any other knitters wanting to Twist can comment here, or send an email under Contact Us from the website.

Many of you have asked what Solar Dyeing is.

Protein fibers such as wool require heat and acid to fix the dyes to the fiber. Usually, the acid is quite light, either Vinegar or Citric Acid. The heat is usually applied using some kind of oven, stove, or other heat source that ultimately depends on either petrol products or similarly dirty energy sources to power the heat source. Solar Dyeing depends on none of these for setting the dye on the fiber. It instead relies solely on the heat and energy of the sun to set the dyes.

So why do this? The United States contributes over a 1/3rd of the world’s carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Knowing that, I could not in good conscience start a business that would require me to use relatively large amounts of energy for the dyeing process. The energy consumption saved by my solar dyeing may not be that much, but if everyone did similar things, think of what we could do.

Why, we could even change the world.

We could stop the Artic polar ice and the Antartic ice shelves from melting, and stop the relentless drive of our accidental terraforming of our beautiful planet.

Because we don’t get another one.

That whole racing for the stars thing just isn’t working out fast enough as exciting as new spinning fiber frontiers could be on other planets. The timing is just all off.

For more information, on what you can do in your life, go to here and calculate your CO2 Footprint. You might be surprised at the impact that you have and the changes that you can make in your life. And while you are at it, spread the word about solar dyeing and calculating the CO2 footprint that we leave

In the meantime, please feel free to take the button up top right and add it to your blog or website with a link to www.ceallachdyes.com. Just remember to host the image on your own servers. More buttons are coming soon.

*The Ceallach Test is a rigorous test that Ceallach puts her yarn and fiber through to ensure that it is soft enough to not be immediately removed from the state that she is in after skin contact. Ceallach’s fair skin is quite sensitive, so many otherwise fantastic fibers are just right out. This unfortunately includes most alpacas which usually feel like cactus thorns digging into her skin, with the exception of some baby alpaca and suri. The Ceallach Test involves first and foremost the finger test in which most itchy scratchy wools will sadly reveal themselves. Next comes the cheeck rub, the chin tickle, and finally, for the privileged few, the scarf knitting. We are pleased to bring our customers only the softest fibers as a result of our stringent and scientifically insupportable testing methods.

Spinny Pal is Here!

So I had kind of a bad day and things were looking pretty grim,
Upon arriving home, yet nothing on the door step, no package, no trove.
Where had it been?

And what should my Rock say to me as I left Meines Auto?
A package is here for you, and from Deutschland he supposed.

Ah! A box, a humble and distressed box had made it’s way to my door.
Naturally I slit the top and grabbed the camera….What for?

Why to record the veritable treasure for all to see,
The linen, the silky merino, the alpaca goodness, and the ramie too!
The candies, which the kiddies soon consumed,
Deutscheses deliciousness that they soon wore
On faces and clothes and on their hands….
Even my Rock had some and expounded on its deliciousness!

But on the top, a small bag of seed.
What could it be? Had my pal, perhaps, snuck me
Some WEED?

When finally I reached the bottom of the battered box,
A humble envelope lay there.
A pattern, Ubersetzen es gehabt!
(Translated for those unaware!)
And beneath lay a nicely bound book,
A treatise even of dying,
Well dyeing rather with Indigo…..

The seed was not Weed….
(which is good given I don’t like stripes much)
But a seed of a humbler source,
One used for the coloring of cloth,
The making of blue wool
The dyeing of cotton.

As the ramification sank in,
The possibilities exploded,
And I started to Plan!

Plan what?Why dear reader,
The Garden, the garden.

With rows of tomatoes and carrots to be sure,
Watermelon in the corner,
Zucchini between the peach and the pear….
And a row of humble indigo, Right over there.

But for now, I shall just revel and plan.
For my Spinny Pal, is none other than Susann!

Civil Bitch

Civil Bitch writes about 5 wonderful about her husband things….

So what do I like about myhusband? Bearing in mind of course, that the things we love most can sometimes annoy as well.

1. He is the gentlest man I know….in heart, body and soul.
2. He is also a feminist. There are no issues about womens right, right of choice, equal rights.
3. He is an excellent father, and has no issues with being a stay at home dad…..that’s right, he has no issues, but I do…..
4. He is a completely dedicated family man, wanting to take care of everyone.
5. He loves to travel, and sees no problem with hauling the kids wherever.

