Tiny Tyrant YARNS Update

Having used my shop/business as my excuse reason for lack of posting over the last week, I felt a fuller update on that was probably in order.

First off, my shop is Here

Please have a browse. I value feedback, and if the muse strikes you, please do make a purchase.

On that topic, I am now up to eight sales. Again, this might not sound like much, but that’s nearly $200 and I am so grateful.

So, everything that is in my shop is ready to ship, and I am currently working on this week’s new stock.

The nature of my processes means that I cannot dye more than two hanks per batch, and I have to wait for the ice to regenerate (Gallifeyan ice anyone?) so it’s a slow but steady feed of fresh stock.

Today’s offering:

The weather was so glorious today I was actually able to completely dry both hands outside and within three hours!

I’m also working on a new set:

These pinks are developing an orange hue as the ice melts. I think the results are going to be extremely interesting.

I must admit that I am still not keen on the large flashes of white that can be produced, but as I’m not using them myself, I have to learn to step away from my rut comfort zone.

I am trying!

An announcement

It’s been months of planning, building stock, blood, sweat, tears and self doubt; but as of this evening, I am thrilled to announce:

Tiny Tyrant Yarns is open for business

Yes, I’ve done it. I’ve officially put myself, and my creations, out there for all the world to see and (hopefully) admire. It’s thrilling, terrifying and wonderful. And the best thing?

I’ve had two orders already!!!

Please note that those prices do include postage!

But it’s a great start.

Thank you to my customers

Eeeeeeeeeeeeee I have customers!!!!!

Experiments in Snow Dyeing – Parts 1 et al

As we are currently experiencing a second white out, I am planning my second set of snow dyes. Which reminded me that I had not finished this previous drafted post.

Cue the wibbly screen and spooky music as we go back in time

Overnight on Wednesday last week there was a massive snowstorm. It took its time though. Mom spent most of Wednesday complaining that she had been promised “big” snow

And she hasn’t had any dammit

I had also decided that I wanted to try snow dyeing yarn. A technique that produces truly one-of-a-kind skeins and is extremely time consuming but oh so fun.

As a result, I fully expected no more snow until next winter 😂🤣

But the heavens obliged and we received a few inches of snow.

So I obtained a bucket of snow (with thanks to the hus-creature and my Mothership) and set myself up to produce my first ever snow dyed skein.

It looked amazing. I was so happy. Then, when I tried to wrap it in cling film to steam it? The bloody thing fell into the dye runoff!!!

😰😰😰😰

I was just so angry with myself. But, I picked myself up, dusted myself off, and with encouragement from the Mothership (who went to get me another bucket of snow) I started another one off:

So, they weren’t going to be ready to prep til the next day.

Due to the washing and rinsing, the skeins were very tangled so needed to be balled and re-skeined.

The Dye-saster Yarn:

And re-skeined up:

The colours though:

The redye:

Much darker in shade than I expected.

The two siblings together:

I felt much better after this and decided to carry on.

The last few days have seen me work on these:

These have yet to be fully re-skeined so there will be a further post.

Yes I’ve done a lot, some of those batches contain multiple skeins, but this process is very much weather dependent.

I am having so much fun.

I think the neighbours may truly think I’m crazy now 😂🤣


I need a shop name now….


Midweek Madness

Well not so much but things have been happening.

In a week my Momma will be here 💕💕💕

I can’t wait.

She’s coming out to help me recover from the operation, which is about a week and a half away 😱😱

As she has been reading the blog you can’t say she doesn’t know what she’s letting herself in for.


There is a pink metallic marker somewhere in this house minus its lid. TT knows where it is. I do not. Many wall cleanings. Much frustration.


Yesterday I had the fun of handling her and #1 Son from 08:00 – 17:00 without being able to use running water. We had previously been given 24 hours notice of sewer pipe work.

Actually they did finish an hour early, but next time that happens I’m filling my dye pots with clean water as well as my kettle.

It is not pleasant washing your hands with baby wipes all day!

I am laying down the groundwork for my main convalescence project.

Yes, it is a 24-Skein project!!! I’m sure there will be others, but this is a simple crochet pattern that will keep my hands busy without overtaxing my brain too much.

Don’t worry Mothership – we will knit socks etc together.

I had already touched on the upcoming surgery with #1 Son, but as it’s getting closer, I had another talk with him.

Do you know what he said?

Don’t worry mommy. I will look after you. And if you need food or drinks I will bring them to you.

Is someone cutting onions in here? I swear my tiny Grinch heart just grew three sizes. My boy is the sweetest kid ever.

Yes, he discovered Snapchat today – J sent me this.

What else has been happening? Not much new really.

Well, except I now have a SSN card!!!!

I am a legitimate proper (alien) person! Roll on everything. I need to start writing stuff down for my Etsy shop now!

A day of good and bad

So today has been a bit of a mixed bag, so I will divide it straight down the middle.

The Good:

  • SSN successfully applied for
  • #1 Son did all his homework without a battle
  • TT had a nap 🤭😱
  • TT’s insistence on using cloth diapers means she’s now actually telling me (occasionally) when she’s done a wee
  • My beleaguered sock is back on (new) needles, of which I have three pairs so dammit I will finish this bugger.
  • The snow is currently gone.
  • My kettle dyeing mojo has returned and I have 5 more skeins for the next ripple blanket I’m planning.

The Bad:

  • The hus-creature became trapped in #1 Son’s room when the door handle came off in his hand! Which is something I have had concerns about for months. Fortunately it is repaired for now, and will be reported to the landlady*
  • TT is very unsettled tonight and is still not asleep. I may have to concede no naps 😫😞😢😰
  • Snowstorms are predicted. Bye bye clear ground. Hello snow day. Probably.
  • Neither child will accept the toothpaste we have so are both using age 0-2 Aquafresh Milk Teeth until our next weekly shop.
  • The Amethyst dye is not. It is raspberry at best. I am not amused.

*along with reminders about the broken toilet seat and lack of lock on the bathroom door. I will need to ensure that the crayon is off of the walls (again)


The Amusing:

  • TT has learned to apply talc during nappy changes. That got… messy…
  • After #1 Son blamed TT for the (pink) toothpaste in the main toilet, she came toddling through to me, not once but twice to tell me “Nanoo running“. So she is equally capable of dropping him right in it 😂🤣

The Yarns:

So from left to right:

  1. Delphinium Blue
  2. Frozen
  3. Amethyst
  4. Berry Crush
  5. Aubergine

On what planet is that Amethyst?!?!? I’ll concede Carnelian (maybe) or even Red Amethyst (yes, that’s a thing) but traditionally, amethysts are purple. To cheer me up, here is a cat with Yoshi riding her:In Soviet Russia, Yoshi ride you.

Self striping yarn

I am never one to shy away from a challenge. So, having figured out my warping board, I decided to have a play.

Most people would have started on say:

  • Sock yarn
  • In a superwash base
  • Certainly without silk, alpaca, cashmere etc
  • A simple co-ordinating colourway.

You know, what with it being their first attempt and all…

Would anyone like to have a guess at what I did?

Anyone?

  • Worsted weight.
  • Non superwash
  • 80:20 alpaca silk
  • Teal and a self made orange (1/4 tsp each of Jacquard Cherry Red and Sun Yellow). I think I might have gone too heavy on the red but we shall see.

So yeah, not the usual starter probably. But see, I’m knitting these glorious bed socks in 100% baby alpaca. I’m not going to try and sell my first striping attempt, so why not play on a base I can turn into more comfy bed socks for me?

Sister in law – see what you have inspired.

The skein all dyed up and ready for wrapping and steaming.

Okay so it’s a completely clumsy job, but here it is all wrapped and rolled:

Steaming away quite contentedly:

The rinsing process begins:

And now to the drying:

All I will say is that, though fun, and highly creative (since I can definitely see pretty much endless possibilities here)

I CAN SEE WHY THIS TYPE OF YARN IS EXPENSIVE TO BUY

Not counting drying time (which I can speed with the aid of the gas fire) this single skein has taken over four hours to produce.

Oh and it does this to hands:

I did wear gloves while actively dyeing. I just didn’t for the rinsing of the foam brushes… or the skein…

*hides from Na, her nail tech*

Warping 101

So, I dye yarn. I enjoy dyeing yarn, but I’ve yet to pass beyond the basics. And, if I want to actually try and sell what I make, I need to improve my skills.

On my Amazon wish list before Christmas were:

  • New wooden swift
  • Two warping boards.

