Midnight Spectrum

A couple o' coops and cakes!

noreply@blogger.com (MidnightSpectrum) — Sat, 16 May 2009 18:46:00 +0000

I have 2 coops going on at the same time. Yikes. It wasn't supposed to work out that way but it did. The Cestari yarn showed up so I had to wind out nearly 100 skeins of that for the 2 coops. I'm still waiting on the Gaia and the Dharma blanks though. I have all the Cestari off the cones and into skeins ready to dye. Yesterday I did 10 main skeins and 7 trim skeins...all in Japanese Spectrum. My skin was a lovely shade of navy blue most of yesterday. Thank goodness for Reduran! Pictures to come in a bit. I just reskeined those so they are nice and pretty now. I'll keep updating as I progress.

On another note, my daughter Kelly and I decorate cakes too. I've been getting just as many orders for cakes lately as I have been yarn orders. I barely have a day off any more. I love decorating cakes though...no complaining here. We use almost 100% organic ingredients and my 15 year old daughter does the baking. She's going to be a culinary artist very soon. She truly has a gift and a passion for cooking and baking. This Monday we have a consultation with a woman who is ordering a wedding cake from us...our first wedding cake! I'm nervous and excited at the same time. Here is a link to my gallery and a picture of our prettiest cake we've done thus far:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36358633@N04/show/

Customs customs and more customs

noreply@blogger.com (MidnightSpectrum) — Sat, 16 May 2009 18:43:00 +0000

I feel like all I'm doing lately is customs...oh yeah because I am! lol

Here are the latest customs I sent out a short while ago:

Customer's Custom

noreply@blogger.com (MidnightSpectrum) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 20:38:00 +0000

I just sent this beautiful box of custom yarn up to Canada. This was a custom "your yarn, my dye" slot that I listed on my yahoo group last month. She picked mostly girly colorways. I just love her choices.

Plumknit Cashmere Custom - March/April 2009

noreply@blogger.com (MidnightSpectrum) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:13:00 +0000

Hey, wow! I haven't posted on this blog in 11 months. I took a few months off over the winter, but I've been doing a few customs behind the scenes. Last month I was Plumknit's featured dyer for March. Here are a few pictures of the finished custom yarn. I enjoy dyeing Cynthia's cashmere blended yarn...it takes color so beautifully and it's like butter to wind through my fingers. Such a treat!

I am about to start on 2 fairly large coops through a couple of Yahoo groups. I'm excited for those orders because I love to see the MOUNTAIN of yarn when I'm done. It's so fun to finish and take pictures of all those colors. I have a few other projects up my sleeve planned for the next few months. I will try to be better about keeping more up to date on this blog. Take care!

Long time no post

noreply@blogger.com (MidnightSpectrum) — Thu, 08 May 2008 23:11:00 +0000

Hey everyone.

I just revamped my hyena cart so it has a new fresh look. When I get around to it I may redo the main site too so it all flows together. That will be a long project so I'll have to plan it out.

I currently have no custom orders (for the first time since I opened 2+ years ago). I feel free!

I'm working on marketing/advertising stuff for our family RV business at the moment so I'll be focused on that for most of the summer. I have a bunch of organic merino sitting here staring at me yelling "dye me! dye me!" so I will probably dye up a bunch of that in the next week.

I have TONS and I mean tons of tie dye sitting here ready to stock. I probably have about 20-30 items. Some are going to be summer clearance and some are brand new. I have a LOT of Midnight Spectrum dyed items so I'll be pairing those up with some yarn and also selling those alone as well.

Let's see...any pictures? I'll dig up one from the last batch of the YOTM clubs. Enjoy!

BFL has arrived!

noreply@blogger.com (MidnightSpectrum) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:01:00 +0000

I placed an order for 11 kilos of my Dream BFL in January. It took forever to get here! But alas it arrived on Tuesday! Praise the LORD! I've been in a serious yarn drought since January and my poor YOTM club members were so patient waiting for this yarn to arrive.

Here are my kids giving the luscious skeins a squeeze :)

Hi Ho, Hi Ho...it's off to DYE I go...la la la la la la la la...Hi Ho Hi Ho!

