Memorial Day weekend sale!

Memorial day weekend sale! use coupon code memorial2012 at checkout to receive 10% off all purchases in the shop!

Impromptu Shop update tonight!

Impromptu shop update tonight! 9:30 p.m. PST, in the shop!

A Little Sunshine

How about a little sunshine to take away the grey clouds of the last post? (I'm pleased to say that no further harassment has taken place.) These are the first pair of socks i've finished in literally several years; the first one languished for about a year up to the heel, then suddenly, probably because the weather turned so beautiful, I raced through finishing this pair. Yarn is High Twist sock in Lazy Daisy; basic toe up, 28 stitch stocks, with a fantastic gusset heel learned from Wendy Johnson's excellent first sock book. I like this heel a lot; it fits my foot perfectly. Although I tend not to wear socks that often unless I'm working out (and then I prefer generic cotton socks), they sure are cozy in the wintertime. :-)

Threatened Harassment

Many years ago, I blogged about a small controversy that had arisen between two bloggers, one who is no longer blogging. Time went on, I forgot about it, and several pertinent comments must have gone into my junk mail, as I never read them until the former blogger recently contacted me to ask me to take down the blog post and/or the comments. Upon re-reading both the post and the comments, I decided to respond that I must decline to remove them, as I believe in free speech. Also informing my decision was the fact that hey, this was years ago, and we've all got bigger fish to fry these days, no? The response I received was hostile, threatening, and excessive. I post it here, verbatim: "Ok Krista, thank you. I thought as a small business owner you would understand but that’s ok. I’ll change my business name and carry on. No big deal. I hope you still believe in free speech when my family and friends come on your blog and/or write rubbish about Pigeonroof Studios/Knits on their own blogs." discuss.

Saturday Dye workshop session!

Since it seems as though the Wednesday night session doesn’t work with people’s schedules, I’ve decided to replace it with a Saturday session, also from 3-6 p.m. Again, class size is limited to two people. This will start Saturday, May 5th. If you are interested, please email me at pigeonroofstudiosATMACdotCOM!

Handspun Toasts

Handspun Toasts! Soft, squishy and warm. I had spun up this fibre ages ago (merino from woolamina, I think), and had been saving it for something, I wasn't sure what. Then I needed a quick little project to work on and these armwarmers seemed perfect. As always, knitting with handspun is a joy.

Pigeonroof Studios Dye workshop intensive!

Introducing Pigeonroof Studios dye workshop intensive series!

Ever been curious about dyeing yarn and fibre but wasn’t sure how to get started?
Tried your hand at dyeing but been frustrated with the results?
Wondering how to dye yarn that will knit up with minimal pooling or flashing?
Always loved Pigeonroof Studios fibre and yarn and wanted to learn some of Krista’s techniques?
Or just want to further hone your skills?

Then this is the course for you! Held at Krista’s studio in Oakland, California, the program will run for six weeks, three hours a week. Two class times are available: Sundays from two to five, and Wednesdays from 6 to 9. Class size is limited two two people per class, which allows for extremely personalized teaching and attention. If only one person signs up per class, class will still be held—you’ll just have a private lesson!

Price is $750 per person, half required up front as a deposit, the rest due upon the first lesson. There are no refunds for cancellation. What, you might ask, does this get you? The answer is—a lot!

Students will learn how to prepare both fibre and yarn for dyeing, the ways that different fibres take the yarn differently, and how to work with a vast assortment of protein fibres and yarn. Students will have access to Krista’s extensive collection of dyes from four different companies, and will learn in depth the behaviour of each brand of dyes and how to exploit them to their full potential. Dyeing techniques will cover pigment dyeing and solution dyeing, the former technique being used to create Pigeonroof Studios’ repeatable multicolours. Students will learn how to create unique and beautiful multicoloured fibres and yarns that they can recreate over and over again. This technique is also used to create semi solid colourways on spinning fibre. The solution dyeing technique is used to create semi solids on yarns. Krista will also teach how to combine the two in order to use these techniques to dye in the way that produces the Luminosity Project colourways.

Handouts will be given out that contain all the information covered in the lessons, for student’s future reference. Dyes and chemicals will be provided, as well as a limited amount of unddyed yarns and fibres for the students to experiment with. Additionally, during the six week period, students will be able to purchase at 35% below retail prices a vast assortment of unddyed fibre and yarn from the American suppliers Pigeonroof Studios work with that have a less than one week turn around time from date of order.

Students will have access to all of the studio equipment such as electric skein winder, ball and swift, and drum carder, as well as plenty of supervised free time to experiment in the dye kitchen, not to mention access to the studios vast collection of textile related books and periodicals for their perusal. If there is interest, Karrie Weaver from Girl on the Rocks has agreed to give a guest demonstration on her version of crock pot dyeing. Tasty snacks and beverages will also be provided!

If you would like to sign up for either class session, please contact me at the following email: pigeonroofstudiosATMACdotCOM, and specify which class day you would like. The first Sunday class will begin May 6th; the first Wednesday class May 9th. Also, please note that the studio has cats.

Electric Rose Handspun Sweater

It's been a long time since I've knit a handspun sweater...oh, about three years, perhaps? Your basic top-down recipe, deep v-neck, ribbing at edges. This sweater actually almost got abandoned half way through when I realised that it was HUGE; but I gathered the will to rip back since I figured I'd spent all that time dyeing and spinning the yarn, I might as well push on through. I had always meant it to be a comfy, slightly oversize sweater, and it is. I'm not totally satisfied, with it; I think I picked up way too many stitches for the collar, so it flares out and looks a bit messy. I threw the whole thing in the washer on delicate, hoping it would pull together a bit, which it did, but didn't help the collar. I have a fair amount of yarn left, though, so one of these days I'll probably rip out and reknit the collar.

Handspun from falkland in Electric Rose.