Tiny sneaky peak

Just a quick post as its a dyeing day today and Dais won't be a happy bunny if I don't join her in the dye room soon.

Over the past few weeks I've been very quite about my crochet.
Mainly because I am working on lots of secret things.
This is what I've been doing.....

November and December's motif clubs.

One thing which will go to its new home in the new year.
I can show you a very tiny sneaky peak, but I'm not going to tell you anything about it except I have removed most of the green and replaced it with a new colour and am much much happier about it.

Three designs for next year's project club
Crochet Triangles Club

One for a magazine, in fact it this magazine
Simply Crochet Magazine
The first issue will be out in the new year and I am very very excited about it.

So ahead & frost

I'm so ahead of myself this week, I already have the update photo's on Flickr for Thursday's NDS wool update.
Which you can find HERE

Dais and I are now dyeing December's clubs, we are hoping to get them all out early so you get the yarn before Christmas, we are also trying to get all the wholesale and all the yarn for December's updates dyed so that we can relax over christmas in our new home for our very first Exmoor christmas.
I'm really looking forward to the first frost and maybe snow.
The moor changes constantly, I just know its going to be stunning and I will fall in love with it all over again.

In anticipation of the frost I have decided to do a range of naked un-dyed yarn, its not quite frost colour, but is the closest we can get.

Dazzling Lace

Dazzle Aran

Dazzle 4 ply/Sock

They will be in the update HERE on thursday evening at 7 pm UK time.

Queenies Motif Club

I am working on the last ever design for QUEENIES MOTIF CLUB.

The club has been running for 3 years and I have enjoyed every minute of it.
Its been a really good disipline for me to design a new motif every month.
But all good things must come to an end, these days I am struggling to find the time to fit it in with all the other designing work I have.
At the beginning of the year I published a book (DESIRABLE MOTIF'S) of some of the first year's designs and I am planning a another book in the new year.

The motif club is being replaced with a project club - TRIANGLES CROCHET PROJECT CLUB.
Which I'm really excited about.
I'm working on the first design and its a real challenge for me.
Turning a triangle into a scarf shape, is not easy, especially when you are using aran.
So I have decided to change yarns and use DK instead, I'm still working on the aran design, as its inspiring me to come up with new idea's while I am crocheting.

There are still some places left for December's motif club, so you still have the chance to join in with the end of an era.
QUEENIES MOTIF CLUB.

Triangles crochet project club

Ok - so I took a bit longer than I thought :-)
We celebrated Beaujolias night at a special event at our local and I spent friday crocheting on the sofa instead of planning clubs :-)

But here it is, I hope it was worth the wait.

TRIANGLES CROCHET PROJECT CLUB

Crochet club musings

A few weeks ago I announced that NDS was going to run a mystery crochet blanket club in 2013.
I've been so busy with other things that I just haven't had the time to work out a design or how the club would run.
I have been thinking about it, but all my idea's are going to take too long to put into action.
BUT have no fear we have come up with a new idea or rather I came up with a half  baked idea and my lovely tec editor made sense of it and made some very helpful suggestions.

So without further ado I would like to announce we are going to do a crochet triangle project club.
The first 3 months will be a big snuggly scarf
The second 3 months will be a shawl, maybe a lace yarn with a 4 ply alternative for those with a lace phobia.
And the last 6 months will be the blanket.
The blanket will only use a very simple triangle motif, but will have really complex pattern and colour arrangement.

The reason for triangles is my very old triangle blanket design.

I designed it in the very early days of my designing career, its always been popular, but I hate the colour placing, so I decided that I needed to update it.

So far I have made one replacement triangles blanket for a magazine which will be published early next year.
And I am now working on a second one, which is a gift for someone who hasn't got a name yet who will also appear early next year - I don't want to say too much as you never know who might be reading ;-)
Both these 2 blankets are 4 ply, so I have decided that the new club blanket will be Dazzle DK, which is what the original was made from.

