Playing Catch Up

I can't believe that it's been so long since I blogged. I think the warm weather is making me lethargic....do you feel that way, too?

Plus, I've had the most horrible migraines for the past 4 days...don't know why. Stress? Excess yarn fumes...? (yeah, right...) Ian thinks that it's him (since he was gone for so long for work and now he's back) and I hope that's not it. Can a husband cause a migraine attack?

Anyway, I am KINDA back....the podcast is still just sitting there waiting to be produced.....I'm feeling a bit scared that I'll have no listeners left now...but I'll go ahead with it anyway. It's only been a month or so, right??

Here is what I've been up to since the last blog:

Dyeing Yarn

I dyed two skeins of yarn the other day and I tried a new "arrangement" when dyeing to see what effect I could get. I used a skein of superwash merino and a skein of superwash merino and silk. Both came out really cool.



1. The silk/merino, which I call, "Baby Monster"...it is SO friggin soft and over 400 yards, too. I think it's either sport or worsted weight...for $20 with free shipping. I'll be putting it up on my Etsy Shop this week. If anyone wants it before then, just email me.

2. The superwash merino, called, "BlueBerry Muffin"...very soft...but this is for me. I'm making something special out of it and here is how the colorway looks knitted up: (I'm pretty sure the silk/merino will have a very similar look)



Working on the Lace Shawl

I've been knitting my a** off (if only you could knit AND tone at the same time!) on the lace edging for this shawl. So far, I am LOVING it! It's not something I can just pick up and do, or bring to knitting group, but once I get into the "groove", I can do at least 4 to 5, 12 row repeats in an hour sitting. I was a bit confused over what a "single join...SJ" and what "double join...DJ" was, but after reading the back of the Victorian Lace Today book, I was able to figure it out. A "SJ" is just when you knit one stitch from the lace shawl to one stitch of the lace edging together...through the back loop. A "DJ" is when you do an "SJ" ...then you do another "SJ" in that same stitch on the shawl. So, two in one. Makes sense, right?

Here is what the edging looks like so far. It's not at all impressive...not until blocking, I'm sure. I'm just about halfway done with the lace edging. woo-hoo!



Movie Knitting with Melissa and Cindy



Melissa and I decided to go see a real "adult" movie (not Xrated...get your mind out of the gutter!!! LOL!) and not a cartoon/digital animation. As moms, we have had our fill of children's shows and wanted to see something, well, like I said, "adult-ish". We saw "Knocked Up" (a movie recommended by Not-So-Newbie Mike and my mom) and it was SOO funny! Lovely Melissa brought her fantastic and adorable daughter, Cindy...who I love. She is so sweet and funny. (We also went to Cracker Barrel for lunch before the movie and that was YUM-MY!)



Melissa and I looked at each other (over our knitting) and cracked up quite a few times. A couple of the things in the movie were shocking, but not in a bad way...just...well, I was thinking, "I wonder how much that woman got paid to show her nether-regions during the crowning part of the baby's delivery?" I am NOT that confident about the condition of my nether-regions that I would show them on camera. (I think the woman definitely got a wax job!) Especially after having two babies...and one of them with a 10 and a half pound body. (Lordy!)

That day was tons of fun and I think we should do it again. It would've been better if I didn't make a mistake in my knitting halfway through and had to stop...darn my non-seeing-in-the-dark eyes!!!!

Benji wants a Sweater...and FAST!

The whole time I was knitting the Tulips Sweater, Ben kept asking, "Is that for me?" and I'd have to sadly tell him no. That it is a baby sweater and much, much too small.

The other morning, I was trying to find a size 2 circular (didn't find it) in my yarn closet (it's supposed to have clothes in it, but sadly (or not sadly), there are only 5 things hanging on the rack...and the closet is the length of the wall. Go figure.

Anyway, Ben comes in, goes right to the Blue Bin (all my bins of yarn are clear and organized by color...I know, I know...I'm an organizing freak) and starts searching around. Finally, he sits up with his chubby little arms full of yarn. He's picked out 4 skeins of Frog Tree Alpaca sportweight...in a gorgeous, royal blue.

He starts running downstairs to Ian...and dropping a skein or two down the stairs on the way....saying, "Daddy! Mommy is going to make me a sweater! Out of THIS bwew yarn!" (He loves the color "bwew"). His eyes are shining and he's got this HUGE grin on his face. How can I say no to that? I figure, I can put the other 10 ufos away for now and make my beautiful boy a sweater, right??

