Happy Labor Day!

This weekend was a crazy busy one and I should really be thinking about sleep, so this is just going to be a quick post with lots of pictures :-)

On Friday I finished Swatch #2 and got a couple more rows done on the Slytherin Ggester.

Saturday was filled with dyeing 3 skeins of yarn (Buttered Popcorn, Secret Santa, and Clifford), and lots of work on Triangle #2 of Dragonflies.

Sunday I went to the fair and didn't do any craftyness of any sort. I did try deep fried oreos though. Can we say ewwwwwwwwww?

Today was spent recovering from all day at the fair. Made some stitch markers for some upcoming swaps (I love my new design!) and for the After Hours shawl since the TARDIS ones I love so much are just too cumbersome for this lace project. I also got to row 15 on the shawl! Not one problem with it yet. Go me :-D I love that I can finally start to see the design coming together. Btw the red line through the pattern is a lifeline. If I do encounter any problems I can rip back to that row and it'll hold my stitches so I don't have to start the whole thing over again.

Day 10, Triangle 2: 36 shells = 2 hours 35 min
Average: 4.3 minutes per shell
Total: 189 shells = 14 hours

Pumpkin Pie a la Mode Sold!!!

Can you believe it? I sold my first skein of hand dyed yarn :-D
It's the first of Schmutzerella Yarns Superwash Sock. 462 yards of orange/white/brown squishy awesomeness! It will be going out in the mail tomorrow to ProudNana and I can't wait to see what she makes with it. Rumor has it that there might be a shawl in her future!

The sale came from me talking about the pictures I took when I got home this evening of 3 skeins that are alllllllllmost ready to go up on etsy. I hope to have them up and available in the shop tomorrow. It took too long reskeining these 3 that I almost lost my sunlight and had to quickly run to take pictures. I hope to do more photography tomorrow for the ones I didn't get to today. For now here's the super pretty Electric Mint Chocolate Chip, Blue Goo Goddess, and Foxglove Fantasy.

In other (and not nearly as exciting) news, I've finished the ribbing and my first silver stripe of the Slytherin Ggester. It amazes me how much faster this is going than the Jackson hat, but I have significantly more knitting experience under my belt now and it's a simpler pattern. I'm also pretty sure that this is the first time I've ever changed colors while knitting. How weird is it that I haven't done that before now? Not like it's a big deal, but I'm still fairly excited ;-)

I started working on Swatch #2 (K1P1 ribbing + stockinette), but then got so distracted by the awesomeness of selling yarn that I didn't finish it. Oh well, I'll work more on it tomorrow night. So far I'm thrilled with how evenly the stockinette is working up! It's been a loooooooooooong time since I've done flat stockinette (I almost exclusively knit in the round) and apparently my purling has improved significantly since the last time I attempted it. My ribbing seems pretty good, but the stitches have a tendency to lean a bit. I'm wondering if this will be corrected with blocking or maybe I'm just being overly perfectionist.

Unfortunately I haven't spent any time on Dragonflies this week. I've been so caught up in the exciting new projects that I haven't even thought of it. Not good. That little bugger needs to ship out by the end of September. With the long weekend ahead of me, I think it's time to pick up the hook again.

Swatch #1

Yesterday was one of those days in which I was crazy tired all day for no apparent reason. I hate it when that happens, but it wasn't going to stop me from knitting my first swatch for the Masters program. That was my first mistake. You'd think I would have learned by now that I shouldn't knit when I'm tired and cranky - it never ends well. The swatch was simple enough (K2P2 ribbing with garter stitch) and I didn't really have any issues. The tension was pretty even in the garter (always knew I could do that in my sleep!), and my ribbing was adequate - but not good enough. The second K was entirely too loose and was pulling awkwardly in just about every row. At this point I was super cranky, took pictures, and gave up for the night.

I posted pictures of the ribbing in a couple places on ravelry with a cry for help, and my wonderful friends came to the rescue! Apparently this is an extremely common problem and it can be corrected by making the transition between knit and purl just a bit tighter to take up the extra slack. I discovered that there are several ways to do this, and I was ready to try again. At knitting group tonight I re-knit the swatch, this time giving the yarn an extra tug when switching between knit and purl, and I'm thrilled with the results! My ribbing is significantly more even :-D

Now I'm curious to see what happens when I block them. A few people thought that I didn't necessarily need to re-knit my swatch, that the ribbing would even out with blocking, but I'm glad that I did. I learned something new and I hope that my ribbing is more consistent in the future. Can't wait to work on swatch #2 tomorrow!

In other news, my yarn that I dyed over the weekend is finally dry!!! I didn't have time to reskein it tonight, but I'm really excited about it and I wanted to show it off. I'll add new pictures tomorrow (and hopefully put them up for sale) just so long as the sun cooperates. The lighting on these pics suck, but it's better than nothing.

