dyed roving

After lunch yesterday I pulled out the dye supplies and three of my ten (10!!!!) bumps of roving, and started playing. I got these bumps recently, mailed back from Still River Mill, where I sent the fiber I was gifted LAST summer to be processed. It came back in fabulous form, 14 lbs of fiber, and is sitting on the porch now, waiting to be explored.

I dyed three “colorways,” one in each bump. The first one was reminiscent of the first yarn I dyed and sold called “Sea Turtles.”

It was green and turquoise and yellow, and came together beautifully. I soaked the bump first, whole, in a pot of water and vinegar. Then I put it back onto the plastic bag it was wrapped in, and poured the dye over it, in thirds. The dye stuck in the bump for the most part, but also soaked through and out the bottom. The plastic bag caught that.

Then I pushed the air out of the bag and tied it closed, and rolled it around the patio, getting the dye all over the bump. Then I microwaved it in the bag for ten minutes, rinsed it out, and unwound it very carefully so I could hang it up to dry.

Once they were dry, I wound them up into 4 oz balls (or as near as possible). They’re so fun and squishy and colorful!

I experimented with different ways to dye and cook, and I’m still working on the best way to do it.

This one, “Seahorses,” ended up with a lot of white left in the middle, so I had to redye it, and now i have two similar-but-not-the-same colorways.

“Octopus” on the other hand dyed all the way through, for the most part, and was pretty consistent across the whole bump.

I like the little flashes of teal in among the pink/purple.

All of the big, 4oz ones, will be for sale. I’m going to do some sample spinning with the few 1oz pieces, but keep an eye out! I’ll photograph all the new bumps soon (it’s raining now) and either put them up on the SpaceCat etsy store, or through Ravelry, or maybe even at my LYS. I’ll let you know!

Good Fortune

Psst! Scroll down to the end for a contest! Yarn! Books! For you!

I’ve been the recipient of excellent fortune lately, having won not one blog contest, but two actually. A few weeks ago or so, Red Knits held a contest for her 100th blog post, and I was drawn a winner! So I wanted to share two things with you today.

First, Red’s generosity! I got the loveliest package from her the other day, full of yarn and goodies.

She sent me a yummy skein of Knit Me Now Yarn Sock Love in the colorway “Lady Slipper,” which is the state flower of Minnesota. It’s gorgeous. Pink and green and tight twist and squishy! I love it. And me not buying sock yarn lately… this was an excellent treat.

It’s so spring and festive!

Also in the package was a delightful bookmark needle gauge, which is currently tucked into my copy of The Friday Night Knitting Club from the Yarn Pirate, and a little tin of knitter’s hand cream. It smells good, and feels so nice on my hands!

Thank you, Red!

So, in return for my good fortune, I’m going to run a contest of my own. The bookstore on campus was having their end of year sale, so I picked up a copy of the first Knit Lit book. Leave a comment, telling me what kind of good fortune or generosity you’ve come across lately (can be knitting related, but doesn’t have to be!) and I’ll put your name into a hat. At 4pm (EST) on Sunday, May 3rd, I’ll draw one and send the winner this book, along with some other things (ahem, yarn) I’ll find to tuck in with it. =)

P.S. I’m almost done the PW’s socks AND my cami, so stay tuned!

Yarn Pirate rocks

So a few weeks ago or so, Georgia of Yarn Pirate had a wee blog contest, asking for suggestions of good etsy.com sites. I shared the one I like to go and stare at when I’m sad/bored/procrastinating/wanting in a little inspiration, Rosasharn Designs (I apparently visit it often enough that I started to type in etsy.com to find the shop and it was my second option in the address bar…).

Rosasharn Designs is a not an indie dyer, but an indie book maker. She makes these fabulously cool notebooks out of found and recycled paper! They’re so awesome. I bought one a few years ago for a swap and sent it to my partner, but have coveted these notebooks ever since. I think they’re great. They’re just the prettiest journals and notebooks, in all sizes and dimensions and paper counts. She uses envelopes and drawing paper and music sheets and coloring book pages and blueprints. Agh! They’re so awesome.

Anyway, Georgia picked my name from her contest, and sent me the yummiest and most generous package ever!