That day, I spent laying on the floor pouring through all my books for a little boy sweater (why are there only cute little GIRL sweaters???) with my head pounding and Ben throwing his "bwew" balls of alpaca over the cat in the living room. Finally, I grab Jacqueline Fee's "The Sweater Workshop"...you know, the one that I made the cute full size sweater sampler with? In that book, I found a pattern for a Reversible Sweater that is fantastic! You knit it in the round (very easy with hardly any sewing involved) and it can be worn either with the right side out or inside out! It is sooo cool! I think I'll need one more skein of this yarn, so I should go and find that soon, I guess.

Only thing is....the yarn is almost fingering weight, so I have to use size 2 for the ribbing and size 4 for the body. I think even a 3 would've been better....but I REALLY didn't want to knit a sweater on size 3 needles. [shiver]

There was lots of math involved, but I'm proficient at that and got a whole page of numbers cranked out so the sweater will be the perfect size for Ben. A little big, so he can wear it next year, too. Well, depending on how much he grows I guess!

Wanna see what I've knit so far?



Every morning since then, Ben's been waking up (my eyes are still closed at this point) and saying "Is my sweater done?" and I excitedly show him how much I've done (which is probably only a inch or two since the day before) and he says, "But, is it DONE?" Can't my fingers knit any faster???

Today is the first day that I haven't woken up with a terrible migraine, so I'm going to take advantage of it. I'm going to meet Jackie and her kiddies at the library, we'll knit and gossip for a bit...get caught up...and then I'll try to work on my podcast more. Hopefully, get some more lace trim done as well.

I'm really behind on reading blogs, too...so maybe I can get some of that in as well. It's wonderful to have my head back!

Happy Knitting to you!! (next blog will be a fiber/spinning update....have lots to show you!)

I DYED! (gasp)

This post is dedicated to lovely Sonya, who has been hoping for a pic BESIDES the darn spinning wheel! LOL!

How is THIS????



Three skeins of goregeous, heavenly soft 100% superwash merino fingering weight yarn (440 yards!) that I dyed on Saturday. (eeee....they're so awesome!)

Details:

WHAT- Dyeing class with THE Cheryl Potter of Cherry Tree Hill yarns. (tiny scream!) [Here she is getting the dyes ready for the class]



WHERE- Yarn and Fiber Co. in Windham, NH....Cyndi was, of course, wonderfully friendly, helpful and had things pretty well organized for such a big group (over 20) in such a small amount of space. [Here's Cyndi with some of her crew winding up skeins of undyed Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn]



WHEN April 14th, 2007 from 1-4 pm

HOW Well, it's not really a how...but, you know...Cheryl (and her sweet daughter) gave us handouts and she explained a bit about everything...what handpainted yarn is and how many factors together determine what the final product is....the dye itself, the type of fiber and how the yarn is constructed. I found everything extremely helpful and interesting...especially her idea of "inspiration/creation/translastion"...how you think of something that inspires you, use your fingers to create that image and then that, in turn, gets translated into how the yarn comes out. Another helpful tip..."Less is More/Don't make Mud!".

[here she is with her daughter...sorry she's so blurry...a phone pic!]



Before we started to dye, she had 4 of us do a crayon demonstration....(including me, Ericka and Rose!)....she gave us a box of crayons, a piece of white paper and wrote down a colorway. We had to picture what the colorway meant to us in our minds and then translate that into a colorway on paper. Here's mine: It was "Blue Bayou":



[Can I brag here? I was nervous that she made me go first (I had NO idea what to say), but said that my colorway was "perfect", an A+.....that was SOOO cool! Complimented by Cheryl Potter??? I'm in heaven!]

Ericka's "City Lights" was really pretty (the colors gave the point across well) and Rose had "Tangerine Dream", in which she mixed orange and yellow together for a kind of "drink" type color. Very cool.

After we did that, a group of 7 went up at a time and started to dye...Cheryl helped everyone and it was so much fun experimenting and squirting dye here and there....there weren't any fist fights over the dye bottles...but it was close at some points! [here is the first group that went up]

Nichole (who I was happy to hang out with before the class started) and Heather also created gorgeous colorways. Heather's was "Pansy" and, boy, it looked JUST like it! I wish I'd remembered what colorway Nichole created. I was so busy dyeing MORE skeins that my mind went blank. Ericka's final yarn (one of the two) had a pretty Japanese name that I liked and it was a sweet color, too.

All in all, I had a FANTASTIC day! Cheryl was wonderful....and she even gave all of us a Potluck Sock pattern. I got one signed, too! (I am SUCH a geek!)

Now, on to the YARN!!!

The colorways I created are:

Baby's Breath-pale purples, peach, turquoise and pink.



Wild Cherry Love-bright red, deep pink and paler pink.



Handsome Hiker-fern green, blue, grays, and forest greens.



