And the winner of a free skein of hemp lacweight is….

Gerri Newfry!

She will get one skein of hemp in the color she suggested which is…black!

I’m calling the new shade Midnight and it is now available in the shop.

So many of you suggested yellow (or gold or sunshine), that I’ve also added that to the line-up.

Daffodil

And several of you requested a red (or wine or pomegranate), so we have this:

Pomegranate

Pumpkin got a bit of a makeover and is slightly brighter to welcome Spring:

Pumpkin

You can find all these shades and your old favorites, in the shop, until they sell out! Check them out here.

I am loving all the entries to the Name-A-Color contest. But now that I read them, I realize I didn’t give ALL the information in that first hemp post.

You can’t come up with good colors, if you don’t know what you’re working with.

And what I’m working with is a naturally colored hemp.

Which is NOT white.

And that means that I can NOT get bright, crystal clear colors.
What I can get are really deep and muted colors like this

(sneak peek of what’s coming Friday!)

If you have an idea for a muted, not-quite-bright color that I should dye, be sure to leave your suggestion in the comments of this post (and hey, you might just win a skein in that color!)

I’m honoring National Craft Month by posting something crafty that catches my eye every weekday. Share your favorite crafty finds in the comments!

I don’t dye self-striping yarns.

In fact, I rarely dye nearly-solid yarns.
(Those multi-color handspun skeins are made of dyed solids, spun together)

But when I first started dyeing, I played around with stripe patterns a lot.
But the real challenge is getting the skein long enough to make your stripes long enough.

I did this by wrapping the yarn allll around my apartment.
Yes, my apartment.
Start at a kitchen chair, around the couch, around the TV, into the bedroom and around the chair in there and back to the kitchen.
Yeah, it was a small space!

When I read Scout’s post on using a warping board, I realized I was crazy.
And that I probably wasn’t going to be dyeing any more striping yarn.
(side note: dude. that was 4 years ago!)

Despite all this, Velma’s post last week on dyeing self-striping yarn blew me away. It’s comprehensive, photo-documented and hilarious!

Just like all good dye sessions should be!

(photo taken by the inimitably colorful Velma)

(Scroll down to learn how to win a free skein of yarn!)

Hemp Laceweight is easily the most popular yarn I dye.

As soon as I list it in the shop, it sells out.
As soon as I bring it to A Novel Yarn, it sells out.

Because of it’s fly-off-the-shelf qualities, I’ve been dyeing the same 5 colors:

Grape

Azalea

Pumpkin

Leaf

Fog

And now I have a big cone of unddyed hemp and I’m ready to try something new!

Is one of the above your favorites or would you like a different color?

Leave your suggestion in the comments below and NEXT Friday I’ll choose 1 response (randomly).

The winner will win a free skein of hemp in the color they suggest and that color will be available in the next hemp update (whether it’s a new color or current color doesn’t matter, just tell me what you like!)

Today, I want to celebrate the awesome-ness of knitters.

The following knitters each made a fantastic hat-ness from a single skein of handspun.

Hat + Scarf by the darling Marian Firke

Drew’s Hat by AtomKitty

Game Hat by the wonderfully silly Kim Werker.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Today’s the last day of the Month of Love and here are the final yarns:

Booth+Brennan
(Inspired by Bones, suggested by fraksmom)

Holmes+Watson
(Inspired by, well you know, suggested by Amy)

Lorelai + Rory
(Inspired by Gilmore Girls, suggested by Minnie)

Liz + Jack
Already sold!

I’ve really enjoyed this Month of Love, thank you SO much to all who played along!

Another contest?

I’d like to do another Month of Yarn like this in the next few weeks…what do YOU think the theme should be?

Suggest the winning theme (in today’s comments) and you’ll get free shipping on your next order!

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If you were one of this week’s winners – claim your prize by putting MOL when you buy your skein and wait for a corrected (50% off!) Paypal invoice.

You can see past week’s Month of Love yarns here:

Week 1
Week 2
Week 3

Happy Month of Love!
Have you suggested a yarn yet? Read the contest details here!

Adama + Roslin

Commander:President
Navy Uniform:Burgandy suit
Read more here…

Baltar + 6
Human:Cylon
Selfish:Faithful
Pinstripe suit:Red dress
Read more here…

Luke + Leia (already sold!)

