AUGUST YARN DYEING CHALLENGE pt 2

This time I used I Love This Wool in "cream". I made a long skein, then tied yarn around a whole section or around just a few strands at a time, kind of randomly.

I did a first dyeing with Peach Mango Kool Aid.

Then I undid some ties and retied or added other ties and dyed the skein again with orange Kool Aid.

For the third dye bath, I redid it again only using Wilton's copper and brown. The color didn't change enough, though, so I did a fourth round (retying etc.) with Wilton's Kelly Green.

I was trying for sort of flecks of lighter colors and I think I succeeded. To me it looks like fireflies or sunlight filtering through tree branches on a leaf covered forest floor. It, too, will probably become a hat (or a scarf).

AUGUST YARN DYEING CHALLENGE: RESISTS, pt 1

This month's Ravelry What a Kool Way to Dye group challenge was to deliberately keep some parts of the yarn free from dye. The first version I did was using a sleeve from a thrift-shop sweater--white 50% wool, 50% acrylic.

I tied bulls-eyes with rubber bands, like in tie-dyeing, and did the first dyeing with Kool Aid Peach Mango.

I added more rubber bamd ties and took a few away and dyed again with Lemon Lime Kool Aid. Last I added more ties and took a few away again and redyed with Mixed Berries KA.

Unraveled and wound, the yarn is more pastel looking because of the white left because it was already knit. It will probably become a hat.

CROSS STITCH EYEGLASSES CASE

I got this kit at a sale and it's just been sitting around. I was kind of burned out from all the knitting and crocheting I've been doing and wanted to do some counted cross stitch to give my hands a rest--and I need another glasses case. this was a good do-some-every-day type of project and there was no deadline. I used three strands instead of two and like the way it looks very much. Now I want to add a lining and it'll be good to go.

RAVELLENIC GAMES 2012

The Ravellenic Games start today at 3 p.m. CDT. I'm on 2 teams: Team Tardis and Team Crochet. We'll see how many projects I can get finished by the final day of the 2012 London Olympic Games. This is my Ravatar for the games--so far.

EVENING CRAFTERS JANUARY FEBRUARY 2012 PROJECT

Finally got the applique pieces sewn on. Really cute.



Pattern from Crochet Today!, 2011, called "Spring Awakening".

SNOW DAY YARN DYEING

Friday was a very snowy day--2-4 (or 6) inches of snow. Neither Rudy nor I had to go anywhere, so we just sat around and did our own thing. [In fact, I never got dressed at all, just stayed warm in my fuzzy jammies and robe.] I mostly knit and crocheted all day, but I also dyed a skein of yarn (I Love This Wool "Cream") using some of the techniques from the Dyepot Confidential video--though I used Kool Aid and Wiltons food coloring gels. After soaking the skeined yarn and then squeezing out the water , I twisted the skein loosely and microwaved it using Wilton's Lemon Yellow and Golden Yellow. After it cooled enough that I could handle it with bare hands ( c. 1 hour), I retwisted the skein and microwaved it using 2 packages of cherry Kool Aid. After this round cooled enough, I made two overhand knots in the untwisted skein, and microwaved it a third time with 2 packages of Berry Blue Kool Aid. Here's how it looked then.
I did a 4th round using Wilton's Sky Blue and only one knot. Here's how the skein turned out (I think it's gorgeous!).
Here's how it looks wound into a ball.

I also managed to make bread (using my bread machine) as well. A productive day.

SCARVES FOR CHRISTMAS

A co-worker made scarves from the Lion Brand Tweed Stripes and the pattern on the label for all the women in her department and for friends. They were so beautiful, I wanted to make some for presents, too. I ended up making 9.

Rainforest


Mixed Berries


Orchid:


Marble


Caribbean


Limeade


Lakeside


Prism


Woodland

MMARIO MYSTERY SHAWL FFOUR

Designer MMario has started the new mystery shawl KAL in the Mystery Yahoo Group. There are several options using the same basic pattern--a triangle, a square, a circular pinwheel, and a "mock" Faroese (triangle with center panel). I started the mock Faroese on November 14, never having done one before, with the sock weight yarn unraveled from a thrift store wool sweater. I made some errors and couldn't see them, so I started a second one with worsted weight yarn--I Love this Wool "Olive Green" dyed a darker green with Red, White, and Blue Kool Aid--so I could follow the pattern better. I also thought a pinwheel would be cool, so I started a third shawl using some fuchsia recycled sweater wool that is more a lace weight (and fuzzy-ish). I will not finish very quickly.

I finished Clue 1 today on all three--I do each charted row and return row for each version at the same time; it is then easier to remember the directions.
Worsted weight Faroese version

Blue Green Faroese version

Fuschia Pinwheel version

Closeup of Pinwheel


Only 4 more clues to go.