Included in the package was some handspun yarn (!!!), a book, and some candy. I shook the box before I opened it and was very excited about the candy noise. =P The handspun is 130 yards of her superwash merino (available in roving!) in the colorway “Pretty Pirate,” and it is all kinds of soft and delicious. I have already rubbed it all over myself a little bit.

It’s raining today, so the light is weird, and I got a whole bunch of shitty photos and only a few good ones.

I don’t know what I’m going to do with this yet, but it seems to be saying “mittens.”

Thank you Georgia! You rock!

oh dear

Hello blog (blowing the dust off).  I haven’t forgotten about you, I swear.  It’s only that I’ve been very busy with school and everything, lots of knitting, etc, but not a lot of time to take pictures of things.  You understand.  Most of the time now I’m out and about from 8 until 4, and by 4 the light’s all gone and my room’s getting dark.

But as it is, I am still knitting, lots and lots.  I’ve got most of my Christmas knitting done, and I’m working on the last two gifts for my immediate family (omg!).  I’d show you my dad’s socks now, but I forgot to take a picture of those today, so I’ll take it tomorrow and promise to come back and show.  He’s seen them, already, and tried them on, so that’s no secret.

The other gift is more secret, so that will have to wait.

I also gave DN and JP their Christmas presents, so perhaps I’ll get pictures of them in them tomorrow. DN says she lay in her bed last night wearing her mittens and watching Gossip Girl. She’s a bit strange.

However! I do have pictures of other things. Today I got my package from the Loopy Ewe which I ordered as a party for myself for finishing my novel in November (you might have noticed the little box in the corner over there).

cute note from Sheri, plus goodies

Spiraluscious pattern by Anne Hanson

Sheepy tape measure (silly addition, but so far very amusing)

Cascade 220 for the cowl (mentioned later)

Mountain Colors Targhee roving (mom, I’m under the impression the wait list for the fiber processing is very long…)

Four skeins of sock yarn, all Lorna’s Laces, in “Lakeview” (variegated) and “China Blue” (solid).

Also I started a pair of Monkey socks for myself (pair #3), and this one is not going to wander off because it’s in yarn that the Playwright got me in New York, and it is wonderful.

Finally for today, I have started (and half-completed) a cowl for a girl who I work with at the Arboretum. I’m knitting the Crofter’s Cowl (her choice) in Cascade 220 in a beautiful heathered teal (which I got from TLE). It looks bad in the dark light of my room, but it’s pretty, and she is very excited.

So for tomorrow! I need to do lots more photographing, but also lots of work, so we’ll see how that goes. Also this afternoon, while knitting, I finished “Post Captain,” and will probably start listening to “H.M.S. Surprise” tomorrow or Sunday.

“Ewe and I” Adventure (in some serious rain)

This morning I woke up and realized it was my first real weekend day of this new college school year. So I decided an adventure was in order! Because I love adventures!

Earlier, probably before I even got up here, I found the only yarn store within about 7-10 miles, Ewe and I, which had recently moved from a closer location near Bryn Mawr to about 3 miles from here in Narberth. This morning I determined would be perfect to go find it and hang out for a bit and learn the area. It’s actually set in a really nice little shopping area, and if I had taken more time to explore (or when I do have more time), it ought to be really nice to walk around in. Not as awesome as Hamden, clearly, but it’ll have to do. =P

So here’s my before shot. This is actually crucial, and you’ll see why later.

I set off on my trusty steed around 11:00.

The ride’s about 3 miles, part of it on moderately busy road, but all fairly flat and not challenging. I was tired, and a bit sweaty, because it has been very muggy here, but all in all a great ride. I really enjoyed it, and I had no trouble finding the store (or a place to lock said trusty steed).

The store was really nice! I will absolutely definitely be heading there again. The two employees there were very friendly and enthusiastic, but also very content to let me wander about on my own. I chatted with one, and petted the yarn. Their selection of yarn is different from Lovelyarns, but not in a good/bad way, just different. Their sock yarn collection is of unknown size, because it’s all over the store, so I kept discovering more and getting excited. They have Claudia Hand Painted and plenty of Noro, and some Cherry Tree Hill, and lots of other things. In the front of the store is a table and chairs for sitting around. I sat and worked on my Hedera sock and helped a few ladies figure something out. It’s instinctive, helping people knit in a yarn store, but I had to specify that I didn’t actually work there. Oops. Calm down.