I'm hoping to put the club on-line in this weeks update, so watch this space.

I'm really looking forward to the new triangles blanket, I've always loved triangles.
And to prove it I've just found this in my old files on my laptop I found this photo, its of a quilted embroidery thing that I made in 2002 when I was a full time grown up textile artist.
I was looking for a much older piece, which was made pre computer day's, maybe I'll find it someday and post the photo when I do.

And the winner of The sneakiest place to hide my stash" is...

This blog post is written by Phil - my husband and the judge of "The sneakiest place to hide my stash" competition...

Well ladies you have surpassed yourselves here!!
52 comments and some that really made me laugh....

The single criteria for me, as a husband and putting myself in the shoes of the men in your lives, was where would I never look?
I have to say that I come from a generation where a lot of men are more domesticated than their fathers, who thought nothing of sitting reading the paper in their comfy arm chair whilst their hard working wife ran around doing everything....goes back to the days when men were the sole bread-winners and women tended to keep house.  Today of course this has changed dramatically with great leaps in equality in the workplace and I know several men who's wives went back to work after childbirth and left the husband to run the house.
So for this reason my choice is based on sheer cheek and family collaboration - being a dad I know how difficult it is to get your kids to keep a secret, so hats off to our winner who colluded with her eldest son to find ideal spots in his room to hide yarn...and whilst the modern dad is many things he's not up for cleaning his kids bedrooms!! (that remains the responsibility of the child, and involves much bribery!)

So the winner is:

vicarno's mama
Please drop me an email at dyestudio@hotmail.com and let me know what you'd like as your prize from the website.

Just remains to thank everyone for taking part - and I leave you with this little gem - I was told by a customer  once at a show that she had actually purchased a separate flat to store her yarn in, so I guess that's about as extreme as it gets!

Lorna update

I finished her last night :-)
My arm isn't too bad this morning, so all is good.

She hasn't worked quite as well as I'd hoped, but I'm still pretty pleased with her.
Here she is blocking and drying in the dye room.
She is huge!!!
The blocking board measures 47 x 30 inches, which will make Lorna about 70 x 30ish inches when she's dry.
Not really shawl shaped, more like a wrap, but lovely and snuggly, I think the real Lorna would of been happy.

Hurt arm

It was freezing over the week, so I snuggled into the sofa and crocheted all weekend.
I hate to think how many hours I spent, but it must of been at least 10 - 12 hours a day.
This has resulted in 2 things happening.
A - I have nearly finished Lorna
and
B - I have bad RSI.
So when I get home from work today I will be dosing myself with extra stong ibuprofen and crocheting all night until I finish her.
Then its sewing in the ends and blocking.
I can't wait to block as the pattern will (hopefully) open up and I will see if my idea's have worked.

I don't have any new photo's, but here are some gratuitous Great British Wool photo's.
My Lorna is made with the Wensleydale/Zwartbles - which is out of stock, as I needed it all to make Lorna.
There will probably be 1 skein left to go back on line.
I'm using my 4th skein, I have my fingers crossed there will be enough to finish her.

But you will be able to make Lorna in any of our Great British Wool's as they are all spun to the same specification..
I was very tempted to use Wensleydale/Bluefaced marl for Lorna, the only reason the Zwartbles won is because I already had a skein at home when I started crocheting.

And I think October's GBWC will make a stunning Lorna.
October will be in this week's update, we have dyed some and left some as its natural colour as it was so lovely.
There will be photo's of October in the very near future, maybe today, maybe tomorrow.......

Lorna & NDS update

I love reading, I read every night when I go to bed as it helps me wind down and go to sleep, its my only real hobby outside what I do for a living.
I'm a big fan of historical literature, especially Victorian novels.
So when we came to live on Exmoor I knew we were moving into Lorna Doone country.

Lorna Doone is a victorian novel, set about 6 or 7 miles away from where we live.
The story is a breathtaking romance, and well worth the effort of reading.
But if you don't fancy the read, there have also been several films and tv series made.