Don + Betty Draper
Heartlessly handsome:Perfectly pretty
Gray suits:Pink Dresses
Read more here…

This week’s winners are  Steph, who suggested Adama+Roslin and Kim, who sugested Don + Betty.  Steph and Kim – claim your prize by putting MOL when you buy your skein and wait for a corrected (50% off!) Paypal invoice.

Suggest a couple (or group) AND specific colors in the comments of this contest post and if I spin it, you’ll win 50% off!

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You can see past week’s Month of Love yarns here:

Week 1
Week 2

This week’s month of love contributions is a smidge abbreviated because I’ve had a rough week.

Our house was broken into. Again.
They stole nothing this time, just rifled through cabinets, breaking cups and squashing any sense of safety.

I thought about skipping this all together, but I love yarn, I love the Month of Love and more than anything, I love sharing it with you.

So, let’s get to the good stuff.

Legolas + Gimli

Luke + Lorelai (already sold!)

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This week’s winner  is commenter Wordlily, who suggested both the color and the concept for Luke+Lorelai.

Suggest a couple (or group) AND specific colors in the comments of this contest post and if I spin it, you’ll win 50% off!

_________________

PS. I appreciate your good thoughts, sweet comments and concern. I would greatly appreciate it if you could refrain from sharing advice or ’shoulds’. Thanks!

Happy Month of Love!
Have you suggested a yarn yet? Read the contest details here!

It started simply enough, with Sesame Street:

But Month of Love morphed into Geek Week with lot of sci-fi type inspiration.

This week is all Lord of the Rings-inspiration with Celeborn + Galadriel:

Arwen + Aragorn

and Legolas + Gimli (coming tomorrow!)

Just to solidfy my geek-cred, we have Spock + Kirk:

Next week, the geekery continues with Battlestar-inspired yarns (along with a few other, less geeky TV shows, like Gilmore Girls and Mad Men). Catch them all here, a new one every day!

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This week’s winner  is Karma, who suggested both the color and the name for Galadriel+Celeborn. Aragorn + Arwen were mentioned in the comments but with different colors and I had already spun this yarn with them in mind.

Suggest a couple (or group) AND specific colors in the comments of this contest post and if I spin it, you’ll win 50% off!

Did you know Valentine’s day is a month away?

I’m not a big fan of V-day, but I do LOVE thinking about love and how we change with it and how we change it.
And of course, when I think about something, it seeps into my yarn.

All this love-thinking birthed the Month Of Love series of yarns, 2 years ago.

Month of Love is a month-long yarn-party from 1/15 to 2/14 (Valentine’s Day!); I make a yarn representing a famous pairing or couple (and this year: group) every weekday for the entire month and share it the very next day.

Last year I asked for your suggestions and that post became the MOST popular post on my entire website. I got so many great ideas and awarded so many prizes and the whole thing was SO much fun, that I’ve been dying to do it again this year!

And here it is, the day before the Month of Love!

Let’s get this love-y party started!

I think I said it pretty well last year:

I’m interested in how this interplay of colors and how the addition of a color (or person) to a yarn (or your life) can change a color or at least, the perception of that color. And some couples, they just have a single color to symbolize the pairing (ex. Cheech +  Chong = green). Of course, this applies to more than just romantic couples; it happens with any sort of pairing: PB & J or Bert & Ernie.

(PB&J, from last year’s Month Of Love)

I need help thinking up these couples AND the colors associated with them!

If you suggest a couple + color that I choose to use, you will win 50% off any skein in my shop.

To enter the contest: leave a comment below this post with both a COUPLE and their COLOR(S). You must include your email (no one will see it) so I can let you know if you’ve won. You may suggest as many couples as you like and if any couples are duplicated, the winner will be the first who mentioned both that couple and the colors I use.

For example: Sesame Street: red for Elmo, yellow for Big Bird, blue for Cookie Monster, green for Oscar
(note: I already made that yarn, so don’t suggest it!)

PS. To keep up with Month of Love yarns, you can see them on the blog every Friday and you can getthem in this section of the shop. Last year, the yarns sold out pretty much as soon as I listed them, so I’m thinking they won’t hang around for long!