Around 12:40, I decided I should go to Bed Bath & Beyond for part 2 of my day’s mission, if I wanted to make it back to school before the DC closed for lunch (at 2). It was raining by then, but not very hard, and I thought I’d picked a good time because it looked like the rain had let up a bit.

Well just so you know we’re experiencing the rain from a tropical storm, so no indeed it had not. In fact it was pretty much the same the whole time.

I rode to BB&B, bought me a mattress pad and stuffed it into my backpack. I missed the 1:02 train back to the nearest stop (because I thought perhaps I’d just take my bike back and avoid some rain), so I grabbed a burrito at Santa Fe Burrito and took my bike across the street. By the time I figured out which track I needed to be on and had carried the bike down some stairs, under a tunnel, and back up the stairs, the train had arrived. I showed the conductor my student ID, and he was like “What is that.”

Duh, it’s a student ID. Do I get a discount? Do you want my money?

“I’ll get you on the train,” he said, “it’s four dollars.”

I didn’t get on. I had $3 in my wallet, and I just said, “Nevermind, it’s cool, I have $3. Whatever.”

And the train left!

Well F-you, SEPTA, you suck. $4 my college arse.

So I packed my burrito away and finished my soda (I made the conductor hold it so I could find my money) and rode back to school, about 1.5 or 2 miles at that point, in the decently heavy rain. At that point it didn’t even matter anymore how wet I got. I was soaked. My hair was wet, my clothes were wet, my backpack was wet, everything was wet. I couldn’t even tell if I was sweating. I probably was. It just didn’t matter. It wasn’t cold, just wet.

I had so much fun that ride back! When I finally made it to the main college road, I screamed a hello at the guys playing Ultimate (I’m on the women’s team), and they were all kind of like, “What…?”

So here’s my after picture:

Yeah! Soaking wet.

It’s still raining now, 2+ hours later. It’ll probably last all night, too.

At Ewe and I, I picked up some Dream in Color Baby/Lace, because I felt like showing up sweaty, staying for an hour, and usurping some customer-helping ought to be followed by spending some money.

Isn’t it lovely? I’m excited.

Also, my first Hedera sock is on the foot region, nearing the toe. I need to try it on Julia (roommate) because she has size 8 feet and I need to see when they’ll be long enough.

Today’s been a good day. I apologize for not blogging much. I’m busy during the week! Ultimate Frisbee literally takes up 10+ hours of my week, which is awesome and intense. We practice for 2 hours, Monday through Friday, plus I’m expected to go to the gym a few times a week and lift weights, and go running once a week. I love playing Ultimate. It’s worth all the work. But that’s my excuse, anyway, and thanks for sticking around.

<3

Ravelympics!

I admit, I have not really been watching the Olympics. I’ve spent most of my evenings out with friends instead, stocking up on friend-time before I leave for college on the 27th. I think I saw men’s synchronized diving.

But god forbid I be left out on something fun and huge like the Ravelympics!

So I also decided it would be a “good idea” to knit for Christmas this year– something I’ve sworn not to do before. But since I’ve started now, and I have a plan, etc, it should work out with minimal embarrassment.

Start: August 8th, 2008
Finish: August 13th, 2008 It really only took two days to knit, but I made it too big the first time. Boo.
Pattern: Aspen Cowl by Andrea Tung
Yarn: Malabrigo Sily Merino in “Nocturnal,” which I bought at Yarn Paradise in Asheville, NC. Exciting!
Needles: US 8.

I cast on 130 stitches at first, and knit all the way to the end of the yarn, but that ended up very wide and short and outrageous, so I frogged it and started again with 110, which was perfect. It’s very cozy, and exactly why I prefer cowls over scarves. Plus they take 1/27th the time to knit, practically. I love them.

So that was finished, and then I cast on a pair of gloves for the Glove Decathalon. The Playwright asked for a pair of gloves, and so these will be for him (he’s already seen them, not to worry).

I love them. I love gloves! I even love fingers. I don’t love knitting fingers (I don’t mind it), but I love the way they look and how pretty the yarn is in the narrow tube. They are beautiful. I want a pair for myself.

The yarn is Lorna’s Laces Sport in “Jeans,” and while the PW asked for gray, I found blue/gray, and he was content. I love this yarn. And these gloves. I will have new gloves this winter too, let me tell you.

