We've Moved!!

Today, with much excitement, we've unveiled our newly redesigned website (still at www.sanguinegryphon.com), and the blog is now integrated with the site, here. All the archives have moved over with it. Come and visit!

Her Heart Grew Sick

A most appropriate name for my version of the Kypria colourway that will be appearing in tonight's update, for we are bidding a partial farewell to Kypria. Kypria is our merino/bamboo/nylon sock yarn for which I have been writing an accompanying story, a reconstruction of a lost third Homeric work. But alas, the yarn languishes a bit too much on the shelves and we just can't keep stocking it. However we do have patterns for it, including a gorgeous new one which will be coming out this Fall as part of our Steampunk pattern line, so we've decided to continue stocking Kypria in 10 of the standard colourways, to be determined.

For this evening we have a little farewell bash, two colourways created by Sarah and me, both based on an insect submitted and voted on on our Ravelry group a couple weeks ago:

Isn't he pretty? We're calling him Henry Worthington III, Esq., mostly because we feel like it, but also because his real name is 'small red moth' and that's just stupid.

Interestingly, Sarah and I created startlingly similar colourways based on this fellow, unlike the Purple Soldier Ants a couple weeks ago, which were very different. Mine is #121 Her Heart Grew Sick:

and Sarah's is #122 Leave My Side, which better reflects her feelings about Kypria. I think she has some anger issues.

Both colourways will be appearing on the site tonight and will be available to order until tomorrow evening or until we run out of base yarn, whichever comes first (there are 160 undyed skeins left).

In other very exciting news, our redesigned website is scheduled for release on Thursday. This Thursday!! It's so beautiful I can hardly stand it. The first release will be basically the same as the current one in terms of features, just a different look, except that the blog will be integrated with the site instead of being hosted through Blogspot. Then, over time, we'll be adding all sorts of cool new features, like a customer gallery, a colour picker, etc.

Another small news item: have you spotted our Fall ad in the issue of Interweave that just came out? It will also be appearing in the Fall (not Early Fall) Vogue Knitting. The first name of the artist who did the drawing is a coupon code for 10% off on the site, good through August 15th. (Her name appears on the right side of the ad.) More about Steampunk soon!

Just What I Needed, a New Obsession

I've been throwing sidelong glances at silk painting for a long time now, and a couple weeks ago finally decided to take the plunge and order supplies. Oh my. It's really, really fun. I got the Jacquard Dye-Na-Flow paints, which work on all different kinds of fabric, some resist, and a bunch of silk.

After some initial practice, I started to get the hang of how the paint moves on different fabrics (and it is hugely different for various weaves and fibers), and was able to sketch a fish on some silk habotai with clear resist and then paint it, for a decent result. Lia liked it so now I'm quilting it in the lines to make her a pillow.

Feeling more comfortable, I moved on to painting more silk habotai to make a bodice (you knew it had to turn to historical clothing at some point, didn't you?) I outlined the pattern then made a pencil sketch of a dragon and drew it in with resist.

Unfortunately, the resist started to clog the bottle, clumping in places, and the lines are thicker than I wanted them.

Next I painted the background.

I love the way the colours blend.

And then the beast himself.

That's as far as I've gotten yet. I think I'll quilt this too, with just very thin batting, because I like the effect it makes on the surface. Then I'll make the lining, bone it, and piece it together into a bodice. Maybe after I finish Sarah's gown, though - that was supposed to be last year's birthday present, to be completed by this year's birthday, which is coming in a couple months. It has to be ready for her to wear at Stitches East at the end of October.

Lia really enjoyed the painting as well.

But about yarn. We've had a bit of a kerfuffle with the latest batch of Bugga! - it's not quite all the way up to our standards. There are rather more knots and misspun sections than usual, and all of it is ever so slightly less tightly plied than it should be. A few skeins went out last week before we caught the problem and we have sent partial refunds to those people by way of compensation. The rest we'll be offering on the site at a 15% discount. It's still really lovely soft Bugga!, but it's not all the way top notch, so we don't feel comfortable charging full price. We're combing through it to weed out all the skeins with more serious problems, like knots and misspun parts, but if you do receive a mutant that slipped through the checks please notify us and we'll rectify the matter.

But! As you may know by now, we like to throw a little fun into everything, so we've worked a game into this. All the skeins from this troubled lot have a stamp on the tag: 'IRREGULAR' - all but seven of them. These seven have a different stamp on them. These others are the golden ticket stamps, worth a gift certificate of $28 to our site for the lucky recipients. Any yarn listed on the site with the irregular discount might potentially have the odd stamp - if you receive one send us an email telling us what the stamp says and we'll send you the prize gift certificate.

