Not all those who wander are lost.

Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.

It's our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.

What's coming will come, and we'll just have to meet it when it does.

Anything's possible if you've got enough nerve.

Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.

You can only come to morning through the shadows.

Experience: the most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God, do you learn.

We are what we believe we are.

You can't get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me.

Come to the dark side. We have cookies. And yarn.

OK, so that last one was mine. The above are all quotes from three of my favorite British fantasy novelists: Tolkien, Lewis, and Rowling.

(By the way, do not dismiss Tolkien's work as too battle filled and violent based on what you've seen of the Lord of the Rings movies. While the movies are wonderful in their own way, they miss the subtle complexity of the novels. They play up the conflict, the orcs, and the scary, evil creatures. You don't see Tolkien's amazing love of etymology, dialogue, and character development.)

To pay them homage, I decided to name October's club colorways after them. Tolkien is our handpainted option.

Here it is on our Merino/Bamboo yarn base:



And here it is on our squishy merino yarn base:



See the difference? The colors are less intense on the bulkier yarn for a variety of reasons.

Next is Lewis. I think he would like this color.



And finally, Rowling. I love these shades of green. Of course, I love any shade of blue-green or green-blue or bluey-greeny or greenish-bluish. Or any combination thereof.



By the way, the squishy merino yarn base is a plied version of our Galenas Merino yarn. Super soft and very yummy.

I've got the yarn, now I'm off to find the cookies!

What color are you?

If you were to ask me this question on any random day, I would probably say, "Aqua," or "Turquoise." I love any shade of blue-green, and often have to slap my own hand above the dye solutions to keep from creating yet ANOTHER yarn with aqua/turquoise/teal. I can't help it. It's who I am.

So, when I ran across this "What color are you quiz," I thought it would be moderately amusing to take it, just to see what happened. There are 144 possible results to this quiz, and this is what it says about itself: The colors are found based on hue (how you think), saturation (how much you do about it), and lightness (the effect you think it has).

I filled out the questionnaire. (Mind you, the questionnaire says nothing about colors, it merely asks you for adjectives to describe yourself. The quiz would be much easier to take if it asked questions like: "Which color do you like more, turquoise or vomit orange?" Or, "Which color is more appealing, aqua or dead bumblebee yellow?")

And here are my results. Again, the questionnaire says nothing about colors.

You are aqua. #00FFFF

Your dominant hues are green and blue. You're smart and want to use your power to help people and relate to others. Even though you tend to battle with yourself, you solve other people's conflicts well. Your saturation level is very high - you are all about getting things done. The world may think you work too hard but you have a lot to show for it, and it keeps you going. You shouldn't be afraid to lead people, because if you're doing it, it'll be done right.Your outlook on life is very bright. You are sunny and optimistic about life and others find it very encouraging, but remember to tone it down if you sense irritation.

The Color Quiz

So. There is a good reason I love aqua with such a passion. I don't just love aqua, I AM aqua. And I can't just turn my back on who I am, now can I? I'd love to hear what color you are! Take the quiz and report back.
It's right here.

Hurry up.


I'm waiting.


I'm just sitting here, waiting for you to take the quiz.

Come on now.

The Yarnista Answers Your Questions. Edition Six.

We haven't answered any questions in a while, so the time has come.

Mary asks,

How many skeins do you dye a day?

And the answer is:

If you care for a longer answer, keep reading.

Bonus points for you, Mary. Good question. How many skeins I dye in a day is very very variable. Do I have childcare? Do I have adequate supplies of caffeine? What are the snacks like? Is the music upbeat? How much sleep have I had? All of these things matter.

Childcare = if my husband is home, I can get a lot more done. If I have to keep an eye on babies/referee fights/change diapers/keep fingers out of light sockets, it slows things down considerably.

Caffeine = don't even talk to me unless I've had at least 1-1/2 cups of coffee. And then make me a glass of iced tea while you're at it.

Snacks = gotta keep the energy up. And carrot sticks are not my thing.

Music = slow music is too restful. Athletes do not train to ballads. My goal is to become the Michael Phelps of yarn dyeing. I've been known to listen to songs that I don't even like that much in an effort to keep my energy up. I have entire yarn dyeing play lists on my iPod. I am sick of my yarn dyeing playlists at the present, actually. There's only so many times you can listen to the song "Pretty Fly for a White Guy" before you want to hurl. Anyone got any ideas?

Sleep = nine hours is ideal. Six is workable. Four is hard.

Part of what takes time is the colorway set up. It's complicated, but each colorway requires a whole variety of steps, including cleaning your equipment between colorways. If I have to crank out a whole bunch of the same colorway, that takes less time than doing two skeins of this, and one skein of that, and three skeins of this, and four skeins of that and two of this and one of that and five of this and three of that and on and on.

Sometimes you can't dye the same colorway on different yarn bases. They have to be done separately. That adds time. If everything is on the same base, I can go faster.

So, Mary, the answer to your question is: twelve.

And sometimes the answer is: 60. Sixty is a hard day. But it's been done before. And when I want to stop for the day, I can ask myself, "Would Michael stop now? Would Michael power through one more rotation of this playlist?" He is, after all, pretty fly for a white guy.

Instock yarn sighting! Could it be????

What is it I see in the distance? A mirage? A burrito?

No, wait! It's a skein of yarn! Lots of skeins, in fact!

We've got some sock yarns instock and ready to go at our newest retailer, Sonny & Shear.

Maybe Meg floats your boat?



Perhaps Maureen strikes your fancy?



Kris and the team at Sonny & Shear have great customer service and free shipping on orders over $50.

You can see all the colorways on Adorn here: Delicious yarn

And all the colorways on Kells Sport here: Nutritious yarn

A KAL!

No, this is not some new-fangled texting abbreviation. It's not followed by "ROTFLMBO" or "TTYL!"

In the knitting universe (just in case you haven't joined us in this alternate version of reality), a KAL is a Knit-A-Long, an event in which a group of people decide to knit something at the same time. It could be the same pattern, or different patterns using the same yarn, or even different patterns using different colorways of the same brand of yarn.

In this case, Abigail is hosting a sweater KAL using our yarn. You can read more about it here: 3IG sweater KAL. You could probably even join, if you wanted to. Abigail is nice like that. There's even a nifty little button you could put on your own blog, like this:



The sweater needn't be ambitious, and it could even be a baby sweater. It's just fun to KAL. You might even find yourself ROTFLMBO or LOLing in the process.

TTYL!