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the hero complex

@theherocomplex / theherocomplex.tumblr.com

And all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well when the tongues of flame are in-folded into the crowned knot of fire and the fire and the rose are one.
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I haven't done too much spinning this year so far (though I've got something lovely on the bobbin now!), so here are my last spins of 2025!

The top blue/green/brown yarn is a very rugged Romney (I forget where I bought this, but it might have been Rag Hill Farm?), spun as a two-ply -- a bit rough, but it bloomed gorgeously once I plied it. About 107yds out of 4oz of fiber.

The rainbow yarn is from Spun Monkey Fiber (sadly no longer dying!), a lovely Falkland wool. I messed up the color progression while spinning the singles, so I tried cutting and rematching the colors before I plied, which...did not end well. Lesson learned! I also need to work on spinning equal amounts of singles -- up till now, the goal has really just been "get yarn on the bobbin that doesn't fall apart when plied" -- but it's SO squishy and soft, and I ended up loving the mismatched rainbow. About 132 yds out of 4oz of fiber.

(I'm SO pleased with how much more consistent my singles are, just three months in -- look at how pretty they are on the bobbin!)

#crafts#bee spins#hand spinning#yarn
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This fall I took a spinning class at a local institute, and last night was our last class. It's been a while since I took a class like this, but there was something so magical about spending a few hours a week in a room with a bunch of other people who were just as excited about wool and sheep and yarn and things like grist and staple length as I am.

And!! All of us, every single one, signed up to take the class again for the spring session! I really liked everyone in the class, and I think the instructor is fantastic, so I suspect my knitterly heart and soul will be well-fed in the coming months.

Here are my latest finished skeins (aside from the latest-latest, which are still drying), from earliest to latest. It's so cool to see my technique improving as my understanding deepens, but even when the skeins have tons of mistakes, they're still yarn. Still magical.

#crafts#yarn#handspun yarn#hand spinning#bee crafts
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Reblogged mercurialmilk
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Immediate warning to yarn users!

Knitpicks has recently been sending out yarn infested with carpet beetles. Apparently one of their warehouses has an active infestation.

They have shut the warehouse down for now, but if you have recent yarn from them in your stash in may be infested!

Knitpicks is not currently informing their customer base of this issue (pretty standard for them, unfortunately), so word of mouth is necessary.

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Here's some more info from Reddit.

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On Reddit one person that recently received an infested order is reporting that it came from Columbus, Ohio. So that could be where the infested warehouse is.

Suggested actions are to freeze your yarn for two weeks at 0F, or 72 hours of you can get your freezer colder.

You can also cook your yarn in the oven at 200F.

And, as this summer, black bag your yarn and leave it in a hot car for two weeks to cook.

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More information!

Sadly, not good news.

Given the life cycle of carpet beetles, and the fact that at least one person has confirmed the eggs hatched in their yarn only within the last few days, the eggs had to have been laid roughly two weeks ago. So the infestation is older than two weeks at least.

The knitpicks team is currently on Reddit claiming they know nothing about this and will look into it. But other people on Reddit have already said they contacted knitpicks at least a week ago and were told the warehouse was being shut down for inspection. So, at the moment, the private equity firm that owns knitpicks is trying to do damage control. It's unknown if anything will actually be done.

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#signal boost#knitting#crochet#yarn#knitpicks#OOF
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After opening not one but three packages and discovering yarn I had forgotten I ordered, I am now not allowed to buy yarn until Rhinebeck 2021. 

(Pictured: four skeins of sock yarn in gorgeous jewel tones; which were in one of said packages. I have...a preferred palette.)

