FOs

On Friday I finished a Warm Woolies vest.
Pattern: Warm Woolies Cardigan Vest
Needles: US Size 10 1/5
Yarn: Bernat Felting yarn in Storm Cloud (used about 1 and half skeins)

I immediately cast on for a Warm Woolies vest with a Tree of Life pattern in the middle.
I'm going to work on it tonight while watching Extreme Makeover Home Edition (as long as I'm not crying).

Penelope is playing with her "babies."
When she's not sleeping that is.

First Things First

I must tend to my poor neglected blog. I have things to show you!
This is a sweater for Warm Woolies from my own pattern (see side bar). This pattern has actually been revamped and is a little bit better but I need to figure out how to post pdf links from my web page. The yarn was Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool that I hand dyed. I call this color Cotton Candy. I think it knit up really nicely. And the it was fun waiting to see what color would come next. That helped make all the plain bits a little more bearable. I've already started a vest for Warm Woolies with some of my newly acquired stash.

I also got a new book.
I already have another hand dyeing book (hmmm...thought I had a picture of it but apparently not, the other book I own in Dyeing to Knit) but I'm glad I have both of them. This one covers more types of dyes than Dyeing to Knit (including Kool-Aid) and I'm in love with the interviews Linda does with dyers. There isn't a whole lot of color theory or basic studio set up and safety like in Dyeing to Knit. I also wish this book covered one method of dyeing for each type of dye (for example, hand painting is only covered under one or two types of dyes, not all of them). Dyeing to Knit only covered one type of dye so if you use anything different then you have to guess at how to make it work but it did cover many different an unique techniques. Like I said, I'm glad I have both so I can pull together my new found wisdom to make what I want to do work with what I have. I'm also thinking of downloading a dyeing tutorial from Three Irish Girls. I don't feel like you can ever have too much information. I will say that I feel as if I am hopelessly falling for this new aspect of knitting. I managed to score a ball winder off ebay and I put in a bid for a swift so I have crossed fingers in hopes that I will have both those here and in place by next week so I can wind up the yarns I've already dyed. For some reason having balled yarn makes me feel like I can justify buying more. Maybe because I can hide it in my stash bin...

"The Tally"

Remember awhile back when I realized that I was going to have to start knitting a lot more in order to reach my "25 Wins a Prize" for Warm Woolies? Well, I made this nice little tally on my calendar to help keep me motivated. This is what it looked like yesterday (my calendar is of the New York City Fire Department).
And this is what it looked like today (hello nurse! oh wait, focus on knitting...).
Last month I completed 1.5 projects for Warm Woolies. .5? you ask. Yeah, because I only finished half a pair of socks.
I did manage one complete pair of socks so they make the one completed thing I made for Warm Woolies.
There was a lot of Ravelympic knitting in there though so I can overlook the fact that I only made 1.5 things last month (and technically I bound off the toe to the .5 pair of socks today because I needed the DPNs for another project...I'm still counting it for last month though). I just have to get things in gear for the next couple of months to stay on track. My recent investment should help some :)

After a nice little bike ride this morning I cleaned the house and dyed some yarn. Basically at the same time. And did laundry. I'm like Super Woman today.

The first colorway I did is called Stop Light.
I like how the yellow turned out and the green is pretty nice too. The red is a little too pinky for me but that can be fixed on the next go around.

The second colorway I dyed I'm calling The (Almost) Black Widow.
I really like how the red hourglass in the middle turned out but the black was really more of a grey. Again something that I can be fixed the next go around. I'm looking forward to seeing how these turn out when their dry. I made a best offer on a swift on ebay and I have a bid in for a ball winder so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. They would make my life so much easier.

A Whole New Whack of Trouble

I had originally planned to make a much different post today. One that caught up on what I'd been doing as far as knitting and showing some better pictures of the yarn I dyed. That will all have to wait though. For I made a most fortunate discovery today.

What could be in these bags?
If you guessed a whole whack of yarn, you would be right.
I went to Joann's craft store today to buy some white yarn for dyeing. I often stop by on Sunday because they start their new sales then and I like to paw around. Well, I picked up some white Paton's and was wandering around when I spotted some bulky weight 100% wool Bernat felting yarn in a sale bin on an end display. It was kind of hidden in the back of the store and there wasn't any sign telling how much the yarn cost. Well, I for Warm Woolies they ask that you only use 100% wool yarn in a bulky weight. I liked the Bernat colors so much that I picked up 6 skeins that I liked and figured I could justify this unplanned purchase because I was knitting for charity. Besides, I wanted to try a much larger sweater than I had done before and wanted to make sure I had enough yarn. Totally justified it.

