an afterthought

This morning, I set up my little loom as a 7" square to make some dish/wash cloths:

I used a strand of Lily Sugar 'n Cream in "country stripes" along with a strand of white. I really like how they turned out! Super quick, super easy... and a great way to use up some of my dishcloth cotton. =) I could easily get 5 of these from one skein of the stripes held along with a solid and have extra for another project.

(Ravelry project page)

The project I mentioned winding yarn for in my last post? I started these on Friday and they're coming right along!

These are my first socks done two-at-a-time... also my first afterthought heels... AND my first time working with my own hand-dyed self-striping yarn! =)

(Ravelry project page)

Dyed in the wool

I've been wanting to try dyeing for awhile now. I did overdye the tan parts of my messenger bag with brown Wilton's icing gel. It came out darker, but not quite as dark as I'd wanted. So I'm planning to overdye the purple strap a darker color before putting it together. Forgot to take a pic of that, I was so distracted by my newest attempt at dyeing. =)

I had a small amount of Lion Brand wool in winter white so I tried dyeing it with black bean soaking water. eh I got kind of a tannish color, nothing pretty. I didn't use a mordant though and probably hadn't soaked the beans as long as I should have either so didn't have enough color in the water. I'll try it again someday...

So, instead, I overdyed it again with Kool-Aid. LOVE!! And so freaking easy!

I rinsed the yarn first in vingar water, then I used black cherry, grape and berry blue and microwaved it (2 min, let cool 2 min, heat 2 more min then let cool completely before rinsing).

I'm SO happy with the results! I have another ball I've made into a skein and plan to dye it as well. This could get addictive very quickly! heh I'm already thinking of what I can overdye that's in my stash. There's a pale yellow that was super soft and so cheap even though I didn't love the color... =)

I've also made a few more of the little wash mitts. They're so quick and easy and use almost no yarn.

Great for using up scraps of cotton! =)

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!

More Christmas Knitting! (dish cloth and WIP)

One more dish cloth finished! I used the same pattern I used for my alpaca stole. I think it makes a great wash cloth! It's nice and thick and textured enough to create a nice lather.


I worked on my sister's fingerless gloves in the airport and on my flight back home on Friday. Just need to finish the thumb and I'm halfway finished! Not so thrilled with this pattern though. The ribbing on the arm is perfect. The hand portion, however, is much too baggy and the instructions state to knit stockinette an inch past the thumb gusset and bind off. Way too short! I knit about an inch, then added on another inch of 1x1 ribbing so the edge wouldn't roll as in the original design. If I had more time (or didn't have to work this week), I'd rip these back and try it again with a few modifications. Ah, well. The recipient more than likely won't care so much. They're okay as is, I just know they could be better. Loving this yarn though!