Hand dyeing yarn

Lil' AR, aka the Little Diva (LD), and I dyed some yarn last weekend. It turned out so nice! She has cast on for a little purse, and I have some plans for the two blue skeins I dyed.

What fun. I am so happy to be passing the love of fiber along to the next generation.

We went to school last night for ice cream and to meet the third grade teacher LD will have this year. Of course, we have known her forever, since she was my teacher, and the teacher for LD's two big brothers when they were smaller. She is a knitter! Yay, knitters!

She asked if I could come in and demonstrate the drop spindle for her class later in the year when they read a story about wool from sheep to sweater, or something. I said definitely!

She will also be continuing with the knitting in her classroom, since it was a big hit in past years. I'll be doing the afterschool classes again, too. As long as there is $ for supplies, I'm there!


Well, here is my two plied yarn. It really looks like yarn. Thanks so much to Carrie, for getting me hooked. I've had the stuff for a year, but I just couldn't get it. Now, I think I've got it!



I love the plying part, it's fun. Now, I have to get back to work. There really is truth in the saying a "clean house is a sign of a broken computer"! Hehe


Oh, yeah, I have to say Melanie, another knitting friend was with us when Carrie was showing me how to two-ply and she was just as confused as I was at first, but she isn't a spinner (YET) LOL

Thank you all for the nice comments!!

p.s. My camera date is all messed up, so if you click and see the pics bigger, ignore the date. 2002, Jeeshe!

Time to think.

Thank you for all of the comments. hehe. I really do love my oven. Yes, I am a geek, and proud of it! LOL! The kids and I made Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies yesterday, after school. If you love chocolate, try these. Wow! They are chocolatey! No, they are not good for you, but oh well, sorry! I got the recipe off of Major Knitter's knit blog. Then, we doubled it, it made 4 dozen big cookies!

See, larjmarj, I make a mess baking, too. This doesn't even show the chocolate dough that flew all over while mixing, or the dirty dishes everywhere.

Then, the dog, who walks around with her nose in the air sniffing if there is any chocolate around, stole a cookie! We had to put them on the top of the microwave, because she kept trying to snatch cookies off of the table! She has never tried to snatch other food. I guess she doesn't care that dogs aren't supposed to have chocolate.



I also did some kool aid dyeing. We have a different microwave than the one we had when I used to do a lot of dyeing, and it is much quicker and I made a boo-boo, and felted my yarn a little! SP said "Wow, how'd you make dreads with your yarn?" He was impressed, but I was feeling pretty dumb. I boiled my yarn! I pulled it all apart and saved it. It is a little fuzzy, but I don't care. It's my yarn, and I am knitting a green hat for the February Green Hat Knit-a-long at Get Stitchy!


Since I did some Kool-Aid Dyeing, I need to post the pics over at Get Stitchy for the January Kool-Aid Dye-a-long. I have become such a joiner!

Well, I am going to knit one more square and find out where to send them. Then, I have to finish the baby genius burp cloths, because I think the baby shower will be in February. I have to decide what UFO I'm going to work on in February, too. I will have those UFOs all gone by the end of 2007, or maybe even before. Finish, fix, or frog!

Once again, no title has come to me. Hmm. Time to think.

Knit On! No Tink!

More old knitting WIPs

Here are some replies to the comments from the other day:

Roo-bee-fay: Yep. MI is nice. Especially in the summer! The school is the main reason we stay here. The kids get a lot of individual attention.

Whimsical: It was fun. I drew the letter on graph paper, then knitted from that like a chart. Thanks for the compliment!

Del: Thank you!! Yep, bummer. I might just put the yarn pics up, and worry about the bracelets later. I need to sell my sock yarn so I can get more!

Stacey: Thanks! I got the link. I am going to teach that spindle a lesson!! Real soon!

Jennifer: Thank you! That's really nice to hear from someone who makes such neat-o stuff like you do!

Alliesw: Yep! That is so true. So, what did you do with the baby socks?

Ok, so I really need to get batteries for my camera. At least I have old pictures from my past knitting, and dyeing adventures.

First, to the right here's a picture of me (yes, I am a dork). LD took this after Christmas 2005. I dyed the yarn, which I got for Christmas, then knitted and felted the hat. The rest of the wool went for a my so called scarf. It was LB Fisherman's wool. It felted up really well. Sadly, the scarf also felted close to the end of winter. I think I can get rid of the felted fringe, refringe it, and have a smaller, felted scarf.

