happiness is....
- a beautiful day with lots of patches of sun to sit in
- an upswing in my scores on some practice exams
- giving yarn away Congrats to Melissa who won the cascade 220, to Sara who won the sock yarn and to Lauren who won the noro....
- getting yarn in the mail (thank you Bridget!)
- the prospect of dying yarn
I had big plans for coloring wool this weekend...but that little box of dyes is more intimidating then I thought it'd be. I found a crock-pot at a thrift shop (it's missing a handle but was only a dollar!), bought some nifty looking syringes at a medical supply store (the woman thought I was crazy when I explained what I needed and what they were for) and bought the last big jug of vinegar on the shelf at the grocery store. But so far, when I've gotten things together to start
it goes from looking like this....
to being put away like this.
I put stuff away and mutter something about needing to get back to the books, and how I need reinforcements.
Just a few hours ago I tried to give myself a pep talk, and said over and over "this isn't hard, really, it's not that hard." The chocolate agreed.
This whole process was easier when there were experienced dyers around, and there were back copies of Spin Off to refer to, and lots of knitters saying "you can't go wrong!" I'm determined that today is the day to dye at least one skein, and it will happen (after a few more hours of studying) but first I'm going to try and channel a few established dying folk. Perhaps I need to eat some more chocolate?
Second sock syndrome has nothing on 4th sock syndrome; the wedding socks are finished! (I forgot to get a good shot of them and had to semi-unwrap the package for this shot.) Two of them have heathered blue toes, and they are both made out of Trekking XXL color 68. One hank got me through three and a half socks (for kicks I used it all up to see how far into the 4th sock I could get; it took me to the bottom of the heel flap and into the start of the heel short rows, which leads me to believe that one hank would have been enough for four socks if I'd used contrasting yarn for all of the heels and toes.)
In lieu of a four line poem (I must not be stressed out enough, as that's when my rhyming is at it's best) I simply wrote a note that read "May your feet always be as warm as your hearts" and signed it with instructions on how to launder them, and a "please return to me if they don't fit so I can alter them" plea. They'll go into the mail tomorrow.
A few weeks ago I shared that I couldn't find cotton fleece in the color "Rue" so that I could finish my striped sweater. Bridget (whose blog doesn't seem to be working right now) just finished a beautiful sweater in this yarn, and offered to send me her leftovers. The yarn arrived yesterday and is perfect! The sleeves of that sweater are next on my list of "things to knit while studying...."
I will be so very glad when the boards are over. And passed.
- an upswing in my scores on some practice exams
- giving yarn away Congrats to Melissa who won the cascade 220, to Sara who won the sock yarn and to Lauren who won the noro....
- getting yarn in the mail (thank you Bridget!)
- the prospect of dying yarn
I had big plans for coloring wool this weekend...but that little box of dyes is more intimidating then I thought it'd be. I found a crock-pot at a thrift shop (it's missing a handle but was only a dollar!), bought some nifty looking syringes at a medical supply store (the woman thought I was crazy when I explained what I needed and what they were for) and bought the last big jug of vinegar on the shelf at the grocery store. But so far, when I've gotten things together to start
it goes from looking like this....
to being put away like this.
I put stuff away and mutter something about needing to get back to the books, and how I need reinforcements.
Just a few hours ago I tried to give myself a pep talk, and said over and over "this isn't hard, really, it's not that hard." The chocolate agreed.
This whole process was easier when there were experienced dyers around, and there were back copies of Spin Off to refer to, and lots of knitters saying "you can't go wrong!" I'm determined that today is the day to dye at least one skein, and it will happen (after a few more hours of studying) but first I'm going to try and channel a few established dying folk. Perhaps I need to eat some more chocolate?
Second sock syndrome has nothing on 4th sock syndrome; the wedding socks are finished! (I forgot to get a good shot of them and had to semi-unwrap the package for this shot.) Two of them have heathered blue toes, and they are both made out of Trekking XXL color 68. One hank got me through three and a half socks (for kicks I used it all up to see how far into the 4th sock I could get; it took me to the bottom of the heel flap and into the start of the heel short rows, which leads me to believe that one hank would have been enough for four socks if I'd used contrasting yarn for all of the heels and toes.)
In lieu of a four line poem (I must not be stressed out enough, as that's when my rhyming is at it's best) I simply wrote a note that read "May your feet always be as warm as your hearts" and signed it with instructions on how to launder them, and a "please return to me if they don't fit so I can alter them" plea. They'll go into the mail tomorrow.
A few weeks ago I shared that I couldn't find cotton fleece in the color "Rue" so that I could finish my striped sweater. Bridget (whose blog doesn't seem to be working right now) just finished a beautiful sweater in this yarn, and offered to send me her leftovers. The yarn arrived yesterday and is perfect! The sleeves of that sweater are next on my list of "things to knit while studying...."
I will be so very glad when the boards are over. And passed.
posted by Kristen at 3:17 PM
6 Comments:
Thinking of you, Kristen. Did I mention I failed my MDiv comprehensives the first time? not the same at all, but bad enough.
I am loving the patches of sun and have the same feelings about Dyeing alone you do. I like the way your chocolate talks to you, though.
Whoo hoo on the studying/gifting/thinking-about-dying progress! Dying - just do it. You really can't go wrong. If in doubt, do the super easy pot method - where you simply pour dye into the pot and see what happens. If you don't like the color, you can always overdye it - which can produce some stunning results.
Thanks much for the sock yarn ! Sara
Study and dye... and good luck with the boards. Sock it to them! (bad, I know, but couldn't resist typing that!).
They dyeing will be fun, but it does involve a big commitment of time and energy space - save it for when you can give it a block of time and just have fun with your knitting, for now.
Glad you got the yarn ok. I decided to discontinue my blog, so that's why it's not working. I will be around though. Love the Trekking socks!
1. Put water in the crock pot.
2. Put some dye in. Any amount, just put it in. Put some vinegar in.
3. Soak some yarn in warm water and a glug or two of vinegar for 20 min. Squeeze it out.
4. Put yarn in pot. Cover. Heat for a long time. Let cool down for a long time.
5. Rinse skein. If the dye stays mostly on, you are a success!
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