Lee goes on and on about knitting

Two shawls

2010-11-13T12:38:00.000-08:00

One day at work Birch IM'd me and asked if I wanted to go to a very fancy work dinner with her. Of course! I love dressing up. Of course, all my fancy clothes are pre-kid and don't fit. I found an awesome dress at Goodwill. All it needed was a little mending (thanks Gwyn!) and a shawl. I only had a week, so it needed to not be too complicated. After much Ravelry searching, I decided on Variation on a Frill from knitty, done in Athena Socks that Rock.

One skein was just the right length (good thing as that is all I had). The red highlights in the black yarn went great with the red dress. The dropped stitches made such a great drapey frill that I want to make a skirt for dancing using just the frill part of the pattern.

And it's a good thing I didn't make a gold shawl; I wouldn't want to match the chairs. I am wearing this shawl today over my sweater - it's not just for fancy occasions.

The other shawl is Madli's Shawl from Knitted Lace of Estonia by Nancy Bush. It took a lot more than a week. I started it March 2009. The "nupps" (estonian bobbles) took a little getting used to but were fun.

FO: Kink!

2010-08-25T18:22:00.000-07:00

Hey look! a finished knitting projected. I'm hoping it's a trend. The pattern is Kink from Knitty First Fall 2010. The yarn is my handspun, from fiber I bought at the Bishop Hill Fiber Guild Spin IN last October. It is a wool/silk/mohair blend, that had a beautiful gradation throughout the roving. I split it in half, spun one bobbin of each and plyed them. One lesson learned: If you fill two bobbins, then ply them together, the resulting bobbin of plyed yarn is very very very full.

I like the way it pins in the front, and the way the pattern shows off the color gradation. A great extra layer for me who is always cold.

Just enough lace to not get bored

Like most of my "shawl pins" this is a re-purposed hair ornament.

Pretty colors

Good for running with my best girl

Curry approves too

This grew rather impressively when blocked, I was disappointed in how narrow it was fresh off the needles, but it really blossomed. This is a great pattern for fairly small amounts of yarn - I can see me making it again.

F.A.M.E.

2010-05-23T13:27:00.000-07:00

Let's all just gloss over how long it's been since I put anything here, eh?

Yesterday was FAME (the Fiber Arts May Event) at Camp Wokanda. Sadly, there was low attendance this year, but we had fun anyways. There was dyeing!

Gwyn focused on long color changes.

Both slow gradations of intensity

and Rainbow!

I practiced dyeing silk hankies, and tested out using a crockpot to heat set them.

It was a success. What am I going to do with 13 silk hankies? Use them as samples for a class I am doing in August. All 3 kids approved them as gifts too.

I also dyed a couple of wool/silk scarves as gifts. Very happy with how they turned out.

Friday evening Boo and I went garage saleing and found several sweaters. This one is a beautiful lace-weight angora blend. It used to be white, and now it is iris colored.

I unraveled a few other sweaters too, but no pictures.

All the dyeing except the rainbow was done with Dharma Acid Dyes. They are very similar to Jacquard Dyes, and much cheaper.

Finally, who are the intrepid dyers?

and

Easter Egg Playsilks

2009-05-03T17:09:00.000-07:00

Playsilks are a neat toy, the sort of thing that Boo will love now and that will be a good toy for the next ten years. I could have bought them, but ordering silk scarf blanks from Dharma and dyeing them myself is so much more fun.

I make a habit of buying Easter egg dyeing kits right after Easter when they are very cheap. I have quite the stockpile, and while I have dyed sock yarn with them in the past, I never had tried silk.

First I unfolded the scarves and put them in water to soak. Wet fiber takes the dye faster and more evenly. Boo helped.

Then I put two pellets of each of the 8 colors in a wide-mouthed pint jar and added 1/3 cup white vinegar.

When they had stopped fizzing, I knew the tablets had dissolved, so I added about an inch more water and a silk scarf. I used an egg dipping tool (because I have a lot of them) to push down the scarf enough so it was covered in dye, adding more water as necessary. I let them sit for 10 minutes or so (ok, I ate lunch) and then microwaved them to set the dye.

I ended up having to transfer them to a quart jar for the microwaving as the first one boiled over and made quite the mess in my microwave. The quart jars worked fine. I covered the jar with a piece of saran wrap and microwaved them for 6 minutes each.

They rinsed out quite easily, and I hung them outside to dry. The great thing about silk? They were almost literally dry by the time I was done hanging them all up.

Boo approved of them greatly, her first response was "mine, mine!"

The colors turned out pretty good, they look more washed out in the pictures than in real life. The one disappointment I had was that the "turquoise" and the "blue" ended up the same color on the silk. The purple dye "broke" not to unexpectedly and turned out very speckled and tie-dyed looking. The colors are a little mottled, If I had wanted them even-er I would have cooked them on the stove and stirred. For playsilks they are great.

From left to right: yellow, blue, chartreuse, red, orange, turquoise, purple, green

And how to store 9 playsilks ( I left one white). Two shower rings attached to the bookcase.

