New Year, New Prices

I have good news, and bad news.

The good news is I'm having a sale...a 30% off end-of-the-year sale on Friday 12/30/11 and Saturday 12/31/11.  The coupon code for this sale is "byebye2011" and it will be active from 00:01 12/30/11 to the end of the year (EST).

The bad news is that due to increases in my material costs I am raising the price of a skein of my High Society Sock Yarn to $24/skein starting January 1, 2012.  I will also be cutting back on the number of skeins available in the coming year and will be dyeing primarily new and limited edition colorways.  So, please take advantage of the sale; and come back often to see what's new in the shop.  Colorways shown on the colorways page can always be special ordered at no additional charge, though they will not always be available in my Etsy shop. 

The Balticon LE colorways have become the highlight of the year for me and will continue to be a major focus. I am already working on them for 2012 and have 3 of the colorways planned. I can't wait to share them and the books/podcasts that are the inspiration with you. 

2011 has been an interesting year. I've created a lot of colorways that I have loved knitting with and hope you have enjoyed them as well.  I'm hoping 2012 will be a year full of health and happiness for my family and yours.  Thank you for taking the time to stop by here and shop at Dyed Bright Here.

Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays

It's hard to believe that it's time for the Thanksgiving holiday.  Before you know it, Christmas and New Year's will be here too.  

I won't be doing any new dyeing until after the first of the year, and even then, I don't have any idea right now when, or how much.  Due to extremely limited finances and time, I've had to scale way back here. In some ways, it almost feels like I will be starting over here too when the dust settles.

The only definite plans I have yarn and color-wise is to continue the tradition of the Limited Edition Balticon colors next May. I already have two of them in my head...

I want to take a moment to say, "Thank you", to all of my customers, fans, and friends. Your patronage and friendship make me smile almost as much as hot pink and neon green yarn (and that's sayin' something).  I hope you are all blessed with the happiest of holidays, healthy families, and frog-free sock knitting in your favorite colors.

Swatches of the new colorways

I made a mini-skein and got a swatch knit (as if making a sock) for all but one of the new colors. Cyndi (Girls Just Wanna Have Fun) is the only one I didn't do. I'm thinking of pulling one of the skeins out of the shop to do that. And, I guess I would then have to use the rest of the skein to make a pair of socks for myself or a friend (hmmm, not a bad plan).

Meanwhile, here are pics of the other new colors and how they behaved for me.

Remember, everything is currently 40% OFF in my Etsy shop. Just use the coupon code, "TWITTER40" at checkout.

Lioness

Mandrake

Oh, Baby!

Yellow Jacket

Birthday Girl

Management Material

It's Autumn and that means a sale!

I enjoy something about each of the seasons. But Autumn is by far my favorite!


I knit all year round (not as much as I'd like and mostly just swatches these days) but when the weather finally breaks in September and suddenly it's cool enough (downright cold at night) to want to wear sweaters the urge to knit is overwhelming.  I love everything about this time of year...the colors, the crispness in the air, apple and pumpkin festivals, hay rides, Rhinebeck, bundling up in sweaters and under blankets, football and soccer games, back to school events, the works.

So, in celebration of all of these things, I want to make it a little (okay, a LOT) less expensive for you to include some of my hand-painted yarns and rovings in your Autumn knitting and spinning. For the next week (at least) I'm offering a discount coupon in my ETSY shop giving you 40% off anything in the shop.  As of right now, all of my available skeins of sock yarn are listed. I will be adding all of my available braids of roving over the next couple of days.

If you haven't tried knitting socks yet, this is the perfect opportunity.  Socks are my favorite knitting project for a number of reasons. First, your total project cost is so much lower than a sweater. Secondly, they are SO portable. Third, you can experiment with ANY technique or style of knitting on a sock cuff. And finally, nothing feels as amazing as socks that have been custom made to fit your foot. NOTHING.

If you are already adicted to knitting socks, this is a great time to add some of my crazy color creations to your stash. I have something for everyones' color preferences. Maybe a bit more for those of us who love all things pink, but every color of the colorwheel is currently in the shop. For now, at least.

If socks aren't your thing, my sock yarn makes gorgeous shawls and scarves. And, if you hold two strands together, it is worsted weight and will look great in any project.

So, get 'em while they are here. I am not anticipating doing much (if any) dyeing until after the new year.  Life is a bit hectic around here at the moment. So, if you are thinking of giving some of my yarn as a holiday present, now is your chance to get it at a great price.

To take advantage of this sale, simply type the coupon code "TWITTER40" in the coupon box at checkout time. 40% will be deducted off of your order total. Shipping fees will still apply.