For the first kick-off of these irregulars, we have an unlimited run of an old favourite from the vaults tonight: Fiery Searcher Beetle. I don't generally proclaim the depth of my love for particular colourways, but this one just might be my all-time most beloved. It is (of course) a murky brown-green, and I created it at my dear friend Kate's (Dragonfly Fibers) house in the very early days of my dyeing, and I love it beyond all measure. I hope you'll love it too.

4:56 pm and Disjointed

Yea, so... in the chaos of the day... here is your Monday, OMG THE BLOG! edition.

This week we bring you the double feature of the Purple Soldier Fly voted by Ravelers as "most want to see dyed" bug.

We will offer it in a one-time, unlimited quantity in Skinny Bugga! for 24 hours starting tomorrow morning, Tuesday, July 20 at 9:30 EDT.

Since the internet has been giving us much grief today, I can't post pictures here. They are up on the website listed as "Gryphon's Purple Soldier Fly" and "Sarah's Purple Soldier Fly."

Rachel elf signing (and sighing) off...

Steam Engine Fun

Our landlady runs the local Steam and Gas Association, and this weekend they had their annual show. It's truly an amazing event - they have 70 acres with numerous museum buildings, and enthusiasts turn out from far and wide to show and sell their equipment. Most of the gear on display is fully operational, so one can see all these incredible steam engines in action, and machines run by them. There were also every imaginable variety of tractor, often being driven around by small children who were clearly experienced tractor drivers. Here's a small assortment of the photos I took (on my phone, sorry for the poor quality) - the rest are on our Flickr page.

I was there doing a spinning demo for their colonial crafts room, with my great wheel. Not many people because of the rain, but I got a lot of spinning done :-)

I believe that las thing is a loom.

For our update tonight we have 100 skeins of Robberfly (an old colourway revisiting) in Bugga! and an unlimited number of the same in Skinny Bugga!

Also, Rachel has finally found time to get to the laborious task of sorting and listing our large collection of mutant skeins. What, ask you, is a mutant skein? Alas it's not a giant, radioactive skein with 10,000 yards that glows in the dark. It's a skein with either a spinning or a dyeing flaw. We've classified them into 3 groups:

1. Point Mutations: Skeins with dye flecks on them

2. Frameshift Mutations: Burns or knots

3. Nonsense Mutations: Spinning problems (some section that's over or underspun, usually just a few yards)

All are discounted by 26.721% and are to be found under Attic Treasures, where they will go live at update time, tonight at 8 pm EDT.

i haz bewteeful yarnz and brainz: awl de laydeez luv mee

Sent to us by one of our dear customers in Spain...

Meet Pedrita:


(note the beautiful yarn in the foreground is Schrodinger's Cat in QED).

Please note that the SG studios will be closed on Monday to observe International Town Criers Day. However, we will still have the usual update on schedule. This week, the much anticipated unlimited Blue Lobster in Bugga!



The posting will go up around 8:00 pm EDT on Monday evening, July 5 and stay up for 24 hours.

Also for your bargain seeking pleasure is the 20% sale on Spring colours in all of the bases except Bugga and Skinny Bugga. Having set the sale up in advance, you will see the prices go in effect at 12:00 am EDT (midnight) on Tuesday, July 6. Since these are now retired we will not be able to dye to order in case of oversells so buy early (and buy often). :)

While not part of the regular update, look for the standard colours in Codex and Gaia Lace sometime in the early part of next week.

The final news of the day is the end of an several eras - the kittens and momma are all off to new homes and new adventures. Monica took the last two kittens home last night. Cho Mao is recovering comfortably at Matt's home after her no-more-kitten surgery, and the last skein of Dance has been packed.

Goodbye silk noil.

Delivery

We had the horses delivered this morning.

Okay, not really, but I sure had the elves going for a moment when this trailer pulled up in front of our building. They're ready to believe just about anything of me :-)

Actually, we've reduced our animal population by one more today - Cacie took one of the kittens for a friend of hers. The rest, Cho Mao included, should be heading out this week. Bye-bye kittens, it's been lovely having you! I say all this with some degree of relief - they're adorable, but they're old enough to be a little destructive now and it's been a struggle keeping them out of the yarn. I found a skein this morning whose tag looked as though it had been riddled with bullet holes from a very tiny gun.

Tomorrow morning (9:30 am EDT) we'll have the rest of the Summer release, all the colourways in all the bases except Bugga! You can see them all in these two blog entries, along with their swatches. Happy hunting!