Socks everywhere!

As you may know (if you read some of my older posts), I made socks for all the littles for Christmas. I finally got them all together to get a picture. Please note that I did not dye any of this yarn. Next year will be different! :)

Excursions into the unknown

Firstly, the most exciting event to occur recently was a trip to the salon. I have red highlights! It's not blatantly obvious in this picture, but there are chunks of deep red wine color there. I love it! There is still a little bit of blonde left over from my last coloring, but I didn't want any new blonde this time. Getting your hair changed is so much fun! I am really loving mine this time.

I have been busy dyeing and have three new skeins to show off. The first two are bamboo/merino/nylon blends and the yarn is so shiny and luxurious! I used my acid dyes on this yarn and it doesn't seem to take the color as thoroughly as an all wool yarn would. I still like the result, but there is one skein (not pictured) that I will be over-dyeing due to it being such a pale color. I think I will try adding more vinegar next time I dye with this yarn. I have been trying new methods of dyeing, and these were done with squirt bottles rather than dipping. I really like the effect that it gives. It makes the shades of color vary a lot so its not such a definite block of one solid color for each section. This is what I personally, prefer in a handpainted yarn and I am so excited to be able to get mine to do this.

This is a 100% merino yarn and I really loved how the colors vary so much.

So, moving on a bit, I wrote in my last post about the sweater I was starting for myself...well, please disregard all of that! I got a couple of rows into my sweater and realized that I didn't have enough yarn to complete the project. No problem, I tell myself, I will just head over to Knit Picks and order some more...no such luck. Turns out that is one of the colors that they are sold out of and won't be reordering until May! So, back to the drawing board and onto a new project that requires less yarn. I have been trying to work on some of my previously undeveloped knitting skills and I have combined some in my new project. I am knitting a child's cardigan, in pieces, with cables! Now, I have only knit a project in pieces once and it was many years ago. I haven't done cables before, and I am really enjoying that!




















I chose a Debbie Bliss pattern, from her book Great Knits For Kids, that is so very cute it called out to me. I intended this to be for my youngest sister, Mallory (since she is the smallest, lol), but I am not sure who it will be for now that I have almost finished the back. It may be too big for her, but it will fit someone in my family! :) This is an exciting adventure into the unknown...I will keep you posted!

This weekend was a great chance for me to get all this knitting done. We were watching the Buick Invitational all day Saturday and Sunday. It was so great, not only did I get the chance to watch golf while knitting, but Tiger Woods won! Now, for those of you non-golf ethusiasts that may not mean much, but it makes my weekend complete :)

My first FO of the year

I am so excited to announce that I have my first FO (finished object for you non-knitters) for 2008! Introducing, the Guernsey! Levi has been wearing it for a few hours today and is all smiles. That makes it so fulfilling...there's nothing better than having the recipient love your knitted garment as much as you hoped they would! It's difficult to see the details here in these pictures, but it was my first sweater with a stitch pattern. I really like how it turned out. I added an underarm gussett, and knitted the sleeves from the top down.

Here are more details:
Pattern: Basic Guernsey pattern from Knitting in the Old Way by Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts.

Yarn: Plymouth Encore, worsted weight, wool/acrylic
Needle size: US 8
Started: January 6, 2008

Finished: January 20, 2008

I used Elizabeth Zimmermann's sewn cast off for the neckline and it's beautifully stretchy! It was so easy to do and looks nice and neat. There's a great tutorial for this method here. If you haven't tried it before, its perfect for cuffs on toe-up socks and necklines!

Now, on to my newest project. I have decided (with some gentle prodding from Marmee)

that I will make something for myself. I already have some yarn that I bought for the Tomten (and I decided not to use)..it's Marine Heather. The sweater I am making is Age Of Aquarius by Kathy Zimmerman. You can find it in the book The Knitters Stash. I got it from Interweave Knits Fall 2001 issue. I did find one picture of it here at Ravelry. So, I haven't gotten very far on it yet, but wish me luck! :) I am trying to make some photo jewelry with pictures of my Bailey. I found a few adorable pics that I just have to share!

More dyeing results

My skeins finally dried today at about 2:30 so on to the niddy noddy they went! My personal favorite is the brown yarn there on the left. It's difficult to see on my computer screen, but there is some burnt orange in there as well. These were done with a combination of Jacquard and Gaywool dyes, both are acid dyes. These are in fingering weight merino and, after being dyed, fluffed out very beautifully. I am working on streamlining my dyeing techniques so that I can speed the process up a bit.
This is really fun to do, but I know that my mom eventually needs the kitchen back, lol.

More Dyeing

Today we got our order of bulk yarn to dye. It's so exciting! This is what I have done so far...more pictures will follow when they are finally dry :)

Kool Aid Dyeing

As promised, here are the details of my kool-aid dyeing process.

