Contest! Autumn Inspiration photos wanted

I’m starting to dye for autumn, which is my favorite season. The crisp air, the fall foliage (I grew up in New England), the brilliant blue skies, the feeling of a fresh new school year, hot apple cider--I love pretty much everything about it, except maybe the gigantic spider webs that pop up everywhere in the PNW.

Find your two favorite autumn photos and post them in my Ravelry group (I’ll pin them on my Pinterest inspiration board). They don’t have to be traditional autumn images--they can be what autumn means to you (a little back story would be cool, too). I’ll take the three with the most “love” clicks or the most repins, and dye colorways inspired by them, and we’ll vote for our favorite one of those. The person who came up with the original photo inspiration will get one skein or braid, on any base that I have.

Deadline is three weeks from today, Sept 2 (Labor Day). If you post your two favorites and then find another one you like better, you’ll need to delete one of your previous entries.

Have fun!

just a few more to go

I have just 17 skeins to go, and I'll be finished with my current wholesale order. Well, dyeing it, anyway. Still need to do a little reskeining of the really tangled hanks, and all the labeling. My husband accidentally threw one of the skeins in with the laundry today, requiring a redye (argh! yes, it's superwash, but the results after heavy agitation aren't pretty) so I think I can get him to help me with the labeling. He owes me.

My yarns will be debuting with two retailers over the next few weeks, so in preparation I've started a Ravelry group for my yarns and fibers. I'm kicking it off with a knit-along and contest. Make a project with my yarn (or spin some of my fiber), complete it by December 31, post it in my group, and get entered into a random drawing for a store credit worth $20. Get cracking!

and the winner is ...

Congratulations, MamaMay! I'll be e-mailing you shortly to discuss the details of your free roving.

Reading all the responses has been very educational. My main reference book on dyeing roving, to date, has been Color in Spinning by Deb Menz. She states that color stripes should be 3" wide at the most, and that roving should be dyed in increments no greater than 1 oz to make it easier to handle--definitely not what spinners seem to prefer. And when I browse on Ravelry, many dyers seem to be quite worked up about how braiding and shipping in polymailers lead to fiber compaction. It's been interesting to see how spinners, at least the ones who entered the contest, are less concerned about that.

If you entered this contest, thank you so very much for your input! I thought this was really fun--I'll definitely be doing more contests in the future.

I'm not a spinner, but I play one on TV.

I have a crush on roving. I admire from afar, swoon when up close. I love how the colors melt into one another.

But unfortunately, I'm not a spinner. I've figured out a no-felt dyeing method for roving that I like, but I've got other questions.

So I'm looking for advice from spinners as to what they like to see in their roving. If you're a spinner and post a reply with your answers to the following questions, I'll put your name into a drawing on January 31 for 4 oz of free roving from me. (That includes shipping in the US or Canada, and a reduced charge for other international destinations.) Hand-dyed in your choice of colors, on either Blue-Faced Leicester, superwash BFL, or Jacob lambswool. Be sure to include your e-mail address in the appropriate box--it won't show up with your reply, but I'll still have a way to get a hold of you.

1. How long do you like your stripes of color to be? 2", 3", 4", or something else? A variety of lengths?

2. Do you like sharp color contrasts (light/dark, opposites on the color wheel) or more subtle combinations?

3. Do you think braiding/crochet chaining compacts the fiber too much? Do you prefer to have your fiber shipped in a loose ball?

4. Do you prefer to have your fiber shipped in a box (again, to prevent compacting) or is a polymailer okay?

5. Anything else that you want a fiber dyer to know?

EDIT: I thought of another question.

6. How many oz of roving in a single colorway do you usually buy?