Fiber Fool

Pattern: My Own, based off of a pair of commercial socks I bought, though I believe this stitch pattern can be found in Sensational Knitted Socks. 72 sts, picot edge and top down.
Yarn: My Dye-O-Rama St. Lucia Yarn from Kirsten of Through the Loops
Needles: Two 16″ Sz 1 (2.5 mm) Addi Turbos
Recipient: Myself

Notes: These socks were completed on January 1, 2007, making them the first FO of the year. Though to be fair only the toe on the second sock remained to be knit. I started the final phase on our drive down to DH’s family holiday and was completed by the time we got to Castle Rock. I had forgotten my tapestry needle somehow so the socks were transferred to some bobby pins my SIL3 had in her purse and kitchnered later so that I could start a new pair of socks.

It took me a long time to knit the pair, but neither sock took long to knit. The first sock was completed July 26th, 2006. I cast-on the second sock December 23rd/24th while I was up for four hours in the middle of the night after going to bed at 6:30pm. That was the only knitting that got done on that sock until we returned home on the 27th.

I would have never in 100 years chosen this yarn from a pile at an LYS. Even though it is a favorite color combo it is much brighter than I usually go for. But, I *LOVE* these socks! They are so bright and fun. There is very nearly zero pooling or flashing (how’d you do it, Kirsten?)! It is just what the doctor ordered for this winter of weekly snow storms! I have a pair of pants that go great with them and I’m pretty sure I even have a green shirt around here to top off the ensemble.

Thank you once again Kirsten! The yarn was wonderful to work with and the bright, bold colors were just what I needed!

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1. Dye-O-Rama Socks in Pocket 1, 2. Modeled Dye-O-Rama Socks, 3. Dye-O-Rama Picot Edges, 4. Dye-O-Rama Socks in Pocket 2

Despite the lack of posts on knitting there has been knitting going on around here. It hasn’t all been baking and spinning. However, it has been rather boring knitting that has taken place so I haven’t been showing it off. With the heat and the on-the-go schedule of summer I’ve been mostly knitting socks. I have two completed socks, but I’m afraid they are not mates.

See, the gorgeous sock yarn from Kirsten arrived shortly before the Trek-a-Long started and I couldn’t wait until after my Treks were over to see what that hand dyed yarn was going to look like so I cast on for that. I’m not one for knitting two different sock patterns at the same time usually so I didn’t really do any real Trekking until that first one was done last Monday. Then it was time to focus on the Trekking, and focus I did! I kicked that puppy out in under a week!

I’ll knit the Trekking mate and then probably go back to the Dye-o-Rama mate before starting another Trekking sock as I don’t care to have unmated socks around for very long. And, I’m hoping the trekking socks will get to trek here before this holiday weekend is up.

First up, Scout put out another call for knitting spots. Well, I moved mine yesterday… Not permanently mind you, but I spun up 2 ounces of my Northern Lights BFL roving yesterday while sitting under our plum trees in the back. It was nice and breezy and mostly shaded (though my chest which is now a tomato doesn’t quite agree with that). I’m a bit ashamed to show you what I could see from my set-up, but our yard is a work in progress. We got a terrible yard when we bought it. We signed our contract four months before we closed and in that time the people we bought it from stopped watering, mowing, cleaning the house, etc. And, they amused their children while packing by giving them crayons and pencils to color on the walls (all of them) and then strategically placed boxes over them for our final walk through…. Oooo, I got off on a tangent there didn’t I? Ah, my spinning and knitting space from yesterday…

Well, there has been no significant weight loss in the past two weeks and I’m afraid my walking of Emma has dwindled as it has gotten warmer and the pollen counts have been rising. But I’ve maintained which is okay.

I have noticed more toning though. This past weekend I realized that I once again have biceps. I don’t know that I can express how happy this makes me. I grew up on a farm. It was good to be strong and not have any troubles moving around 40-lb feed bags and 70-lb bales of hay. Not that I did it very often, but it was good to be independent when it came to heavy things. I wouldn’t be stupid and go out and lift heavy things for no reason now, as I still have some back/neck issues. But, it has been at least a few months since I had a real bad bout of muscle spasms. And, ultimately that is my real goal and any benefit of weight loss is a plus.

My eating hasn’t been as good as it could have been, but it hasn’t been terrible. My biggest struggle is lunches. It’s so much easier to go through a drive through after water aerobics. I can do pretty good if I got to Wendy’s. If I get their grilled chicken sandwhich with a fruitcup, water, and a junior frosty it is only 11 gm of fat, leaving me 29 gm of fat to spare for the rest of the day. I do like my miso soup and edamame and that is very healthy, but I do need to mix it up or I’ll get sick of it fast. What are you favorite healthier lunches that are quick and easy for one??

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There hasn’t been any progress on Icarus since 5/16 or so. I was too busy trying to get those citrus hats completed for the baby shower this week as the shower was only announced about ten days before it happened. I also got sucked into the lure of my recieved dye-o-rama yarn and have cast on a sock - not the brightest idea considering the Trek-a-Long begins soon, but oh well, you go where your muse takes you, right? I’m dedicated to Icarus and she’ll be completed by summer’s end I’m sure.
Well, that is about all that is worthy of update.

