2007 - Year of the Stash

A couple of definitions for stash.

stash
noun
1.	a secret store of valuables or money [syn: hoard]
verb
1.	save up as for future use [syn: hoard]

I like that "a secret store of valuables or money" or to "save up as for future use."

Well to me there is no time like the present. I realize my stash is not nearly as large as some, but at times it can be overwhelming to me. Like now. I look at all my yarn and I don't know where to start. Do I knit socks, do I work on my aunt's scarf, do I finish the boys FT clogs (no I do not, I'm sick of clogs) do I make a felted purse. I start to think about all this and ultimately I don't want to do any of it. It kind of takes the fun out of it.

As a result, I'm going to take inventory and get started wiping it out. I'm going to get it back under control. For a while I was into scrapbooking. I collected lots of stickers and paper. Until it go to the point, where I had so much stuff I couldn't keep it all organized. To get it all out to work on scrapbooks was too much. I hoarded stickers (see above "stash") until they lost their sticky. That's crazy. I don't scrapbook anymore because the "stuff" got overwhelming. I don't want my knitting stash to go the way of my scrapbook hoarding.

Here's my inventory - well most of it - that I plan to work through in 2007.

This is 4 skeins of Patons Wool. It's going to be the purse you see in the picture. It's from Knit It! magazine. I actually bought this yarn with this specific purpose. I think this will go fast, so I'm going to work on it first. It will most likely be the first finished project of 2007.

This may look familiar. I took a similar pictures when I was working on my sister's felted clogs. These are going to be the accents on my felted purse. See above.

My first Koigu. And probably the first socks for 2007. I'm actually excited to get working on these.

This is some fantastic yarn I bought at the Shabby Sheep in Dallas, TX. It's going to be a pretty beaded scarf for my Aunt Peggy. Her birthday is in February. So I have a goal.

Several more pairs of sock yarn. They will make good traveling projects. I plan to stick one set in my car - in case of emergencies.

Not pictured is the yarn for my Shetland Tea shawl. That one will take a while. It's going to continue to brew. Tomorrow or the next day I will talk about yarn that is not stash in my book, but leftovers. Now what am I going to do with that?

Going to the Frog Pond

Alternate titles might be

Rip It! Rip It! Rip It! or

I Like to Knit, but I'm Not a Big Fan of Re-Knitting

I ended up giving the kool-aid dyed pink fingerless mittens to Connie. They turned out a more manageable size then the red ones. She liked them.

As for the red ones, I wore them this morning. They stretched to the point where they are going to have to be frogged. They are just too big. I'll salvage the yarn and then knit them again. Maybe with a different stitch pattern this time. And I'll definitely cast on fewer stitches.

I don't have any fun new pictures. But my goal next week while I'm off is to take stock of my stash and begin a period of stash reduction. It looks like I may have to travel in Jan and Feb, so I'll likely get a pair of socks done - maybe two.

FO 21-1/2

This is the first mitten of a set of fingerless mittens for me. I followed the same pattern I used for Connie's Fingerless mittens, but used worsted weight wool I dyed myself with kool-aid.

This is the skein while it was drying. I want a pair of fingerless mittens (although it's supposed to be in the 70's here today) and I was anxious to see how this yarn would knit up, so my mittens moved to the top of the to-do list. I really like how the colorway turned out. In hindsight, I wish it was a couple of different colors. And if there is yarn left when I'm done I may try add some other colors, but overall I'm very pleased.

My Other Knitting Blog

My actual knitting blog is at www.xanga.com/txknitter.

Doin' The Happy Dance

I'm doin' the happy dance for several reasons.

1. I just noticed that today is my one year anniversary for this blog. I think that's cool.

2. I have 2 more finished projects so I'm up to 21 for the year.

• My sisters clogs - currently a private message so she can't peek.
• Connie's Wristwarmers.