MS is a Family Affair!

noreply@blogger.com (MidnightSpectrum) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:45:00 +0000

My mom and dad have joined my team!

First up, my mother has a store on Etsy. It is a division of Midnight Spectrum called Southwest Spectrum. She specializes in all southwest colorways. We live in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and there is so much inspiration out here in the West. Be sure to stop by and check out her goods at http://southwestspectrum.etsy.com :

Next up is my dad:

My father is a capenter and has been for many many years. I asked him to design me a yarn swift since I really despise the umbrella swifts you get from overseas. They constantly break on me. So after many prototypes and a lot of product testing, my mother and I both have one of these and absolutely adore them.

Introducing the Everlast Swift! (an exerpt taken from the initial product listing on my hyenacart:

NEW! Everlast Yarn Swift!

After months of testing and perfecting, my carpenter father has created the perfect yarn swift. Midnight Spectrum is truly a family affair and everyone is as excited about yarn as I am! My father is a perfectionist and would not put his name behind this product until he (and I) were 100% completely satisfied that you would be completely satisfied.

This swift is made of solid wood that has been sanded for a smooth finish. It comes with 4 removable pegs that can be placed in any of the holes along the swift so you can make your skein as big or as little as you desire. The peg holes allow you to make your swift anywhere from 37" inches in diameter to 97" in diameter.The Everlast Swift also has velcro tabs along the side to hold your yarn in place as you get it started to wind. Smooth ball bearings make this swift spin smoothly and efficiently. It also comes with a rubber non-stick mat so that if you place this swift on a hard surface it won't slide around.To get the Everlast Swift to wind your skein you just place the swift on a surface and sit next to it and just push one of the arms as it goes around and around. It works GREAT!

Shipping and handling is included in the price. Your Everlast Swift will arrive to you in the pieces shown below (Screwdriver not included). An assembly instructional sheet is included in the shipping box. This swift can be put together with the use of a Phillips head screwdriver in just 3 easy steps. If you have any questions about this Everlast Swift please email me at sales@midnightspectrum.com Thank you.

And now pictures for your yarn dream desires:

At $49.95 it includes shipping and handling. These are made so well and will last a lifetime!

Yarn of the Month Club - January 08

noreply@blogger.com (MidnightSpectrum) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 20:48:00 +0000

Yarn of the Month club selections + some customs = Midnight Spectrum, Screamin' Pink Spectrum, Midnight Peacock, Tree of Life and Plumberry Cobbler

Heather Ross Pink Dandelions Custom Wool

noreply@blogger.com (MidnightSpectrum) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 19:56:00 +0000

This was a custom to go with her choice of fabric from my collection. She chose the Heather Ross pink bicycles and pink dandelions fabric. Great choices! I dyed the yarn on organic merino wool to match. It's so soft and feminine. It's going to make a gorgeous little princess outfit :)

100 Skeins

noreply@blogger.com (MidnightSpectrum) — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 16:14:00 +0000

It was hard not to roll around in!

Stained fingers and the smell of hot wool wafting up my nostrils...

noreply@blogger.com (MidnightSpectrum) — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 19:46:00 +0000

You have just got to love the smell of heat setting wool x 100. That delicate smell of hot sheep mixed with dyes and acid. Oh yum!

Phew! My 100 skein coop is wrapping up. I did the entire thing in 1 week. I started on Saturday November 24th and will be done tomorrow Saturday December 1st. I've never dyed so much yarn in such a short time in my life. It has been exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. Why so fast you may ask? It's almost Christmas...and my birthday and parties...etc. I simply won't have time after tomorrow.

I'll be closing shop from mid-December until mid-January so that I may do all the above and take a much need family vacation. My children resume school January 8th and I'll be creating some instock for when I reopen.

Pictures of the mountain of yarn are coming. I just need to label all the skeins and I'll get them all pretty and snap some shots of them. I have to say it's quite glorious to look at. I may just have to keep them here to sleep on. Rolling around in dyed wool can get addictive.

Here is some eye candy for you in the meantime. These are some custom orders I did in the last couple of months.