Shelly, this could not come at a better time….yesterday I was questioning my devotion to the Rock, so you meme is timely, my dear!

Red Alert! Red Alert!

“UFO and WIP off the port bow, Keptin! Preparing firing solution now, sir. “

“Belay that, Ensign…..Put in on screen, Spock. “

“On Screen, Aye, sir.” Bwiiiiannnnggg. “Here we have an Unidentified Finished Object. The configuration is similar to the Romulan War Hats of the 2nd Dynasty….but there is the cables….I don’t know what to make of it sir, but there has been no overt hostility.

“Here sir we have what apparently is a Lace Corset Top, in a striking Blue hull. Notice the magnification of the neckline in the second photo. Again no overt hostility, sir. “

“Upon my orders, I want everyone to start knitting. “

“Engage!”

Oh, be still my heart!

Oh, my.

I came across these patterns today…..I don’t tend to buy patterns, but these are just so lovely.

The first is the Swallowtail shawl……http://www.needlebeetle.com/lace/swallow.htm

The next is this one…..http://criminyjickets.blogspot.com/2006/09/dragone-details.html The designer for this one also has a shawl called Filigree that is lovely and I like…..go here: http://www.aurora-alpacas.com/ and go into the Shawl gallery…

Be still my heart…..oh these are so lovely!

Ceallach in the Library with the Belly Dance Sword

I am behind.

On pretty much everything.

And it’s all because of belly dancing….you heard me right. This summer I picked up belly dancing again, after a baby hiatus. Sunday was the first performance in almost 3 years. So the last couple of weeks were focused on practicing to the music, making sure that I had a costume to wear and other little pre-performance tasks.

I am pleased to report that I did perform well. It all is coming back to me and the music was live, and fantastic. And now it is over. Of course, there is now the Halloween Hafla that we do at the end of October every year. I am trying to figure out what I will do for my part.

Technically, I cannot blame it all on belly dancing, since I did manage to add a email newsletter function to the Ceallach Dyes Website since we last talked. So hop on over there and sign up for the newsletter….that way when I dye more lovely colorways or get exciting new fibers, you can be the first in the world to find out and snap the lusciousness up right away! The signup is on top to the right.

As a direct result of being behind, I have not posted my Knitty Blogstalking assignment in a few weeks.

Voila!

Here is my library. The thing that you need to know about my library is that it is not really confined to any one room. My books tend to wander a bit. So I wandered a bit with the camera to capture them on film…..funny how that works out.

What you also need to know is that we have books on many subjects….peace in the middle east to astrology and of course knitting.

It does lend a certain je ne sais quoi to our humble maison, n’est ce pas?

Eh, maintenant!

Let me draw your attention to the stool in the corner there…It is West African, I forget where exactly, but presumably in the Armpit of Africa, because that is where most of the stools are from.

No we did not cut anyone’s feet off, rather it is a darkwood carved in the shape of a rather realistic leg.

We use it now to prop the baby jail gate open when necessary.

Eh, Attencion!

And here is the kitchen library, which amounts to the bookcase in the kitchen/eating area. Note the bottom half is the kid’s books…..and way up top is the knitting books…..How many titles can you name from the knitting books?

Oh, and the two shelves below the knitting shelf display with great flair a small portion of the Video and Entertainment library. That portion is stacked two deep.

Ah, SasaBon Sa!

Here is part of the CD collection. Note the figurines riding the cases….the one on the right is the devil…..his leg are backwards so that you can’t tell which way he is going…..the little deceiver!

Sasabon Sa is his name and he hails from Ghana.

The other piece is from Papua New Guinea and looks remarkably like my father in law.

And a close up, wherein you will be able to see some of the titles in my CD case.

Et, Finalement!

Ma UFO ancien…..

Which is surprisingly new….being Icarus from IK Summer 2006, but poor icky has languished in my knitting bag for an eternity….although I did come back to it to put some rows on.

How pathetique am I? I do not even have a really good UFO

Ceallach Dyes Too!

So some of you know that I have been working on the website for the business.