See the fireplace behind me? It is really a bookcase that I covered with brown wrapping paper, and painted. I'll have to post a pic of it sometime, since it turned out so well.

These handbags are from Hello Yarn. The free patterns are on the left side of her website. Adrian knits the most awesome stuff. She has a bunch of really cool free patterns: like these skull bags, and skull socks and other stuff. Check it out, she's amazing!!

The green and orange yarn is dyed (by me) Patons wool , and the black is just black Patons wool. I love this pattern. These bags were so fun to knit. I feel like making more felted bags, but I have to finish something before starting any more projects!

Well, actually, I did start those fuzzy pink slippers last night. I might knit them for a gift, though, and gift knitting doesn't have the same rules. Right?

I've been trying to spin. I'm not so good, yet. Frustrated, actually. I've been working on my hedera socks....pics when I get batteries!! I've been knitting on that bright red scarf, and looking at that pink/green handdyed sock yarn, but not starting those. Not yet, I promise!!

Tomorrow is the last kids knit club. I'll do more after school starts. The kids were talking about a sleep over some of them had, and one of them said "We were all knitting on the top bunk...." It's so cute! They were also talking about where they like to get their supplies for knitting, and how to get their parents to buy them yarn. The oldest ones are going into the 4th grade. Cutie, cuties!!

Well, life beckons! Gotta run. Knit On!!!!

MIA Blogger Found

I'm back again. Truth is, I've been stressed, and when I'm stressed and depressed, I react by avoidance. Yep, avoiding everything. I have been knitting, and spinning, and obsessively thinking about dyeing yarn, though.

I remember promising some pictures, and I've finally decided to get off my lazy butt, and show off a bit. To the right are pictures of the awesome quilt my MIL made for my husband and me. It queen sized, and I picked the colors. Actually, they are his faves, if I chose my favorites, the quilt would have been orange (and black). Of course! I love it, though. It's huge, and warm, and she did a spectacular job!




These pictures are some of the gifts that I knit for Christmas. I made so many things this year! I was bad and forgot to take pictures of most of them, though.

I made MIL some ft clogs, but I attached real slipper bottoms (plasticy rubber ones) to the bottoms. I made her sister the blue ft clogs.

I am especially proud of the flip top mittens, though. I handdyed the fiber, spun it, plied it, and knit some fingerless mitts for Oldest Son's gf. Oldest Son said she had been shopping for just the right flip top mittens, so I finished the thumbs, then picked up stitches and made mitten tops that flip down. I found a really cute button (no pic) and voila! She was wearing them every time I saw her before they went back to college. It always feels so great when people appreciate handmade gifts.

The striped gloves were for Oldest Son. I dyed the yarn, hoping for black and white, but the black broke (I guess that's the dyeing term I mean) I love how the black/brown/whatever stripes turned out (full of win) so I like them anyway.

The last pic is of some handspun (by me) mitts I made for Lil' AR.

So, I hope to get on here alot more, and come visit all of my fave blogs. Maybe when winter gets out of here, I'll feel better. I finished a big (for me) knitting project, and as soon as I get some good photos, I'll be back to share!

Knit on!

It's the weekend--Almost!

I love the weekend! The Don doesn't have to work. I can knit, or try to learn to spin. I can go shopping and get a camera battery!! Yay!
But, no new pics of knitting or spinning until I get one. It's a good thing you can't see my spinning attempts. Why does it look so easy? I feel like I should be able to just do it! Here are Stacey's spinning pics. She emailed me that she's not doing well. Don't believe it! Look, she has yarn! I have fuzzy, twisty weird stuff.

So, here are a couple of pics of some speed dyeing and knitting and felting! I got the yarn with a gift card after Christmas, dyed it with kool-aid on January 7th , knitted the fuzzy feet pattern from knitty with a few adjustments on January 9th,
and I was wearing them on January 11th. I remember it was so hard to wait for the wool to dry after I dyed it. I love the way the ball looked all rolled up. The yarn was Patons. (and some fuzzy stuff- I can't remember) I just doubled it, dyed it, and knitted it up!

I had my last kids knit club, group thing yesterday. There will be more classes after school starts.

