We Have a Mitten!

I have completed my first colorwork piece. Okay, so technically it is only half of a project. But, I did it! I’m soooo excited and I *love* it! It even fits my semi-man-hands (of the things I got from my dad, it was his hands and his depression - thanks Dad!). It seems my floats were tensioned well as there is still some give to the fabric. I did run into a little trouble though…

The book recommends using k2tog and ssk for the decreases at the tops of the mittens. However, some of the ssk decreases threw off the pattern a bit. From what I can tell of the photos of the mittens in the book this was not a problem for that pair of mittens.

It isn’t drastic and I certainly won’t be ripping back this mitten. But I’d like to know for the other mitten and perhaps any future colorwork projects (yes, Ashley, I’ve been bitten and there will be more in my future) I’m wondering if there is a better left-leaning decrease to use or some manner in which to reduce this problem?

Oh, and it didn’t give directions on what to do for the final round when you decrease to one stitch between the 3 “seam” stitches on each side of the hand. So, I did a centered decrease as described in some of the patterns in Stahman’s book. So, I slipped two sts together as if to knit to the right hand needle, knit the last stitch and passed both slipped stitches over that one together. It looks great! I’m proud of myself for remembering that somewhat more subtle centered decrease.

Also, thanks to all of you who have signed my Frappr map! Some of you I knew were out there reading, but many of you I did not know. So, I have several new blogs added to my “test drives” folder in Sage. I look forward to watching your knitting and spinning over the coming weeks and months.

I hope all of those celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow have a pleasant and safe holiday!

Come to the Bayou…

Yep, more dyeing today. I promise at least one non-dyeing post this week, probably two, so if you aren’t into dyeing hold tight, okay? For those of you interested in dyeing, want a closer look?

This one took a lot of piddling, but I think it will be worth it when I have a pair of completed socks. Casting on for those will have to wait for some time yet. If you look at the yarn in another form, it might be clearer what is going on in this yarn…

If you look at the image on the right there you might notice that it is mostly that brown-green at the bottom of the photo, but as you move up the photo the yarn becomes mostly aqua and cream with just touches of the brown-green. Well, I wanted to be able to have as close to matching socks as possible. So, I took the original hank of yarn and wound it into a center pull ball. Then, I took that center pull ball and wound it into a double thickness center pull ball. This essentially split the skein into two equal half skeins, but they are in a center pull ball still. Then, I soaked the ball in water and vinegar overnight wanting to make sure it got all the way to the center of the ball. I dyed it with Wilton’s Moss Green. So, the outside of the ball took up the color nearly evenly, but then it broke and took up less dye the farther into the ball you go. When the bath was exhausted I rinsed the ball a couple times and then pressed as much water out of it as possible and hanked it so I could rinse it better and so it could dry better. Then, I took that hank and split it back into single strands, but made two different balls (one hand made and one on the ball winder so I could untwist the strands without too much trouble). This seperation of the doubled yarn into single again was a looooong progress. I watched most of Say Anything while doing it.

That said, I think the work was worth it. The socks should have a semi-ombre look, but with varigation going from mostly the brown-green with more and more spots of aqua and cream showing up. I’m calling it Bayou. In showing it off at SnB and talking with Ashley last night I think it might be a great excuse to try my hand at toe-up socks so I can get the green at the toe and get lighter and lighter yarn as I go up the leg. But, as I mentioned before, it’ll be a while.

I have one more hank to dye (for now, LOL!) and I’m thinking I may repeat this process with the Wilton’s black as I understand that one breaks into some really fun colors.

I *did* finally get to SnB last night. I’ve not been doing well at being there this month. And, it seems the universe is in trouble should Snow and I both get to the same SnB gathering this month. I guess next Monday is her turn. Last night was just three of us long time die hards, but it was kind of a nice break, though I did definitely miss Snow and Amanda as I haven’t seen them since very early in the month. But, now that I actually got to go to SnB I feel like my week is sooooo much better than the past week’s when I haven’t made it. It’s probably a lot about getting out of the house and having non-writing centered conversations. Oh, but I’m soooo much happier today than this time last week! Thanks guys!

Dyeing Experiments!

I’ve been playing with dyeing over the last several days. I’ve restricted myself to Wilton’s Food Coloring though. Partially because I have this *need* for every color offered whenever I jump into a new medium and it’s cheaper to do that with food coloring and partially because we’re closing in on the holiday season so spending for myself needs to decrease.