So I decided I really needed to make a shawl for Lorna, its wild and windswept on the moor and she would need something to keep her warm.

Her shawl would have to be made in Exmoor Horn, or one of the Exmoor mules (cross breed sheep).
I'm going to make a test shawl in one of our Great British yarns and then get some Exmoor/?? to use for the real thing. I'm using Zwartbles/Wensleydale.
Last night I started crocheting Lorna's shawl and this morning I don't want to do anything else except crochet..
Not very good photo's, but I'm sure you'll get the idea.

But today is update day, so I can't!
Most of the yarn is Dazzle (Sock, HT and DK)
And it will be HERE at 7 pm tonight
Don't forget our YARN of the WEEK will also be revealed.

Originally there was a lot of Precious lace, but unfortunately for you we had a big wholesale order in over night and its now destined for a shop.

I'm also going to publish Ermintrude, she will be available as a kit or pattern.

RSI & new projects.

I've just finished crocheting 2 blankets in 6 weeks.
The first is Ermintrude, whose pattern will be published in Thursday's NDS update.
There will also be kits available.
Or you could get a head start and start collecting GODIVA MERINO SINGLES DK now.
She takes 9 skeins of Paracombe and 9 skeins of mixed colours.

I'm not 100% happy with the main photo, so I'll be taking more later.

The second is a secret blanket that will be published in a magazine soon, I'll tell you where and when later.
Last week it was half finished and I had a deadline of 10 days to finish crocheting, write the pattern and get it sent to the magazine.
So I spent 4 days sitting on the sofa crocheting like a mad woman.
The result is a mild case of RSI and a finished blanket that I'm really pleased with :-)
So the RSI doesn't really matter.

I finished on sunday afternoon, so had sunday night to sit and play and see what I could come up with.
After hours of playing and swatching I came up with nothing.
I guess I was all crocheted out and was totally blank as to what to do next.
All the colours I put together looked rubbish and the motifs were just the same old thing I had done a million times before.

But I'm glad to say yesterday was a much better day.
Last night I played with swatches for the new magical mystery blanket club, I chose the colours or rather the colours chose themselves.
I have several persian carpets, my all time favourite is a small slightly grotty anitique carpet, but its a Turkmen nomadic carpet and is over 100 years old and dyed with natural dyes.
I like to look at it and wonder where it has been and who used it.
I'm afraid I don't have a photo, I really must take some.

My other 2 favourites are modern carpets chemically dyed and only about 20/30 years old.

Both have very modern exciting designs and lovely colour schemes, so I have decided to use them as inspiration for the club blanket and use the same colour palettes.
They are slightly different palattes, so I have plenty to choose from.

There will be lots more about the club as soon as I get my ideas and designs into order

Colouring

Its designing day today and I am sitting on the floor with my laptop colouring in charts on photoshop.
I love colouring in.
Give me a piece of graph paper and some colours and I will spend hours and hours playing.

My eldest daughter Felice is an artist, when she saw my colourings for the first time she said I should publish them as works of art on the internet. She is a painter, but has done a lot of computer art as well.
I don't really think they are interesting enough on their own to publish, as they are all part of patterns.

But its made me think about the way I present my patterns.
I have come to the conclusion that I treat the whole pattern is a piece of art.
I'm very, very obsessive about what the finished pattern looks like, just ask my tec editor!
I could add more detail, but it wouldn't fit with the aesthetic.
Although the charts are a minor part of the pattern they are also one of the most important parts for me.

Maybe the reason I love designing blankets so much is that it gives me the chance to do lots of colouring in.

Anyway back to the colouring for me :-)

Oooops I forgot

To tell you about this weeks update, which went on-line last night.