I am pleased to announce the Ceallach Dyes website is up and ready to go. So far we are PayPal only, but will soon be taking credit cards, as soon as I get all the pesky little details taken care of.

But in the meantime, I have also posted a link to the site over there to the right! Click through to the site and view the yarn pr0n shamelessly.

You know you wanna…..

I’m Hit!

I have been tagged. Thanks Janet!

I have to list my 7 favorite songs and then tag 7 other bloggers……

1. Amazing Grace-I find myself humming this one periodically. Not that I am religious, but just like the sentiment and the sound.

2. Star-Spangled Banner-It always makes me cry.

3. Hark the Heralds Angels Sing-again with the tears, and makes me hopeful a little.

4. Rowan song…..a Celtic song that my SIL taught me, it’s a lullaby that we sang to my daughter. We don’t know the real name.

5. The Lord’s Dance- heard it for the first time in Ireland, and love the sound and the feel and the idea that God sanctions dance as holy expression.

6. Adestes Fideles- my grandmother used to sing it at the holidays in Latin. She has a not nice singing voice, but that is not the point, is it?

7. Frere Jacques-I sang this to my son when he was a baby, and continued…..we still sing it together.

So there it is, and now I get to tag 7 bloggers……here goes: DillyDallyKnitter, OldLadyPenPal, Teleknitter, Civil Bitch, GianSavon, LeftCoastKnitter, Megalogarnie!

The Ends of the Earth

I have been to the ends of the earth…..no really, I have. Just not since the last blog entry, despite the rather long length of the hiatus since.

Not really the end of the earth, but three knittish friends and I went to Alameda, Ca to the store called Yarn! which is going out of business for a little sale shopping…..and I won the shopping prize, which means absolutely nothing except that I earned the respect and sympathy of my yarn-hunting peers. What did I get you may ask?

Hmmmm, several skeins of Waikiki, Cotton Chenille for facecloths (at least 3 skeins of which are for Mom), her last skein of SeaSilk in a green and bronze colorway, some MonkeyStix and Sweaters from Camp…..pictures later. Oh and a pattern for the Flower Basket Shawl for my little lost skeins of Koigu in the happy colors.

However, I can say that we have had a LeftCoastKnitter sighting. You all know Christine of course from a Yarn Encounter of Third Kind, but in the photo is Left Coast Knitter (she is on the left). Janet from Chocolate and Raspberries was also there, but declined to be photographed. (Actually it was more of a threat of dire consequences that utterly convinced us.)

Finally, I also have to say that I got my last package from the One Skein Angel…..she is a teacher in Maine, is totally sympathetic to the whole equal marriage rights thing and sent me this:

The next 3 photos are of the Debouilllet fleece that LeftCoastKnitter and I split years ago…..now this fleece has a story. We contacted the seller on eBay and asked about this fleece, which apparently was a 2 year cut…..because the normal bearer had managed to elude the shearer for at least one year. The bearer also lived and roamed freely in the New Mexico wilds and managed to pick up every cactus pine East of Arizona in the wool. The only way to recover the fleece is to comb it. Recently, on knitty, someone was looking for this breed….of course I put my hand up and sent two samples to the poster and an enthusiastic mod. They did have fair warning that the fleece had many prickly bits, but was quite lovely regardless.

Having retreived the fleece from the stash where it languished after being subjected to the last bits of some dye from a dye day with the aforementioned LeftCoastKnitter, I decided that I should start to comb it for spinning. That brings us to the first photo which is of the washed and dyed wool, unprocessed in its entirety.

The next photo is of me combing said fleece with my 2 pitch viking combs. Notice the long lusciousness that is the fiber. And here is a basketful of nests of combed fiber that is ready to be spun. I still have quite a bit of it to comb, having at least 9 ounces left to comb. All photo credits to Little Hill.Here is one of the California Golden Poppies from my yard. Little Hill and I spent the day taking photos in the backyard. The digital camera is excellent for letting him learn the basics of photo framin gand composition. Instant feedback with the little display allows young minds to absorb the information and what they are really doing. So I was giving him assignments to do, allowing me to comb to my heart’s content, and then check his work.

The student has apparently surpassed the teacher. At 6 years old.

That’s all for now.