Does this clash?

Tell me honestly, is this clashing? Are there too many colors? It's trippin me out man!! HA! I had a bit of hard time getting the hang of the charting, but now I understand it after knitting, unknitting, and searching the archives of the Mystery Shawl group for an answer that made sense.

I hope, as it gets bigger, the colors will tend to seperate more and make batches of color instead of stripes. This yarn came out worsted, navajo plied to keep the colors together. A bit heavy for this Mystery Shawl project, so I am using size 8 needles which will render a much larger shawl...perfect for me!

We went to the farmers market Sunday and I bought lots of goodies! Well not a whole lot, but more than I expected to come home with!! With $10 I bought: one large certified organicly grown butternut for $1.50 (much more than I could have gotten in the stores), medium pie pumpkin for $2 (also certified Organic from the same vender), one dozen farm fresh and humane eggs for $2.50 (A whole buck less than in the stores!!!), and a bag of Elm Oyster Shrooms for $2 (about 2 ounces worth). OMG the eggs, with the shrooms are TO DIE FOR GOOD!! OMG...mouth-gasims! Next Sunday, when I visit for more of these items, I will take some pictures and take you on a tour of our local Farmers Market. I have been having cravings for these fall foods. I love fall!!

Until next time...

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Yarns for KAL's

I mailed out the Scarf for the Orphan foundation yesterday. I got some yarn striped dyed for the Mystery Shawl #5, however, I HATE the way the "Deep Orange" came out. The recipe for this shawl is fall colors. It looks like hunter orange to me, and makes the yarn look like a failed 1970's color experiment. YUCK! I tried dyeing some fiber but it still came out that nasty hunter orange. Deep orange my ass ain't big!!
Solution, half an 1/8 teaspoon of black or brown dye. That tones it down just right. No pictures of that just yet.

Then natural colored yarn is lace weight Border Leicester for the Secret of the Stole that I got from a local farmer at the Sheep and Wool Festival, from a lamb named Lenny. See the dime? I only partly washed the grease from the wool so that there would be some grease to work the lace with. The singles are about the size of upholstery thread....yikes!

Until next time...

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Kimono Cardigan Wrap Progress

On the Needles Wednesday...on Thursday...

You know if the gave us workers like a week off, THAT would be appreciation worthy of mentioning!! But one day...out of a 365 (minus holidays...for some of us)...is called appreciation? HUMPH! *throws nose up in air, turns a 180, walks away...stumbles over a log that could not be seen because nose was SO far up in the air...does a half roll on ground in half-ass attempt to make the fall look like it was done on purpose...only to accomplish getting severely muddied after the fresh rain we just got.*

OOOOOOOOOOOOOkay then! Comic relief?

Row 98 of 147, 17 inches of 21.

WHEW!

I am gonna need to spin up some more yarn. I am half way through my second skein already! Check out the variegation! I love making my own yarns!!

Until next time...

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Dyeing like a mad woman!

I am dyeing and spinning like a mad woman in order to be able to cast on the Kimono Wrap for the first day of the KAL .
At first I thought my first skein of spun yarn was more DK than worsted, but upon washing, dyeing, and finally drying it, it has fluffed up a bit! So I will knit a swatch out of it to see if it will work....or not.
I decided to stripe dye the yarn in purple and royal blue with sections tied off to get specks of white. I cannot wait to see what a swatch will look like!


And my craft area is always cluttered...but who said being a craft bug would be neat and orderly?! HAaaaaaaaaa!! I have found that swiffer dusters make cleanup under the carder when I am done go a lot quicker. It doesn't grab all the crap that comes off the fleece onto the table, but it's like a whisk-broom.

You can see my production line in the pic with the drum carder. Merino to the left, Alpaca to the right...all ready to be blended together.

An interesting thing happened in the dye pot with this blend of yarn. Alpaca is notorious for needing twice as much dye to get a complete dyeing than it would wool. The dye striked the Merino in the yarn first leaving the alpaca only slightly dyed with color. It's a neato and unexpected effect! I love dyeing!!!