Looking at these pictures makes me want to dye more yarn. I love the colors, and the way they go together, and stripe, and blend! Pretty! I have a couple of ideas I want to try. As soon as I sell some, I can get some more, and do it all over again!! I guess I'd better get on that selling part!

Thanks for reading my knit-babble!! Gotta go do some work, and then I'm going to master that spindle and show Stacey some yarn!! Hehe!

I almost forgot!! Have a great weekend!!

I Love To Dye....Yarn

Here's where part of the Motley comes in. Colorful wool. Here's a pile of yarn I dyed with Kool-ade. I'm going to sell it at an online shop. I just need to set it up. I've got some finished knitted items, and some jewelry to sell, too.

This is all sock yarn, most of it is self-striping. I had so much fun dyeing this yarn. I have been very good, because I've wanted to use it ALL. I've only used one skein of the stuff. It was for a pair of gift socks for my best friend, so that shouldn't even count. Right?

I have some acid dyes I'm dying (haha) to try out. I need more wool, first, though. I dyed some wool for felted bags, a while ago, and it turned out great! I want to dye some more worsted weight for purses, or whatever.

I was going to post another progress photo of my Jaywalker socks, but it wouldn't look too much different. Just a little longer. The heel flap is the next step. After the gusset I just fly. Tomorrow, I'll have lots of knitting time while visiting with my brothers and sisters. I'm already thinking about what yarn I'll use for the next pair I'm going to knit. What's the saying? "I'm not an addict I can stop knitting socks whenever I want to. I just don't want to yet."
I did a count of the socks I've knitted, and next post I'll fill you all in and share some photos of them. It's really not that many.

Happy Fourth of July to all who celebrate it!!!!

Dye Wool, Dye! ;)

I still haven't been knitting. I've been dyeing. :)
This is the white merino roving I got from Amy, and I split it into two half pound bundles, then went crazy with the acid dyes. I love the little jellyroll it made in the pan! So cute.

Then I had lots more mixed up dye left so I did a couple of skeins of white merino yarn. When I put them in the sink, after dyeing, they were both only dark bluish-purple, but when I opened the skeins up, all of the colors were there. So pretty, like tie-dye.

I also got my blue roving spun up, and today Carrie showed me how to ply it. Funny story: We're sitting in her dining room and I said "Ok, show me how to ply these, I'm ready", and she went to grab a spindle, I was like "What do you need a spindle for?" Seriously! "You're joking, right?" She said. Hehehe, really! I've heard everyone talking about plying, and I just didn't get it. Duh! It's not so magical when someone explains the simplicity of it. I didn't know you spin the two singles together. Urgh! *slaps forehead* At least I spun it the right way and didn't unspin! Then she says "You're spinning it the wrong way!" I even believed her for a second.

I'll show off some pics of the two-ply yarn sometime. I made yarn!!

Ok, lastly Hubby and I had our 15th year anniversary Wednesday. I told him I just wanted to go out on a date. Just the two of us, no kids, but he got me presents! I Tinkerbell shirt, a Dirty Dancing CD, and lots of chocolate! Does that man know me, or what? Then his mom gave us a gift certificate to a nice restaurant here, and is taking the kids! So I get the date, too.

Thanks so much for all of the nice comments on the face painting and everything! I'm so glad to have made such nice friends!

My MIL Rocks!

And here's why:

She sent Hubby and me to a Joan Jett concert. (This link has a pop up of her new video) I love Joan Jett. Seriously! She was rocking! And she looks absolutely amazing! I was close enough (standing right at the edge of the stage) to reach out and touch her. (If I shoved this one woman out of my way) LOL Before Hubby and I moved up to the edge of the stage, I was actually asked to sit down. At a rock concert! Yeah, right. I needed to go up to the stage and dance! It was so great!

There were a lot of older people there. I mean 70s or older. It was in a casino, and they probably got free tickets for being such good gamblers. I was saving my ticket, but I left it in my wallet, in my jacket, and washed my jacket. Urhg! It and a couple of pics (which I have more of) of the kids were the only things that got ruined.