2009-01-11T18:52:00.000-08:00

We're big fans of babywearing. We used wraps a lot when Boo was smaller, and now we use the Ergo quite extensivly. But there's one problem. See her overalls? They are almost too long when she's walking around, but in the carrier they ride up almost to her knees. For a knitting mommy wanting to swath her Boodle in woolly love, this is an opportunity.

Baby Legs. The yarn is from a Bishop Fiber Guild dyeing workshop last weekend on sock blanks. It's Paton's Kroy socks painted with Jacquard dyes (in skeins because we ran out of blank making time). It turned out gorgeous. None of the pictures quite capture the almost iridescent look. Also, the colors worked up to look like an FEA stress analysis graphic.

They fit and as near socks are beloved of the toddler.

Ice Queen

2009-01-11T18:42:00.000-08:00

This summer I decided to go into the world of making gloves and made myself some gloves out of my handspun. It was a lovely wool/silk blend, and I had quite a bit left over. So I plied the remaining singles as two-ply instead of three and made myself an Ice Queen. I started New Year's eve and finished this Friday, partly because it worked up fast and partly because of a bit of obsession. I've worn it just about constantly since.

Cause it's just that pretty. And we don't keep the house that warm.

Close up of the picot cast off that never ended

This is closer to the actual color, I love the subtle striping I got.

You can see the beads in this one

With the hood up. Sorry about the expression, it's hard to take good pictures of yourself.

Another Gift finished

2008-12-06T10:17:00.000-08:00

My standard top down sock pattern with a drop stitch rib pattern. Yarn is

Zwerger Garn Opal Neon

I love the drop stitch rib. It's easy, looks fancy, and is very stretchy.

IT's been a long time...

2008-12-03T20:16:00.000-08:00

I decided that with all the "real" commitments in my life, stressing out over how often I post on a blog was not sensible. And it was cutting into my sleep. So I'm erratic and proud or something.

That said, I finished two! projects today.

A baby hat for Boo's daycare teacher.

Using this pattern and some acrylic yarn from Hobby Lobby. The yarn was actually pretty soft, but very static-y. It is a fun knit, pretty fast (I started last night) and a neat shape.

I really like the way the increases and decreases look.

I also finished a pair of Dove socks from New Pathways for Sock Knitters. I can not overstate how much I love this book. Cat Bordhi has thought of several new ways of making socks, and has a clever system of master numbers, to make them all customizable to fit an actual person's foot.

They have a garter stitch toe

A terrible clever heel Cat has come up with that works for toe up and top down and once I commit it to memory will no doubt be my standard. See how it looks like a common heel, but I knit it from the toe-up? I love that.

And it has a nice pattern of purls outlining the arch increase.

Even better? These are two things off my December knitting list. Only half a sock, half a toddler sweater, 2/3 a toddler poncho, a pair of socks, a pair of gloves, and a chicken left.

Once all that's done, I can't wait to start on a sweater for Birch, and an Ice Queen for me.

Boo learns to Spin Silk

2008-07-14T17:46:00.000-07:00

More adventures in natural dyeing. This is mordanted with Rhubarb leaves (which by themselves leave the wool a beautiful pale yellow) and then dyed with carrot tops from our CSA box. I plan on plying this together with the beet yarn.

Our original weekend plans got cancelled so I went to fiber guild instead. I would have been in trouble if Boo hadn't come, so Birch came with to help wrangle. The program was about spinning silk hankies, which I already knew how to do, but was very interesting anyways.

I made progress on the jean rug. So much progress in fact that I need more jeans. Hopefully Freecycle will come to my rescue.

I also spun the second bobbin and plyed my Pebble Path wool/silk into a beautiful lace weight yarn. I am totally in love with it and plan on making this cowl to match my gloves (still not finished).

2008-07-08T18:21:00.000-07:00

I'm in my second week of 6 Sigma Black Belt training at work. Even though much of what we are covering I already know, it still makes for long days. Actually, when I already know what we're covering it makes the days longer. So I haven't been in a mood to knit or dye when I get home, but I still need something to relax.

I have a habit of buying sweaters at yard sales to scavenge the yarn for other knitting projects.
I made a beautiful Icarus shawl for my sister out of an angora sweater I salvaged. Great yarn, at low cost. It does mean another stash however

This is going to be a sweater I'm designing for Boo and I to wear together while she's on my back.

This a lovely wool/angora/nylon blend that I will probably dye before using.

Not a sweater, but something else I am deconstructing

I'm cutting these into strips to make a rug for Boo.

And finally, the gloves I haven't been knitting

They are my handspun from a wool/silk blend called Pebble Path, pattern is

Merike's Gloves by Nancy Bush in the Estonian Folk Knitting book

Local Fiber

2008-07-05T20:07:00.000-07:00

Our guild project theme this year is "Local Fiber"

My plan is to buy some fiber from an animal raised by a guild member, dye it with natural dyes, spin it, and knit it into mittens or a hat for myself.

So far, I have bought the fiber. Icelandic Lamb fleece.

And dyed the first part of it with some beets from our CSA box

It didn't turn out the golden color I was hoping for, more of a pinkish tan. I didn't get a picture of it yet.

Next, I hope to try some carrot tops, also from our CSA box.

I can't start spinning until I finish another spinning project to make lace weight yarn out of what's left of the gorgeous wool/silk Pebble path.