Showing posts with label Hand dyed yarns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hand dyed yarns. Show all posts

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Forward March

The Weatherman says it's going to be near 80 degrees Fahrenheit today. Perhaps that means Springtime is officially upon us. One can hope. As usual, it's been a little while since my previous post, so lets do some catching up shall we? I've been knitting and crocheting away, though most of it is still under wraps for the time being. I can show you a few photos though :) I finished up the giant granny square blanket I started for Little miss last year and here are a few close-up pictures of the socks mentioned in the last post. These little bitty socks were knit with leftovers of my Sunshine Yarns Soft Sock in the Another Weasley colorway coupled with chocolate heels and toes. And this is the first sock in my Strut colorway. It ended up doing a little pool/spiral thing which is weird since the yarn was kettle dyed but it's fine by me. This pair will probably be gifted once its mate is completed. Not having a regular paycheck is a tad unnerving, so I've been trying to beef up the Dreams in Fiber business. Here's a little sampling of some recent skeins. Little man was a bit irritated that little miss got a new pair of socks and I was informed that he needed another pair. A simple 2x2 rib cuff plain vanilla sock with my normal garter stitch edged slip stitch heel. I know his feet will be larger come next Fall so I made them a bit long. He insisted on a "proper photo shoot". Sock 2 is on the needles. The yarn is Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock in the Edward Colorway which I received through a trade via Ravelry. It's my first time working with this base and I rather enjoy it! I cannot thank S (fabulous woman who graciously gifted me a new-to-me spinning wheel, see previous non-mitten pattern post) enough. Spinning is such a joy and I feel like I could spin and spin and spin.... Housework isn't really all that important is it? I am still starting out but I've noticed improvement in my singles - they're getting thinner and more consistent and I am also working on the Navajo ply technique which is very fun. I am working my way through another 4 oz of roving and am very curious to see how this one plies up. Photos of that one should be coming!

The minions and I, and the hubby, have been enjoying the warmer weather. We went down to my In-law's lake house last weekend to get in a bit of fresh air and some fishing. The hubby caught some fish. My FIL caught some fish. I did not. I think it's being rigged somehow and rest assured, I will be looking into this odd occurrence. Little man has entered into the Dinosaur phase, I don't remember if I have mentioned that or not. Check out the super cool dino galoshes! What can be better than the wind in your face as you gently swing back and forth, higher and higher into the sky? Going higher of course! Such an angelic face really. Who would've guessed that that little minion of mine could be responsible for such a grievous, heinous, outrageous act against my fiber????????? Enter exhibit A. What you see here are the remnants of the skein I am using to create another pattern for my friend J's Oz club starting next month. Little miss was knitting me a sweater - which translates to clicking the needles together - and little man thought the yarn was getting a bit too tangled and decided to help me out by taking a pair of scissors to it. Not happy. It's salvageable though. Just awfully painful to look at!

When Spring comes around the showers aren't far behind!

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Summer Days

The hubby and I keep most of our CD's downstairs in order to avoid minion fingerprints, scratches and such. I was in the mood to listen to something different the other night and since I didn't have anything in particular in mind, I just grabbed a handful of CD's from various genres. I took them upstairs and thought I was in the clear to actually get to listen to something since Curious George was on the television. Whenever "George" is on, I usually get an uninterrupted half hour to do laundry, knit, do dishes... The CD on the top of my little stack was Louis Armstrong. I put it in the stereo and the song "What a Wonderful World" came on. After a few moments, both minions slowly turn their head in my direction, get out of their chairs, and come over to where I was sitting. This was huge, Louis beat out George. I thought to myself, "Great, I can let the kids listen to some different stuff too". Nope. I went to change CD's and I was greeted with absolute Minion Outrage. Little miss' lower lip was sticking out so far an Albatross could have landed on it and she was shedding actual tears. Little man was screaming "NO NO NO!" and finally clued me in on what was going on. "Mom, this is the Alex song on the animal movie!". That translates to: that particular song plays towards the end of the movie Madagascar. Silly me, how could I possibly change CD's? So we listened to Louis (aka "Alex") again and again and again. Though little miss did finally bop along to Nina Simone after I gave little man "Alex" to listen to in his room. They didn't believe me when I tried to explain that the "Alex song" has been around longer than Madagascar. One of these days perhaps.

It's been a while since my last post huh? I wish I had some fiber-y photos to share with you. I've been spending a sizable chunk of time dyeing and the knitting that I have done has been of the stealthy variety - I am designing/knitting a pair of socks for a birthday swap, I'm designing/knitting 2 pairs of socks for some sock kits that a friend of mine will be releasing sometime in September I think, you can see her blog for more information. And I've started in on my Holiday knitting.
Here is a little sampling of some of my more recently dyed skeins.
And this is a little sneak peak of the then unfinished Holiday project.
I suppose I should catch you up on the family's happenings. I left off on the 4th of July so let's start there shall we?