The featured yarn is Stardust, Merino/silk/stellina 2 ply Lace.
Its one of our wholesale yarns, but we thought you might like a little treat, so have done an update for you.
Its not a yarn I normally crochet with, as I'm not keen on lace.
But its sparkly and pretty and lovely to use.
http://www.thenaturaldyestudio.com/yarn-of-the-week-359-c.asp

The kit of the week is Iris crochet scarf, as I've had a week of thinking about rainbows I thought Iris would be appropriate.
As I write this post there are 5 kits left, I wonder if they will last the week.
http://www.thenaturaldyestudio.com/iris-scarf-kit-7612-p.asp

A rainbow club is born

Just a very quick post as I have been up to my neck in wool all day.
Photographing and editing for tomorrow's update.

I'd like to announce yesterday's idea is now a reality and I have added the new rainbow club to the site.
You can find all the details HERE

Rainbow Club???

Everyone loves rainbow's
Especially me :-)
I use a lot of rainbow colours in my work.

I get really excited when I see lots of colours together in the same place.
In the past I've bought some really hideous clothes because I was so excited about the colours, only to realise later how awful they looked.
I love paint charts and art shops where the paint and pencils are displayed in colour order.

I am obsessive about the colour order.
I don't know if you have noticed that all colour names of my yarn are in rainbow order, they are alphabetically named so that the colours will appear in the right order on the site.
You can see what I mean if you follow this link to Dazzle BFL 4 ply/sock - Dyed to Order.

We used to dye rainbow colour yarn, but the trouble with it was that it looked amazing in the skein, but I was never happy with the way it looked when worked up.

I'm far happier using lots of separate colours together as then I have control as to how they work together and where they appear in the project I am working on.

I woke up yesterday morning thinking it might be nice to do a rainbow club.
I could start at one end of the rainbow and each month dye the next colour along.
The club would be for me as I love the idea of dyeing a continuous rainbow.
It would give me a huge palette to dip in and out of.
I think I'd do it in Dazzle 4 ply/sock as its one of our most versatile yarns, I love Dazzle its a proper woolly wool and not too expensive.
I could use the colours in all sorts of exciting new ways and maybe come up with some new designs too.

I guess you might like it too?
Let me know.........

Lovely, lovely Lily

Lovely Lily was named after my Mother.

 I have always made a fuss about my Bessie (my granny) as she was the one I remember making blankets.

But after my Mother died a few years ago my Dad decided to move house.

When he cleared the house he gave me lots of old crochet blankets that he had found stored away.

I realised that these weren't Bessie blankets, they were Lily blankets.

I don't ever remember seeing her knitting or crocheting, maybe that's why I had forgotten that she did so.

She was an seamstress and spent all her time sewing and collecting a huge stash which filled a whole room.

A lot of her fabric was pretty, flowery Laura Ashley, when I designed the Lily motif I had my Lily in mind.

The Lily pattern has always been a hit, it has over 2,000 hearts on Ravelry.

So it was only natural that Lily went into my blanket book.

We photographed her everywhere, my favourite photo's were taken in the West Lyn river. 

We live on one side of the river gorge and Alta Lyn (NDS's home) is on the other side, you can see Alta Lyn from Lynton, although it is a 10 min drive from our house to get there.

Anyway back to the photo's...

It was a beautiful sunny day when we took these photo's, there were quite a few tourists having picnics and enjoying the woods beside the river.

They must of thought we were totally mad.

Phil and I clambering about in the river trying to find suitable rocks to lay blankets on. At one point he stumbled and I thought he and the camera were going to fall in, luckily they didn't.

Then we took Lily down to the harbour wall at Lynmouth to get some detail shot's.

I love these photo's :-)

We sell Dyed to Order Lily Kits in NDS's shop.

But we also have some Lily Starter Kits, which are our featured kit of the week.

The starter kit's contain 500 gms of yarn, which includes 2 full 100gm skeins and 300 gms of mini skeins in varying size.

At this moment in time the kit is reduced to £59.50, its will go back to its full price of £70 on thursday.