And then there I was yesterday in Lovelyarns, and I was there for a whole hour or more, knitting contentedly, when I got up to get different 4s for the gloves. And walked right by the new Dream in Color Smooshy that Sue had. At eye level. Damn!

So since I’d worked before I left and had some hours stored up, I might have come home with some.

I am a Smooshy whore. I’m pathetic.

From left to right: GoGo Grassy, Flamingo Pie, and Lunar Zazzle. They are beautiful, and exactly why I love this yarn. *flail*

Anyway, next in line after the Ravelympics are over: potentially a gift for my dad, although I’m thinking it would be okay to like, save that for later. I might get him something else. Whatever.

And then! More holiday knitting: socks for my cousins.

Last time I saw them they were little, and now they are 11 and 14 or something outrageous, and have normal-sized feet of normal-sized people, and not, say, children’s feet. But I’m knitting them socks, and I’ll start soon. My self-imposed deadline is September 31st, and then it’s on to presents for my other set of cousins (who are toddler sized).

Blue for Joel, yellow/green for Anna. I’m excited, actually. Anna’s socks will be Hedera socks, in conjunction with the Sock Knitters Anonymous Sockdown! 2008-09.

Knits across America

Well, just my knits.

So when we left (July 8th, over a month ago) I almost packed more knitting than clothes. I packed a week’s worth of clothing, and shoved it all in my duffel bag under the back seat in the RV, but I hid my knitting like, all over in pockets and bags, under seats and stuff, all over the RV. I took my Elinor tunic and all its yarn, a pair of Koigu KPPPM skeins for a pair of socks (Froot Loops!), my Clapotis, my Hemlock Ring Blanket, and the Palindrome scarf for my dad.

I worked on all of these, and even bought yarn to start two more projects (Nanners and the Aspen Cowl)!

I sort of finished the Elinor tunic. When I first finished it, back around July 10th, it felt a little short.

But now that I look at in comparison to what it is now (about 5 inches longer), I like it better short. It looks weird on me now, and I am disappointed, because I did all kinds of crazy cutting open and re-knitting and sewing back together, which might have been in vain.

I don’t know. So it’s in time out right now so I can consider what to do. I might undo the graft I did and rip back and re-graft it where it was and leave it at that. Anyway, now the band falls at a rather unflattering spot, whereas before it was just sort of iffy.

I’m not pleased. Oh well.

FOs

Also on the trip, as you may have seen, I started and finished my Froot Loop socks:

Also I started and finished a new pair:

Nanners!

Start: July 21, 2008
Finish: August 7, 2008
Pattern: Nanners by Wendy Johnson
Yarn Nature’s Palette Fingering in “Autumn Leaf”
Needles: US 2s, 2 circs (one at a time)

Cute! The pattern was fun, but at first I didn’t like the heel. It felt too shallow. But now that I’ve worn them both, it feels fine, so I will forgive. ^_^

WIPs

I worked on the Deep Space Clapotis, which you may be able to tell is long-ish in this picture, but I was getting bitten my mosquitoes at the time so I rushed it.

I started the decreases, too, and got most of the way through section 4 before I decided I could do two extra repeats of the middle section, so I ripped back, and I am very content. I love working on it, when I’m working on it, but it gets boring, so sometimes I put it down. But it will be simply beautiful when it is finished.

I partially frogged and reknit the outer feather-and-fan section of the Hemlock Ring Blanket, and it is coming along swimmingly, although the rounds do tend to get longer as I add stitches.

It also will be beautiful, but I am content to let it grow slowly.

And finally, I started the Aspen Cowl for Ravelympics 2008. I cast on August 8th in the morning, almost bound off August 10th, and decided it was both too wide and too short (and I had run out of yarn). So that too was frogged entirely and I’m reknitting it with 20 fewer stitches, and I am greatly pleased. It should be done by tomorrow, at which point I will start a pair of gloves, also for Ravelympics!

Yarn Aquisition

I hit four yarn stores on my trip. Hooray!

The first was Yarn Paradise in Asheville, North Carolina.