So, that was Friday. Saturday, LD went on a Girl Scout Trip. I was a little sad to miss it, but I had quite a peaceful weekend. SP had to work, and MM was at his friends. Lucky us, we got a tiny little break from constantly taking care of someone else! Another little honeymoon. hehehe

Luckily, Carrie and another mom I really trust went and I didn't have to worry too much about LD being away for the whole night! And I got to knit..knit..knit. I finished the two pair of booties, and started another pair. Here's a pic of the booties, yarn for the next booties, and some yarn LD dyed. I think she could give me a run for my money on the dyeing! This is left over from a school project. They dyed yarn (FUN) and did a braiding project. I haven't seen it yet, but I can't wait!

Sunday, Hubby and I went to another concert. This one was quite different. LOL We went to church with the MIL and saw The Staffmen Quartet. They are pretty neat. We've seen them once a year for a few years. We aren't regular church people. The church we like is a bit of a drive and you know about the stupid gas prices, so .... plus, we're lazy and like to sleep in on Sundays, but we didn't have to get kids ready, and it was a nice break to actually go and sit with the grown ups and listen to some church music.


Oh my gosh! The funniest thing about the whole weekend was that the woman who plays the organ at MIL's church was at the concert! The Joan Jett concert! So was another lady who goes to Carrie's church! I don't know how old they are, but past their 70s, I bet! I know they got free tickets for being 'Gold Card Member Gamblers'. The organ lady told Donnie's mom that the concert was kind of raunchy, but ok. LOL!

Then, Sunday night we got to have some delicious morels from Donnie's cousin for supper.

I really appreciate all of the good friends and family we have. They give us good times, and good stuff! Just Kidding. But really, thanks guys!


I also appreciate all of the comments I receive from all of you great knit bloggers! Hopefully, when all of the end of the school year craziness dies down, I'll be able to catch up on my commenting!!!!




Knit on!



p.s. I just posted on my fo blog about the baby booties!

My newest hand painted yarn

Thanks for the nice comments! I did bike a little farther yesterday. Today, though, it's yucky looking out there. I hope it doesn't rain! MM and the other 8th graders are on a field trip. An outdoor field trip.


Well, here are a couple of pics of my newest hand painted yarn. I call it hand painted because I do "paint" the kool ade right onto it. I don't immerse the wool into the dye. I guess that's the difference between hand dyed and hand painted. It turned out really pretty. Different shades of purples, blues, and greens. SP told me I should call it leviathan. I guess I can, if I can figure out how to spell it. haha. Handy spell check! It does remind me of the deepest sea. It's a little darker in real life than in these pics.

I will be putting it in my etsy shop. It is worsted weight Virgin wool. 8 ounces, about 465 yards. This yarn makes some great felted items. I need to remember to mention that in the description. I have some acid dyes, that I'm dying (haha) to try, but I need another slow cooker, or some pans specifically for acid dyeing, first.

I think, before I do any house work, I'll go scan some other blogs. I've got over 60 on bloglines, and more that I check often, and need to add to bloglines. That is such a time saver. I used to check if anyone posted by going to each of my favorite blogs, and it took forever! I love that I can go to one place and find out if there is a new post.

I have a little meme thing that I meant to post, but I guess I had more pressing knitterly things to talk about. Maybe tomorrow. It's one that is things about me.

Time to go read blogs and knit. Then, on to the housework. (Yuck!)

Diamond Dave, Donnie, and a Dishcloth

Thank you to everyone for the sweet comments about my wedding anniversary. Thanks, Larj Marj for saying I look like Laura San Giacomo. She's beautiful! It's funny how white I look in that picture! I sure don't remember being that white, especially in the summer. I don't exactly worship the sun, but I get pretty dark in the summer. Dad's genes and all that.


My honey and I went out of town on Friday, and came home Sunday. Man, I wish I'd have had my camera working. My dishcloth would have liked to have had his picture taken at the David Lee Roth concert. It was so much fun. He really put on a great show! We had (cheap) lawn seats, that were actually pretty good, but then when the warm up band was done, and the rich people seats weren't full, we got to move up and sit (who sits at a concert?) in real seats. The warm up band was Ashes to Soma, or Ashes of Soma. Either way, they were good. Here's how eclectic our music tastes are: For my B-day last year, hubby took me to Naughty by Nature. Rap. Yeah, I listen to it all!! N.byN. was the kind of music my friends and I listened to in jr. and sr. high. My best friend was there, too, and Lisa and I were right up in front of the stage at that one!!