Well, I get to the checkout and the lady rings me up and says, "$15.71." I was a little surprised that the price was so low because I know that Paton's is normally almost $6 a skein and even on sale that was still really cheap for 8 skeins of yarn. I mention this to her just casually making conversation. "Well, these were on sale for $.97," she informs me as she picks up a skein of the Bernat yarn. My heart does a little flutter. $.97? Less than a dollar? I take my bag out to the car immediately turn around, come back in, and buy the rest of their stock. You never find a deal that good, on a yarn you need, and walk away from it.

I got 3 skeins of the English Rose colorway.
5 of the Storm Cloud colorway.
5 of the Early Spring colorway (which is in the running for favorite color).
2 skeins of Meadow (also very pretty).
And 4 skeins of Gardenia (I think this is my favorite color).
19 skeins in all. Plus 2 white Paton's skeins, which were also on sale coincidentally.
I effectively doubled my stash in a matter of minutes this afternoon. And to think I was just getting concerned because it was starting to dwindle...

Oh no...

Something is wrong... I feel, peakish. Stuffed up, under the weather, a little flush. Not good. This suddenly came on after I had taught my private lessons this afternoon, eaten dinner, and started to watch a little TV. The longer I sit here the worse it seems to be getting. I don't want to get sick or need to get sick. I have a 3 day weekend coming up and I want to feel 100%! Plus the first University of Georgia game is this weekend! I'm going to take a bath and drink a big glass of Airborne. I hear that kicks colds in the rear. Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow and get around to posting knitting pictures.

Dyeing to Show You...

Yes, I'm knitting. In fact I'm knitting a lot. I took the second skein of Artyarns Merino that was going to be the second Summer of Socks sock and finally untangled it. It's not becoming an SoS sock though. Even after I ripped back and re-knit the ribbing for the SoS sock it is still too big. I'd have to go back to the heel to make the correction for the right size. I'm thinking it may hit the frog pond. Before I can bring myself to do that though I wanted to try and knit up the tangled skein into a Jaywalker. It's trucking along at the moment. I'm doing the gusset decreases after the heel. And it's looking a bit better than it's not-even-close-to-twin sock. But really I've been preoccupied with something else. Remember how I mentioned I wanted to learn to dye. And then I got a book. Well, I read the book. And I just got more antsy to start dyeing. So, on Friday I went to Joann's and got yarn. And then I went to Wal-Mart (shudder) and got some Kool-Aid. Saturday I got down to business.
Setting up the materials.
Lots of Kool-Aid.
The canvas. I decided (maybe a little naively) to dye up 8 oz. of yarn. That's a lot. And I didn't double the amount of dye. Which I should have. Because the dye turned out really light on all that yarn and there wasn't enough coverage for my liking. Still. I jumped in with both feet.
Yum! Cooking wool and vinegar.
And the final product. I'm pleased. Not pleased as punch but pleased. And proud. I set out to do something and I did it. All on my own too (just how I like to do it).
And despite my fears the water ran clear. No bleed at all.

A close up. I used purples, pinks, and reds. Obviously the red came through the most. I like how the purple bled out a little and formed streaks of blue. I wish it was more purple/blue though. More red than I would have liked. And more white blotches than I would have liked. Still, I did it. And I will use it. Not a totally failure by any means.

I'm not sure what to call it though. I'm thinking: 1st Attempt, There's a First Time for Everything, or Cotton Candy. The first 2 sound mildly suggestive so I'm trying to think of something else to name this color but I can't decide. Suggestions are much appreciated.

Then today there was attempt number 2. This time with improved documentation skills.
Yarn being wound into a hank (note to self, invest in swift).
Color set up. These colors look gorgeous in the bottle. I used a combination of Kool-Aid and food coloring gels for this set. Branching out a little.
On the canvas.
And drying. Now this, I love. Love, love, love. Pleased as punch and pie. I'm calling this First Autumn Leaves. It's a smaller skein (100 grams) and the dye is much more brilliant. I like bright, vivid colors and I got them this time. Especially the green. Gorgeous. And the oranges and the yellow just go so well. And there is a little bit of brown in there too. So, so nice. Don't know what I'll make from it but the recipe is down and locked in the vault for future use. The only problem? I'm seriously addicted. I want a full set of acid dyes. I want a dye studio. I want to buy yarn in bulk. Must sit down, head reeling from the possibilities...

Done

I has a wing span.
I has a finished shrug.
Check out all the details on my Rav page.
I'm going to go snuggle up and read a dyeing book.