Red Hat

Pumpkin Pie a la Mode

Electric Mint Chocolate Chip

Lime Italian Soda

Blue Goo Goddess

Super productive weekend

I was totally the queen of multi-tasking this weekend. I woke up on Saturday, decided that I had a bunch of stuff I needed to get done, then jumped right in! On Wednesday I received a bunch of bare yarn and dyed a couple of skeins on Thursday. They were still drying in the shower on Saturday so I decided to add more yarn! 5 skeins kettle dyed!!! I came up with some really cool colors, and discovered that I apparently have something against the color yellow. This is the second major dyeing weekend that I made every color but yellow. Weird! The ones I dyed yesterday are still drying so I hope to have pictures soon, but in the meantime I can show off the ones from Thursday that are finally dry :-)

Bruise - Superwash Worsted

Currently Untitled - Superwash Sock

In between running back and forth to the crock pot, I did a ton of clerical work on ravelry. Updated my queue and did some organization (still need to work on that), added to my stash page, and did some research for upcoming swaps. I even got some more work in with my graphic designer for the labels she's designing for my yarn. Yay!

Today was all about more rav work, lunch and yarn shopping with Valeta (she loved the yarn I dyed and named after her - can't wait to see what she makes with it!), then back home for some actual crafting time. While at Main Street Yarn, I fell in love with a couple skeins of yarn, but due to my current yarn diet I was in pain over the idea of not buying them. Then brilliance struck! It's time to start thinking about xmas presents if I want a handmade xmas, so I was able to justify the purchase. I got the yarn for a KAL I'm starting this week (more on that tomorrow), and 2 skeins of mini mochi for a shawl for a receptionist friend of mine. I love the mochi and it's in colors I'd never use for myself but I'm sure it will be just beautiful on her.

While at Valeta's I was able to finish Buffy's arms and get some more work done on the Dragonflies shawl. I finished up the few rows on Dragonflies when I got home and now all I have is one more row of shells left on the first triangle! I feel like this is going quicker than I expected, though there's still a bunch more work left to do.

Mom was really productive this weekend too and made me a couple of new project bags! A Slytherin one for my Ggester KAL and a special sized Very Hungry Caterpillar one for my dolls so they don't get squished in my other bags. There's also a couple more in the works. She rocks like that!

Inspired by my new awesome bags, I decided to be a good girl and do my swatches for the 2 KALs I'm starting this week. I got to play with the new yarn and my gauge was right on the mark. Can't wait to cast on my hat, but it's going to have to wait for tomorrow. At least I'm all ready to go now! Woo hoo :-D

The other major thing that happened this weekend is that I signed up for the TKGA Hand Knitting Master Level 1 program. It's going to be a ton of work, but I'm really excited! Just waiting for my coursework to arrive now...

Day 8, Triangle 1: 31 shells = 2 hours 5 min
Average: 4.1 minutes per shell
Total: 136 shells = 10 hours 15 min

A Weekend To Dye For

Last weekend I spent the vast majority of Saturday and Sunday dyeing yarn, and this is what I came up with. When I got home from my sailing adventure today I set them all up on my swifts and reskeined them so I wouldn't have big blocks of color in the same spot. I think it really helps show off all the variations of color throughout the skein. I'm so excited! I love the way they came out, and I had such a good time dyeing that I think I'm going to take a shot at selling my dyed yarn. I've discovered that my favorite method for dyeing seems to want to start felting the yarn, so I think from here on out I'm only going to work with superwash so I get the results I'm really looking for. So... without futher ado... picture time!!!

Peppermint Ice Cream - Bulky (137 yards)

Falling Leaves - Worsted (3 skeins at 220 yards each)

Alien Slime - Lace (800 yards)

Purple People Eater - Fingering (440 yards)

Dusk - Fingering (440 yards)

I even got some time in this evening to do some more work on the shawl. I'm pretty tired so I only got one more row done, but my time is finally starting to improve. Yay!

Day 4, Triangle 1: 11 shells = 45 minutes

Average: 4.1 minutes per shell
Total: 66 shells = 5 hours 20 minutes

Don't drink the Kool-Aid (Part 2)

Dyeing was so much fun that I decided to dye again. Yesterday on my way to work I swung by Safeway for gas then decided to take a couple minutes to run into the store to pick up some coffee. While I was there it wouldn't hurt to check out their Kool-Aid selection, right? Turns out that Kool-Aid is on sale this week. Woo hoo!!! I picked up 10 packets then headed off to work. All day I thought about the wonderful ways I could dye my next batch.

As soon as I got home I got my yarn soaking - no time wasted! Learning from my previous experience I decided that I really wanted bolder color and more dye so there wasn't quite as much white. I mixed up 4 batches of color this time around. Each had a cup of water with 2 packets of Kool-Aid. Since red is the easiest route, I went with black cherry, tropical punch, cherry, and watermelon cherry. Not a whole lot of difference between shades, but wow, I love the result! I ended up with this glorious skein of bright red yarn without any white spots! Yes!!! The picture really doesn't do it justice. I can't wait for it to dry and knit with it. I think this yarn is going to end up being a gift to me :-)

The weekly challenge at Hogwarts this week is to make something found in the Chamber of Secrets. I totally turned this in as blood. I love the way my Slytherin mind works!

