August 29, 2007
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.
August 17, 2007
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.
Filed under Afghans, Crochet, Crochet: FOs, Fiber, Fiber Fun, Handspun, Knitting, Knitting: FOs, Scarves, Spinning, Yarn
August 7, 2007
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!
October 23, 2006
I finished my second pair of Socktoberfest socks last night.
Yarn: Handdyed Merino from The Painted Tiger in the Fruit Loop colorway
Needles: Size 2 dpns
Pattern: Variation on the Lizard texture in Donna Kooler’s Encyclopedia of Knitting. Used a four stitch pattern instead of three.
I still have *counts on fingers* three pair on the needles. I’m hoping to at least finish one more pair by the end of the month. 5 socks in 31 days doesn’t sound too bad to me.
October 10, 2006
Would it be totally wrong for me to cast on for a third pair of socks? I already have two separate ones on the needles. The Trekking #107 has one sock done (second one cast on), My first Jaywalker is coming along, but I still want to start something else. It’s a sickness I tell you. I just don’t know if it will help or hurt my odds for finishing more socks for Socktoberfest.
