Day Off Activities

Yesterday was my regular every other Monday off, and I decided I wanted a project, so I grabbed the last couple of skeins I had of undyed sock yarn, the crock pot, a microwave save Pyrex dish, and all the Kool-Aid and food coloring (plus vinegar) that I had in the pantry.

These are what resulted. The first skein was dyed with regular food coloring with some vinegar (acid and heat set the dye into wool permanently, Kool-Aid is acidic enough on its own that it doesn't need the vinegar, but the food coloring need a good slug). The purple's not as deep as I had hoped for, but it goes with the blue. If I saw this colorway in the yarn shop, I'd definitely give it a second look. This was laid out in a circle on the counter that was well padded with newspaper and a trash bag on top of that to prevent stains. I had the dye mixed into separate squirt bottles, and I squirted one side with the blue and the other side with the purple. The original purple was actually a quite sickly shade, and I had a larger amount of the blue dye, so I eventually put the blue over the whole skein and the purple on around half. I'm hoping that when I knit this up into socks I'll get thin stripes.


And then there's the green. The heat setting for this was done in the crock pot. This is Kool-Aid, a combination of Lemon-Lime and Ice Blue Raspberry; the Lemon-Lime was mixed at a more intense concentration than the blue, which is why this is way more green than I originally planned. I was going for kind of a peacock color, but I really like this a lot, and the semi-solid will be good for another pair of socks that has an interesting stitch pattern going on.

Delightful yarny goodness

Hi there! This is the blog of delightful yarny goodness, as you might have guessed from the title. As some of you know, the lovely Shnoodle from http://jeanqueen666.blogspot.com/ (damn I wish I could figure out how to make the links pretty like she did) recently took a trip to New Zealand. While I played with her cats, she had some fun shopping and bought me back the swag that is the shnizznit baby! (and I promise that's the last time I'll use the term shnizzit starting now). And now for the pictures.

This is some particularly gorgeous handspun by a lady named Patricia. There are 5 skeins total here, 2 sparkly and 3 non. I think the sparkly stuff will be a scarf, and I'm trying to find pattern of for the nonsparkly stuff, because it's so beautiful, soft, and wonderful. I have 918 or so yards (at least based on the Units app that I have on my iPod touch when I did the conversion from meters), so I can get a sweater out of it, just probably not one with long sleeves. It's a matter of finding the right pattern to do the yarn justice.

Here's a closeup look at the sparkly. I can hardly wait to wrap it around my neck.

This is sock yarn, Kiwi style, or Naturally Waikiwi. It has merino wool, nylon (important in sock for strength), alapaca, and what's that last entry on the label? Why yes, it's possum. Not the possum like we find here in North America with it's razor teeth and nasty attitude, but a bushtail possum that was introduced to New Zealand in 1837 to establish a fur industry (which I found on this http://www.saltwateryarn.com/index.cfm/Possum_Yarn site).

It's soft and warm, and because this is a solid color yarn, I think that some crazy complicated Cookie A. socks will be made from it. Eventually. After the cursing, wailing, pulling of hair, and gnashing of teeth have stopped. Or when I get to that point in my knitting queue.

Next up, the Zealana Kauri, another yarn with possum content, but this also has silk and wool, and will be lovely gloves for me, right?

And proving that Shnoodle really does know my color palate well, some more crazy sock yarn, Shepherd Baby Wool Merino. Another super-soft yarn, tool. I petted it for quite a while after I got all the yarn home.

Finally, Ashford Tekapo, 100% wool in a beautiful shade of teal. Another yarn that's looking for a project. Since this is 100% wool, it will felt, and it might end up being a felted bag. Unless it tells me it wants to be something different.

In the meantime, I've become completely addicted to Veronica Mars in the last couple of weeks and I've not been knitting as much as normal, because I've been watching it so hard. That means that the second Malabrigo sock (from my last knitting post) is still on the needles. I've made some headway on it today, though, and almost as soon as I post this, I intend to go make more headway. Hopefully that will be done by the end of the week.

The latest sock and the yarn that broke my resolve

First up, the sock. This is my first attempt at knitting a sock in the traditional manner, from the cuff to the toe instead of from the toe up. In an attempt to try to actually be as open minded as I like to think I am, I decided that before I can declare that I prefer to knit socks toe-up on magic loop, I need to actually try other ways. These are cuff down on magic loop, and I have some double-pointed needles on the way from KnitPicks so that I can try that, too. As my mother said, I have to be open to unlimited possibilities (Mom says stuff like that a lot).

So, I really like this sock a lot. I started it last Saturday morning and finished it on Wednesday, which is the quickest a sock as ever gone for me. And I have to take back what I've said in the past about the aesthetic of the heel flap. I hadn't seen that many in person, just in pictures on Ravelry, apparently of people with fat ankles or possibly people whose photography skills aren't professional (which is most of us). These don't make me feel like my ankles look fat when I wear them, and the fit is just amazing. Lindsay, you were so right about that.

If you're keeping score, this is sock #5 of the 12. Sock #6 is coming along well. I got to the point of turning the heel last night, and this morning I finished the gusset decreases, so I have to finish the foot and hope that I can get better at doing the Kitchener for the toe. The pattern is from Knitting Rules by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (AKA the Yarn Harlot) and she calls it A Good Plain Sock. I got this book from the library, and I'm considering purchasing it, especially since Knit Picks is having a book sale until November 2 (but that's a different matter).

Now for the yarn that made me break my self-imposed no sock yarn until 6 pairs of socks are completed rule. Here it is.

Yarn snobs will probably know about malabrigo. It's really soft, can be very difficult to find, and the colors are just lovely. Some colors, like this one, Indiecita, tend to sell out of the online stores I frequent really quickly. In the hank, it's pretty enough, but I might have been able to resist, except that I've seen a fair number of finished projects on Ravelry with this yarn, and it's really gorgeous when knit up. I think that this is destined to be a pair of Sunday Swing socks, a pattern that's available for free in the Summer 2009 Knitty or follow the link I'm about to pop in.

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer09/PATTsunday.php

That's all I have for now.