christmas has come early for me!

still alive! it's been quite a while since the last post but i've been busy dealing with lots and lots of stupid bullshit. i got my november package from my secret LJ pal a couple of weeks ago and i'm just getting around to posting it.

that's mason-dixon knitting, some (what appears t0 be handmade) wooden DPNs in size 10.5, and a skein of patons SWS yarn in the 'natural' colorway. that's patons new yarn that's 30% soy, 70% wool, and 100% soft and delicious as far as i'm concerned. I think that it's going to become some sort of a hat but i'm not too sure of that yet. my secret pal rules! i can't wait to see what's in the next package!

i also got a christmas present from one of my coworkers today, it's a small box called the "winter knits kit" and it contains a bunch of dk weight pink yarn, red circular needles, a yarn needle, two stitch markers, a short 'how-to' book and 25 cards with patterns for winter-related things on them. how awesome is that??! those are three of the pattern cards, on the left is a gorgeous table runner with a lacy leaf pattern up the center, in the middle is a beaded ornament pattern and on the right are some angora socks. this is probably the best preseent i've received so far and definitely is going to be one of the best i'll get for christmas, i know. and it's not even christmas yet!!

awesome!

CAZZO!

last night i was working on that scarf and my denise needle cord snapped apart. right at the place where the black connector joins the blue plastic cord. not having another size eleven circular needle i went to walmart today to see if i could pick something up for cheap. no dice.... plenty of 10.5's and 13's, but no 11's! what the hell?? i'd like to finish this before my mom gets here on wednesday so i don't have to mail this back to her but it's looking like that's not going to happen.

curses. this is the second time i've had a denise needle cord break on me. i'm thinking of maybe getting a new set of interchangeables... that knitpicks options set seems sorta pricey but pretty appealing. i think i might get their needle set with my christmas money.




currently i'm working on a heart sachet from the IK 2006 holiday gifts issue. the yarn is from one of the many balls of koigu i have kind of floating around and i think if i get my ass in line i'd be able to make a bunch of these as christmas ornaments.



working on something with size two bamboo needles is a lesson in gentility, i'm finding it to be less of an exciting knitting experience and more of a lets-not-break-the-ten-dollar-needles sort of game.

current WIP - potato chip scarf

this is my current work in progress, a variation of the potato chip scarf from knitpicks. this is also my first comissioned piece in the 11+ years i've been knitting. my mom is having me make this for one of her coworkers. the yarn is louisa hardings' "flotsam" and is kind of neat. it's like three strands of varying materials all intertwined. the fiber content is 40% cotton, 45% polyester, 10% viscose and 5% acrylic. this yarn is in colorway 9 which is a pink/teal/red combination. personally if i had to choose this yarn i would have chosen one of the other, less-pink colorways but this isn't my scarf so i really can't have an opinion of it.

i initially cast on way more stitches than the recommended 90, i thought the scarf would be too short and i really like long, drapey scarves. i got about four rows in when i realized that there was no way i was going to make a substantial scarf out of the yarn that i had. so i frogged a good two hours' worth of knitting (knitting horizontally instead of vertically, all while doubling the number of stitches every other row takes f-ing forever) and started over. i also upped the needle size to 11's (i had initially worked it on 9's, bad idea because the stitches were too small to be of any use as ruffles) and have been coming along swimmingly.

scarf as of last night:


closeup of the yarn/scarf:




if i did something with this yarn again i think i would like to make a shawl or a poncho. perhaps some sort of a loose pullover. something breezy and simple for spring/summer as this isn't a yarn whose fabric would hold any substantial heat.

felting extravaganza

these two bags were done for two different coworkers who had birthdays two days apart. that's a two-tacular sentance right there.

the green bag is some fisherman's wool that i dyed myself, it was like my second dye experience and i had intended on turning the yarn into a zip-up cardigan. then i moved to new orleans and that was the end of that dream. the red yarn is manos del uruguay, and is an amazing color.


closeup of the green bag


closeup of the red bag. that colorway is gorgeous.


after felting. notice the size difference and how they've shaped up quite nicely.


closeup of the green bag after felting. goodbye decent stitch definition!


i wasn't able to get a good picture of the red bag after it had been felted, but i can tell you that if you've seen a felted bag you've already got a good idea of what it looked like.

fun with dyeing yarn.

i did this about a month or two ago but am just getting around to putting it up. procrastination is the thief of time, apparently.


the yarn is malabrigo worsted (100% merino) and pretty much the softest thing i've ever felt. i used wilton icing dye in royal blue, sky blue, and a little bit of violet thrown in for good measure. i dyed it to make a scarf for one of my coworkers for christmas. she picked out the colors.

soaking the yarn in a vinegar/water mix before dyeing to prepare it. xavier the bonsai tree is watching over it.


i set up the dye station in my bathroom. i put down some plastic wrap on the floor of my bathtub and lay the hank of yarn out, spreading out the yarn so it was all pretty much laying flat and exposed. i put each color of dye and a bit of water into a seperate squeeze bottle and shook it all up to mix it, then pretty much just squirted it all over the yarn, trying not to mix the colors too much.


i let the yarn sit in the dye for a few minutes, then blotted out the excess dye, wrapped it up all snake-like in the plastic wrap, then nuked it in my microwave at two minute intervals. it was steaming hot by the time it was done! xavier the bonsai is tired of yarn dyeing, by this time it is dark out and i've been at it for a few hours.


rinsing out the yarn in my shower.


it took a while for the water to run completely clear but when it was finished and dry and done up it looked like this:


i haven't actually gotten around to knitting a swatch of it yet but i would imagine it to look kind of like a monet painting. that was sort of the idea i was going for.




and, because no project is fun without a disaster pic, here's one of my hands after i finished all the dyework:

don't even ask how i managed that shot.

hmm

i've had this thing for a year and some months and haven't updated it yet. it's not that i haven't been knitting, nay, that's something that never really stops. perhaps soon i'll put up some pictures of my recent projects.