#bee knits#yarn#a few weeks ago Knitpicks sent me an email saying 'we miss you! here's 25% off!'#I HAVEN'T GIVEN YOU THE CHANCE TO MISS ME KNITPICKS#that said I have a 10% off code for Knitpicks so if anyone would to try it let me know!
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Reblogged rannadylin
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Also if you are in Canada, Espace Tricot is owned by a black woman as well although many may not have known. A lot of the yarn companies are indie dyers so please support them especially since a lot of yarn festivals were canceled due to COVID-19

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Okay so I googled them and remade the list with working links so it’s more accessible, social media links are most likely present somewhere in the websites/shops linked here if you want to follow them (it was taking too much to list everything :/)

if I made any mistakes (with links or anything) dm me and I’ll edit

Onyx Fiber Arts - SHOP - INSTAGRAM

Mitchell’s Creations - SHOP - LINKTREE

Bah Bah Fibers - ETSY - FACEBOOK

Dye Hard Yarns - RAVELRY (with links to social media and shop!)

Essence of Autumn - SHOP

Fully Spun - SHOP

I Feel Like Dyeing - ETSY - FACEBOOK - INSTAGRAM

Mother of Purl - SHOP 

Yarn Shoppe Denver - SHOP

Amanda Solomon (I can’t find a link to any shop, her insta and youtube are inaccessible, if anyone know anything dm me and i’ll add links)

Snerb Yarn - SHOP  

OMG Yarn - ETSY

Fully Spun - SHOP

Four Square MicroFarm - INSTAGRAM (there is an etsy link in the bio but it doesn’t work for me, also on youtube)

Abstract Fiber - SHOP - INSTAGRAM

Hopkins Fiber Studio - SHOP 

Whisky Knits - RAVELRY (can’t find anything else, seems a designer, website is “coming soon”, not a dyer, if I’m wrong dm me and I’ll edit)

Chicken Coop Dyeworks - SHOP - I Can’t Breathe Mystery Bags , part of the profit goes to bail fund charities, currently sold out but check it out

Ocean By The Sea - ETSY

Birch Hollow Fibers - SHOP 

Lola Bean Yarn Co. - SHOP

Third Vault Yarns - SHOP

Queens Yarn Boutique - SHOP (also sells washable face mask!)

Rhythm Knits - ETSY - FACEBOOK

Neighborhood Fiber Co. - SHOP 

Lady Dye Yarns - SHOP

Urban Girl Yarns - SHOP

Ewe-nited States of Fiber - SHOP

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Yo, thanks for doing this. No has yet, and I damn sure didn’t have the energy

#black lives matter#crafts#yarn
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Reblogged
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Today’s spinning is brought to you by the color(way): Sunset!

This is more of some spare wool that was given to me by a friend a couple years ago and boy is it just so soft and pretty and BOLD.  I’m not done spinning yet- I’m maybe a little more than halfway through the roving, so I’m curious to see how much I end up with.  I really need to buy a yard meter so I can accurately measure up how much I’m spinning, but I think it will have to wait until my next paycheck.

I’ve been working my way through  my big bag of Hog Island wool, but it’s not quite nearly as pretty to look at- much more lumpy-bumpy and it’s undyed.  I think I will probably end up dying it with onion skins for a nice yellow.  I’m going to see what my coworkers are up to in the next month with dying demos.

#crafts#yarn#spinning#queue
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I just realized I hadn’t yet posted my Rhinebeck 2018 haul, and when better to do that than a sick day? 

I picked up two gorgeous gradient colorways from Fiber Optic Yarns -- these are destined to be the Inara Wrap (@thievinghippo and @dearophelia will attest to how I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw the sample knitted up, and also to how I initially only bought one of the needed coloroways, oops); I also fell headfirst into the Neighborhood Fiber Compay’s booth and grabbed a skein of Studio Sock in “Concord Point”, and a sweater’s worth of Studio Worsted in “Broadway Market”, which I’ll probably turn into a cozy pullover with grey or silver stripes at the wrists. 

That pin was just too awesome to resist, and will soon live on my backpack. 

...can it be Rhinebeck again now, please? 

#rhinebeck 2018#yarn#bee knits
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Reblogged knit-knit-knit
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Before and after!

  This was my longest, most fussy handspun yarn of all time. I think it was 20-30% silk so it turned out super soft and I would categorize it as fingering weight probably. It took about a month to spin (4-5 hours at a time, about once a week). 

I nicknamed it ‘unicorn yarn’ because it’s what I imagine unicorn hair would look like 😊

#crafts#yarn#gorgeous!#queue

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