My LYS, the one I work at now, is gonna carry MERINO ROVING!!! How lucky am I?!! I can order just about any kind of top through the LYS now and...get my premo-employee discount to boot! I did take next weekend off so I could go to the wool festival. Yippie!! Speaking of wool festival, I get a "Get in free" pass from the local spinners guild since I am planning to come and help with the sheep to shawl demonstration. Sweeeeeeeeet!!! I tell you what...the right attitude in life makes one a very lucky person!!

The BF has been calling me "Pretty-thang" after a clip on one of his favorite cartoons "Samurai Jack". He is just the cutest thang when he says that! I miss hearing things like that from him. The experiment is working!!!!!!!

The Fiber Frenzy pal got my package and she was all giddy over it all! I sent a lot of fiber and bought a few well priced extras to send along. I am so happy that she is happy with the swap! I still need to find maple candy to send along as a thank you to the lady that sent me fiber goodies. I just don't have the money at the moment. I don't even have the money to send out the red scarf to the Orphan Foundation!! Oye. I should have some to use for postage Tuesday, but most of that is gonna get put back for the fiber festival. I really ought to start a savings fund JUST for this fiber festival. I really enjoyed it last year even though it was unseasonably cold and rainy. This year, I plan on bringing some pants, my shawl, and a jacket...just in case! Because you know if I come prepared it will be unseasonably warm!! At least, that is what I hope will happen!!!

OH! And I finally got my needle tips from Knitpicks. I dunno why, but it takes seven days to get tips from them, and only three to four when I order yarn...on the rare occasion that I do buy yarn. Weird aye? Now I can transfer my two socks on the one circular to a larger cabled circular.

Until next time...

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Natural Dying Results with Walnuts!

First the Festering Dye Pot which is essentially just a pot of soaking walnuts from nearby trees. This has been sitting and festering in the sun for about three weeks. I read that walnut dye needs no mordant because of the tannin in the walnuts acts as the mordant. I am not much for natural dyeing. I don't have the patience to wait for the results once I get into the mind set of wanting to dye. This is essentially the lazy ass method! LMAO!!







Here is a picture of a sample spun up of a batt I blended with Merino and Alpaca. The Festering Dye Pot smells like brewing mead and has a sweet and sour smell. Needless to say I hate getting it on my hands, but squeezing out the liquid is the best method I know of to gauge what the yarn will look like dried.

And here are the results after only 24 hours of sitting in the Festering Dye Pot WITH NO HEAT. I wonder how much yarn I can plop into this Festering pot before the dye exhausts? We'll find out. I am gonna test this sample to see if the dye washes out. I just love the bronze coloring! The odor of the Festering Dye Pot did not linger in the yarn after it was dried so that was a pleasant surprise.

Until next time...

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Dyeing extravaganza!

I dyed some roving in purple, brown and orange for Project Spectrum, and then I dyed up some recycled sweater yarn in red for the Red Scarf Project. I had some fun with the camera and took a couple fast action pictures.

Until next time...

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Jar Dyeing results, tarot baggie, Call me "Ms. Fix-it"!

Pictures!! We have my jar dyeing results drying in the sun *drool!!*, a tarot baggie knit out of the cotton/wool blend I made, a picture of the Velvet Purple Miniture Lilly that is blooming fantastically in my patio area, and the brown yarn is shetland and yack down blend which is superly soft!

Just call me Ms. Fix-it. I upgraded the tank components in the toilet to stop the slow leak because of old and warn seals. The toilet no longer leaks water! Hurray for saving water!! But something must have settled when I removed the tank to replace the seal under there because after I put it all back together, the toilet didn't want to flush right. The water would swirl but never go completely down like it is supposed to. So upon pondering and reading up on removing the whol damn toilet from the floor to clean the gate before the flap inthe floor, found a better way. We live in an apartment building so getting the water turned off is not an option. I have no problem doing the simplier repairs because the man that is supposed to do these things has shit for brains.

