How it all began

Okay, I think I'm doing good....roughly 8 hours and another post? I have the attention of a fruit fly so this is good for me. This is why I dye yarn and don't keep the world turning. But now I have a understanding of how these blogs work. I got into a discussion about one with a friend because my argument was, "But it's a diary!" Now I understand, yes it is, but I don't have to tell my readers about that time with the jelly and my bra that ended up in the freezer at a 6th grade slumber party....oh dammit.

Moving on!

How it all began. Well, getting back to the fruit fly mention, it has to be something pretty special for me to focus my attention on it, and I've always been this way. This is why I never did well in school, or practically every job I've had with the exception of two. Raising my cute little monster child, aka Goose and dyeing yarn. Just as I'm the goofy goober mom who will be the 27 year old skipping down the isles of the grocers just because "I look like I'm entertaining my child for the benefit of my fellow shoppers"

Nah, I just want to skip. This is why I dye yarn. Not because I skip like a lunatic, but because it's something that I have fun with. I've always been drawn to colors and creating things, typically in a destructive way. I use to melt my crayons against a light bulb to create new colors and watch how the different colors would pool together. I usually ended up with a mud type color, but, again, fun! My mom use to own a autobody paint and supply store many moons ago. I was her best employee when it came to mixing colors that were discontinued or matches for someone. And this was by eye. I've always been able to see colors differently. I don't know how to really describe it, but I guess you'll just have to take my word for it.

So fast forward to recent past, after having Goose, I've gone back and forth between working a steady full time job and working part time or just not working at all. I've been knitting for almost six years now (I think....honestly pre baby was a blur so it could only be five). Well I had a dear friend, Clarine, help rekindle the spark. As hubby puts it, gasoline on a pile of dry leaves and threw a match in it. She introduced me to the world online of all things knitting. And having that fruit fly attention, I found Knit Picks and ordered some new supplies. Better needles, some different types of yarn and some undyed stuff and dyes. Squee. When I got it, that was the first thing I played with. I first dyed a skein black, blue, and green with variegation's of white in between each section. Granted, I didn't have much of a clue on how to dye, so it looked pretty horrible. It sat in my knitting lair for months, it's back turned to the world for having such a shunned fugly face. Battered but not broken, I pick it back up much later and said, "BE BEAUTIFUL, DAMMIT!" It cried, then I cried with it and then I threw it into a pot of simmering water and it screamed. Actually I was the one who screamed, I splashed water in my eye. I threw in MASSIVE amounts of blue and green dye and began to work the yarn around with my bare hands, tears streaming down my face from the burning water and the pain and joy of seeing my fuggle baby turning into a beautiful swan.

After about twenty minutes of this madness, I end up with that skein you see at the top of the page, Mermaid hair. Never to be repeated or sold. When she's not doing photo shoots, she has her own special cubby up on the wall to remind me of my short attention span tendencies and when you persevere, you can end up with something truly beautiful.

Oh, and the name? Blue Hands Fibers? Note to self: wear gloves when dipping your hands into blue over dye fiber water with the acid added... Ed Harris in Abyss had nuthin on me.

Ciao!