3. I made really cute Christmas gifts for the SOWs (my sisters of the wool knitting group).

There are twelve of us, give or take a couple, so I wanted to do something not too expensive. But I wanted it to be useful. I've been pondering this since August (at least). It's sick I know. I like the knitpicks sock bag thing that you can string around your beltloop and knit on the go. But it's $18 - not cheap. So I started thinking about making my own.

I knew I wanted it to have the loops on the inside to guide the yarn and keep it from getting tangled. In fact, I wanted two loops for knitting two socks at a time if so desired. And I decided it needed to be lined.

Initially, I tried to make it so it could be tied on a beltloop, but it wasn't working for me. So I asked myself, How many of the SOWs would actually knit in the grocery line anyway? I determined it wasn't a deal killer so I opted for pretty ribbon handles.

A few years ago I went through a fabric collecting phase. As you can tell from the picture there wasn't much rhyme or reason to it. Most pieces were remnants from the Waverly outlet remnant bin. I just bought pretty pieces that caught my eye. In some cases, I could make three bags from a piece of fabric, in others I got one. So I went through the stash pairing up fabrics for the lining and the outer. Each one I put together, I liked better than the last.

I had so much fun doing this. Although I'm not much of a seamstress, I'm very pleased with how they turned out.

Testing, Testing, 1-2-3

I'm just giving blogger a try.

Connie's Fingerless Gloves

These fingerless gloves went very quickly. I finished the pair in about a week. Of course I didn't knit on anything else, but that's how I like to do it. You actually can't tell much by this picture. The thumb is on the other side, but I wanted a nice shot of the ribbing.

http://www.3gcs.com/adcock/free%20patterns/fingerless_mittens.htm This is the pattern I followed - basically. Since I've started knitting lace, my gauge has gone to pot, so my 1x1 rib is worthless. As a result, I just skip it when it comes to socks and now fingerless mittens. I just started in on the main twin rib pattern. I cast on 48 because I'm using a lighter weight yarn than is called for in the pattern, but for my gauge I think a 42 (what the pattern specifies) would have been fine.

I decreased one stitch after finishing the thumb increase. I don't know if it made that much difference, but it made me feel better. I did it on the third K1,P1 row after putting the thumb stitches on the spare yarn.

In the end, I did 16 rows to get the palm length I wanted. And I did it in the twin rib pattern instead of in the 1x1 ribbing.

They fit me pretty good and I'm happy with them. I just have to weave in a few ends and they are good to go. I am actually surprised at how well they keep my hand warm even when I'm just trying them on for size. I guess it's the wool and silk. This is Elsebeth Lavold silky wool. It was a 50gr skein and I still have about 20 grams left. I feel a mini-sweater ornament for the tree coming on.

My Sister's Felted Clogs

Jeannie, if you don't want to see your Christmas present before Christmas - stop reading now.

My sister is open to trying new things. She's the one who got me started knitting almost 2 years ago. While we like to knit different types of things, we each appreciate the other's art.

This is my art for her. Felted clogs. I gave intarsia a try. It's tough. Lots of strings hanging all over the place. And when knitting these Fiber Trends clogs it's even more of a challenge with wrapping and turning and backing and forthing. The yarn getting tangled. But it was fun to give it a try.

This is what they looked like when I thought I was finished. A little plain. Maybe a tad like clown or hobo shoes. That could have been the result of the size and the shape in their unfelted state. But they needed something, so I decided to try another technique.

I think the flowers are a nice touch. They were fun and easy to add. I wasn't sure what was going to happen to them when they felted. I guess I could have swatched - naah.

I had some problems with holes where the intarsia pieces met. I don't know that I would do that again on clogs or anything felted for that matter. But I liked adding the flowers after the knitting was finished. I did notice everything is more subtle once it's felted. So go strong on the color and know that it be cut back some.

The Yarn Has Spoken

This is one skein of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in color #24. It is a deep barn red.

