First Attempt at Hand Dyeing

One of the things I love best about yarn is the colours. Texture and quality are very important but colour is what hooks me every time. I don't know why it has taken me this long to try hand dyeing on my own. This week I took the plunge and had so much fun.



Things didn't get nearly as messy as I thought they would. My fingernails did change colours, much to the delight of my daughters, but that didn't last long. The important thing was that nothing that wasn't supposed to got stained and the yarn took the dyes beautifully.



I am off with my basket of yarn to Nature's Millworks in Paisley for the Weaving and Rug Hooking Show that starts tomorrow. I will be happy to knit or weave all of this yarn myself if no one is interested in it but if it sells I will definitely buy more base yarn and see if I can find a market for it. Imagine if I could find a way to make my knitting and weaving pay for itself? That would be amazing.

Third Time's a Charm

I was inspired by the Yarn Harlot's blog to pull out my Cricket Loom again. I tried it about a year ago with no luck. I was determined to get things going and to start zipping through my stash.

I found some yarn I had bought for a scarf and thought it would be good to start with - lots of colour and texture so I hoped it would be forgiving of tension errors as I got used to working with the loom. I set everything up, got ready to go - and discovered that I had just made the exact same mistake the Yarn Harlot had blogged about - a little too inspired by her, I guess. I undid it all and started over. I didn't make the same mistake twice - I made a new one the second time and discovered why things hadn't gone so smoothly when I tried it last year. I found some instructions on youtube that were far batter than the ones that came with the loom.





Third time I got it all set up and started weaving and wow! Now I see what all the fuss is about. Even with it being my first time I was able to finish a scarf in two hours. Not two days, two hours.



A couple of years ago I was crazy about Noro yarns. I made a Lizard Ridge afghan with it and more hats than I can count. I have made a couple pairs of socks with it too. It is absolutely the worst sock yarn I have ever knit with but it makes just about the nicest socks to wear, once they have been washed. I think there were a number of bags and purses somewhere along the line, too. I have a few scarves made with Noro Silk Garden but I am pretty burned out of the Noro jag I was on. Trouble is that I still have a bag of it hanging around at the back of my closet. I think the Cricket Loom is the answer to that problem..........









And about three hours later I had this -



It is straightforward, fun, and look how quickly I can enjoy my stash. Yarns like Noro that I am tired of knitting with are fine for an afternoon date with the loom and then they can make their way to a new home. Weaving will never replace knitting for me but it sure is a great alternative for stash busting. Two scarves in a day - and not just any day, but my first day as a weaver. What could be sweeter?

The pattern book has been found - and may never leave my house again after this! What a wonderful relief.

I finished the February Lady Sweater last night. It is blocking now - thank goodness for the Ravelry notes that let me know it would grown significantly when blocked. It is two inches wider and four inches longer than it was when I was done knitting. I think that should make it just about perfect but I won't know for another day or two.

I have two and a half skeins of Malabrigo worsted left - that is about 500 yards. I think I will make a felted bag with it. That should make a nice sized bag and I can try out some of the felted flower patterns I have in a new-to-me book to decorate it.

For now I am knitting some hats for babies that will be born very soon. I found a skein of the Green Eyed Monster's "Weasley's Wizard Wheezes" superwash merino. It seemed like the perfect yarn to use for twins! They should be done in another day or two and then I can send them to the family. I remember how much I loved the hand knits people gave each of our babies - it is fun to do that for other people now.

NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is killing me.

I have knitting books and loose patterns that I have been gathering since the 1980's. The books sit nicely on the shelf but you know how it goes with patterns - one stuck as a book mark in this book, that print out getting torn crammed between two books over there, the whole stack of loose patterns spilling onto the floor whenever I am in a hurry, never being able to find "that particular pattern" when I really want it.

A few weeks ago I decided I had had enough when I couldn't find a pattern that was always the one that jumped out at me whenever I was looking for another pattern. I went to the dollar store, had my daughter pick out a binder for me (she chose a green one covered in pink and purple butterflies) and bought several packages of page protectors.

When I got home, I took those 20+ years of loose patterns and tucked each one into a nice little protective case and put them in the binder. It was great - sweaters in one section, mittens in another, one for socks - you get the picture. I had just bought several new patterns and was especially excited about how easy it was going to be to keep track of them.

I took the book to knitting group and shared it with some friends there. I got a call to pick one of my kids up from school, scooped the book back into my bag, and carried on with my day. The next few days were busy - I did some knitting but had no time to think about new knitting projects.

Guess what?

I can't find the binder anywhere. I have cleaned up my entire house, even my closet (!) and there is no sign of it. All those patterns - gone. Yarn just arrived for one of the patterns in that binder but it has to wait. I can't bring myself to repurchase a pattern I just bought a couple of months ago. I can't believe that after a couple of decades of being stuffed into nooks and crannies, putting all of my beloved patterns into a protective case was the worst thing I could have done to them.

If you were a binder full of gorgeous knitting patterns, where would you hide?

Great socks.

There are a zillion beautiful sock yarns out there. Many (most?) of them are expensive. Not too expensive considering the work that goes into hand dyeing the yarns but it is nice to find some nice yarns that are affordable.

I love Knit Picks needles in a big way but I am not usually thrilled with their yarns. Some of them are nice for some projects but none of them have delighted me until I ordered some "Imagination" on a whim. This yarn is a blend of wool, alpaca and nylon which means it is comfy, warm and durable. The 25% alpaca content means the socks start to stretch out of shape fairly quickly but they always bounce right back after washing.

One skein gave me this pair of socks - not bad for under $6.00!!!

Here are some pictures of my stash.............inspiring and overwhelming at the same time! Lots to knit, a little bit to try spinning with. Working my way through it has been fun. Ha - I make it sounds like the stash is shrinking as I knit. Unfortunately (depending on how you look at it) I have found a couple of great new online yarn shops since these pictures were taken.

Yikes - has it really been almost two months??

I am going to have to take some pictures tomorrow and update things here. I have been doing a lot of knitting!

Biggest worry right now is that I have misplaced the binder with all of my loose patterns in it, including several that I have not had a chance to try yet. I have twenty years of collected patterns in there, some of them favourites. I have looked everywhere I can think of but no luck yet. Maybe tomorrow, right?

What is on the needles at the moment?

The purple monstrosity is a few rows longer. Not very impressive but it will be finished before I turn 50, I am sure, even if only because I want to free up the needles.

A Noro Silk Garden striped scarf. It is the second one I have made - such a fun and easy knit. Very satisfying.

A pair of Fleece Garden socks waiting to be frogged - love the yarn, hate the pattern. Not sure I want to put this yarn on my feel after all.

The February Lady Sweater in Denim Malabrigo. Still wondering about this one. I would hate to frog it at this point but I am not sure it is one I will want to wear once it is done. It took three tries to get it going properly which surprised me because it is not a difficult pattern. Knitting this sweater to work through insomnia may have had something to do with the problems, I admit.

And finished since my last post?

Samus in Madelinetosh Eyre, the softest, most beautiful yarn ever. I can't wait until it available in some new colourways again! Not crazy about how the sleeves set in the sweater, but I have worn it around the house a few times.

A wavy prayer shawl for a woman I know who has lost far too much this past year. I will take a picture of it tomorrow before I bring it to her.

I love to knit. For some reason I don't always love the finished objects which is great news for my friends and family but not so great for my own wardrobe. Maybe this will be the year that turns around. I will still be happy to give away much of my knitting, but it would also be nice to be a knitter who occasionally wears hand knit items!