Finally, another FO

Mariposa, from Knitty. In Lion Brand Microspun.

Dyeing for Summer

During my parents' visit last week, my Mom and I made our first attempt at Kool-Aid dyeing yarn. The yarn was Knit Picks' natural Wool of the Andes, a steal at $2.99 per 100 gram hank. We used two methods to dye. One hank we painted in three colors and then microwaved. The other three hanks were each put in a gallon size baggie with some water, 3 packets of Kool-Aid, and a glug of vinegar. We then set the baggies outside in the hot sun for several hours.

Were were quite pleased with the results. Now I just have to decide what to do with it!

This is painted yarn, waiting to be microwaved. The colors are Blue Raspberry Lemonade, Lemon-Lime, and Lemon.

Here are some of the yarns, baking in the sun. It was in the mid 90's that day, plenty hot to fix the dyes.

Here are the solid yarns. From right to left, they are Switchin' Secret, Strawberry-Kiwi, and Grape.

And this is the variegated yarn.

Guess who had a strawberry popsicle at preschool today.

Finally another FO!

Ringer Tee in Rowan Calmer

The pattern is Nothin' but a T shirt, from Magknits. I don't know why this took me so long. It's actually pretty mindless knitting, just a little shaping. And the yarn is wonderful to touch. I guess it didn't help that I made it a size too large. And then work gets in the way.... Anyway, I like it, and I'll wear it even if it's too big.

Are you eligible?

A colleague and I are doing a study on how having been labeled a slut when they were in high school has affected women's lives. We could use more participants! If you are a former slut, or your classmates thought you were, click here to fill out our questionnaire online.

A dissertation on yarn

In my view of the world, yarn can be divided into three major types. First, there's the cheapo yarns. These are usually made of acrylic and sold primarily at large discount and craft stores. I am a fiber snob, but I do think cheapo yarns have their uses. I used to knit with them myself when I couldn't afford anything else and there were no yarn stores for many miles around. Cheapo yarns may sometimes be appropriate for kids' things because they're machine-washable and tend to wear well. Now the craft and discount stores are starting to carry nicer yarns, but they still have the cheapo stuff.

Second, there are the basic yarns. I don't mean basic in quality or price, because many of the yarns in this category are very nice and very expensive. Basic yarns are yarns you could knit a sweater with. Lamb's Pride is a major player in this category, but there are many, many others. Some of my favorites are Manos, Noro, Blue Sky, and Elsabeth Lavold.

Third, there are novelty or frou-frou yarns. These are the eyelash yarns, the fake furs, the odd glittery things, the railroad ribbons, and so forth. Crystal Palace and Berroco are two companies that manufacture a lot of yarns in this category. They have their uses, and I do buy them sometimes. But you're not going to knit a sweater out of them. Unfortunately, I think a lot of yarn stores concentrate too heavily on this category of yarn. They may be more glamourous on the shelf, but one can knit only so many frilly scarves. I think maybe these yarns especially appeal to new knitters who do make mainly scarves or ponchos.

All three types of yarn have value, but when I look at my stash, I find that nearly all of it consists of the second type. And my favorite yarns stores are those that carry mostly basics as well. When I'm going to spend many hours on a project, I want it to be something that will continue to look beautiful several years from now, and not dated.

Survival tactics

So, let's say you're lost in the wilderness with only a Coke can and a bar of chocolate. What should you do? Here's how to start a fire.

A boa around her neck

The ever-stylish Allison models my newest FO, a boa made from one skein of Artful Yarn's Limerick. It only took a couple hours to knit, and what fun! The tie-dyed shirt is her own creation.

Artful Yarns, incidentally, gets my vote for the most creative and least descriptive color names. In the yarn called circus, the colorways include Scary Clown and Old Elephant; Museum has Dinosaur Bones and Gift Shop; and Graffiti includes Make Love Not War, Kilroy Was Here, and For a Good Time Call. They also have a yarn called Virtue, the color ways of which are Hope, Justice, Fortitude, etc. Handworks Gallery seems to carry their whole line.

Allison is modeling the purse that matches her sweater. It was too hot to wear the sweater itself. Quinn's very happy with the purse that came with her dress.

Allison models her new sweater. She picked out the pattern herself, from Vogue Knitting on the Go Kids Knits. She chose the colors, too, in Blue Sky Cotton. It's a wonderfully soft yarn. I'm now working on the matching purse, which of course she has to have. And of course, tomorrow it will be 79 degrees out. She may have to wait a while to wear this sweater!

The musical stylings of Quinn, lead guitar player with the Naked Pirates.

No time

Haven't had much time for knitting lately. Oh, I hate it when work gets in the way of hobbies....
At least while I work, I can often listen to music. I just ordered a bunch of CDs from CD Baby. They have a great selection of CDs from independent labels and a fun website, they ship really quickly, and, once you've orderd from them once, all future orders will receive a free surprise CD.
I've also recently added several items to my yarn store reviews page. The link is always on the left side of this page.
Wouldn't it be great if time was like money, and you could save it for later or borrow from the future? Of course, I'd probably exceed my credit limit.

Allison at Dodge Ridge. Okay, well she is actually one of my WIPs, isn't she? And this picture, which my hubby took before they went skiing today, was just too cute not to post. My Mom knitted the hat, by the way, in Allison's favorite colors. Plus, those colors make it easy to spot Allison in the snow.

A throw for the study. It's in Homespun, from a freebie pattern on Lion Brand's site. Done on size 35 needles, whish aren't exactly comfy to knit with, but it sure did knit up quickly!

Joey has a jacket!

Joey will no longer be in danger of becoming chilly. I used the jacket pattern posted on the Stitch 'n Bitch Nation blog, except that pattern called for Fonty Serpentine. I couldn't find that yarn easily, and, besides, I figured Berroco Suede was an obvious choice for a "leather" jacket. The jacket's actually a little shorter than I would've liked, but I only had one ball of Suede.

More quick gratification

Trio bag. The pattern for this one is free at Crystal Palace's website. This was a quick project, although it did not use the humongous (size 35) needles pictured. It makes a great tote bag for yarn.

I'm also happy with the other items in the picture. The sheet is new, from The Company Store. It's on the futon in our living room, and I really like the way it looks. And I made the pillows a few years ago. A store on 4th Street in Berkeley was selling dupioni silk skirts for $5. They were size XS--not likely to fit me, at least in this lifetime. So I bought 2 and cut them up to make pillow covers. I even used the shell buttons from the skirts as decorative closures on the square pillows.