I'm a big fan of wool and silk mixes (hence my love for Zephyr.) That's what drew me to this yarn at the Shabby Sheep in Dallas TX. What I don't know is why the heck I only bought one skein. It's 185 yards, what can you do with 185 yards of fingering weight yarn?

The yarn has spoken many months later and it wants to be fingerless mittens. http://www.3gcs.com/adcock/free%20patterns/fingerless_mittens.htm

I may have to make them a tad shorter, but that's OK. The friend I want to make them for is petite so it should work out perfectly. One of the SOWs (Sisters of the Wool - my knitting group) made a pair with medium weight Socks that Rock yarn and they are fabulous. She made her's really long because she could. I'm going to have to wing it.

I know Susan cast on 60 for her sock weight yarn. I will probably go 60 as well since this yarn is fingering weight.

In the meantime, my sister's Christmas gift is progressing. I'm 3/4 of the way there. But that intarsia is for the birds.

19 FO's - Wow!

I decided to count up the projects I've finished this year and came up with 19 finished objects. I had no idea. I'm glad I started blogging because I might have forgotten some of them. The size of the projects range from a hat to a full on lace shawl that took six months to create.

1. Peacock Shawl - it took six months to create
2. Swallowtail shawl - it took 2 months to create
3. Robyn’s felted clogs
4. John’s felted clogs
5. Felted cat bed
6. Tabitha’s baby kimono - Mason-Dixon Knitting
7. Nate’s baby kimono - Mason-Dixon Knitting
8. Ballband Warshrag - Mason-Dixon Knitting
9. Juana’s felted clogs
10. Josey’s felted clogs
11. Denim hat
12. Pink cotton candy hat
13. Yellow hat
14. Yellow variegated hat
15. 2^nd yellow variegated hat
16. cream hat
17. Knitty Branching out - my first lace project
18. Autumn Flashes socks
19. green sweater

Without a doubt, the Peacock shawl is my crowning achievement. As a general rule, close enough is good enough for me. I'm like my Aunt Peggy in that way. But when it came to the Peacock shawl and the Swallowtail shawl, if it wasn't right, I frogged it. I'm sure there are mistakes, but I did not leave them behind intentionally.

Now the clogs on the other hand, if I was a stitch off, well, it will come out in the wash.

2007 is going to be "The Year of the Socks" or maybe it will be "The Year of the Stash". Flashing back over my blog, I realize I have a lot of sock yarn stash (at least 4 pairs). If I don't buy any yarn for 6 months, I have plenty of projects to work on, but that's another blog entry.

I currently have one project on the needles. That means I will finish the year with at least 20 finished objects - wahoo.

I need to start a pair of socks and leave them in the car. Yesterday I had a flat tire, fortunately I was in the Wal-mart parking lot, but I was done shopping when I realized it so I just sat and waited and waited and waited. I could have been a ways along if only I'd had a pair of socks with me. Note to self, even if they were on double points (I'm a magic loop convert) it would have beat the heck out of sitting there.

The Swallowtail Shawl is Finished!

And I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I blocked it this morning and I just cannot say enough about how much blocking changes the look of lace. I wish I had taken a picture before blocking.

I decided to substitute beads for nupps (I hate the nupps) and I'm really happy with the results. It may not look exactly like the lily of valley, but the beads glisten.

Earlier I had mentioned I might have liked it better if the beads were matte, but now I'm glad they aren't. Since I was going nuppless, I'm glad I went all the way the opposite direction.

I just like this picture so I'm adding it.

I used Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud in Sunlight. It took less then one skein. In fact, I have 10 grams leftover, so it wasn't even close. I didn't add any extra repeats and it finished at 50" wide by 25" long.

I like the size, it's not too big. It's about the size of a large scarf. Fairly easy to wear and it does keep my shoulders warm. I plan to wear it to our Christmas party.

I have nothing on the needles at this very minute although I have plenty to knit. So I'll be casting on a new project tonight and maybe another tomorrow for some variety.