As always, I greatly appreciate your business.

Sue

NEW COLORWAYS!!

I had a great time playing in the dyes leading up to KDO and in the process, created 7 new colorways. They are all available in my Etsy shop now. I am working out the details of a sale in my Etsy shop...info will be coming soon so watch this space.

Meanwhile, about the new colorways...

Sophisticated Schoolgirl is still one of my favorite colorways (and always a best seller). I decided to break up the three colors (hot pink, lime green, and purple) and use pairs of those colors to see what happens. The results are two new colorways, Birthday Girl and Cyndi (Girls Just Wanna Have Fun).

Birthday Girl

Cyndi (Girls Just Wanna Have Fun)

Then, while I was still in a 2-color groove I decided to do a colorway I had been thinking about for a while called, Oh Baby! (baby pink and baby blue)

Oh Baby!

And for my green-lovin' friends I created Mandrake. I was originally toying with names like Green Dragon, Dragon's Wing, and even Welsh Dragon (I love the flag of Wales but later realized that while their colors are red, white, and green the dragon himself is red). Then thought about the dragon from Paulette Jaxton's story "The Emperess Sword" and realized that these were the same colors of green I had used to depict him in the LE Balticon Colorway I did that was inspired by that title. And so, this is Mandrake...

Mandrake

I had one more bi-colored bit of fun in the form of Yellow Jacket. This is a yarn designed to stripe (as is Cyndi). I wanted to do something for my non-pink, non-red friends and also something for my Pittsburgh Steeler friends. So, some glorious yellow and black.

Yellow Jacket

And finally, I wanted a couple of not-quite-so-bright colorways for the more traditional folks out there who might not want the crazy colors I usually end up creating. These are tri-color creations. Designed to not stripe (or at least, not as boldly). More tonal versions of my madness. 

First up is Lioness. She is tawny, golden, and glorious.

Lioness

And finally, some of the colors my mom adores (greys). The last one was designed to go with a navy, grey, or black suit. I was envisioning pinstripes when I created it. Meet Management Material.

 Management Material

You can see more pics of these colorways (including swatches of everyone except Cyndi at my shop)

Knitter's Day Out 2011

I finally attended a show as a VENDOR! Knitter's Day Out (KDO) is a small but well attended one day event (with some bonus time on Friday evening) held each September at the Central Pennsylvania College in Summerdale, PA. The vendors are primarily local (and a few from farther away) yarn shops. 

I took a few photos Friday afternoon as people were setting up... was too busy Saturday at our booth to wander around very much. Besides, I was having too much fun meeting and talking to great folks. 

All set up just waiting for Mom and her fiber to arrive

Mom all set up and getting ready to start spinning.

During the show I spun part of one of my braids of roving using my favorite Golding drop spindle while Mom spun up some Brains using her brand new Lendrum wheel. Spinning in public is a great conversation starter; even among fiber folks.

Before and After spun by me at the show on my drop spindle.

Before and After spun by Mom at home the week before the show.

Handspun Brains

Thank You

Balticon has come and gone. It was a glorious long weekend full of friends who are so amazingly talented and creative. The highlight of the weekend was the Needleworker's Tea. Or, as I preferred to call it, the Yarnaholic's Tea. It was arranged by three friends of mine in the style of a formal tea. It was so successful that there was hardly room to move. It will happen again next year (with a few tweaks...like a bigger room and more time).

There were people knitting, spinning, crocheting, and doing needlepoint and cross-stitch there.  The tables were laden with every imaginable type of biscuit, cookie, cake, and scone; and there were at least a dozen different varieties of tea in beautiful teapots. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and it was a joy to see so many people enjoying yarn, tea, and yummy goodness.

As for my sales, this year was even more successful than last year. Overall, my sales were up 50% and of the eight colorways I created, I sold out of four of them!!  The few remaining skeins will go into my Balticon Yarn Vault. I'm not sure what I'll do with them now, but they can go sit with the few skeins left from last year. Perhaps, one day I'll make a larger special project out of them...

Thank you to those who purchased these Limited Edition colorways that are so special to me and were such a joy to create. I'm already thinking about some of the books and/or podcasts that I might try using as inspiration for next year... I hope to see you there!

Balticon Update (Again)

I have good news and bad news. Which is which depends upon your perspective.

The first news is that I have sold out of 4 of the 8 colorways. Empress Sword, Girls' Rules, Phoenix Rising, and Pirates are gone.

The second news is that I still have 1 skein of Gearheart and multiple skeins of Spectyr, Fiends, and Mine. 

