Month: September 2010

Seraphim Shawl

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I began this shawl with my kettle dyed sock weight in what I consider an absolutely perfect color. As the shawl called for more yarn than I had, I eliminated 3 repeats of the stockinette portion in order to make it small enough to use the yarn I had dyed.

I miscalculated in a very big way.  Very big.  And sadly, that was the last undyed sock weight I had on hand, so not only did I need to dye more yarn to hopefully match what I was knitting, but I had to dye laceweight and hold it double to finish the shawl.

The laceweight did not pick up color the same way, in fact you could say it basically ignored the blue tones that mingle with the turquoise and teal.  Thankfully since it is a triangular shawl, it basically looks like a border.  So, what do you think?

Necessary to post

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I find it necessary for me to come up with something to post. And since all my projects are in various states of unfinishedness, I found it necessary to spin.  Finishing up some spinning often gives me a quicker finished object when necessary.

I’ve been working on this undyed fiber I purchased at Iowa Sheep and Wool.  The combination is alpaca/silk/cormo.  I didn’t realize it when I purchased it, but this fiber really was quite dirty, not unprocessed but we can assume half processed.  I found all manner of sticks and dirt and….worse…bugs in it.  Not the scary moth type fortunately, but even so!  Since I had purchased 8 oz. the project is a long one.

I’ve spun it into a 2 ply heavy laceweight.  I am halfway through and got 580 yards out of this one.  I should weigh it all again, as without the vegetable matter I suspect it is now less than 4 oz.  I had to wash it numerous times in very hot water, as the water came out quite dirty.  Thus, the neutral tones are somewhat brighter than I anticipated them being while I was spinning it.  Nevertheless, I am very pleased with the end result, and it is quite soft and fluffy. I have a very specific shawl in mind for this, but it will take the other 4 oz. being done and some of the camel I also purchased at IA Sheep and Wool.

More on Dipped Infinity

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I had a reader comment hoping I would post a color progression for my Dipped Infinity scarf.  Since I used leftover yarns, and the ball bands are long gone for the most part, I figured the best way to do this is to take a picture.  So at 4:30 PM we are finally seeing sunlight for the first time and I got a rare opportunity to snap a photo.

The scarf is knit  holding two strands of fingering weight yarn together.  I began and ended with a solid color, then allowing the color to flow from one to the next.  I was surprised at how well the bright pink actually blended in the end, as it was muted by the burgundy and the purple.

Since I haven’t been blogging much lately, I am trying to make a personal goal of blogging all my partially knit projects.  We will start this tomorrow with some spinning and go from there. Stay tuned!

Fall is in the air

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Or at least it was yesterday morning.  While it did heat up quite a bit in the afternoon, the morning was gloriously cool, so much so that I thought having my own personal dye day would be a great way to heat the house up a bit.

I dyed 3 fibers and 2 yarns.  I was just messing around with colors. I am always quite amazed at how what I think looks terrible in the dye pot turns out looking pretty nice over all.  Dying is as much a surprise as spinning is.

From left to right, superwash merino, BFL, and then 80’s merino. I plan to do another of the teal right away in merino/tencel to give to a friend.  It was certainly my favorite of the bunch.

I then did some kettle dying.  This first is BFL fingering weight yarn. It took 3 tries to get it to look as I wanted it to.

And then my favorite, some superwash sock, merino and nylon. I’ve done this colorway in fiber, but had not done it in yarn yet. This is the color that is currently speaking to me the loudest.

In fact, I do believe I will need to cast on and make a scarf out of it. Like…now.

You do notice though, my kettle dying involves again, burgundy and turquoise. I have a real problem moving away from these colors.

Dipped in Palette

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I had a bunch of knitpicks palette yarn floating around, and even though I hid it in my closet it called my name and I needed to use some of it up. I’d seen the dipped infinity scarf, and I thought I could probably pull one off with the colors I had.

The concept of this scarf is a bit more like a cowl. It is knit in the round holding two strands of different colors together, causing the colors to move from darkest to lightest in the scarf.  As is typical for me, since it had moving colors I couldn’t put it down. A good portion of this was knit in one weekend, and I completed it this weekend.

Not the best picture,

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Not the best socks.

I took the leftover yarn I had from the baby jumper and started socks two at a time toe up. I wasn’t sure how much I’d have so I knew I had to do two at a time.  I did a short row heel and three different types of ribbing total.  And when I finished them? They were short, and too small.

So I gave them to my friend Sarah, as she has small feet, and took a picture. Which turned out kind of fuzzy.  The socks are entirely fraternal.

The yarn is Noro silk garden sock.

Teacup Pinafore

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As soon as my copy of Interweave Knits came to my door this spring I just knew I had to knit this one.  I knit it in knitpicks comfy worsted which is a cotton/acrylic blend that should be fairly hard wearing.

I put Bug in this outfit so that she would have her photograph taken, but as usual she is not yet ready to take it off. I can only hope in playing outside with it on she will not ruin it quite yet.

Nicely written pattern with really pretty details, I’d recommend it!