There’s been a lot of chat in the internet craft community about the joy and power of FREE, as in sharing creative works for free to spread goodwill.  I love this idea, sharing tutorials and ideas, but I wanted to take it a step further.  So here’s my next big thing, a free online class where I’m not only sharing knitting knowledge, but giving you the opportunity to share some free, too.

Visit my class site to sign up for a completely free online video class on how to knit socks with the Magic Loop technique.  The class project is a teeny pair of toddler socks that can be (but don’t have to be, your choice, no pressure) donated to Children in Common.  CIC helps provide warm clothing and other assistance to children living in orphanages in Russia and the rest of the former soviet Union.

SIGN UP HERE

We have the lovely cashmere blend sock yarn she mentioned, Luxe Merino Fine, available as custom order colors (you pick, I dye), or drop me a line to see what we have ready made in our remaining Sock Summit stock, to avoid the wait.  I’ll post a list of in-stock colors tomorrow morning.

Sock Summit was amazing, communal, eye-opening, joyous, over-the-top, exhausting, and exhilarating.  That many sock knitters in one place, and good things had to happen, right?  I got to geek out on my knitting heroines: Nancy Bush, Ann Budd, Priscilla Gibson Roberts, and (HOLY COW!) Barbara Walker, the doyenne of handknitting knowledge.  Here she is, with KSD yarn in hand:

OMG! She's touching Kitchen Sink Yarn!

My neighbor down the aisle at market was the delightful Ed Jenkins, whose handcrafted spindles are just amazing.  I couldn’t resist a cute ‘turkish delight’ mini-turkish spindle:

(pssst!  that’s not KSD fiber!  I strayed and bought some lovely plant dyed goodness from A Verb for Keeping Warm.  Hussy.)

The Ravelry party was lots of fun; I got to meet lots of great knitters while I hung out at the door prize table, showing off the lovely gifts donated by the party’s sponsors.

I scored an amazing little doo-dad benefitting a great charity that any browncoats among you loyal readers will totally dig!  As soon as I find the charity’s contact info (in my massively disorganized swag pile), I’ll post more info here!

Here’s Rodger and Kristin (Girl Friday), hanging at the ravelry shindig.  Note the excellent combo of good people, beer and knitting.  This pretty much sums up my week in Portland. 

Kristin and I went to a restaurant whose food doesn’t warrant much comment (sorry, but true), but the way they wrap to-go leftovers is pic-worthy:

That tin-foil crab is trying to make off with my drink....

More pics later this week!

Morel Socks by shannon okey, shown in Merino Fine 'Morel' colorway

 I’m happy to announce a cooperative project between Shannon Okey of Knitgrrl Studios, Andi Smith of Knit Brit, and Kitchen Sink Dyeworks, debuting next week at Sock Summit!

Shannon and Andi’s lovely sock designs, Morel, Sunny-Side-Up, and Toad in the Hole,  have been collected into one booklet that will be available in Kitchen Sink’s booth, #113.  Come see the socks knit in our yarns, in brand new colorways!

Sunny-Side-Up socks by Andi Smith, shown in Merino Fine 'Charlotte' colorway

Toad in the Hole socks by Andi Smith, shown in Merino Fine 'Benjamin' colorway

These new colorways, along with dozens of others, will be posted in our etsy shop shortly.  In the meantime, if you’d like to order any of these colorways, drop me a line!

Barefoot is entered in the Watercolors category, and Grass is entered in the Painted category.  Voting for the contest begind July 23rd; put in a vote for Kitchen Sink Dyeworks, pretty please!

I have a little secret to share about a project I’ve been cooking up for a little while now. The dyer at Kitchen Sink Dyeworks is…Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark! I’ve been splashing together the colorways and choosing the lovely yarns for this new indie dyer venture.

I’ve been quietly working on Kitchen Sink Dyeworks for a few months. I chose not to tie the new yarn venture to my name right away to get some raw, honest product feedback (which has been overwhelmingly positive, thank you) and to be sure this was a project I wanted to pursue for the long term before going public. I’m happy to say that I love creating these yarns and am now ready to grow this project past the ‘moonlighting’ phase!

As the name implies, this project is a cottage industry, I dye all my yarn and fibers in microbatches to have a lot of control over the color placement and quality of the finished items. The resulting yarns create a beautiful, random color effect, with a mosaic-like pattern that won’t pool or flash in the finished knit or crochet project. I create yarns that as a yarn junkie I love to knit and crochet. I know that when I can’t wait to jump into a new project with a Kitchen Sink yarn, I’m definitely on the right track!

What’s next for Kitchen Sink Dyeworks? We’re taking the show on the road. One of the things I wanted to do with this new venture was to travel more, showing at fiber festivals and indie craft fairs across the country. I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be a vendor at the upcoming Sock Summit, hosted by the Yarn Harlot Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and Tina Newton of Blue Moon Fibers, in Portland, Oregon, in August. I have a lot of sock yarn to dye this summer! I’ll also be at the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair in Fletcher, North Carolina, in October. And if anyone has any ideas about other venues in the coming year, I’d love to hear about them. Any excuse for a road trip!

Kitchen Sink Dyeworks will be hosting a trunk show and launch party at Knit Nouveau on Tuesday, April 14^th to celebrate with local Birmingham fiber folk. See the new yarns and colors, project models, and enter to win some fun Kitchen Sink kits! I’m also working on a charity project that will launch in May that I’m really fired up about, so keep an eye on the website for updates.

Join Kitchen Sink Dyeworks on the web at our website, www.kitchensinkdyeworks.com; on ravelry, user name: kitchensink, fan group: kitchen sink dyeworks fans; and on twitter: kitchensinkdye. I’d love to hear from you!

Sincerely,

Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark

Head Dyer

Kitchen Sink Dyeworks