These last skeins are priced at $20 each. If you are interested in any of these, simply drop me an email. The address is Dyed Bright Here (no spaces) (at) gmail (dot) com.

Balticon Update

Here's an update of the availability of the LE Balticon colors for this year...

The first colorway to sell out was Empress Sword. Apparently, you all loved the swirling mixture of greens (representing the Dragon) and the pinks and blues (representing the Princess/Prince) as much as I loved the story and creating the yarn. Thank you!

There are currently three colorways that I am down to just one skein of each left. They are (from top to bottom) Girls' Rules, Phoenix Rising, and Pirates seen here in swatch form.

Thank you so much for your support! I can't wait to see everyone there. Don't forget to stop by the Yarnaholic Tea on Saturday from 2-4!  I'll be bringing more yarn goodness!

Get 'em while they're still here...

Thank you to all who have already purchased some of the 2011 goodness that is the Balticon 45 LE colorways. I am humbled by your support.

I promised updates so here we go...

At this point, Empress Sword, Girls' Rules, and Phoenix Rising are nearing extinction. There is just one skein remaining of each of these colorways. So, get 'em while they're still here...

It's Balticon Time!

Balticon 45 is just around the corner. The idea to create special limited edition colorways began last year as a crazy brainstorm. I truly love those "What if..." kind of moments. Originally I was going to try to create colorways that represented genres. The idea morphed into using various written and podcast works written and/or broadcast by people I knew (or would be meeting) at Balticon. Last year I did 5 colorways. This year, there are 8!!

You can see them all individually on the Balticon 2011 page.  I have knit swatches out of each of them. They all have their own personality and are truly unique individuals.

When I create LE (limited edition) colorways I only dye a certain number and once those are gone, they will not be heard from again for at least a year or two...most likely longer. For a yarn shop, that limited run might be 15-30 skeins. For Balticon, it is 5. Yup, that's it. Five. So, for that reason, I limit sales to just one skein per color per person until after all the pre-convention sales are done. If I have any skeins left I will bring them to Balticon with me.

Ordering Information

All orders will be taken by email and then invoiced through Paypal. So, please make sure to either use the email address associated with your paypal account or in your email let me know what address to send the invoice to. I will take orders on a first-come, first-served basis after 8 am (EST) tomorrow morning (Saturday, May 14, 2011). Send your email listing the color(s) you would like to DyedBrightHere (at) gmail (dot) com. I will reply with a confirmation letting you know that I got it and if any of the colors you want are already sold out. I will update this site as colors sell out as well.  

Pricing Information

1 color      $22

2 colors    $40     Save $4

3 colors    $57     Save $9

4 colors    $72     Save $16

5 colors    $85     Save $25

6 colors    $96     Save $36

7 colors    $105     Save $49

ALL 8      $112     Save $64

Shipping Information

Please let me know in your email if you will be attending Balticon and I will bring your order with me if you wish and save you on the shipping costs. Otherwise, shipping will be $3 for the first skein and $.50 for each additional skein for US orders. Shipping for Canada is $5 for the first skein and $.75 for each additional; International is $10 for the first skein and $1 for each additional.  I ship with the USPS by First Class or Priority.

Thank you!

I am humbled by the words that my friends write and grateful for the inspiration that they give me; not just at Balticon time, but throughout the year. I have been blessed to meet, get to know, and call, 'friend' some amazing individuals. Their support of my creative endeavors and of me as an individual has helped me get through the darkest times I could never have imagined and helped me grow as an artist and as a human being.

Thank you in advance for purchasing my yarn. Your support means the world to me. I would love to see any pictures of things you create with my 'babies'.

Artists inspiring other artists

It seems like there are a lot of artists out there but that's because so many of the people I know and love are artists of one sort or another. I think the truth is that artists might make up 10-15% of the general population but that is just a guess. I have not done any sort of actual research into this. I base this on things I notice when I am out and about in the world (at work, at the gym, out shopping). I am always surprised by people's reactions when they find out that I am an artist. They look at me like they are waiting for my other head to rise up out of my neck or shoulders. 

I mention this because I tend to forget that most people don't immerse themselves in art and the creative processes each and every day. Those are things I am beginning to take for granted. Thankfully. I no longer push those sorts of thoughts to the back of my brain. Now, I make sure that color, poetry, writing, and art are part of my everyday routine. And in doing so, I am talking to other artists every day--writers, photographers, cartoonists, graphic designers, other fiber artists, textile designers, knitters, musicians.  I am reading and listening to and observing their works. Their presence in my life pushes me to grow as an artist. 