Malabrigo Silky Merino in “Nocturnal”

Koigu KPM in a Turquoise

This was where my mom asked me how I could honestly take so many different pictures of one skein of yarn. Clearly she does not understand. =P

The second shop was Hill Country Weavers in Austin, Texas, which I loved. I loved it there. It was room after room packed full of yarn, and I was thrilled. Have I shown you the picture of the sock yarn corner? It was awesome. I even went back a few days later when we were in Austin again (blahh) just to calm myself with the yarn fumes and look for spinning fiber (which I did not purchase, as I would want to spin right away, and I had no means to).

I got the Nature’s Palette, which turned into the Nanners above.

And also Lorna’s Laces Sport in “Jeans” that will become my Ravelympics gloves.

The third store was the Red Rock Knit Shop in Sedona, Arizona, which frankly was unimpressive, and I didn’t buy anything.

The fourth shop was completely unexpected: Spin A Yarn in Dubois, WY, where we almost didn’t stop until my mom off-handedly mentioned the yarn store I’d drive right past.

So I basically pulled over right there and jumped out.

It was really cute, and they had a whole section of local wool, and/or locally spun/dyed/etc stuff, so I bought a big hank of Wyoming wool that had been dyed by the owner that I chatted with.

That is a stupid picture, but it has my hand for scale, and the inside of the cargo van for context. It will become probably lots of Christmas hats this year. It’s very nice.

And then! The Playwright came over today and brought me a present, which was unexpected and very sweet. He spent the time I was away at a Dramatic Writing program at NYU, and so stopped into Purl soho and asked for “nice sock yarn.” What he brought me is very nice and squishy and beautiful, and I am highly impressed with him. He is very clever. ^_^

Fannie’s Fingering Weight, colorway “Rhythm N Blues.” Apparently this is their brand, or close enough to it, and I love it.

In sad news, when we got home from vacation we discovered one of our kitties missing. The neighbour said he’d seen The Admiral about the middle of the week, but the cat sitter said she hadn’t seen him since Sunday and hadn’t assumed anything amiss.

Please send good vibes for my Nelson to come home safely! We’ve put out fliers and talked to the neighbours and the SPCA and BARCS and everyone, but the little bugger wasn’t wearing his collar because he takes it off, and he likes adventures. I’m rather worried, but there’s not much else we can do. Send him come-home thoughts!

Thanks. I’ll go into more Ravelympics detail later. For now, goodnight.

Dyelot 2

Yarn! Exciting.

The only one I’ve listed is “Sarah,” the black/red/white one, but I’ll get the others up tomorrow.

http://spacecat.etsy.com

and now some yarn spam

So I spent some time yesterday playing out in the backyard with yarn and dyes, and I’ve now put up on etsy.com my first evarr sock yarn for sale.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=12665250

What do you think? I have another skein I’ve dyed that’s fit for consumption (the third skein is a bit short, I think), that’s the most fabulous emerald and turquoise and teal. I’ll be putting that up later, once I’ve wrangled it into submission on the skein holder. Yum yum yum.

I love yarn.

FO: Uzume (and a contest!!)

Start: May 5th, 2008
Finish: May 24th, 2008
Pattern: Uzume (ravelry)
Yarn: Hand dyed (by me) merino sock yarn
Needles: US size 2s, two at a time on two circular needles

Very pretty!

I have a short attention span, apparently. The repeat on these socks was only 6 rows, and so I had to do ten of them on the legs, and because I did them both at once they seemed to take FOREVER, so I was bored. But I plugged along and each little closed cable was very cute and satisfying.

I love the lace! I love how on the foot you can see my tattoo through the lacey pattern. It’s great.

Ah, so where is the contest, you ask?

Well this pair of socks is my twentieth pair of socks. I feel like that’s a lot. And as I feel like that’s a lot, I feel it also deserves a contest in celebration!

So here’s your job: leave a comment on this entry (and if you feel like it, link me a picture to your sock yarn stash, if you have one), and in a week (next Saturday, May 31st) I will put all the names in a metaphorical hat and draw one, and that will be my winner!

Here’s the incentive:

This is hand-dyed yarn, by me, in a gradient pattern. I’m actually going to dye another ball so the gradient matches (this one only goes light to dark) and you can knit two socks that will look similar, instead of one being all light and the other being all dark.

If you don’t want the purple, I also have teal, turquoise, and green. I’m using them all for my sweater, so I have more dye than I can use (except for all the bare sock yarn I bought).

Leave me a comment!