RAVELRY FGF OCTOBER TEST KNIT: LACEY CUFFS

I did a test knit for these Starfield Cuffs by Holly Terrell. The pattern called for sock weight and lace weight yarn, but I used light fingering and sock weight instead (the colors looked well together and were seasonal). The cuff part turned out great--they fit well, the pattern is nice, and the yellow-green beads look pretty on the dark orange. The ruffle part was done with a dark yellow-green and the same beads. The pattern called for 2 repeats, but I thought I'd like them a bit longer and added a third repeat and bound off. Well, they looked sloppy, with curling edges and very wide and not very ruffle-y.


I tried wet-blocking them and they looked worse:


So i unraveled the third pattern repeat--much better:

Then I did a garter stitch edging--1 row purl, 1 row knit (twice) and bound off in purl. Now they look cute and wearable.



I'm going to do them again with some recycled grey wool yarns, I think, that can be blocked.

EVENING CRAFTERS SEPTEMBER 2011 PROJECT

For September, we did an embroidered lavender-filled sachet. The project is in the June, 2011, issue of American Patchwork and Quilting (designer, Rebecca Shucksworth). The hardest part was finding the lavender. I finally located it at World Food Market in Schaumburg in the tea department. It smells lovely. I had to dig out my sewing machin--that I haven't used in over a year at least (maybe 2)--so I could have a tight enough seam to keep the lavender inside and to put on rick-rack (which I could have done better). Still, it is cute. I'll give it to my Mom, I think, if she wants it.

HULA HOOP T-SHIRT RUG

I saw this pattern for a rug woven with loops from t-shirts using a Hula Hoop for a loom on Family Fun Magazine online. But I did not have a hoop. However, while visiting my Iowa grandchildren, I spied a broken hoop on their porch and asked for it (it was kind of lozenge-shaped instead of round). Last month I cut up some t-shirts and tried out the pattern. Mt first attempts were a mess--the warp loops kept falling off and were very skewed. Then I broke/bent the hoop some more to kind of get a hexagon shape and found a kid-sized t-shirt to use for the warp. That worked. My rug is not big--12"-13" in diameter--but not bad. I probably need the giant Hula Hoop to go bigger.
The Rug in progress

The finished rug


There was also a pattern for a bowl made on an embroidery hoop frame with loops cut from the sleeves. After enough rounds for a base, the weft loops are pulled very tight and eventually a bowl shape is formed:

EVENING CRAFTERS AUGUST 2011 PROJECT

We tie-dyed t-shirts (and more) with a kit from Michaels with 3 colors: fuchsia, blue, and yellow.

Here we show our first attempts:


Here Linda and I model our second attempts; Linda is also holding a pair of socks she dyed as well.

CRAFTERS PROJECT JULY 2011

Actually finished a project in the same month. We did a wind sock using fusible webbing and artificial leaves--or, in my case, flowers. The pattern was from an old Crafting Traditions magazine, May/June, 1998.
The original bunch of flowers

The finished wind sock (which already survived a thunderstorm.


September, 2011:
Here is Linda with her finished wind sock:

KOOL AID DYEING, MULTICOLORS

I've been dyeing Heart & Sole sock yarn with Kool Aid to make Wendy D. Johnson's Pi Shawl (see future post), but decided to try some I Love This Wool "Winter White" and several colors at once, but not mixed. When I wound the wool in a skein, I tied it in 4 separate equal-ish parts so when it was in the bowl each section was sort of in its own corner. The yarn soaked for several hours, then it went in the square bowl just barely covered with hot tap water. I made 4 solutions of Kool Aid and 3/4 cup hot tap water--lemonade, lemon-lime, Berry Blue, and Cherry. I poured each solution in a different corner, plus some kitty-corner (or where ever I thought to do it)--no stirring. After microwaving for the first (of three) 4 minutes and resting 4 minutes, I did stir a teeny bit because some colors seemed trapped. The yellow disappeared, the other colors overwhelmed it.
Yarn in the bowl:

Yarn on shower rod drying--4 sections evident:

Better picture of colors before winding into new skein

To show the colors better, I rewound the yarn, spreading the sections out, so the color sections could be seen more easily (reverse order of picture above):

Here it is in a twisted skein--the colors are not really this bright:

Finally in a center-pull ball--still doesn't really show the muted colors, tho:


I may try this again. Now, what should I make with it? A hat? gloves? shawl? purse? felted bag? Hmmmmm...

AAUW EVENING CRAFTERS MAY 2010 PROJECT

I need to keep up with finished projects. Here, at least, is the one originally scheduled for this month, but started--and then put aside--in October (?). The actual meeting for this month was canceled (schedule conflicts), but I finished mine. This was an old project originally on our schedule in 2008, I think, and the pattern came from a book owned by a former member who has since succumbed to breast cancer [we miss you, Vony!]. It is a friendship fridgie done on 10-count plastic canvas with embroidery floss. It says "friendship blooms from seeds of caring".

CRAFT IN AMERICA SERIES

I was able to tape the episodes of Craft in America on Wednesday and loved them! Episodes are available online and on DVD if PBS is not available. Anyone who loves crafts should see them. Wow!