So I went to Menards (for the fourth time starting this project) and got a toilet auger and a super plunger. The auger got a whole lot of something stirred up and loose, and the super plunger must have forced it down the drain as the toilet flushes properly now. YAY! Go womyn power!! I really love how when I asked a Menards employee (much younger than myself even) if there was a tool to aid in removing the old flushing valve, he said "It is super simple to get off but there is no specialised tool for it." *eyebrow raised* There is no plumping tools to help me aye? As soon as he walked away, I went one isle down and found a shit load of plumping tools...and oversized "wrenches" for the very job I asked about. What is up with that shit? Don't tell me there is no specialized tool for it...there is a specialized tool for EVERYTHING!!! *snicker-snort* Did he think I would not find the tools or comprehend how to do the job, or that I was not capable of doing the job because I lack a penis between my legs? Typical male bullshit.

So I have also fixed the sagging chicken wire on the garden. I dunno why it was sagging but I added another peice of wood to the center to keep it up and support the center of the wire incase we get anymore hail this year. Last year the hail made a huge dent in the wire and it has sagged ever since. While I was outside with the electric staple gun, I also fixed the sagging fabric on the bottom of the patio above us. It's there for more privacy than anything, but it helps contain his mess of bird seed as well.

Today I am ficxing a cabinet door that needed new hinges. I need another set of hands for that one so I have to wait till the BF comes home from work to help me. One of these days I will look into fixing the damned leak in the kitchen shink drain. I drained a gallon of water out from the bucket under the sink. A gallon in three days...sheez!

Until next time...






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YEAH! Now that is what I am tawkin 'bout!

Now there is the color I am lookin for!!




The one on the left is the one I attempted to kettle dye but the colors were too light and did not penetrate through the entire roving leaving huge areas of white. I overdyed the lighter areas with the same colors and I got the coverage and the color I wanted. The one on the right is the one I "painted" with the squirt bottles shown in a previous post. BEAUTIFUL!! Now if I can get more of an orange instead of yellow...I think I will be satisfied. These will make excellant additions for the Pacific Waves shawl.

Until next time...






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Saterday, the day the roving dyed...

HA!
I am a dyeing maniac today! I tried kettle dying, but the shades were too light so I overdyed when everything had exhausted. OOOOOOooooo pictures to come of that of which I am LOVING!! Then I tried some simple roving dyeing. Soaked two yards worth of roving in vinegar water, rung out as much water as I could, layed it down on some plastic wrap and grouped it tightly together. Then I just laid on some dye in strips using squirt bottles. I mix the dye in batches in sketti jars (way to recycle!!) by adding dye to about a 1/2 cup of water or so of hot water, then filling the jar up with vinegar. Give it a good stir to disolve all the dye and then transfer into bottles.
See photos for color detail.

I was watching Discovering Tia-Chi for Beginners: Workout Essentials before I started dying. I like to watch the workout videos I rent from Netflix before actually following along to get an idea of what is involved. The music, the soft flows of the movements....just watching it relaxed me enough to not worry about the dye. LOL This is an excellant beginners DVD on Tia-Chi BTW. The host is well built (eye-candy!!!), but not cocky. Love it.


I have the whole afternoon to myself as the BF went off to get his tattoo touched up. He reckons he'll be gone till this evening sometime. I have so much energy today...I wonder if it is the coffee?? I think I will have steak and eggs for lunch. That's a nice meal as it keeps me all day and I do not feel hungry therefor I do not eat nor do I even THINK about food. I've been having a beer before bed the last week (BAD!!!) and a couple pounds came back in the bellay. DOH!





I still have lots of roving left so off to dye I go! *snicker-snort*

Until next time...






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First dyed roving yarn....

The finished yarn....

There really isn't much to knit from...maybe a small drawstring bag? Or maybe a computer monster if I pair it with some funkay eyelash? Yeah, definately not diggin the Kelly Green...yuck! I think yellow or salmon would have been better.

I am gonna try Kettle Dyein next. I need to find a nice balance of blues, dark green and red. I want an oceanic feel.

Until next time...






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HUmmm....

I am not sure I like the green, no definately don't like the green. Next time I will lighten the dyes and use yellow instead of bright green. I really don't like the finished two ply that came out of it, so I guess I will give it away to someone. There isn't much there as it was only an 1 1/4 ounce of roving.

Until next time...






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Dye Happy!!