So, we stayed at a hotel. It was so wonderful to be able to sleep without the dog cramping my legs at the foot of the bed, and then to get up and not have to wait on other people(kids). They were at their Granny's for the weekend. On Saturday, hubby and I were going to go to the mall. But, we ended up at this little historical village. It's called Olde World Canterbury Village. Full of antique stained glass windows, and wooden doors, and artifacts. There's a castle (restaurant) and a store called Always Christmas. There are little shops that were buildings of the original farm. They are going to have a festival there with spinners. Yarn--yummy! They have an empty store that could be a yarn shop. There could be a spinning wheel demo, and they could sell the spun stuff, and have knitting going on. Oh, and dyeing the wool in the old way, like with natural dyes!! That would be so cool.

I tried to put up an awful pic of my awesome garterlac dishcloth right here. I guess Blogger is being dumb now. The pic of DLR worked, now I can't add my knitting pic! I've tried a bunch of times! I'll try again tomorrow. Well, if you've gotten this far, you know there is something to look forward to!!


I love this pattern. I finished one on our trip this weekend, and started another one. It was fun knitting in the car. My hubby, Donnie and I talked and listened to music, and he even pointed out other knitters in other cars. I used Sugar 'N Cream in Rosewood. I'd call it Neapolitan. It looks like the ice cream to me. That's one of the things I like about this cotton yarn: the colors. I have so many different colored dishcloths. I'm doing one right now in Summer Splash, it's bright bright green, blue, and yellow. I keep thinking of knitting a bunch of these squares in the garterlac pattern, and joining them together for a blanket. That would be cute!

Well, time to go do some housework. I think knitting dishcloths could count for housework, you know, you need them to do dishes. Right?

What we've been up to

To see what we did Friday, go to Carrie's. Fun stuff! LOL

Saturday we went to a charity event, where I painted faces for donations. This little mime had her face done three times, but I only took pics of this. And, by the way, Carrie and her Hubby did a carwash to raise $ for the charity. They did super great, and I believe that's what pushed our team into the number one money raising spot! Very Cool!

Then we went to my brother's, and the kids played in the pool until it was dark. What fun! I got to visit with my sister and her husband from down state. Her husband's brother was there with his wife, too. We started talking about knitting. She knits sweaters for all of the kids in their school. She also knits hats with the school team name on them. So cool! She and her husband drove their motorcycles down to visit with the family.

When my brother was talking about the Tiger's, my Hubby asked if they were scrolling scores on the bottom of the screen. He needed to hear how the Red Sox were doing, and it turns out My Sis's sister-in-law grew up

near Boston, and is as much of a fan(fanatical, super-fan) as my

Hubby is. So, then they started talking about the Red Sox. So funny.

But the big news here today is "I got the fiber and spindle I bought from Amy!". Yay! Amy sent me the most gorgeous colors. Soft mooshiness of wooly goodness. I am nervous about dyeing the merino, but I am going to do it! She also sent the most adorable little sheep button that is orange! Such a cool, smart lady! I cannot wait to make yarn! Carrie is going to have to show me how to do the plying thingy when I get it spun up. Whoo-Hoo!

You know what I'll be up to. Dyeing and Spinning. I'll get to the knitting part later, when I have some handspun to use.

Knit on, knitters, and I was going to say Dye on, dyers, but that sounds weird. So Craft On, Crafters!
:)

Duh!

I was re-reading my last post, and I can't believe I forgot one of my favorite jobs! I painted antique reproduction game boards at a little shop called The Painted Pony. I loved that work. How could I forget? It was so fun, and artistical!!

Hey, Whimsical, thanks for the compliment on my third jaywalker. I said second in my last post, but it's not the second sock, it's the first sock of the second pair. So, really it's the third Jaywalker sock. I guess I really am forgetful lately.
Mindy, I can't wait to read your meme. I loved Charmed. I am a geek! Supernatural is ok, too, but I forget to watch sometimes.
Sharon, thank you for the compliment on my yarn. Dyeing is so much fun for me. I would love to come to Australia someday. It is one of the places that just fascinate me for some reason.

I have to go get on with my weekend. I have to go buy a birthday present for my Little Diva. She has a birthday next week, then mine is two weeks later. Fun! Have a great one, all!