Category: yarn

  • mega-update

    The photos kind of suck – sorry about that.

    But onward! First the dyeing debacle. I wanted to try varigated sock yarn in all one colour, by not stirring the pot with the yarn in it. So I put in some Copenhagen blue and some regular ol’ Blue, and I heated it up, and added my yarn.

    This is what I got:

    Mostly blue, yes; but with lots of pink spots. It’s even more evident on the other side of the skein…

    The dye broke weirdly, eh? I wasn’t expecting that. I figure I’ll probably knit something up, and if I don’t like the colour I can always over-dye the finished project. But now I’ve got these

    …so I can finally break out of the primary-colour mode. I’m going to try and pick up a cheap steamer rack tomorrow and try some hand-painting, then steaming in the Crock-pot.

    In knitting, I’m up to my eyes knitting these for Beryl!

    As a consequence, my personal knitting productivity has taken somewhat of a dive. But I think I’ve achieved some semblance of balance between the two, so I’m almost done the body of the black raglan. I’m hoping to do the sleeves this weekend – I need wool sweaters, man. I actually only have 3 that I wear, and i can’t wear the Must Have *every* day.

    I finished the black cashmere scarf and am still working away on the brioche scarf (which I also need badly), but the pictures were crappy. So more on these later.

    Back to the books!

  • photographic evidence

    The first tier of the Koigu skirt is put together, and that hardly took any time at all!

    In a bout of startits, I started some Retro Rib socks (juuuust started) with the Shelridge Farm stuff I bought at KW:

    …and a brioche stitch scarf out of some super-soft Inca Alpaca – I think in the States it’s called Misti Alpaca Grande, or something like that.

    I also finally received my Vera, and a skein of Fleece Artist merino sock in “Renaissance”. And guess what? The Vera’s the same dyelot as mine! The second knee sock has been cast on, after a slight hiccup – I provisionally cast on the actual amount of stiches (instead of half) and only realized after the first agonizing row. D’oh!

  • FO alert!

    Katy!

    Katy
    Pattern: Debbie Bliss’ “Cotton Angora” book
    Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, off-lot Cavern (dark brown/purple instead of black) bought from eBay, 5 skeins
    Needles: Denise US7
    Started: September 18, 2005
    Finished: October16, 2005

    Just under a month later (and among many other projects), Katy is finally done! She’s a beaut, and no flashdance neckline either!

    Notes:
    – The knitting was super-easy. Mostly just straight, with cable crosses every other right side row.
    – I cabled without a needle.
    – I sort of followed Alison’s adjustments on how to make the neckline smaller. I did one additional decrease in the armscye to set the sleeves in further; I lengthened the body a bit; I left fewer stitches across the back neck for the collar, effectively making the shoulders wider; in the front, I stopped the decreases when the shoulders matched the back.
    – Three-needle bindoff for the shoulders, mattress stitch everywhere else (even setting in the sleeves was painless!)
    – Although the pattern is a big chunky due to all the cables, since I used thinner yarn it’s not too bulky.

    On a competely different note, check out these awesome colour cards I got from AmiAmi (and they were FREE):

    My favourite is “Faith”, it’s soooo soft. I’ll definitely be buying some..sometime.