It's Been Almost a Week...

...guess I should update the blog. It seems like so much happens in a week and yet I barely have time to slow down and document it.

I spent some time last week experimenting with dye. I tried several different techniques and tried to find the one I want to use almost exclusively (which I think I have, and that's good because my friend AG is pushing me to get my dyeing website up and running!!!).

This color is called School Carpet.
A few weeks ago we had a tornado drill at school and while I was down in the floor covering my head and digging my knees into the scratchy carpet I noticed that the colors in the carpet where quite interesting. This yarn mimics the school carpet with random splashes of teal, purple, rust, and white.

I don't know what to call this yarn yet but it makes me think of Easter on acid.
The true colors are much brighter in real life. I hand painted this skein with a little foam brush (which took FOREVER) without prepping the yarn. Just slapped it on there. Interesting end result. Not sure that I like it but I can't say that I hate it.

The last skein is probably the best.
I randomly choose these three colors by closing my eyes and picking up three bottles of Wilton's. I got black, rust, and burgundy. The best part is that the black turned out really well. After I finished microwaving it I let them all sit overnight and that helped the dye bath to really exhaust (for a more detailed explanation you can check out the Rav post I made here). I can't wait to reskein it and see how it looks then.

There's been knitting too. I went to my parent's house on Sunday to meet my new doggy brother (who I forgot to take pictures of, doh!) and finished this sweater for Warm Woolies.
I like the gull wing cables down the front. I promptly started another sweater for Warm Woolies.
I've also been doing some super secret Christmas knitting but I can't show you that because it's secret. I also discovered that I have more presents to knit than I originally remembered which only ups the ante on whether I will finish in time for the holidays or not. I also bought some more yarn on Sunday from the Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft store near my parent's house but I forgot to take pictures of that. There will need to be another post later this week just to talk about all the things I forgot to mention in this post.

On Saturday I went to a local arts and crafts fair and purchased a couple of things. In addition to some killer handmade soaps (will post a link to the website when I feel motivated to go and dig up the business card with the info on it) I bought my doggy brother, Luke, a bandanna and Penelope got a sachet of catnip. You can't see it in this picture because she's laying on it.
She totally flipped out for the next 20 minutes rolling over it and licking it. You can barely make out the little blue packet as she rolls around.