Brown Felted Bag

It's Saturday morning, too early to tackle any knitting, but I feel like doing something - so I'll blog. Since I don't have anything new with my current stuff, I went into the archives and found pictures of my brown felted bag. This was my first felted project and my first project knitted in the round - the date on the pictures is 4/23/2005.

There are things I really like about the bag and a few things I learned. The kitty gives perspective of the size in the picture above. Jaspers is a pretty big cat and this is a deep bag. Unfortunately since it happened so long ago, I don't remember how much yarn I used. But I know it's cascade 220. And I still today love the mottled color of brown.

The furry stuff I bought at Hobby Lobby or Michael's. It not only has the fur, but various brown and tan nubbies. I guess because of the location on the bag, and the felting power of the Cascade, there are no problems with the furry area not felting.

And man is that thing thick. The wall of the bag measures somewhere between 3/8" and 1/2" thick. Now, the strap is probably the one thing I don't like. Over the last year and a half it's gone from 36" long to - oh - 48" -50". It's a garter stitch strap that stretches like crazy. There's been talk of adding a leather strap that goes under the bottom of the bag and comes up the sides to give the bottom some stability and to alleviate the stretchy strap syndrome. I think if I was going to carry it as a purse I would do that. As a project bag, it's OK as it is.

Wow, the flashback was kind of fun, I've come a long way baby.

My knitting friends will remember that as a new knitter (who didn't really have any knitting friends when I started) I didn't know about winding skeins of yarn with a ballwinder (and store owner didn't offer). I was knitting this bag from the middle and the end of an unwound skein and it was the biggest mess you have every seen. I survived, though, and am now a better knitter for it.

What Does This Want to Be?

OK, that's a trick question, because I already have plans for this motley collection of yarn. And I'm not stressed about how things will turn out because I know the recipient of this gift is adventuresome when it comes to trying new things. Regardless of the end result, she will appreciate the effort. But I have a feeling it's going to turn out great.

The swallowtail is still hovering. I did a row last night only to discover I'd dropped a stitch (I've never done that and not caught it at that moment. Not because I'm a great knitter, but because I'm petrified of this happening.) and now I have to figure out how to fix it. I have days when I'm in the mood for that kind of heavy lifting and then there are days when I have to just put it down. Last night I just put it down.

Robyn's Clogs Finished

Yup, I got'em done. Finished them up watching the Cowboy game on Sunday. It was very, very close (the knitting not the game) on some colors and on one I didn't make it.

I was casting off the cuff of the second clog using dark pink and less than half way around (note the number of stitches left on the needle) I realized I wasn't going to make it. So I finished with the light pink. I figure with the felting it will all come out in the wash.

Since I didn't have any of the dark pink left, when I knitted the bottom sole on I had to use the light pink so there is a rim of light pink. I'm going to call it decorative edging. On the upside, I'd left enough from my long tail cast-on of the dark pink to sew up the center of the sole without getting decorative.

The bottom sole is solid dark pink. Because I only had one skein of the dark pink, I mixed pinks for the inside soles. You can see that in the picture below. It's light and medium pink for the first 5 rows and medium and dark pink for the last 2 rows. I'm really curious to see how that turns out.

You can also see in this picture the unfelted medium women's clog is 16" long. And 9" across.

I really like the colors. Very girly. And what girl doesn't want to feel girly?

I finally found my clogs. It got cold enough I had to dig through a couple of boxes. I found them in the oddest place, but found them just the same. When the boys came home from hunting last weekend, I greeted them wearing my fuzzy clogs. DS#2 said, "Did you make those shoes?" And I proudly answered, "Yes, I did." He's thirteen in 2 days so when I say he gave me that look you'll know what I mean. I bet if I made him a pair he would wear them though.

Not this year. I have one more pair. And they are going to be the funnest of all.

Robyn's Clogs

I'm still working on the swallowtail shawl and making great progress, but I feel a little guilty about not working on birthday and Christmas projects. So I worked on my SIL's birthday clogs last night.

