An Unsolicited Plug

Thank you so much for your kind and encouraging comments on my last post! Thank you for all of your kind and encouraging comments, actually. I don't say that enough. You guys are great! :)

Today I have to extend my encouragement and gratitude properly to a friend of mine. I've been meaning to do it since December, but now is definitely the right time.

I met Kate three or four years ago when I first moved here to go to school. We were always at knitting on Fridays at the shop where I now work. Since then our schedules are always opposing and we haven't seen each other much until recently when our revived Friday night knitting group grew to add a few more members. In December, we miraculously had a corresponding free day and she invited me over to dye. That session (to which I went only wanting to see and try it and spend some time with my friend), resulted in this:

She called it "Bettaband" because I dyed it. It's my first hand-dyed! And she gave it to me! It's so pretty....But I really must credit her with teaching me and suggesting the colors.

Kate is the Fangrrl of Fangrrl Fiber Arts and her dye jobs are awesome. Let me tell you how awesome. I went to a local yarn shop downtown looking for a complimentary Madtosh skein for a project I'm making for a friend, but they didn't have anything from any manufacturer that I thought deserved a second look until I got into the back corner and saw some bright colors with a familiar business card attached. Lo and behold! Fangrrl Fiber Arts! I searched through all the skeins with zeal and found the perfect neutral, "Buckwheat" on Sherlock Worsted:

Look at the tag! So cute! And hand-stamped!

Not only did I find that, though, my eye was immediately drawn (I'm talkin' as soon as I walked into the store) to this little number, which I was sure was Skein or Madtosh or some other crazy popular yarn because of the saturated and speckled colors:

Nope, Kate strikes again! It's her Socket yarn in "In the 3rd Dimension". I might let it be the skein that will always be a skein...just for looking and petting. I told her she was a genius, but I must tell you (and her again). So, if you are in the area, go check out her stock (and it's a pretty big one!) at Home Ec. Workshop and if you aren't, visit Etsy. She's also got a Ravelry group where you can ask her to dye something specially for you and get news on new bases, updates, and sales.

There, now I've been very sales-pitchy, but its because I really love Kate and what she does! I hope I've adequately shown you why. I also share because I know there are so many indie dyers out there that do gorgeous work and that they can't possibly be seen or known by everyone. I would love to hear of some of your favorite indie dyers (so I know where to go when I'm ready to stash-up again in several months! :D), so do share!

For more FO Friday posts, go to Tami's Amis! This only counts because I've been meaning to do it forever. :)