Category: dyeing

  • fibre-filled weekend

    This weekend I spent knitting, spinning, and dyeing (with a bit of school reading for good measure). When I wasn’t actively doing one of them, I was thinking about it! So results –

    In spinning, I did up some 2-ply merino in a pretty damn bright orange:

    Wound off, with a skein of a purpley-greeny merino in the middle. The big skein of orange is 280 yards, the small one 140 yards, and the purple one is 150 yards. I *think* I’m going to open up an etsy shop for my handspuns soon (that is, if I can stand to part with them) so most of my spinning in the next while will be for that, I think.

    I also carded for the first time, some silk noil that I got at lettuce knit. It’s got all kinds of funky crap in it. I tried blending it with some blue merino.

    It was…interesting. I made some funky-looking rolags to try spinning.

    In knitting, I finished the front of Nordic Memories! Everything’s in for a soak now. Then comes the sewing up and the neckband…I’m hoping to get this one done soon, soon.

    Now I’m sort of in knitting limbo – what do I knit next? I think I’ll start another shawl, and some kind of fairly plain pullover, maybe a raglan with cables on the sleeves. Or maybe this is my chance to try out the EZ seamless saddle shoulder! I also need to figure out what the hell to do for the Knitting Olympics!

    And finally in dyeing, with no photos – I’ve been dyeing up some more silk hankies for lettuce knit, and having a lot of fun. Going much quicker this time around, I think.

  • 24-hour FO

    Thursday night, sometime in the wee hours:

    The start of a simple stockinette-and-garter stitch shawl, inspired by Adrian’s. I think after I took this photo I ripped this piece and started over with a bigger needle…

    Friday night, 11 pm, after knitting at work (until I ran out of the skein I’d brought) and while chatting on the phone – all done!

    Another demonstration of the magic of blocking!

    Glamour shot.

    simple shawl
    Pattern: my own, simple shawl shape with garter and stockinette bands – if y’all really want a pattern, I can write it up
    Yarn: my own handspun merino/tussah silk, a bit less than 8 oz
    Needles: denise US11
    Start/Finish: January 6, 2006

    Ah. Nice fast, simple project. This was one of my first yarns spun on my wheel, back when I got it (June). It’s a lovely burgundy merino/silk blend from Louet, and although I overspun it, the yarn is soft and shiny.

    In something slightly different – check out this yarn Jill and I did up last Monday at my place – it’s for her, and I think my most successful dyeing yet!

    LOVE IT. I’ll have to try and recreate it for myself!

  • i get lots done when i’m s’posed to be studying

    I uh, adjusted my thinking on the steeking of the fiery bolero. as you may recall, the sleeves turned out too long, so I was going to do some surgery involving crochet steeks. Which would’ve been a really elegant solution, I think.

    Meh.

    A big ol’ hem. And no ribbing necessary, so I didn’t sew it up as much as I would’ve steeked off. Yes, it’s a bit bulky, yes it’s well, really not all that great. But I don’t have the mental energy right now spend working on it! I’ve only done the one hem, I’ll do the other one and the body ribbing after I’m done exams.

    In other news…Saturday night I decided to make my grandma a tam (I also decided to just buy my grandpa some scotch and be done with it). I cast on with some Mission Falls from the stash, knit the band and a bit more that night, then spent pretty much all yesterday knitting the rest. I used Ann Budd’s book, and I remembered that Aven had some trouble with the same pattern. She resolved it by decreasing every row rather than every other, so I decided to let her experience be my guide.

    As you can see, it’s a bit wonky – I know it’s supposed to be flat, and it’s really not. But I think it’s a perfectly fine hat nevertheless. My grandma’s more of just pull-it-on rather than the whole jauntily-tilted thing anyway.

    Three gifts are already out the house (the wine and cozy, gauntlets, and robot #2, which I finished seaming directly before it had to be wrapped and therefore I didn’t get a photo) and I think I’m quite on track! Just the bolero, a bit of seaming on Pasha, and the bottoms of the felted clogs left to do.

    So I worked on the Urban Aran.

    It’s super long and skinny, but I’m gonna need some of that length to convert to width when I block!

    One last thing – I managed to dye some hankies in a colourway I love so much I just had to show it (and it’s even more vibrant in real life):

    Definitely reproducing this in wool and doing up some thick and thin. Or maybe sock yarn. Who knows!