I’m unable to show off all the dyeing because some of it is still drying and others of it is even still in the rinsing stage. So, I’m declaring this week Dyeing Week on the blog :-) The posts won’t all be dyeing posts but I’m anticipating another one or two this week. That or course means lots of pictures and colors which isn’t a bad thing around here seeing as most leaves and color are rapidly disappearing, leaving us with the usual browns.

First up, some dyeing I did on Thursday night while DH was at his write-in and then the midnight showing of HPGOF. I present Greens!

I put a skein of laceweight and a skein of sock weight into the dye bath together. Since I had no prior experience to know how much food coloring to add, I just kept dipping my little disposable Ziplock container into the bath, mixing some more food coloring in and then pouring that back into the pot. I’d let that exhaust and I’d repeat the process if I wanted a deeper color. I pulled the laceweight sooner than the sock yarn. The laceweight contains only teal and juniper green. I think it turned out great. There is a bit of subtle varigation for interest, but not so much that it would detract from intricate lace patterns. Of course I would need to get over my fear of lace shawls for this to ever be tested in practice, but that is a theory anyway :-)

With the sock yarn I got a little more daring and added in some additional colors. The sock yarn is mostly the teal and juniper green like the lace weight just more of it, but in later dye baths I added some royal blue and some moss green to the mix as well. I was aiming for a bit more blue to the sock yarn so it might go back in for another bath of some royal blue. But, then again it is kind of growing on me as well. Another difference for the sock yarn — when I added the additional dyes I poured it directly onto the yarn resulting in a bit more variation in color on the yarn. Initially I had been using tongs to kind of hold the yarn to one side and adding the dye and mixing it in a bit and avoid a direct hit on the yarn as much as possible.

I am very pleased with both of these yarns! I got a bit more experimental with the next two I’ll be sharing later in the week. I tried some unconventional ways of dyeing them or preparing the yarn before dyeing them to be a bit more specific. I can’t wait for them to dry enough to get some good photos to share of those.

Now, back to the stove, though not for dyeing. I’m making cheese today. Ost kaka cheese that we’l freeze so it’s ready for the holiday season at some point. Our regular milk delivery day is now Thursdays, but with Thanksgiving this week it meant we get the milk delivered today. And, with all the writing DH still didn’t get any cheese made from last week’s delivery. So, I’m doing the Ost Kaka cheese and am actually kind of excited to be doing it. Ever since I show DH how to make Ost Kaka (which is what started him on the cheese making kick) I haven’t gotten to make it myself. So, it’ll be a nice change of pace for me to do it myself. It’ll almost be like being home for the holidays which I haven’t been since 1999.

Eight?!?!? :-(

The locations of the last 100 visitors to the blog according to my web stats.

My stats say I have many more visitors than 8 in four days, yet my Frappr map is rather sparse…

Please leave your link (if you blog) in your shout out so I can visit. And, you don’t show up unless you leave a shout out… Please won’t you sign it???

Harry Potter is good! As usual some liberties were taken to get it to fit. But, all in all, a fun film!

Next week there will be a bunch of fun fibery things to share. I’m having soooo much fun preparing for it! :-)

Stash Expansion!

Well, okay, not really. But it is still fibery goodness that arrived in the mail…

First up, I got this a couple of weeks ago. It’s 1-lb of Romeldale/CVM roving from The White Barn Farm in Michigan. I haven’t spun with it yet, but it feels great and what I’ve looked at appears to be nice and even and CLEAN. And, it’s a yummy oatmeal color and was shipped in an oatmeal box! DH gets a big kick out that. I’m thinking fraternal hats and scarfs and perhaps fingerless mitts (if there is enough to make through man sized of all of those) DH and I that go with our barn coats. Fitting, huh? :-)

Then, last night DH brought in a box from KnitPicks! My first ever KnitPicks order has arrived. I can’t really call it much of a stash expansion though seeing as it contained mostly color cards. I did pick up a couple balls of their new solid color sock yarn, Essential (in the color Fawn) and the Kimono Styled Sweater pattern. Having not knit it yet I can’t say too much about the pattern though the directions seemed pretty clear on the read through. My only complaint would be the lack of a diagram. As someone who often has to fuss with the fit diagrams are good friends of mine and I’d rather not have to figure it out on my own… But, I will…

There were five other skeins of yarn in there that I can’t speak of. Well, except to say that most of those won’t be in my house for long and that I won’t be able to show off pictures of them and what they grow up to be until after the holidays :-( But I shall share them as it becomes safe to do so.

Who is going to see Harry Potter on Friday? DH is going to the midnight show and then we’re both going to the 10:30am matinee on Friday morning! He’ll be there twice in less than 12 hours - that’s pretty crazy!