behind the scenes: mixing dye lots X simple packaging

edited to add: peek the shop, i did a mini design overhaul!

w/ my good night, day knits all of my wools are consciously sourced from  places such as argentina, uruguay & peru, & this is so important to me, it is truly part of the process of a hand knit item, all that  care to detail & thought too (has to be w/ all that time). & so i am always amazed when knitting up items of these hand spun & hand dyed wools when i have opportunities  to  mix up the very limited dye lots that are of the same colour. it is  usually a very subtle difference in colour in most cases unnotiecable to most, other times dramatic & for me this  marks the true organic quality of a hand knit piece, you just can't get that w/ a machine knit item, each piece is so unique & & it is actually impossible to ever receive the excact same knit piece twice.  now, i suppsoe i should mention that to some knitting with a different dye lot is a big no-no, but in a world of such fast-fashion shops & sameness everywhere, i am very partial to offering a hand knit item that is truly one of a kind, & just like a dip dyed welland sweater, no two knit pieces are ever alike. ok so its a small thing, but just like the details of packaging a handmade item, its everything involved, one of a kind, right?

(above & below, the kingston sweater just off the needles & knit w/ two dye lots on the sleeve at the end, below, still on the needles, midway dye lot change, can you tell? damn i  love it.)

 (why the hat?, well it just works w/ this sweater i think, anyhow, you can see it is still on needles on my one arm, you can also see different dye lots compared to the welland sweater modeled on stephanie in the shop)

(above & below, especially in variegated merino wools  from uruguay the results can be dramatic, for instance, in this case the dye lots in some of the skeins of wool had touches of so many pastels, that was so subtle in the rest of the wool that was clearly heavy on  minty blue, like the pembroke tank, & also the grey wool below is kettle dyed merino which creates  another varying dying result which i knit the new simcoe braided headbands of)

 take my own care in my own simple presentation, things like leather hand stamped tags for the apparel items, & personal shop stamps for postcards/tags to write on & wool bow packages, i'm a sucker for this too, especially the more of my own hands-on in the process the better. & this is always changing, i hope you like all the results. blah,blah... sorry, i run on...