It's quite late so I'll make this quick, but I did another (larger) batch of pencil roving in beautiful soft, misty colors, as well as this great subtle green skein that I need to post pictures of later today.

 

I actually took a few shots of the dyeing action and I am planning on showing a brief little tutorial on handpainting yarn - it's more simple than pencil roving in a sense, but very similar overall, and it presents a few unique challenges in the form of dye penetration issues.

 

Either way, I have been a busy little bee this weekend and there is a lot of lovely color resulting.  I am working, specifically on four objective for the next month or so:

 

 

 

1.  More muted, shaded colors.  I work in a lot of varied shades, but most are still very much in within the spectrum of the primary-tertiary basic color wheel.  I do introduce muting complimentary colors into my mixes to give them some interest, but not to the level of giving visible off-shades... so I am going to work to produce some solid burnt oranges, olive greens, fabulous teals, rusts, aubergine, and tarnished gold.

 

 

 

2.  More pastels.  You'll see this demonstrated in the upcoming fibers I am displaying - but I am going to work on varying soft color palettes and see how I like them.  The Pencil Roving in Neapolitan, that was featured in the tutorial, is actually some of the first truly pale colors I have worked with.  I often start out with pale and then overdye dark, but this will be an interesting challenge.  Believe it or not truly pale shades I am finding are some of the hardest to dye.

 

The dye molecules want to adhere to the first fiber they touch - especially in handpainting - and not disperse evenly. So the top of the fiber will hold a good hint of color but the bottom often tries to remain pale, or it streaks.  Extremely dark colors, like on the Merlot Sock yarn (which sold in three days, I am so proud of that one!), are also quite difficult.  It's easier with kettle dyeing, but both are still more challenging than good midtones.  So they are also on the agenda - look for softer colors this spring.

 

 

 

3.  Standard Colorways.  I love experimentation, it is part of what makes fiber arts, as a broad genre, so satisfying.  But there is a value in having a set of reproducible colorways in several different weights of yarn - and that value comes in saving time for me (with predictable results and dye recipes that have already been tested) and a lot more versatility for the customer in being able to find exactly what they want in a weight they want to work with.  It takes more time to devise a standard colorway than random results, because more exacting calculations and application methods are required, but in the long run it is beneficial to have.

 

 

 

4.  Expanded, more uniform stock.  The first three objective will culminate into this - a good stock selection of colors and weights of yarn for people to choose from, in addition to the one-of-a-kind art yarns that I love so dearly.  I am going to test what works and what doesn't over the range of the color palette and the results from that will be what I use to create an actual line of yarns.  Consistency is the key to expansion, and I'd really like to have a stock of yarn and roving that people can depend on for a particular look, in addition to the fun stuff.

 

 

 

 

We'll see how this goes but I am fairly confident I can come up with at least eight standard colorways to reproduce more broadly.  Eight solid selections is my goal by my birthday, anyway, so I have a good four months of tinkering to achieve that end.  From there, dyeing like mad to build up some better backstock in the store is my next milestone.

 

The only difficulty I can foresee is wanting to expand my business farther than what my other obligations would permit.  I am already finding myself more reluctant to have new little babies crawling around because I have much less time to work on my hobbies and business with really small children, and I know I plan to homeschool down the road and a really busy work schedule is fairly incompatible with my household and marital responsibilities.

 

Peter and I have discussed this in length over the course of our relationship and we both agreed that me not working outside the home was an important thing in our family dynamic, and he works very hard so that I can stay home and take care of the house and kids.  But while I know he doesn't begrudge me working from home in something I really enjoy that all goes with the understanding that it not become some behemoth burden in its own right before I have the time to dedicate to it at that level.

 

I am actually a bit at odds with all of this right now.  The next step is becoming more disciplined with my waking up and going to bed so I have some hours to do this each morning (yes, that would mean I couldn't make 2:45 am blog posts like this anymore, nor could I sleep in as long as the kids sleep) and it is a change I need to make sooner than later, but I am regularly evaluating nor only my personal goals for this business, but how they work with my long-term goals for my family.

 

We are not actively trying to conceive our next baby for a few years, more out of financial planning than personal luxury, and that only complicates my business planning because I DO have plenty of time for the time being, to expand and grow Aurora Fiber Arts.  But I am trying to do everything I do for this business in the light of ALL my hopes and dreams, not just the fibery ones.

 

We'll see how it all pans out, either way.  But with a nice, steady stream of business right now and feasible plans for some small expansion of the product in the near future, my 'problems' are turning out to be quite pleasant, indeed.

 

 

 

 

And this post was by no means as short as I intended.  Go figure.