This is a new colorway created for a YOTM club. She sent me pictures of this outfit and wanted a colorway to match. I called it "Crisp Autumn Morning"

A True Spectrum!

noreply@blogger.com (MidnightSpectrum) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 17:03:00 +0000

I just finished this custom up for a very good customer of mine. I still have all her yarn to dye but this was really fun to create. Those are newborn kissaluvs diapers. Aren't they adorable?

Dyeing and dying?

noreply@blogger.com (MidnightSpectrum) — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 22:57:00 +0000

Well the good news is that I'm chugging right along with my customs list. I have two very large orders to complete this week and a handful of small orders. The large orders range from 40oz to 60oz custom dyed. Yikes!

The bad news is I've been down for the count the past couple of weeks. First I threw my back out doing goodness knows what. I was out of commission for most of last week and just finally this past Friday was able to bend over without excruciating pain. It's completely healed now. However as I was laying on my back for a few days I was fighting off a chest cold. Today is day 11 of it and while I don't feel many symptoms of a cold, I have been wheezing and coughing a LOT.

I just got back from the doctor's and it looks like I have walking Pneumonia. So I just started antibiotics today.

I think God is telling me to *rest*. Like this is possible with 4 kids right? lol

Cynthia of Plumknits sent me some really funky soy silk yarn to dye up for a customer of hers. It was fun playing with it. These are the finished skeins: Grassy Fields and Earth Foliage. I call it tofu yarn ;)

Some news and new pics!

noreply@blogger.com (MidnightSpectrum) — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 17:18:00 +0000

First the news. My gallery is fully updated with a couple of new colorways and also pictures of completed knits. They are on all the yarn pages so be sure to check out the new goodies everywhere. Secondly, I'm up to my eyeballs in yarn dyeing today. There are 4 orders spread out on my table at this very moment and about a dozen or more skeins following those ready for instock. My goal is to complete all those this weekend and get them all listed next week sometime. It feels great to really get my hands dirty today!

And now onto pictures:

First is my newest colorway named "Harley". This was inspired by my mother's leather Harley jacket she wears when my parents ride on their Harley. She is currently Tunisian crocheting a scarf out of this skein to match her jacket. My mom is a bit of a wild child! lol

And lastly...SOCKS! My friend Lyndsey knit these socks for my giant size 11 feet. She knit them out of some sock yarn I dyed for her in my "Punk" colorway. These are my very first knitted pair of socks ever and I'm already addicted. They are so warm and soft! Thanks Lynds!

Cashmere anyone?

noreply@blogger.com (MidnightSpectrum) — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 18:38:00 +0000

This is all on it's way to Cynthia of Plumknit Yarn Supply. Look for it soon in her store (unless she decides to keep it all) lol

I'm going to be on vacation starting tonight (5pm Mountain Time) through Monday evening. I'll be back open again September 4th in the AM.

I'm a bad blogger

noreply@blogger.com (MidnightSpectrum) — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 14:45:00 +0000

It's been over 2 months since I've posted on this blog. I apologize for that!

I have been dyeing up a storm and I have so many pictures to add to my gallery. I want to break my gallery into bite size chunks...it's just getting too large to comfortably fit on one page any longer. That is my next big task.

I've been up to my eyeballs in home renovations. We had a 5th bedroom built into our basement for my step daughter. She currently had a bedroom upstairs next to my toddler's room but eventually I will have to split my boy and girl into their own rooms so she needed a new space. That took a month total. It's just about done and I'll be sure to snap some photos. I wish I took before photos so you can see the dramatic transformation. Before that room though I painted our master bedroom a shade of deep cranberry. It took 4 coats! I'm never ever going to paint a room a shade of red again! But it was worth it ;)

Now that the home improvement projects are coming to an end, I'm swamped with customs. I fell behind by a week or two due to the projects and now I'm working double time to catch up. So if I owe you yarn it's coming this week! If I overlooked an email, I'll respond this week. I can catch up quickly!

I have a large amount of the Doodles Jewels colorway coming in the next week or so. I plan to stock just that colorway for the next stocking, so be on the lookout for that.