WOW! Look at the deep color!! I think I need to adjust my water to dye stock ratio, don't cha think? I don't really like the shade of green I have so I will be biking down to the artist supply store again to get me a darker shade of green. I tried to tone it down by adding black, but it didn't really do all that good. I love the blue with burgandy and turqoise with a splash of purple. Next time I will do lilac purple because it is a lighter shade of purple and I will apply it with a syringe instead of a brush. I like the randomness that a syringe adds. Now to spin this puppy up and see what happens!!

Until next time...






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Captured Emergance and dyeing roving

I got up just in time to watch one of the monarchs emerge from it's chrysalis. Soooo coooool!!

My order of Merino roving came today and I went to work on trying my hand at roving dyeing. OOOOoooo....dyeing fun!! It's the only time you will hear someone say dyeing is fun....and mean it without being a depressing EMO. LMAO


MMMMmm look at the permanent staining....OOOoo...even on my fingers!

In other news, we are starting to learn "flying" kicks at karate class. I am concerned because I do not want to hurt my ankles and I came home with both of them aching from the last class. Any idea on how to strengthen the ankles? You'd think carrying 200 plus pounds would be strong enough...but noOOOOOoo....twisted ankle here I come!

Until next time...






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Mail call! Solar dyeing, and new punching bag!

Does anyone remember that spell for the return of positive karma just a few months ago? WOW, did it ever work!
A lady who saw my instructional spinning videos sent me a box full of fleece Dorset/Romney cross meat stock but the fleece is sooooo fine!! Thank you so much!! I am also helping her to get her buisness online in return for her generousity.
Then I gandered over to a garage sale in my neighborhood and found an army green duffle bag that can be easily converted to a punchin bag for $4!! I had been wanting one of those! I just have to rip the side pocket off because the metal button would not be fun to punch...YOUCH.
All my Monarchs have pupated so I do not have to gather anymore milkweed. My Polyphemus cats are doing well and growing now. I have 24 more eggs coming my way...YIPPIE!
The grocery had seedless watermelons on sale so I bought me one. OOOOoo so goood!!
And I built myself a solar oven to try solar dying in. The plastic jar in there was actually a container full of plaster but I put the plaster in a plastic bag so I could dye a large amount of Shetland fleece at once. Within ten minutes the temp inside was well on it's way up and already above 100 degrees (oven thermometer). The temps are supposed to rise outside today near 90 with no wind. Perfect day for solar dying.
Today is ending up being a fantastic day. I have dishes starring me in the face waiting to be washed but they can wait for now.

Until next time...






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Cold, Sunny, Dyeing Day

It's a great day to Dye. :P

I dyed both of these inthe same pot at the same time....how odd the color differences!! Silk likes to SUCK up the fushia dye. The alpaca (in the strainer) has red-violet tips and blue everything else. I was shooting for voilet-red (because I seem to be attracted to that color for some odd reason recently) but I got more of a wine color which is just as nice. I used brilliant blue, fucshia, and fire engine red in equal anounts until the paper towel I was using to test the color had about the tone I wanted. I am gettin low on blue dye so I am gonna have to hit the local art supply for some more of that and some salmon and purple.

I am trying another batch this time using lilac purple, fire engine red, blue, and fuchsia. Should be interesting as yet again the silk seems to want to suck up all the red and fuchsia.

Until next time...

Went biking to the library and then some...

Whew! Am I tired!


I bike around 3 1/2 miles this afternoon going to the library to return a majorly overdue book and to drop in on the BF doing laundry at the Mart down the street (where the W icon is). This is part of the "scenic" bike route in Monona. Not very scenic to me...just a bunch of flippin houses that are blocking the view of the lake!! I guess the number balloons are mile counters. You can track your biking/running/walking too at http://www.mapmyrun.com/ .

I did register my back for a "license" just in case it gets stolen or something bad like that. Crossing fingers. Now I need to look into bike insurance...yes there is such a thing.

Right now I am dying some lincoln longwool to spin up into worsted yarn to knit a saddle back with and eventually felt it. I am dying the wool then spinnin it for once. I want some color on the wheel! I am doing turquoise, lilac purple, and a bit of golden yellow splahed in between color changes. Why? It's pretty. Yemaya strikes again!

Until next time...