This is the yarn I have set a side. The light and medium pink are Cascade 220. The dark pink is Patons Merino. The cream is Knitpicks dye-your-own.

I like the dark pink for the soles, but I only have one skein of 220 yards. According to the instructions it should take 400 yarns. So I thought I would kool-dye a skein of the knitpicks to use on the innersole.

Unfortunately the kool-aid pink is more salmon and not as cool a pink as the pinks I already have. On one hand, I plan to mix the dyed yarn with either the dark pink or the medium pink so it might look fine once it's felted and it's going on the inside sole. On the other hand, once it's felted there's no taking it back.

I'm not sure what I'll do now. I have enough of the light pink to mix on the inside. I could save the salmon for another project. I like out it turned out, just not for this project.

I'm actually very interested to see how the kool-aid dyed yarn looks when it's knit up and when it's felted.

Here's picture of my hand after the dyeing process. It still looks like that today. Looks like I need to buy some gloves.

Here's the hand-dyed skein hanging to dry. Again, I like it, just not for this particular project.

A quick review on the Paton's yarn. It felts wonderfully. I did test swatch of the Cascade and the Paton's together and the Paton's turned out much nicer than the Cascade.

Now I'm Cooking with Gas

It's really hard to see. I've taken several, several pictures and it just isn't coming through, but for what it's worth here it is. This is the swallowtail shawl from the Fall Interweave Knits. I spent a couple of weeks messing with the nupps. I hate the nupps. I was not enjoying knitting the shawl so it sat a lot. Finally I decided I had to frog back to the beginning of the nupp section and start over. Thank goodness for lifelines. There are five in the picture above, overkill to some, but I knit lace with no trepidation.

I really wasn't looking forward to frogging because it had taken me so long to get to the point where I was. Little did I know it was the nupps. When I frogged, I was on row 9 of lily of the valley chart one. That was Saturday evening, as of last night (Wednesday) I was on row eleven of chart two lily of the valley and not looking back. I'm cooking with gas baby.

I'm using clear beads for the nupps and I like it just fine. I kind of wish the beads were matte rather than shiny, but I'm knitting from stash so it's OK.

As some of my knit group members were finishing their first swallowtail they were talking about knitting another, and I've read of several people online wanting to do a second. When I was working on the nupps I couldn't image wanting to do another, but now I have to agree. The shawl really goes pretty fast and I would consider another. I think it would make a great gift.

Several people in my knitting group have done the swallowtail using a heavier yarn. For example Jeri used Knitpicks Gloss which is 70% merino and 30% silk. Their website lists it as a fingering weight. More details of how much yarn she used and how she adjusted the pattern are available on her blog. See Sept. 30th for yarn details and October 5th for a picture of the beautiful, blocked shawl. She wears it to knit night and it looks fabulous. If I do another, I would consider using this yarn as well.

http://soapquiltknit.blogspot.com/2006_10_01_soapquiltknit_archive.html

Angela knit hers using 3 skeins of silky wool. She also added extra repeats to the pattern. She doesn't have a blog so there are no pictures. But it is beautiful.

That's all for now. Let lacevember begin.

I'm So Proud

My kitty actually figured out how to sleep in his kitty pi bed instead of on it. You can see that photo in the previous entry. I'm not sure I even need to say anymore.

Misc

Adrianne

I took leftover cotton from Tabitha's kimono and a set of needles to work yesterday to give Adrianne a quick knitting lesson. Turns out her grandmother taught her continental all those years ago (yea!) and she had the second she took the needles in her hand. She took it home to practice last night. I'm excited for her to get started on her kimono.

Lacevember

I joined the lacevember KAL. In hopes that it would inspire me to finish the Swallowtail shawl. I think this shawl is for me and I'm really ready to wear it. Just not ready to finish it. Damn nupps.

Fawn's Kitty Pi Bed

I snapped this picture of kitty sleeping on the kitty pi bed. I put it in his favorite sleeping spot in the closet, so he really has no choice.

