Oh Hot Darn This Is My Yarn

Ok guys, I've been a crazy-monkey dye-er and knitter since my last post. I finished the lace pattern scarflette. I think it's gorgeous. I absolutely love the way the colors turned out. I did this on size 7 bamboo needles. I have realized I don't like straight, metal needles. Especially really long ones. I figure, anything you wanna knit you can knit on circulars. I also tried to do this with the lace weight yarn that I have in my stash. I am NOT cut out to do lace weight yarn. It's just too skinny. So, if anyone would like some very pretty light blue lace weight yarn get in touch with me and we'll negotiate ;-)

I also dyed an entire skein of Patons Wool Merino. I started by wrapping it vertically around my closet door. Next to my tape measure you can see how long that is. I then dyed it by wrapping different sections in saran wrap and pouring the dye over it. then when it was all wrapped up I stuck in in my crackpot (only minimal plastic melting by the end) and here's the final product! I used this yarn to make Jared Flood's Turn-a-Square hat. Since I didn't do the color changes it went really fast. Actually it took me about 5 hours since I knit through my three hours of Management class, an hour of Collection Development and about an hour at home. I also realized that it only took about 50g of the Patons and so I did the hat again in the Firecracker dyed yarn. Not sure what's coming up next, but since I'll probably spending all day on Monday watching my Library Instruction class online I'll need to find a project first. Have a good weekend all!

Popsicles Means It's Summer

Dyed some more yarn. Of course. Cheap Thrills :) I used Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade Kool-Aid and Tropical Punch Flavoraid for this one. I poured the blue in first but in hopes that the red wouldn't take it over like the Visigoths took over Rome. And this is how it turned out. I think it's my favorite so far. It reminds me of the Firecracker Popsicle. This is a Calorimetry I made with the Grape/Pink Lemonade dyed yarn. It's for The Teen Librarian who's in class with me. Fern and Waves scarflette with the Kiwi Watermelon/Lemonade dyed yarn. I want to do this patterns with some lace-weight yarn I have in my stash, so I did this to practice first. Finally this is a photo from a really awesome photographer that I felt sorta reflects the plight of the knitter at times :-)

Just As Long As I Dont *Drink* The Kool-Aid, Right?

I got my swap info! SO excited. This should be fun. I'll try and post as much as I can for y'alls to see without spoiling what it is.

Dyed some more yarn in the Crackpot. I soaked this stuff overnight then squeezed it out and put in in the Crackpot. Then I poured the dye over it. I should have poured the yellow over it first but I'm pretty happy with the results. It's got nice pink, orange and yellow hues and it smells like candy!

Kiwi-Watermelon and Lemonade Flavoraid. Dye poured in. Had I put the Lemonade in first I think there would have been a bit less orange made. Final product!

Not Technically Homework Anymore, But Still Good For Procrastination

So, technically this blog is no longer for homework, but I still have homework from last semester I have to do and I have utterly no motivation to go do it. Uber procrastination going on here. Seriously, this extreme lack of class time is not good for me. At least I've started going walking after breakfast so I won't spend ALL of my time sitting on my fat ass letting it get fatter.

Anyway, here are pictures of my merino dyeing adventure. I actually think I felted the fiber a little, but it seems to be OK to spin.

Black Cherry, Strawberry and Orange. The undyed fiber ready to be dyed. Black Cherry goes on. Strawberry goes on. I probably should have bought rubber gloves for this. Orange goes on. After cooking. About half of the fiber spun and plied (did I mention how I haven't been doing homework?) Using the Lemon-Lime dyed yarn to make Calorimetry.

That's all for now folks. Hopefully I'll actually do homework, but it ain't looking so good. Oh, also, I need to find a job. In a little under three months I'll be out of school. I need to find a way to support my yarn interests!!!

Lemon Lime In My Cup So You Know My Toungues Green

So after asking around on Ravelry I tried my hand at dyeing with Kool-Aid today. I didnt do it on my merino and instead bought a skein of Patons Wool and divided that up into two and tried it on that. I used a hot pour method that was described in Knitty. It didn't get all of the yarn like I hoped it would but it still looks cool. I'm going to do the merino tomorrow in reds and orange. I hope it comes out nice. Here is the pictorial documentation of my dyeing experience.

All the Kool-Aid I bought, the yarn and a turkey baster. Half the skein of yarn (about 50g) in the crock-pot. Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade, Lemon-Lime, and Lemonade all poured in the crock-pot. The Results. Grape and Pink Lemonade. I tried putting the dye in with the turkey baster to make it more even. The Results (and this I wound into a bigger loop).