I believe very strongly in artists helping other artists. Often this takes the form of doing what I can to help spread the word of their available works. Tweeting and re-tweeting PR stuff, links, liking and sharing on FB. But sometimes this also means being inspired by their works; translating their vision into my artistic language. That is how the Balticon colorways came to be. 

As an artist, I have my own favorite colors. I have traditional inspirational sources (nature in particular). But I found in thinking about paying homage to friends who are also creators (in this case, writers and podcasters) that I was forced to stretch my imagination and think about things in a different way. When you read a story, sometimes (as in the case of Alex White's "Gearheart") the author has included colorful descriptions; other times, there are integral elements of the story that evoke colors (as is the case in Philippa Ballantine and Tee Morris's "Phoenix Rising").  Listening to the podcast versions of some of these also adds the element of voice and music. All of these things--words, voices, sounds--all blend together to give the person experiencing the work a particular feeling. It was that feeling that I wanted to capture, or translate, into color. My medium is fiber. Sock yarn specifically. 

The person who then buys these yarns that I have created based on my friends' works is then the next link in this chain of creativity. For then, you see, they will use my creations to make their own creations; perhaps socks, maybe gloves or gauntlets, or even a scarf or lacy shawl. What they make doesn't matter. That they create is what matters. Artists inspiring other artists inspiring even more artists...

If you are not already familiar with the works that I have used as inspiration for this series of colorways, please click on the links on the Balticon 2011 page and check out these amazing artists and their works. I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

Balticon Pricing

These are the first photos of "Girls' Rules (top) and "Empress Sword (bottom). They are the next two LE Balticon colorways.

I have worked out the pricing for the Balticon colorways. As of right now, I am planning on doing 8 different colors. Last year I did 5. Similarly to last year, orders will initially be limited to just one skein of each color until a specific date. After that time, if any skeins are still available I will sell them without restriction. All colors will be first come first serve and they will be able to be pre-ordered starting some time in May. The date will be decided shortly. For now, here is the pricing structure. I am once again offering some pretty sweet deals for those of you interested in more than just one color.

One color $22

Two colors $20 each for a total of $40 and a savings of $4

Three colors $19 each for a total of $57 and a savings of $9

Four colors $18 each for a total of $72 and a savings of $16

Five colors $17 each for a total of $85 and a savings of $25 

Six colors $16 each for a total of $96 and a savings of $36

Seven colors $15 each for a total of $105 and a savings of $49

All eight colors at $14 each for a total of $112 and a whopping savings of $64 off my regular retail prices!!  That's almost like getting 3 skeins for free!

So, keep watching this space. I will be dyeing more of these special colorways each week now that Balticon is just around the corner. Once they are all dyed I will be reskeining and photographing them and creating the special colorway page for this year and then it will be time for the pre-orders. Don't worry, you will have plenty of time to get your order in before the con and I will again hand deliver them at Balticon for those of you that will be attending.

The "I Got a Job" Sale

As most of you know, I'm going through a divorce. My plan had originally been to grow my Dyed Bright Here business to the point where IT was my job. You know, my "real" job. The divorce has side-tracked those plans. I will be moving out on my own sometime in the near future and apparently landlords and mortgage companies prefer a steady income. So, I went job hunting...

Meanwhile, with Balticon just 3 months away, I've got to get back to the dyeing. I have so many cool colorways in the back of my brain just waiting to be unleashed in the form of awesome sock yarn... Yet, with moving out looming on the horizon, I can't afford (spacewise) to have this much yarn around.

I landed a part-time job (with the potential to become full time but I am still looking for a full time job just in case...) last week.

So, to move some of this stock out of here, and in celebration of landing something (anything in this job market), I'm having a sale in my Etsy shop. Everything is 50% off!! I lowered the prices so that you don't have to wait for a refund through PayPal. These prices will be in effect from now (Sunday 2/27/11) through Saturday (3/5/11). 

You've got a full week to go wild and grab some crazy colors for your Spring and Summer socks-to-be.

Have fun, and thank you for your continued support!

The Gearheart

I recently listened to The Gearheart podcast by Alex White. Alex uses a lot of colors in his descriptions. I was so inspired by the colors in this story that it became the first colorway of Balticon 2011. I incourage you to listen to the story. Alex and his wife, Renee are the readers (they do a number of different and wonderful voices/accents for the production) and Alex also composed the score for the production. 

These first photos were taken with my blackberry. I will be taking better images and officially adding the colorway to the separate page for Balticon 2011 in the near future. For now, I just had to share my instantaneous love of these colors with you.