As always thanks for reading! I hope to get back to blogging again regularly now that life is getting back into the school schedule.

Take care!

Gorgeous Fabrics and a NEW Colorway!

noreply@blogger.com (MidnightSpectrum) — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 23:34:00 +0000

Hello all!

I've been dyeing up a storm lately. I'll have some yarn up for sale next week sometime as well as some more tie dyes.

This morning I got a lovely package full of the most gorgeous fabrics from Heather Ross, Michael Miller and more. I will be creating matching fabric/yarn sets for the next stocking.

Also keep an eye out for a couple of amazing collaborations in the works. Some very talented WAHMs have joined me in creating some glorious boutique sets with matching colorways on BFL wool.

I just finished a custom colorway for a customer who has a Yarn of the Month subscription with me. This colorway was inspired by some beautiful pictures she sent me from Japan.

And finally... Bridgett of Desert Blooms knit a very stunning pair of shorties using a custom colorway I created for her based on a picture of a Mariposa Lily (a true Desert Bloom). She's so talented! They will be up for sale soon on her site: www.desert-blooms.com

I'll be back with more colorways soon. Stay tuned!

Back to my old self and I have a preview!

noreply@blogger.com (MidnightSpectrum) — Thu, 31 May 2007 16:52:00 +0000

I will be debuting a new product line that my mother and I came up with. Previews will be going up over the weekend and I'll be stocking the store early next week.

Here is a sneak peak at just a few things I'll be putting in the store. I have had a huge creative streak this week so I have so many things to list. I may have to break it out into two stockings so the store doesn't look so cluttered.

Thanks for your continued patience with me. My life has a lot of turns and twists and I roll with the punches. Unfortunately when my life is chaotic I can't focus on my business. Everything seems to be back in order this week, so far so good.

So without further ado...here are a couple previews for you to feast your eyes on:

My BFL has landed! I haven't been able to dye yarn because I was fresh out of wool. I now have 6 kilos of glorious BFL to roll around in...err...dye I mean.

After many modifications and lots of frogging and restarting, my mother has developed some wonderful Tunisian Crochet patterns that she has used to create some gorgeous soakers, skirties and shorts for my store. She used all my hand dyed wool to create these. I will be adding dyed shirts to match these to make sets. They are absolutely adorable! I wish I had known my mother had all this talent before I spent hundreds of dollars on knit items for Autumn when she was born LOL But then again if I hadn't discovered my love for wool I wouldn't be here in the first place. So anywho...

Stay tuned for even more previews. I'm drowning in stuff here! Have a wonderful day!

Dealing with some emotions right now. I will be taking the summer off.

noreply@blogger.com (MidnightSpectrum) — Sat, 12 May 2007 17:06:00 +0000

Hello everyone,
I have been so busy in my children's lives as school winds to a close for the summer. I have had a bucket of clothing on my kitchen table full of already tied and soaked shirts for tie-dyeing for the past month. I never seem to get a chance to get in there and just dye them. I ran out of aran weight BFL yarn and am waiting on a large shipment that should be here within 2 weeks from now (crossing fingers).

I have a few items and sets to list on my cart. I want to add some of the dyed shirts if I can get a chance to complete them too.

Also this past week starting May 7th through May 11th I was called to Jury Duty. I was selected as part of the final 14 jurors for a very serious sexual assault trial.

I found out yesterday at 10:30am after sitting there each day from 8:30am to 5pm each night from Monday to Thursday that I was actually an alternate juror and that I would not be deliberating after all.

This devestated me. The evidence and testimony both are haunting me and it's very difficult for me to resume "normal" life and activities today. I'm very sad and quite depressed today. It was a very emotional week and it's not something that I can easily shake off and forget about.

So if you don't see me stock in the next week or so it is because I'm dealing with these tough issues and also the fact that it's almost summer here and I've been very busy.

I will let you know when I plan to stock. I appreciate your patience. I wanted to be upfront with you on why you haven't seen me around lately and most likely won't see too much activity from me again until the end of summer.

Thank you very much. If anyone has been through something similar I would love to hear from you. You can email me at sales@midnightspectrum.com

Thank you again. Have a wonderful weekend.

