Didja miss me?

I had a bit of a modem blowout, which resulted in no internet access for awhile (I get the shakes just thinking about it). But we're up and running again, so before I leave to ferry the Fearless Fair Isle Knitting galley proof pages up to the FedEx office (another book stage done! woohoo!), this is what happened  here over the weekend:

Spoonflower has really speeded up their turnaround times. I'm not complaining- I'm glad that the company is becoming more popular, I want it to stay in business. But it's nice to get my orders in less than 3 weeks now. This is the What Knitting Needles? camo fabric. I had it printed on their canvas twill fabric, which will be perfect for aprons and tote bags and other heavier projects. The colors came out beautifully (and the design glitch where the peach/purple section changes colors abruptly has been fixed). This photo was taken before washing and machine drying the fabric (which is 60" wide, which helps make up for the cost... $32 @ yard).

This is the fabric after washing. The difference is subtle, but I like it. The colors are a bit more muted (not a lot, but enough to notice) and the texture of the fabric shows more. I am pleased.

I had these printed on a sample (8" x 8")swatch. $5 for 12 labels- not bad. I can add a date with a fine point sharpie before sewing them to, well, whatever. I designed the border in Adobe Illustrator.

I designed and ordered this swatch just to see how Spoonflower would handle photos on fabric. I'd say they handle them just fine. I called this My Grandchildren's Grandmothers. I have no idea if I'll order a full yard, or what I would do with it if I did, but it's cool. That's all of us, by the way (me, my mother, my two grandmas, my husband's mom- in the towel in the snow, and his grandma). BTW- the labels on the fabric are printed too. I made the Spoonflower file by printing out scans and taping them and the labels to a piece of paper and then scanning that. I love the shadows and depth of the entire image.

And in the non-fabric arena, these fibers all came from Kelly Knispel and the South Dakota Colored Wool Studio, from her Spinner's Web line. The Peach is wool/mohair/silk noil and is 100 yds and 3.7 ozs. The variegated in the middle is wool/mohair/thrums and was dyed naturally. It's 64 yds and 2.3 ozs. The red is Rick's Red II (named after Rick Mondragon, editor of Knitter's, which is based in Sioux Falls dontchaknow). It's Lincoln-Icelandic cross/mohair/silk noil. It's 2.2 ozs and 75 yards.

I do believe these 3 yarns belong together. As socks.

Note: some days the Blogspot image upload window looks different. On those days, the text does not center under the photos. Most days, it's the old window, and on those days (like today), nothing I do will justify the text to the left (and I've tried everything, believe me). sigh.