I'm back with more adventures in dyeing yarn and deciding what the colours mean.  

The colours for this were, as the title might lead you to believe, inspired by spiraling depths and mysteries unknown lying within the vastness of the ocean.  

I imagined sirens with sinister secrets, giant squids with long histories of destroying magnificent ships that stranded too far off written paths, mermaids with longing and fanciful dreams, and spectacular scales of creatures never witnessed by human eyes.   

Even though last week i said I wanted to work more on the pastel range in future projects (which I still do), I wanted these colours to be rich and vibrant.  Colours that make you want to live a life at sea.  

Overall, I think it turned out delightfully sinister and magical all at once.  There are areas that are illuminated by the white contrast to the colours, and there are stretches that are dark where I squished the colour into the entire section so that no light could escape through.  

I have no idea what it's going to be yet, but I love that it holds potential along with the mystery.  Full of adventures and secrets.

Stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned.

In full acceptance that this outs me as a crazy cat lady, this colour palette is only coming around because I'm madly in love with calico cats- especially my family's cat.  I could give you some magnificent story like I did with the Great Unagi, but honestly I just miss my cat.  She stays with my parents, and there isn't a day I'm not lonesome for her.  So here I am, making a tribute to her lovely colours and delightful soul. 

That being said, I did add some colours inspired by other calicos I've encountered that reminded me of my dear cat.  I figured if I go out of my way to pet them whenever I get the chance, they should probably feel this fibery love and appreciation.

Other than giving you sappy feelings about my cat, I also thought it was worth while to talk about what I've been learning with the more frequent hand painted yarns I've been doing.

This yarn in particular showcased how less can be more.  I was going for a far more light yellow that would blend well, and instead ended up with an electric yellow that quite clearly stands out.  For anyone getting into the dyeing game, I would highly recommend trusting that the colour will show even if there is only a little bit of dye powder getting mixed in (if you're going for less intense colours).  

The colours do fade a bit after being washed, but not too much (as long as the fiber was prepped properly).  

Here's the part where I get sentimental again.  I love this yarn even though it's not what I expected at all, which reminds me even of the very feline this represents.

My dad, brother, and I brought her home in a cricket box from a very small pet store in the town I grew up in.  She was the runt of the litter and terrified of everything.  My mother told me years later that she feared this little fraidy-cat wouldn't last if for no other reason that her heart would give out from being startled by the slightest sound.  

She changed though, she got braver and started to warm up to the family we brought her into.  She's 15 years old, 13 pounds, and the most delightful creature I've ever met, and even from a thousand miles away she makes my heart melt and want to be more.  

I think of her because she reminds of why it's nice to take chances even if you're not sure things are going to work out, especially if what motivates you is love.  

You'll be noticing some changes around the site in the next couple of months.  I'm filling out the website a little more, I've added a link to where you can donate if you so feel inclined (don't worry, blog posts and adventures will keep coming no matter what), and I'm taking further steps to making the Sweet Crafterlife a permanent fixture of my life, and hopefully yours.  

I'll keep you updated, but until then-

Stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned.

At the last Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival I had immense amounts of fun just wandering around the booths and indulging in beautiful creations sold by talented people, but I also went there with a goal.  To find undyed fiber from a long time friend of mine, and enough of it that I could make my partner a sweater and not have to worry about running out.  

This is three pounds of fiber for that very purpose.  

The spinning and plying took me a good while, especially considering that I've been changing things up and spinning thinner than I did a year ago.  And no, I'm not putting the fiber on a diet, I just like working with a smaller gauge because I like to punish myself and make all of my projects take longer.  I like a challenge.

At the end of it all I ended up with 2,857 yards, which is perfect.  If I run out of yarn for his sweater with that much, I wasn't supposed to have enough yarn in the first place.  I'm so destructively hopeful about this yardage that I'm even hoping I will have enough leftover to either make myself a sweater too, or a matching pair of socks for the original sweater.  We'll see.  

I used the colour Scarlet from Jacquard's acid dyes, and promptly fell in love.  

Not just for the usual reasons either.  This time there was an added perk, but first I need to explain that I am a red snob.  Red is often done dishearteningly bad.  The worst culprits are lipsticks- they almost always have pink undertones or are simply puny and incapable of making anyone feel any emotion other than "eh".  Reds should make you feel something.  Red is powerful and fierce, in the best of ways, and to let it be a dull sizzle of evocation is criminal.  

If you're a snob like me, Scarlet won't let you down.  The photo below does it a disservice by making it look a shade or two on the pink side, but it's not pink at all.  It's red the way red should be.  Bold and strong.  

It will make for a perfect sweater (or hopefully two).  

Stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned.