Another week gone by...

So I suppose I should finally put up some pix of my dye project. I have actually started knitting with it, but I'm not sold on the pattern yet. I love the pattern itself, but my yarn is definitely not appropriate. I have a feeling these are going to wind up as plain socks, or maybe ribbed socks. The yarn is super squishy :)

So this first picture is of the first time I tried dying. I used 2 packets of orange Kool-aid, 2 of lemonade, and 4 of grape. I wanted the bulk of this yarn to be purple. Through this experience, I have learned that all the online guides lie. I cleaned the yarn and made sure it was sufficiently damp before painting the colors on and zapping it in the microwave. I have spots where the dye simply did not absorb, even after a second round of immersion over-dying. It's very odd to me.

This second photo I used the stove top method and just stuck the whole skein in a bath of strawberry Kool-aid. I was hoping for more of a fuschia color, but I wound up with red.

It's not terrible, I actually really like it. It's just so very far from what I had envisioned. I need some lessons on calculating stripes amongst other things.


So Large Marge's is my new happy place. I am just so very much in love with the atmosphere and attitiudes of everyone there. I have never been around such wonderful people. Everyone who works there (that I've met so far) has been down to earth and approachable. It's nice to be in a yarn shop where there doesn't seem to be any one with a "I'm better than you" complex. They have all been excited about yarn. There isn't even a bias towards knitting or crochet, spinning, weaving or dying. It's just a general love of fiber and making things. I love it. It is just a completely inspiring atmosphere. I know I dive in head first with anything crafty- I always have and probably always will- but this shop is going to be a fabulous resource just in the people I have met so far.

Other than the wonderful yarn shop, I don't have anything new to report. I'm trying to knit some lace and planning a really fun pair of socks for my hunny. I just need to chart out the pattern and get started. But for tonight it's time to finish my last little bit of wine and fall asleep with The Elf Queen of Shannara!

As good a time as any

I don't have much to say tonight. I find this odd since I'm usually so chatty that I'm sure people need a break from me.

Not much is going on either. I've made a few great new things: hats for Hopkins kids, socks out of my crazy bright yarn from Stormmoonknits, half of the pair of bamboo socks... I've also been making good progress on the sweater for my mom and my tank top that has been hibernating since September (though I haven't touched it in a couple weeks since I realized how close mom's birthday is!). I'll be sending the neck warmer and Ribbon of Hope socks to Denver tomorrow. My plan was to have them in the mail today, but I had myself completely frantic to find a few rather valuable gift certificates from Christmas that I want to use. One was for an hour full body massage- the idea of losing that was horrifying! I think I'm going to use that next week :)

I suppose I do have 2 new developments: my dye project is actually to a point I'm willing to leave it alone and I've started taking a yoga/pilates class. My initial dye job was very, VERY adorable, yet pathetic. I decided to attempt the Kool-aid method since it doesn't require separate equipment. However, this greatly limited my color options. I am incredibly grateful that warm weather is around the corner, because today I noticed that there are far more varieties of the drink mix on the shelf. I actually acquired some green, blue and yellow for the next skein I dye.

Back to the first skein. I used purple, orange and yellow. I wanted the bulk of the yarn to be purple, so I attempted to paint half of the looped skein purple, and divide the remaining half between the yellow and orange. I put the orange at the tip so that it would not flow into the purple. The end result was what looked like a tie-dye experiment gone wrong. The colors did not saturate uniformly, I had lots of bare spots where the dye hadn't reached at all... It was just sad. Today I took the whole skein and over-dyed it with what should have been fushia. It turned out more red. It's not unattractive, but not at all what I was going for. I have many other ideas for the blue, yellow, green project I'll be doing next. Pictures will be posted when all is dry and happy.

The yoga class was certainly an experience and will be the reason I cut this entry short. I was made painfully aware that my legs are uneven last time. I think I'm more aware of my body than most people (due to much medical drama and a refusal to go to a doctor unless I'm dying). The instructor said most people don't know their bodies very well- maybe that's true, but I know mine pretty well. I can safely say my hamstrings have not stretched back out yet and I have class again in the morning.

This is probably a good time to stop writing. I'm going to set my tv timer and fall asleep to the Golden Girls :)

My first pattern!!

I finally wrote out directions for the neckwarmer I made last week. I even made it all pretty with pictures and my loyal teddy bear modeling for me. I tried to take some with me modeling it, but between little sleep, little make up and terrible back-lighting this is the best one I came up with :P

This is also after creating the .PDF and realizing that I had mistakes in it. Oh well- it's all done :)

Very exciting for me. I doubt anyone will use it, but I figured I might as well put it out there. I always like free simple patterns.

I'm a bit distracted at the moment so this is going to be a really short post. I'll figure out where to put the PDF pattern later...


The text is as follows:

Gauge: 5-6 st per inch- not critical
Materials:
Less than 100 yards of worsted weight yarn (Patons Classic Merino)
3 buttons
US Size 7 needles
Pattern:
Row 1: k2 (p2 k2)* to end
Row 2: k4 (p2 k2)* to last 4 st, k4
Row 3: k2 (p2, sl 1, k1 yo, psso both k and yo)* to last 4 st, p2 k2
Row 4: k4 (p2 k2)* to last 4 st, k4
Row 5: k2 (p2 k2)* to end
Row 6: k4 (p2 k2)* to last 4 st, k4
Row 7: k2 (p2, sl 1, k1 yo, psso both k and yo)* to last 4 st, p2 k2
Row 8: k4 (p2 k2)* to last 4 st, k4
CO 34
Work in pattern for 20 inches.
Work Ribbing and buttonholes as follows:
4 rows k1 p1 ribbing
Buttonhole row 1: k p k p k p, BO 3, k p k p k p k, BO 3, k p k p k p k, BO 3, k p k p k
Buttonhole row 2: k p k p k p, CO 3, k p k p k p k, CO 3, k p k p k p k, CO 3, k p k p k
Work ribbing 2 more rows, BO in pattern
Sew buttons into place. Blocking is recommended.
Abbreviations:
CO: cast on
BO: Bind Off
Sl 1: Slip one stitch knit-wise
PSSO: pass slipped stitch over

LYS and other good things

So we had our monthly Commu-knit-y Day this past Thursday. It's always a wonderful time. My sister is almost finished her second pair of socks, my mom is almost finished her vest (for the second time). Our other 2 knitters were working on socks too. I just finished up a pair of socks for a Sock-down challenge. They turned out lovely :) I'm sending them out to Denver. I wanted to make them a birthday present, but I simply cannot wait til April to mail them!

Anyways, while they were here I was giving lessons on what else to do with Ravelry. One only uses it for the groups and forums (which I struggle with) and the other doesn't use it at all. I was trying to show them how I look up projects by yarn. Hopefully some of it stuck for them. In my rambling around I discovered that the new yarn shop in Ellicot City had opened and was hosting movie night. Erin and I quickly rushed over to check it out and were completely delighted. It's a very welcoming atmosphere. We've already decided we want to start making this our LYS. Once we found out the first movie they were showing was "The Princess Bride" we couldn't stay away. I got to meet so many wonderful fiber people. I truly haven't had that much fun in a very long time. And I definitely have not eaten such amazing brownies- possibly EVER!

Now I'm working on using up the yarn my cousin bought for me to knit a hat for her s/o. I spent a long time looking for a pattern and just kinda gave up. Right now I've got about an inch of something of my own imagination that just may work. If it does I'll be sure to write down the pattern. I'm not sure I like the feel of it though- it's fairly loose. I'm knitting with size 8s at the moment- I may go down to 7s- especially since my 8s are metal and 7s are bamboo :P

More pix of that as it happens. Now I must catch up on Grey's and Private Practice while it's still quiet here!

Lapse

So I haven't posted much this past month. I don't think a lot has happened.

I made a few more pairs of socks. That's always a good thing. I had bought enough of a particular yarn to make 3 pairs, 2 are presents for people. I only bought for me because I saw that this yarn is supposed to be hand-wash only. Well forget that! I'm not hand-washing socks- more importantly- I'm not gifting hand-wash socks. So we'll see what happens to them, I just wore them yesterday and laundry will happen later this week.

Nothing new on the job front. I'm becoming a bit more proactive and at the same time a bit more discouraged. I'm looking for anything that will give me benefits right now. Even things as far from what I love as being a banking teller. But whatever pays the bills right?

Nothing new on the boy front either. I must be super-hormonal because last night I was just so mad at him. I mean really, truly angry. For absolutely no reason. He was teasing a bit, but not in a mean way or anything. Then I got mad at myself and just ignored him as much as possible. I hate it when I get in moods like that. The best thing I can do is just keep my mouth shut. I'm not sure I even managed that so well... I have a tendency to get loud when I'm upset or needing attention (like last night). We went to play trivia with a few friends I haven't seen in a while. I'm sure that was part of it too, I hadn't seen them in what feels like a month and was hungry for their attention.

Anyways, I'm not sure what to get into today. I know I need to work on the wrap that's still on the loom almost a month later... Maybe that'll be the agenda for today. I managed to get about 12" done yesterday before I lost the light- today's brighter... I think that's what I'll do :)

Currently on the loom:

So here is my latest loom project. It's been a bear to get started. This only shows two repeats of the pattern. The threading was a 20 thread repeat, the footwork is a 26 row repeat. It's quite a bit to keep track of. I've only been working one repeat at a time.


I think it's coming out pretty. You can see the pattern fairly well in this shot. Since I'm using the same yarn as warp and weft, the result looks almost embossed. I'm hoping to finish it in a week or so. I don't have the patience to do much with it for long. I work maybe 3 repeats, then have to walk away and do something else. So it's much slower going than anything else I've done before. But it's certainly been a growing experience!

Crazy few days...

So this is mostly going to be a sock post- I've finished two pair since Christmas. That's pretty exciting to me. I finished this second pair in less than a week. I got to knit all day Sunday because I was being angry at my partner and yesterday I sat in the hospital for nearly 8 hours.

Here are some pretty pix then I'll explain.
These are Horcrux socks. The lacy yarn over pattern is supposed to look like Harry Potter's scar. My partner calls them Ravens socks since they're purple.These are Tidal Waves. You can't really see that waves moving because the yarn is so busy. I'm very upset about that, but still like the socks. I'll just have to get a more calm color to show off the pattern.

Anyways- about the hospital. Last week my mom had been complaining about a terrible stomachache. It hurt to touch her belly and anything she ate gave her horrible indigestion. This went on for about a week, it did lessen in severity however and she thought she was getting over it. She promised my dad that she would go to the doctor if things weren't better Monday. Doc schedules her for an ultrasound on the suspicion of appendicitis (ultrasound sonograms are not the appropriate test for diagnosing this). The tech informs my mom of this, they both spend a few hours trying to get a hold of the doctor and she gets an appt for a CT scan on Tuesday. After the scan, we confirm she has appendicitis and needs surgery immediately. Go to the hospital, wait a few hours, go in for surgery around 7. Surgeon says he cannot believe it didn't perforate, and it was grangrenous. Lovely. Everybody's worried about infection. Good vibes and lots of prayers, she got to come home in less than 24 hours and has been resting.

So it's been a crazy couple days. I've been on mom-sitting duty today, probably will be Saturday too. But it's really good to see her not looking so green!