Every 4th of July my Uncle J and Aunt K host a little family bbq in their backyard, each year having a different theme. This year's theme was a Mexican fiesta. It was nice to catch up with other members of the family that we hadn't seen in a while and the minions got to have some play time with their cousin "J". I don't know how professional photographers do it, I couldn't get all 3 of them to look at me... I'm going to post them anyway. J and K had a pinata for the kids and a little place for photo ops too. Little miss is all about taking care of "the baby". I just thought this one was kind of funny :)

Other than that, the kids and I have been hanging out outside whenever the humidity isn't too nasty and we've been down to the lake a few times since I last posted.

I don't know if you can really see the devilish smile little man is sporting in this photo but rest assured, he knew exactly what to do with the golf ball :)
During our last visit to my in-laws' lake house the minions got in a bit of fishing. "Hi boat!"There were a few knots involved though you can't really see it in this photo.In the end, the only one that caught anything that evening was little miss.

The hubby snapped this little photo of the minions and I after a hard day's playing outside in the heat and humidity... Naturally I am looking my best. I thought I'd throw it on the blog anyway seeing how I very rarely "make the blog" myself ;)
There you have it. Nothing too exciting going on these days, which is fine by me. I have started dreaming of the cooler days ahead... I finally have a little pile of hand knit socks just waiting to be worn! Here's a few other random photos of Summer.




Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Happenings

Between the hubby and the minions and work and my knitting and the countless other mundane details of daily life, I find that I can work myself into a little tiny area where I am focused on the immediate and not the big picture. When this happens, often times it takes a big something to knock me flat on my arse so I can say "Wow"! Kristiina is one of those big things, or in this instance, person. I have been hunting for a particular knitting book - THE Knitting Book - for quite some time. I've mentioned my searches in past blog posts and my family can certainly vouch for my frustration in not being able to find it. I am happy to report that I HAVE FINALLY OBTAINED A COPY OF EEVA HAAVISTO'S KNITTING BOOK!! The Publishing Company, WSOY, recently released a copy of Eeva Haavisto's Book, Sata kansanomaista kuviokudinmallia, and I was able to obtain a copy through the lovely Kristiina.I was still so shocked about the whole thing that when the package containing the book arrived I didn't open it right away... I just kept looking at it. Eventually my curiosity won out and I opened the package to find, not only THE Knitting book, but a wonderful handmade knitting pouch and a very helpful Finnish to English translation list of the colors used throughout the book :) Kristiina, I can never thank you enough!

It's been a little while since my last post and I wish I had oodles of knitting projects to show you, but I don't. I was going strong there for a while, whipping out pairs of socks and market bags but I seem to have lost my stride. I did finish the pair of Molly's Monkeys for my Aunt M and I also knit the first Dublin Bay sock for Mom.The second sock is on the needles. The time that I had been spending with my knitting needles has been spent in the kitchen. Spring is in the air and last week I took the minions to a couple greenhouses in the area. Little man is such a nature-guy that he was in heaven. Inspired by some of the flowers that I had seen, I thought to myself, why not start dyeing up some of my own yarn? So I did. I had been meaning to start dyeing a while ago now so I happened to have some skeins of natural wool just waiting to be dyed. After viewing one of little man's favorite flowers, the Hibiscus, the hibiscus colorway was born - both in sock and in worsted weight.Another one of little man's flower choices was the Dahlia. Once I finished my first skein, I found that the dyeing process is very addicting! Here's Ratatouilleand my husband inadvertently named these next skeins "Bruised" when he mentioned that that is what the skein looked like as it was drying. Here it is in Merino/Tencel Sock yarn and in Worsted Weight Superwash Wool. A friend of mine, Jen, made the cutest little dragon with the Worsted Weight skein :) Such fun. Little man wanted to "dye" one of his own so I gave him complete control over the colors... this is his skein Reef.He hasn't decided what he wants me to make with it yet, but he'll let you know that it is his skein!

We've been having some decent weather lately and the minions have been enjoying quite a bit of outdoor time. They like to "help" Daddy mow the lawn with their bubble mower.It's not all fun and games though -- with only one bubble mower one of them is not happy at any given point in time.Visions of those unhappy faces don't usually last too long though; there's plenty to explore.The hubby has even had time to enjoy playing a little basketball.During this past month, we found out that our Ophthalmologist thinks little man needs another surgery on his eye to bring it back into alignment. His eye muscle wasn't as strong as he had thought it was which is why his right eye is usually deviating to the right side. No one is too happy about this, especially my family... As of now, his surgery is scheduled for late June. Speaking of little man, did you know he was such a Man of Expression?He requested that I take and post a picture of his Big Wheel tire. Little miss is doing just fine! Her vocabulary is astounding as is her little attitude... :) Supposedly she gets that from me, but isn't that what they all say?