As of now, my merino is soaking in a vinegar and water bath. I have mixed up Orange, Black Cherry and Strawberry Kool-Aid that I'm going to use for a cold pour dye tomorrow on it. Stay tuned for results!

I've Been Reunited With Yarn-ey Goodness

I'm back in Pittsburgh (after 13 hours of traveling, 20 towns and 5 buses goddamn podunk towns!) and into my last (HALLELUJAH!) semester of Library School. Thankfully from what I can tell it's going to be a pretty chill semester. Which would be nice.

Anyway, I started this ribbon scarf mostly in another attempt to keep my hands busy. I bought the yarn ages ago with the intent of crocheting a hat out of it. If I recall correctly, it just wasn't going very well.

Also, my Weight Watchers buddy (who is awesome and awesomely nice) gave me these fun furs.

Yes Sir, Yes Sir, Three Bags Full

Ok, I'm in Binghamton and now I've finally got a little bit of time to sit down and blog. The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival was AMAZING. Mom, The Wench and I went together, in the rain, and the cold, and had an awesome time. Mom isn't even a knitter and she really enjoyed it also. There were so many cool vendors with fiber ranging from right off of the sheep to cleaned and carded to already spun into yarn. There were so many different types of fiber also, different sheep, alpaca, one guy even had yak wool, which I discovered is surprisingly soft. The Wench and I did end up meeting two Stitch-N-Kvetch'ers, Leesy and Knitmammy who were both really nice. We also had a chance to go to the Ravelry meet-up where we got buttons and met Jess, Casey, Mary-Heather and Ysolda Teague! They're also very nice. There were so many different sheep around so it was really interesting to see the different types.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here's a bunch of pictures for you guys :)

Baa-Baa Black Sheep Mom and The Wench I think this one needs a barrette, or a haircut. Baby Alpacas Mary-Heather and Casey! Me and Jess! Leesy, Knitmammy, Me and The Wench This is a Jacob Sheep. They're called that because in the bible when Jacob worked out a deal with Lavan he got the speckled and spotted sheep. The Wench with her unspun Jacob Sheep wool. The Wench and I in the rain. It poured all day. Mom ended up with a sinus infection :( None of us brought proper rain gear. We all thought "its a festival and festivals mean sun! It'll clear up when we get there!" Clearly we're a bit delusional. All the pretty buttons I got.

My four ounces of undyed Merino Wool. I plan to dye it (wait for blog posting about that) and spin it. This is actually the only fiber I bought. There was SO MUCH stuff there I couldn't make a whole lot of decisions (and I'm a poor grad student). Next year hopefully will be a bit nicer and I'll get some more stuff.

So Much To Tell...

Guys, the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival was AMAZING. Even if it did rain the entire time. However, it's now after midnight and I have to get up at an ridiculously early hour (that I'm not even sure actually exists) in order to take an eight hour bus ride (that really should only take 4 or 5 stupid Podunk Pennsylvania towns *grumble grumble grumble*) I can't blog about the wonderful goodness that was the festival now. Instead I'll leave you with a few teaser pictures and I'll have to wait to blog about it later. ;-)

Regression and Anticipation

Well, I've regressed. I'm a 12-year-old girl again. I'm making friendship bracelets. You know what they are, you've probably even made one once, or worn one. It's when you take embroidery floss of different colors and knot it like macrame to make pretty designs. Very popular among tweens and since I am so bored while at home right now, I raided my sister's stash of thread and dusted off my skills and started knotting. I made two nice ones this week. One for my sister and I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do with the other. And since we're just shy of ten years since my heyday of making these I figured there were some good websites out there now with patterns and tips. Lo and behold, I was right. I happen to like this site. It's got video tips, pdf's and a hella lot of patterns. I was kind of thinking about trying to do the friendship bracelets with my stash of crap yarn when I get back to Pittsburgh, maybe make a belt?

Ok, and now I'm going to seriously geek out. First off, a whole bunch of people on the Stitch-n-Kvetch group on Ravelry are going to be at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I cant wait to meet them. Also, the founders of Ravelry, Casey and Jess are going to be at the festival and there's a huge Ravelry meet-up during the day, I cant wait to meet other Ravelers :-) Finally, I am a giant stalker. I started following Jennie Breeden, the woman who writes The Devil's Panties, on Twitter. She mentioned she's going to be at the Sheep and Wool Festival. OMG if I got to meet her I WOULD BE SO FREAKING EXCITED!!! Ok, done geeking out. Hopefully the festival will be fun and I'll be able to spend just as much time seeing stuff as meeting people. I hope to post pictures!