Two of the three skeins from my swap have now been dyed with Kool-Aid, so I decided it was time to take a break then try something new. I really have wanted to do something blue and green, but it seems like all the grocery stores I go to don't carry blue Kool-Aid. I'm not ready to start playing with acid dyes yet, so I knew the next step was going to have to be Wilton's icing colors. When I got home today I decided not to wait, dug out some sky blue and kelly green icing coloring and went for it. I used a cup of water each again and 4 colors - one solid blue, one solid green, and the other 2 a mix of the colors. I was surprised how much longer it took for the water to turn clear this time around, but it was definitely worth the wait. I'm pretty sure this is my favorite yarn EVER!!!

The most awesome yarn in the world! I decided it could be used as snake skin from the CoS. 14 points for dyed yarn!!!

This yarn is going to turn in to my first pair of knitted socks, and yes, I'm keeping it for myself. It's about time I start making things for me too, dang it! Mostly I just refuse to share the pretty pretty yarn. I could seriously stare at this picture all day. Now I just have to find the perfect pattern. I think toe-up will work the best. Maybe. I don't know. I'm totally open to suggestions too, so if you have any brilliant ideas please send them my way!

In other news... my first skein in cherry-grape finally finished drying. I dug out my yarn swift and yarn winder (first time I've had a chance to use my yarn winder) and had a blast turning my hank of newly dyed yarn into something manageable and usable. Seriously, if you don't have a yarn winder you don't know what you're missing out on. I got mine from Knit Picks and it was only $20 - well worth the investment! Who knew winding yarn could be so much fun?!?!

Here's the yarn on the swift. Swifts are pricey, but they're a total live saver! I loooooove mine :-)

Pretty yarn cake!

I couldn't wait to see how the new yarn knits up, so instead of saving it for a swap like I was planning on doing, I chose to start working on a Twisted Twigs hat that looks like it will turn into a Christmas gift for a friend. I can't believe how wonderful it's knitting up. I really like the white flecks too - it seems to make the yarn brighter. I haven't taken any pictures of it yet, so you're just going to have to wait until tomorrow to see the awesomeness.

Don't drink the Kool-Aid (Part 1)

I just dyed. It was amazing! I would highly recommend dyeing to anyone and everyone. I would also highly recommend saying that sentence to people that don't have a clue you're talking about yarn. I had so much fun telling my coworkers today that I couldn't wait to go home and dye after work. Now to the details...

A week or so ago I received the most amazing dyeing kit from the Try Something New swap hosted by the Odd Duck Swap Group. Angel101580 put together everything I needed to try dyeing with kool-aid, natural ingredients, and acid dyes. I've been drooling over the idea of dyeing my own yarn for so long that I finally got up the courage to do it tonight. I figured since I didn't actually buy any of this that if I screwed it up I wouldn't be out anything :-)

to-dye-for swap box

For my first attempt at dyeing I chose the Kool-Aid in crock pot method with DK weight yarn thanks to Knit Purl Gurl's tutorial. Check it out, it's awesome. Seriously. Anyway, you start out by letting the yarn presoak in a water/vinegar bath while the crock pot heats up.

waiting for it to heat up... and waiting some more... damn, now I'm craving spaghetti

Then you mix up the Kool-Aid in some hot water. I started out with just over a cup of water in each measuring cup: one with a packet of cherry, the other with a packet of cherry and grape (since grape is supposed to be more of a grey/purple color).

ooooh pretty colors!

Once it's all mixed and ready to go, just dump the dye where you want it in the crock pot. I realized that I didn't mix up enough dye, so I quickly made a batch of just grape and poured it in as well.

just poured the dye in.

Then it was time to wait some more. It took about 45 minutes for the water to turn clear, and that's how you know it's ready. In all the research leading up to this project, I kept seeing that was supposed to happen, but when I dipped my spoon in and saw the clear water I was still shocked!

yay for clear water!

I unplugged the crockpot, let it cool so the yarn could be handled, and hung up the yarn to dry overnight in the shower. I think it took about 2 hours or so from start to finish. Not bad :-)

I definitely have some white spots, but I like the way they look so it's all good

an overall view of the yarn - not colors I'd normally choose, but I LOVE it!

Now it's time to wait again. I'm just itching to knit something with it, but I have no idea what the heck I'm going to do. Of course I chose to dye DK weight yarn... I never use DK weight. Maybe a scarf or mitts or something. As always, I'd prefer to crochet, but I don't think that would show off the awesomeness of the yarn enough. We'll see what happens. Maybe I'll just wind it up and stare at it and pet it. That would make me happy too!

This isn't the fastest way to dye yarn, and it certainly isn't the way to do it if you want to control where the colors end up, but I had a great time dyeing in the crockpot. Once I learned to relax and stop staring at it every five minutes I was actually able to do some other crafting while I waited. For the first time in almost a year I got back to my chainmail jewelry. A while ago the mail carrier at work asked for a silver, green, and blue shaggy bracelet and this is what I came up with for her.

I just love shiny jingly things!

A special thanks to vberry for sending me dyeing tips and tricks, and just being an awesome friend :-)