Fiber Madness

With my husband gone the past few days I’ve been taking liberties with the kitchen. Like making a royal mess, but for such a fun reason. I decided to dye some wool roving in the crockpot I bought exclusively for craft purposes. I had dyed on the stove before, but I was never thrilled with the results. I dyed three different colorways this past week and I have to say, I am extremely pleased. For the record, I used Wilton icing dissolved in water for the dye, added vinegar to the pot and a little splash in the dye bottles, and I pre-soaked in a vinegar solution. Each of these are 4 oz. of wool that I think is Merino, but very well might not be. It’s been a long time since I’ve bought it so I don’t remember.

So we have (clockwise from the left) Mardi Gras, Cicada, and Sedona Sunset:

I am extremely pleased with how this came out, especially the color saturation.   And the dye exhausted each round through the crockpot, so I know it took in everything.  I’m now trying to re-arrange my schedule so I can finish the spinning currently on my wheel, navaho-ply it and start on one of these.  If these come out well, I might dye up some more and put both the rovings and the yarn in Etsy.  It’s been too long since I’ve had items in my store.

Saw this on Ruby’s and Purl’s site and thought it was a neat idea.

Bold = have already tried this
Italicized = Plan to try this
Unemphasized = Have no desire to try this

• Afghan
• I-cord
• garter stitch
• Knitting with metal wire
• Shawl
• Stockinette Stitch
• Socks: Top-down
• Socks: Toe-up
• Knitting with camel yarn
• Mittens: Cuff-up
• Mittens:  Tip down
• Hat
• Knitting with silk
• Moebius band knitting
• Participating in a KAL
• Sweater
• Drop stitch patterns
• Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
• Slip stitch patterns
• Knitting with banana fiber yarn
• Domino knitting
• Twisted stitch patterns
• Knitting with bamboo yarn
• Two end knitting
• Charity knitting
• Knitting with soy yarn
• Cardigan
• Toy/doll clothing
• Knitting with circular needles
• Baby items
• Knitting with your own handspun
• Slippers
• Graffiti knitting
• Continental knitting
• Designing knitted garments
• Cable stitch patterns
• Lace patterns
• Publishing a knitting book
• Scarf
• Teaching a child to knit
• America/English knitting
• Knitting to make money
• Buttonholes
• Knitting with alpaca
• Fair Isle
• Norwegian knitting
• Dying with plant colors
• Knitting items for a wedding
• Household items
• Knitting socks on two circulars
• Olympic knitting
• Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
• Knitting with dpn’s
• Holiday-related knitting
• Teaching a male how to knit
• Bobbles
• Knitting for a living
• Knitting with cotton
• Knitting smocking
• Dyeing yarn
• Steeks
• Knitting art
• Fulling/felting
• Knitting with wool
• Textured knitting
• Kitchener BO
• Purses/bags
• Knitting with beads
• Swatching
• Long tail CO
• Entrelac
• Knitting and purling backwards
• Machine Knitting
• Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegated yarn
• Stuffed toys
• Knitting with cashmere
• Darning (I have some socks that need it)
  
• Jewelry
• Knitting with synthetic yarn
• Writing a pattern
• Gloves
• Intarsia
• Knitting with linen
• Knitting for preemies
• Tubular CO
• Freeform knitting
• Short rows
• Cuffs/fingerless mitts/armwarmers
• Pillows
• Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
• Rug
• Knitting on a loom
• Thrummed knitting
• Knitting a gift
• Knitting for pets
• Shrug/bolero/poncho
• Knitting with dog/cat hair
• Hair accessories
• Knitting in public
• Double knitting

Despite my swollen and sore little finger (which I’m starting to suspect is arthritis…FUN!) I managed to finish a few items and make way for some starters.  First off, in the wee, wee hours of the morning a few days ago, I finished the Playful Pineapples afghan:

It’s made with Caron Simply Soft in Bright Berry Blue and Caron Wintuk for the border (some creamy color).  I just need to wash it and package it up and it’s ready to be gifted to my cousin at her baby shower.  It’s 36″x42″.

 Next is my Paintbox Scarf:

I almost called this my Passenger Scarf because is was completed entirely in the passenger seat of the car on trips to various locations.  I used two balls of Paintbox yarn (don’t know the colorways) in a 2×2 rib.   I cast on 24 stitches which kept in fairly narrow and it turned out the perfect length (5 feet).

 After browsing flickr and blogs and seeing some awesome Navaho plying going on, I decided to conquer my fear and give it a shot on my spinning wheel.  I’m pleased with the results:

That’s 108 yards of 3-ply wool there folks!  And it’s not crap!  I still have more on the bobbin to ply and the second half of the wool to spin, so lets give an offering to the consistency gods that it all comes out close to the same weight.

I’m trying really hard not to cast on another project until I have the Playful Pineapples blanket done. I have some serious work to do to get it done, and I’m having some issues with my little finger on my right hand that is slowing me down.

The issue is it’s swollen and it aches and I have no idea why. There is a fairly high probability that I hurt it in Tae Kwon Do and didn’t notice until it started to swell. We’ll see if the swelling starts to go down this week. I’m dying to start about 50 new pair of socks and there is no way I can hold small dpn’s right now, so it’s probably best if I wait.

See, I told you there would be one coming up. The last few weeks I’ve been making up for the time I’ve been idle as far as fiber-arts are concerned. I finished spinning the merino/silk blend I got from Adrian at Hello Yarn. It turned out well, but I didn’t calculate yardage, but it’s roughly a DK weight. I had a bobbin of this sitting on the wheel for about 7 months before I got to the other half of the fiber.

Then I grabbed a fiber I had dyed way back when. So far back that I can’t find a corresponding picture of the fiber. Once again, in too much of a rush to calculate yardage, and it’s a worsted to semi-chunky weight.

On the WIP front, my cousin is currently pregnant with her first child, and she already knows it’s a boy. Given that information, I decided to crochet up the Playful Pineapples Afghan from Pineapple Afghans for Baby (Leisure Arts). It’s done in Caron Simply Soft in Berry Blue using a G hook. I’m only about 20% done with it and I need to crack the whip and get it done. Sadly, I had made one in white previous to this for a friend of mine, took pictures, and have NO IDEA where the pictures are. There is a high probability they are on my dead laptop.

Then I got a package I ordered. Wonder what these could be?

I’ll give you a little hint with a picture of ALL my handspun.

Yep that’s right. I finally got myself a swift and ball winder!

Now my yarn won’t be all skeinky! Get it? Yeah, I know, but bad puns are my speciality!

Actual fiber related post coming soon!