Cute Felted Slippers

http://www.stitchdiva.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=SDS-029

I found this link for slippers and they are too cute. I think I may add beads to some of my clogs. I like the look.

That is all.

Finished Objects

I guess I didn't blog much in the months of February and March. We had lots going on and I got a lot of knitting done. Some knitting I did on a cruise.

This is me on the deck of the Elation working on my kool-aid dyed "Autumn Flashes" socks. They are finished now and I need to get pictures of the finished object.

Here are the socks at 20 knots. I worked them both at the same time. I like having a pair when I'm done. Less chance of second sock syndrome.

Here's the Knitty Branching Out scarf branching out to Progresso Mexico.
I travelled 3 times in two weeks after we got back from the cruise. The socks and my Knitty Branching Out scarf went with me.

Here's the scarf on the AA 777 coming back from Chicago. I got to watch TV and knit uninterrupted for over 2 hours. The scarf also travelled to Midland TX and Cleveland OH. It is now finished and I need to take a picture of it blocked.

I finished one pair of Fiber Trends felted clogs (husband's grandmother) and I've made progress on a second pair (mother-in-law). Pictures needed.

Last night I finished chart 3 of the peacock shawl for my Mom. That's 2 days ahead of schedule. My goal is to do a chart a month. Not too big a task, but progress just the same. At this rate I should finish about August, but its the journey right? This has been a journey. I'm learning not to panic, to read my knitting and how to fix my problems. It isn't perfect, but it will be beautiful. I feel like pictures of the shawl now would only disappoint. Lace is kind of ugly when it's born.
I definitely owe more pictures, maybe this weekend. But I've been concentrating on my knitting and that paid off with 3 finished objects in March.

I'll be travelling again at the beginning of next week. I'm off to Orlando. Socks make such a great travelling companion so I'm going to start these lace socks. http://files.blog-city.com/files/aa/3830/b/hollyssocks.pdf with some navy Regia yarn I bought on sale. It's solid with small dashes of color so I'm thinking it will allow the pattern to show through. I may also take the peacock with me for the evenings in the hotel room. Long, quiet periods of knitting, just what the lace ordered.

The Green Sweater is Done

I finished the green sweater about 15 minutes ago. I am so exicted. It's late tonight, but I do plan to put up a picture. I have to say for my first sweater, I am very pleased.

Hallelujah Hats!

Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory! Rev. 19:6-7

The green sweater is coming along, but this week I took time out to knit a couple of hats. Tuesday at Knit Night, Linda told us JPS in Ft. Worth called because they need hats for their chemo patients. Linda keeps a box by the door at her yarn store Jenning Street Yarns, but right now the box is empty. She asked if we could help.

This my first hat ever! I've already washed it and it did shrink some, but someone out there will be able to wear it. This is the Elann den-m-nit medium blue. I had one skein this color. I have 10 yards left. It makes a nice beanie. I have two more skeins, one of the dark and one natural. I plan to try a couple more beanie patterns until I find one I like. This one is OK.

This cotton candy confection is my second hat. I followed the bernat pattern for their boucle yarn. This pink boucle is part of the Bernat baby line, but when I bought it the color was right for what I was working on. I intentionally put in eyelets so the recipient can weave ribbon through for a little variety. I crocheted a chain of double stranded fun fur as a place holder. I have one more ball of pink boucle the same size as the ball I used on this hat. I plan to make a second hat, but I'm going to make it a little smaller. This hat fits me and I have a big head and thick hair. The chemo hats should be smaller. I'm in hopes this hat will meet someone's need, even if it is on the large side.

They have the prayer shawl ministry (which is fantastic). These are my Hallelujah Hats. I'm following the same philosophy as the prayer shawl ministry in that I'm praying for the recipients as I knit the hat. I don't know who they are, but God does. I'm praying that He brings them joy and peace in this trying time.