I’ll have the Amazing Lace intro and an update on my Dye-o-Rama dyeing early next week. I’ll also have another Spectrum Sunday. Though I may opt to take Monday off. We’ll have to see. I find it hard to get things done when DH is around and under foot…

I hope those of you in the US enjoy the long weekend and the marker of the summer vacation season. Be safe!

I was so surprised when my doorbell rang yesterday afternoon around 2:30pm. I wasn’t expecting anyone. My Dye-O-Rama swap buddy had commented last week that my package would be on its way, but I wasn’t expecting it on Monday! But sure enough, it was our lovely postmistress with a box that wouldn’t fit in our little locked mail box. When I opened the box, on top was an envelope and some bright blue tissue.

She had already won me over in a big way with the awesome card. I love the bold graphic designs and the colors on this one are great. I was also excited because the card had said she too was making her first jump into acid dyes and that she decided to follow my lead and dye Dale Baby Ull, a wonderfully soft superwash wool. When I removed the tissue I saw the yarn first. I pulled it out and danced around the kitchen with it, LOL! The colors were better than I could have ever imagined. I have so many long sleeve, short sleeve, and tank tops in those shades of green, I could live only in these socks once I get them knit, LOL! It was great. But, what was even cooler were the labels she put on them… Santa Lucia Yarn! Swedish! Then when I wrote her yesterday to let her know it arrived and tell her how happy I was she told me that is an old family photograph. That makes it even more special! When I finally got done dancing around the kitchen I dug a little deeper in the box as it seemed there was something else in there. Sure enough - there was the Big Girl Knits mug! She’s been reading my blog very closely!

Here is a closer look at the colors of the yarn. They look pretty accurate here on my computer. I suppose I should lift the suspence and tell you all who the very best Dye-O-Rama buddy is so if there is another round you can request her… It was Kirsten of Through The Loops!

Kirsten, this package was better than I could have even come up with for myself! In fact, I cast on for a pair of socks last night at SnB with it. I’m doing a picot edge and slip stitch rib on them. There will be further photos of it in progress probably later this week.

I was telling Kirsten I was going to have to come up with another blog post for this week because I was going to put out a call for you all to suggest mugs that say “Kristi” to you. You see, since I got the coffee maker from DH for Valentine’s Day I have been wanting a mug to call my own. Not one that goes with our dishes or one that DH picked out long before he met me. Now I have one and I love it!

I’m of the firm belief that no one can have too many mugs, so if you know of or even run across one at anytime that makes you think of me, send me a URL please, okay? Obviously I love green or purple. I like unusual color combinations. I like humor, but I don’t often drink my coffee very first thing in the morning so jokes about being asleep or fresh out of bed are probably not my thing. I adore geometric patterns and designs. I’m not a big floral print sort of person, though if it is bold and graphic I’d probably like it.

Thanks once again, Kirsten! Now to go make a pot of coffee and enjoy it in my mug…

Tuesday I decided to break out the old dye pot again and start playing around. I was going to use my real dyes I picked up a week or so ago (violet, purple, chartreuse, and gold ochre Jacquard Acid Dyes) but we didn’t have appropriately sized jars for mixing up the dye stock. So I decided to use the sale-priced Kool-Aid. I haven’t really explored that much instead I usually go for the Wilton’s.

It has also been getting rather warm around here and because we lack big shade tress our house gets *really* hot by late afternoon so I try to cool it down as much as possible and keep it as cool as possible as long as I can. So, I didn’t really care to have a big stock pot simmering away on the stove all day. Since we are at an elevation of nearly 5000 ft I decided to solar dye. I took an old box and covered it with aluminum foil to act as a reflector and I went outside to set it up. However, it was a bit breezy and I couldn’t keep the reflector in place. Then inspiration struck.

I drive a black hatchback. It’s 13 years old so if for some reason something would spill, I wouldn’t cry about it. When it is parked, the rear window is aimed in a southwest direction. Perfect! I removed the rear shelf, put the reflector in as well as the dye pot and a zip-loc with some other dye and yarn in it and shut the trunk. It cooked very well out there. In fact, I had to use pot holders to carry the dye pot back into the house. I didn’t get a temperature reading as the four immersion temperature probes in the house get used for cheesemaking and I wouldn’t have a driveway to park my hatchback in any longer if I used one for measuring the temperature of dye liquid.

I suspect it worked well enough that if I pre-heated the pot of water I could probably still solar dye in the car in colder months just from the solar gain in combination with the black of my car. Now, my car has a slight fruity smell to it right now, but I don’t mind that. It is pretty slight and I’m not sure anyone else would even pick up on it unless they knew I dyed with Kool-Aid in my trunk.

Want to see the final results? As usual, click the thumbnail to view the larger version…

I was planning on sending the violet-y one to my dye-o-rama pal as she said her favorite color was purple. Purple is one of my favorites as well and I like it, but I’m a bit concerned that it might not be purple enough. In real life it can almost look a bit like a deep mauve. It leans pretty heavily towards the reds. I’m contemplating over-dyeing it with the Jacquard Acid Dyes Violet or maybe Purple, or perhaps some of each… What do you think?