The first two yarns will be on my Etsy shop by tonight....BUY NOW! The other one I'm saving to knit for Ian....since he is the handsome hiker! (I thought the name "Handsome Geocasher" didn't have QUITE the same feeling)

P.S. Two other updates....here is the yarn I spun for Jackie for her birthday (which is on Monday)...called "Endless Bliss"...it's a 50/50 baby alpaca/merino 2ply fingering weight....with 356 yards out of 2.5 ounces. The BEST yarn I've ever spun so far...



AND, speaking of dyed yarn...I got my "Mandy" yarn from Awesome Amy ofSpunky Eclectic for my new sweater and socks to match. I actually got this a while ago and kept forgetting to blog it. The yarn is so soft and the colors are great....can't wait to knit it up!



Any comments??

Crockpot Fiber Dyeing

If you're interested in dyeing fiber (or yarn), this post is for you. I've tried to make clear, helpful instructions with pictures to guide you along the way. Once you try this, you will become SO addicted, believe me!

Ready? Set? Let's DYE!!!

Materials:

-Approx. 4-6 ounces of undyed fiber (or yarn) rolled into loose coils:



-An old crockpot that you will only be using for dyeing...not for cooking anything to eat in:



-A plastic spoon (clear or white) or measuring spoons (using them only for dyeing), a plastic fork, your dye powder, white vinegar, a measuring cup, rubber gloves, and towels:



Directions:

1. Put 1 cup of water and 1 "glug" of vinegar into the bottom of the crockpot:



2. Place 1 coil of fiber in the bottom of the crockpot into the water:



3. Using a measuring spoon or plastic spoon, sprinkle out desired amount of dye powder onto the coil. I usually use 1/8-1/4 tsp per coil layer:



4. Put another coil of fiber, another sprinkling of dye powder. Repeat for layer 3:



5. Pour 5 cups of water (one at a time) over the fiber coil layers. Measure out one more cup of water, add a "glug" of vinegar to it and pour that in as well. Some of the dyes will disperse:



6. Put the crockpot on low, cover and let steam for 1 hour:



7. Take cover off and VERY GENTLY press the fiber down into the water with the fork. Use light pressure and go along the whole circumference and center of the fiber coils. Re-cover pot and steam for 5-6 more hours, until the water in the pot is clear and the dyes have exhausted (been absorbed by the fiber):



8. Take cover off, turn the crockpot off and let the fiber and water cool to room temperature (or cooler). For me, this takes at least 2-3 hours. (If you put the crockpot on an hour before bed, you can press it down before going to sleep and then turn it off in the morning when you get up. By lunchtime or sooner, it's all cool and ready to go.)

9. Gently, using both hands, lift the fiber mass out of the water, and squeeze firmly to expell most of the water, but do NOT wring the fiber or twist it. When you've gotten the mass to stop streaming water, place in a lingerie washing bag, zip it up and place in the washing machine. Place the machine on the SPIN ONLY cycle to expell the rest of the water. (This step REALLY helps to let the fiber dry quickly.)



10. Take the fiber mass out of the bag and (very slowly and with much patience) start to fan out the fibers horizontally just a bit. You're just opening up the coils of fiber so that they can dry more quickly. At first, the damp coils will look like 3 damp ropes. Take one at a time and using your fingers to pull the fiber apart from top to bottom. They will look like this when you're done.....(sorry about the dark picture):



11. Let the three strips of fiber dry either on a mesh sweater drying rack, on a table lined with thick dry towels or (if you have a wood stove like I do), over a chair next to the stove (but not TOO close!).

12. After the fiber is dry, you can tie a knot with the three strips at one end and braid them together. Knot at the other end and roll into a coil. My finished fiber (about 4.5 oz of superwash merino/tussah silk using two shades of yellow dye and royal blue dye) looked like this:



*This method is very quick and easy once you do it a couple times. You will love it! The only things I will mention that make this a secondary method to handpainting are these:

-You usually cannot duplicate your fiber colorway. I tried doing the same exact thing (with the same measurements of red and black dye and same weight of yarn/water) and I got these two fiber colorways.



-And....you can only do up to 6 oz. of fiber at a time (well, unless you find a HUGE crockpot). My instructions are for a medium size crockpot...and the vertical ones (the ones that are more deep than wide) are the best for this. If you are handpainting yarn or fiber, you can do a LOT at one time and it can be very close to dupllication of colorways.

Here is another example of my latest dyeing fiber experiments:



This is a merino fiber that I dyed with fushia, a bit of red and a smidge of black. I gave it to Joanne of A Knitter's Garden as a gift. I called it, "Knitter's Garden Rose". I think she liked it! Sometimes, I have no idea how the colors will come out, but that's all the fun!

Good luck and would love to see how your fibers (or yarn) come out!

Happy Dyeing!