I'm going to work on the sweater tonight, but I'll have more Hallelujah Hats soon.

"Be still and know that I am God" - Ps 46:10

More Sock Yarn, Yarn Stores in Tulsa and a Tow Truck

I went home to visit my parents, sister and nieces this weekend and to finally have Christmas. On Saturday my sister and I headed to Tulsa to visit a yarn store or two. The first store we visited was Naturally Needlepoint and Knitting. They were having a sale. 25% off everything in the store and more on some items. I bought more sock yarn.

I think I do that because sock yarn makes socks. You don't have to have a project in mind. The two skeins on the left are Regia. Jeri had the fantastic idea to combine two complimentary sock yarns to make her own pattern. I love how they look so I'm borrowing the idea. The top skein has dashes of color - green and light blue. The bottom skein is multiple colors of brown and blue. I think it will make for an interesting pair of socks. I can't wait to get started but I have to finish a couple of other pairs first.

The other yarn is Wildfoote from Brown Sheep. It's superwash and dyeable (I hope). I like to dye my own sock yarn, but I don't want to have to hand wash the finished product.
I didn't buy anything at Loops in Utica Square, but the store was wonderful. They had small groups of people knitting throughout the store. You didn't feel like you were intruding on just one small group. Everyone was very friendly.

We did hit a small snag finding Loops because we didn't have the exact address. While we were driving around we cut a corner a little short and hit the curb, then we drove over the curb. There was nothing on the other side so the tire was suspended in mid-air. Fortunately the tow truck made it in about 20 minutes and he unstuck the car in about 10 minutes. I had my camera to commemorate the moment.

Once unstuck, Jeannie asked a security guard where the store was. He gave us a personal escort to the store. Loops had a play room for the girls and Jeannie and I got to love on the yarn as long as we wanted.

I would definitely visit both stores again.

Swatcha Doin'

Here's a picture of a few yarns I've swatched recently.

The Den-M-Nit is from Elann. I bought one ball of each color. In the skein and even on screen I like the medium denim color. In person I like the dark denim better.

The upper right corner is a swatch of the blue and green kool-aid dyeing I did last Sunday. I just love how that came out.

The lower right hand swatch is the Autumn Flash colorway. I knit this tiny swatch so I could wash and dry it to make sure the superwash would hold the dye. It turned out fine. I do think I will give the finished socks a swim in vinegar just to be sure the dye is set before I wash and wear them for the first time.

It Rained - Praise the Lord - I Dyed Yarn

We woke up to rain this morning for the first time since Halloween - Praise the Lord. I wanted to dye some yarn and since I was going to have to be inside it was going to have to be short skeins. After church, I put on my dyeing clothes, got out the tape measure, my notebook, kool-aid and yarn and got busy.

The first skein I dyed was an 8ft test skein of knitpicks fingering weight dye your own. I put two chairs 4 feet apart to create a skein that totals 8 feet. The diagram below shows how I put the colors together. Changin' Cherry is a great turquoise color and artic apple is a yellow green.


The colors are great together and pictures in no way do them justice. I would definitely use these colors together again.

I had some kool-aid left over and I also have some knitpicks alpaca cloud in "sunshine" which is sort of cream. I dunked it in three of the colors.

Creating a skein that looks like this.

Here are the colors close up. I intentionally soaked these colors longer for more saturation. I didn't get a chance to knit this up tonight so I don't know how it's going to look. I made a 4ft skein by wrapping the yarn around a two ft ruler. In the picture above the colors are out of order. The lime green color on the right is actually in the middle. It will appear as two short repeats. The turquoise and blue are each one long repeat. I really like the turquoise and blue together, I'm not so sure about the bright limey green. I'm anxious to see how this knits up.

I have in mind to use this stole pattern to create a lace scarf . We'll see how that adaption works.

I should probably also mention the green sweater is coming along. I started the third ball of yarn and I'm nearing the 8" mark. I figure I'm going for 12" or 13". Then I get to start shaping the top.