Yummy yarn and playing hooky

Yum! Yarn cake. =)

I ordered this while at the Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival last month. The seller (Sandy's Palette) had some roving dyed in these colors, but nothing spun. I don't spin... yet. The positive? I got to pick the yarn since Sandy offered to dye a couple skeins for me and ship them for free (the shipping was free, not the yarn - if only!). I've been looking for nice yarn in chocolate and turquoise for awhile, but have only seen it in acrylic. I chose a wool/mohair blend and it is so soft. The colors in the second skein are a bit less vibrant, but a slight difference is to be expected with hand-dye jobs, right? I'll just have to be sure to alternate the skeins when I knit these up. The plan is a pair of mittens and a hat or maybe a cowl. =)

I tried my own hand at dyeing yesterday. All the parts and pieces for my felted messenger bag are finished. I felted everything yesterday, then followed a tutorial I found online for dyeing using Wilton icing colors. I didn't take into account just how much these pieces would look like muppet pelts once felted! lol The tan didn't go as dark brown as I'd hoped (was hoping for chocolate, I got camel) and the purple lost some color in the felting process. Not thrilled with the resulting combo. I'm debating over-dyeing the purple I used for the strap to get a darker color. Thinking of using black cherry Kool-Aid this time...

Played around with cotton and a hook this morning and came up with this:

Version 2.0 of my previously attempted face mitt. The one I made a few months back worked, but is so dense it takes forever to dry and it too stiff to easily form to my hand. So this one is worked in a much looser stitch (ext dc rather than hdc) with a row of sc at the edge to keep it from stretching out too much and of course, a loop for hanging to dry. A little texture, but not too much. Worked wonderfully on its maiden voyage. =) This would be great for washing dishes too.

Now I'm off to peruse my new vegan cookbook. Yum!