-Traci

Working on something new...previews coming soon!

noreply@blogger.com (MidnightSpectrum) — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 19:01:00 +0000

Stay tuned for sneak peeks at something new I'm stocking soon in the store.

I've been working with my mother this past month to come up with something exciting...a vision I've had for a while.

The yarn of the month members will be getting their first shipment of yarn early next week. They just shipped out. Once the 3 month clubs are finished I'll open up a few more YOTM clubs.

The next "celebrity" yarn will be debuted at my next stocking as well.

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day!

New WAHM samples are here!

noreply@blogger.com (MidnightSpectrum) — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 22:29:00 +0000

I'm so thrilled to share with you two new products I received in the mail recently.

The first one is mini wool wash samples from Whitney at Naturally Luxe. I had her make me these samples in my very favorite scent - Honey Almond. I have everything from wool wash to shampoo and conditioner to shower gel and hand lotion in this scent. It was only natural that I had to order this scent for my samples too. I hope you love this scent as much as I do. You'll get one of these samples with every yarn purchase. Whitney's website is: Naturally Luxe

The second product is mini Whiffy Bean Bags by Leah. She was a dream to work with. I asked her about getting some samples that fit my business and we communicated via email about fabric choices. I really wanted a fabric that represented Midnight Spectrum. It wasn't even a full day later that I had an email with a picture attachment of the fabric she went and bought on my behalf. It was absolutely perfect! She told me that Pixie Dust was her number one selling scent. Having never smelled it before (that I can recall anyway) I trusted her and ordered them. They smell divine! I can see why they are a hot seller! You'll get one of these samples with each clothing or fabric purchase. Leah's website is Whiffy Bean Bags

You can see both of these products below. I'm so excited about both of these and I hope you are too.

Hello! Good Afternoon.

noreply@blogger.com (MidnightSpectrum) — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 20:00:00 +0000

Hi there,

Thank you for a great turn out in the store yesterday. I appreciate my customers very much :)

I have been absolutely overwhelmed with questions about the new colorway - Bluegrass Moon. I am happy to answer your questions here.

1. When will you be stocking more. Answer = As soon as I'm able to paint more and get it ready.

2. Will LeighAnne be carrying any in her store for us to buy? Answer = As a matter of fact I will be sending her some in the near future so be on the look out for that. No time frame has been set on that though. Here is a link to her store: Bluegrass Moon

3. Who is your next "celebrity" (hyena mama) going to be and what is the colorway? Answer = She's a secret. The colorway is still being inspired. Look out for the next reveal though in the next few weeks (that's all the hints I'm giving for now).

Here is a picture of that colorway for those who may not have seen it yet. Thank you again to LeighAnne for the inspiration. It was an honor to work with you.

I will be stocking again in the next week or two and will announce the date and time here and on my Yahoo group. Thanks again!

Stocking Thursday April 12th @ 8pm EST

noreply@blogger.com (MidnightSpectrum) — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 03:13:00 +0000

Hello again.

I have decided to stock on April 12th at 8pm EST. Previews and pictures will start showing up on my cart tomorrow.

Have a great evening!

Previews for week of April 9th. Time and date to come!

noreply@blogger.com (MidnightSpectrum) — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 23:39:00 +0000

I have been in a very earthy mood this week so most of the colorways I'll be offering up on my cart will have sage in them.

Here is a preview of what will be offered. This is just the yarn portion. I have other colorways I have not wound up yet. I also will have some clothing and some silks to stock as well.

Stocking next week (week of 4/9)!

noreply@blogger.com (MidnightSpectrum) — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 17:36:00 +0000

Hello blog readers!
I will be stocking next week sometime. I haven't decided on the day yet. I have a ton of yarn in the works and some clothing as well. I will have a couple of custom spots so be sure to watch for those.

I'm almost all caught up on my custom list and I can't wait until it is completely clear so I can start with a fresh list next week.

I have a lot of ideas I'm working on. Stay tuned for new colorways and collaborations.

I'll have a preview picture a little later on so be sure to stop by again.

Thank you!