The hus-creature got me my swift, and my wonderful in-laws got me my warping board.

I cracked them open today. Now, my tutor said to wind the skein of yarn into a ball before using the warping board.

These seemed like an unnecessary waste of energy to me, considering the the swift was already set up. And since it’s instructions said you could knit straight off of it in lieu of a winder?

Why couldn’t I warp straight from the swift?!

No good reason that I could see anyway.

Now I was tremendously pleased, until I took it off the board and discovered the loop effectively has a ponytail.

I then had my Leonard Da Quirm moment* and tried my next attempt:

While better, still not right – it’s not a continuous loop on removal darn it!

I will study some more, whilst attempting to understand what to do with these looped up skeins.

Stand by for Warping 102/202…


*Brain storm followed by “I think I know what I did wrong”

Random acts of yarn kindness

Well sort of.

I haven’t really talked much about one of my main keeping sane hobbies – my fibre arts.

That’s actually because most of my most recent projects (“works in progress” or WIPs) have been gifts or surprises so I haven’t really been able to publicise them.

I’m planning on getting back into the dyeing groove in the New Year (I am desperately awaiting my warping board) so I thought I might do a “Look Back on 2017” sort of thing.

At least for those projects now safely with their recipients.

So these are from a Swapalong. The idea is that we all completed a questionnaire stating what we were prepared to make and what we would be happy to receive and in preferred (and not preferred) colours.

As I can really only make shawls yet out of the stated options, I decided to make them a bit more special and one of a kind (OOAK) by dyeing up the yarn myself.

So in the summer came this:

This was a crocheted special and yes it truly was that big.

In the winter came this:

I chose the purple rather than the multiway.


Note: the pastels were caused by using a protein fibre dyeing method on a 50:50 Merino:Cotton blend – 50% protein and 50% cellulose.


This one is knitted, and I had discovered knitting with beads by this point.

Such fun to do 😆

As it was smaller than the first, I popped in a skein of the Wonder Woman sock yarn I covet so.

Both giftees seemed very happy.

In parallel to this, I was working on a much bigger project in 80:20 Alpaca:Silk (such gorgeous yarn to both dye and crochet with).

A friend and former colleague was diagnosed with that bastard cancer and I wanted to help, so I decided to make a “you will kick this thing’s backside” blanket.

This is one I am very proud of.

The darn blanket got stuck in customs, but it found it’s way to her in the end.

I’m finally working on something for myself now – I have a yarn advent calendar with an exclusive pattern 😃👍🏻

December Madness

Begins.

I’m still working on the Thanksgiving update so stay tuned for that dear audience.

So. Yesterday was December 1st. Therefore Advent Calendars are back in this household.

However this year no edible ones.

Mainly because we think TT is still a bit young for daily chocolate, and she’s old enough to be totally annoyed if her big brother has one when she doesn’t. So we went with fancy toy ones.

But, there are very few options for two year olds.

#1 Son has a Lego one. TT? Well we scoured everywhere and finally found a Paw Patrol one with no tiny pieces. TT still insists on sticking non food items in her mouth!

As for me, normally I have a Hotel Chocolat sharing one, but I didn’t think about it in time and I don’t know if they ship here.

So instead, I treated myself to a Sparkle Yarn advent box from Tinky Dye Yarns. The lovely Maria has been still shipping my clubs to me so this was a lovely addition.

The glorious box:

Dec 01:

It also comes with a bespoke pattern which will soon be on sale on Ravelry from the lovely Julie-Ann Amos and I am happily working my way through it.

I have not yet opened today’s window.

We also went to the Melrose Christmas Lights switch on last night:

There was live music

The children wanted some of the light up plastic tat that they sell. #1 Son got a light sabre, TT a snowflake magic wand.

That wand lasted less than 30 minutes before she whacked it against the stroller hard enough to shatter the snowflake 🙄

It’s not like they were $10 apiece or anything….

But the piéce de resistance of the evening was seeing SANTA.

Yes those are the Melrose High School cheerleaders.

The best bit though?

The kids. Both were so thrilled to see Santa.

I teared up with the happiness. I didn’t expect the sheer delight for both of them.

Mall visits will happen soon.

Today or tomorrow we will buy a tree and new decorations.

Oh, I’m also trying a new nail salon tomorrow as my last set didn’t last two days 😡😡😡