littlelotus blog

too darn hot

Tham — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 04:08:44 +0000

Lily and I have retreated to the air conditioning in the bedroom.

But unlike Lily, I have to periodically brave the furnace that has become my kitchen to check on the dyepots. Oh happy day. If only it weren’t such brilliant dyeing weather. :P

misadventures with the dyepot

Tham — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 06:00:56 +0000

This is what I was working on this morning. Is it just me, or does it look like some kind of arcane blue spaghetti made by Star Trek aliens? It’s some superwash sock yarn, along with some teal and navy dye, and vinegar. Mmmm, hot wet wool. Very fragrant. Better than wet dog. Luckily for my customers, the finished product doesn’t smell like wet dog, or wet sheep. After dyeing, I thoroughly wash my yarns and fibres with Dr Bronner’s Liquid Soap (in Lavender, Rose, or Almond). If you haven’t tried it, I strongly recommend you do if you get the chance. Rose in particular smells just amazing, great as hand soap, body wash, yarn wash etc. Dr Bronner was a bit kooky, but he knew his soaps and fragrances.

This is what I get for not wearing gloves. Sometimes I like to pretend I’m totally hardcore, like a pro chef, plonking my fingers in to boiling pots and pans, but really I’m just forgetful. Well that and I find I work better when I actually interact with the fibre on a tactile level, it feels more natural and organic. Black dye under my fingernails is a small price to pay for being able to play with pretty colours all day. :)

Coding headaches

Tham — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:19:46 +0000

So after hours of wrangling with the code of the site, getting images to display properly, tweaking settings here and there to get the thing looking perfect, I open the site in IE8 just to make sure it all works for those poor souls who haven’t upgraded to Chrome, Opera or Firefox.

Big mistake.

Everything looks wrong. CSS behaves differently in Internet Explorer, and while I knew this in theory, I have never had to mess with the coding much of any site I have owned before. So now I have to disable all my mods and go back to the way things were until I can find a way to make it all work for everyone, all the time.

I forsee a weekend of crash courses in coding. Ugh.

PS. Update is up. YAY!

Sneak peek

Tham — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:50:38 +0000

I know, I know, the promised update hasn’t happened yet. But it will soon. Here’s a look at some of the yarns that will be available.

Spring update

Tham — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 03:36:00 +0000

Just got in some new yarns that I am dyeing up at the moment. These include:

75% wool/25% nylon 4ply sock yarn (springy, soft and strong)
40% bamboo/40% wool/20% nylon 4ply sock yarn (also springy and strong, but with more sheen and softness)
pure merino 4ply fingering weight (incredibly soft and fine)
anti-felt pure merino aran/worsted weight (this stuff is so smooth and ropey, beautiful drape)
pure silk fingering weight (tili tomas eat your heart out :P)
55% silk/45% wool lacewight (barely any bloom, I thought this stuff was pure silk when I unpacked it)
50% silk/50% wool fingering weight (more bloom than the silk, still gorgeous against the skin and beautiful sheen)

I’ve got some samples to take to the Stitch ‘n’ Bitch tomorrow, hopefully I’ll get some pics up soon. The store will be updated in the next week or so.

Just a quick update…

Tham — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:50:58 +0000

The store is live! The first batch of fibre is up, with some yarn to come and some groovy little bags I’ve made that you can stash your fibre in while you spin (they’re lined in fabrics that won’t grab onto your fibre).

That’s it for now as I’ve got to go have dinner and look after my little mischievous puppy. More updates tomorrow. Good night!