I don't have any pictures of this part of the experiment, but the skein of yarn is soaking in warm water with a drop of dishwashing detergent. Meanwhile, we mixed one packet each of strawberry, grape, lemon-lime, lemonade mixed with orange and strawberry lemonade, with water. Be sure to use the unsweetened kool-aid. We used tepid water this time, but I think it's more effective if the water is warmer. It doesn't matter how much water you mix the kool-aid with, the yarn will absorb the dye out of the water. Oh, and by the way, although we didn't discover it this time, kool-aid does stain granite...especially the berry blue flavor, lol.


We then draped the damp skein into the bowls, separating as much length as we wanted between each of the colors. I found out that you need to be sure to move the strands around in the kool-aid mixture to be sure that the color gets to the inner layers. I also had to move the skein to make the colors overlap each other...the colors didn't bleed into each other like I had anticipated they would.


Next step is to either wait until the water is clear, or until you can see that the yarn has taken the color as much as you want. Surprisingly, this only took about 3-5 minutes, and I was using cool-ish water. It varies from color to color, but it's pretty obvious and the colors stay true to what you see there.
The skein can then be wrapped in plastic wrap and the dye has to be set. I have found two ways to do this...you can steam it or microwave it. I chose to microwave it on high for about 4 minutes. They say that if you microwave, it should be in one that you don't use for food preparation, but I think that is more for the acid dyes than for kool-aid. This isn't a problem at my house, but it may be a concern for you. If you do choose to steam, be sure and line the steamer basket with newspaper so the plastic wrap doesn't melt to the metal of the steamer. With the steaming method, it should take about 30 minutes.



After setting the color, be careful because the plastic is very hot. I unwrapped my skein and let it sit out to cool on its own. When it's cool, rinse with cold water until the water runs clear. Amazingly, I never had any color rinse out of this skein. Even on the very first rinse! I was so surprised! Now, I have discovered that a bit of time in the dryer removes the fruity smell. I have put some of my kool-aid dyed yarn in a mesh bag and thrown it in there for a few minutes, but be sure your yarn is superwash before attempting this :) I took this yarn and made the hats that I talked about here. The dyeing was so fun, easy, and and really colorfast. I didn't re-skein this, but you could get it to be more striping if you re-wound it into a really long skein first, therefore dyeing longer sections at a time but still having enough room to dye more than one color.

Now, to be completely off topic, I had a request for my finished puzzle picture. Yes, June, I was going to post it, but the picture wasn't on my laptop yet. Thank you so much for reminding me! Just for you, here is the completed puzzle...a thing of beauty!

Dyeing, knitting...catching up!

I know that I haven't been much of a blogger lately, but I have been busy nonetheless! I have been working on perfecting my dyeing and knitting skills. My first project was a kool-aid dye experiment with sock yarn. Here's what I have left of my 500 yards :)

I was very pleased with how it turned out and I subsequently used it to make two hats. As you can see here with my very first fair isle, I think you are looking at strawberry, pink lemonade, lime, orange and grape LOL. I will be making a separate post about the kool aid dyeing process itself. It was really fun! The only thing to remember is that your project will smell like kool aid for awhile!















The fair isle hat is a blended version of two different hats in the book Hats On by Charlene Schurch.

My next hat with this yarn was a modified version of the free In A Flap Cap that that I found on ravelry. I added a ruffle around the edge an then put a flower on it as well. Doesn't it look so cute on Mallory?!















So then, moving right along...I have also been dyeing using Louet's Gaywool Dyes and I am enjoying the results of those as well. Here's what I have done so far. This is merino superwash, fingering weight yarn. The one on the left is kool aid, the other two are Gaywool. It's so fun! All the yarn I have used to dye so far is from Knit Picks, the bare yarns that they sell to dye. They turn out pretty well, and I would recommend them for small dyeing projects.


Now, as I mentioned before, I am wanting to get some experience with knitted items that I have not done before. So, I started a guernsey sweater for my younger brother. It is exposing me to several unknowns, the first being the cast on that I used...Channel Island cast on. It's supposed to make something like a picot edge and it did, but I am not that thrilled with it.


The details are difficult to see, I know, but it will be easier once I have it completed and he tries it on. I only have a little bit of this sleeve and then on to the second sleeve! I am using a basic guernsey pattern from Knitting in the Old Way by Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts. So, that's what I have been up to lately...at least what is worthy of mentioning here, lol. Please forgive me for the length of time between posts (especially you knitting gals from B&N!). I hope to be a lot more consistent in the future :)

Be sure not to miss The Complete Jane Austen going on right now on PBS. They just aired Persuasion this Sunday and it was fabulous! They are showing so many great classics, you have to see them! The versions of Persuasion, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park and Sense & Sensibility are all brand new adaptations. Here's the schedule for these exciting films!