Dying to Dye

Yes, I have been absolutely dying to dye. Dyeing. I could just dye. So I did. I had JUST procured my dirt-cheap dye pots and a bargain of an electric two-burner ... but I promised the child that we'd do some Kool-Aid dyeing, so that's what we did.

Left to right, that's lemon-lime, blue raspberry, grape and orange. Kool-Aid really is interesting to dye with, and totally safe. It's got dye in it (duh), which makes it the colour it is when it's a drink. It also has citric acid in it, which is just the thing to set the dye and make sure it doesn't wash out and stain everything in sight.

You need one package of sugar-free Kool-Aid (the kind you would mix your own sugar into, without using any sugar) per 25g of yarn or roving or fleece or whatever. I had 100g of merino/nylon blend, so I split it into four and we had some fun.

We set up the workspace with plastic wrap. The green and blue were sprinkle-dyed, where the child just sprinkled the powder onto the soaked-and-squeezed roving. The purple and orange were individually mixed with a bit of water, so there's more colour coverage on those. She did want to leave a fair bit of white, though, so don't think that that's the result you'd get.

Anyway, then we closed up the plastic wrap and put them in a steamer for about an hour. I checked after 40 minutes and they hadn't quite exhausted the dye, so a little longer seemed like a good idea. After an hour, I took them out and set them to cool. When I opened them, there was no trace of colour on the plastic, nor did any colour wash out when I rinsed them. Success!

We didn't dye the dog and he was slightly sad about that. Or maybe just bored.

I finished the Fuse cardigan - yay! I want the sleeves to be a bit longer, so I might reblock it, or perhaps just continue to tug on them. Or I could push them up and ignore that issue altogether. The pattern calls for buttons on one of those short fronts, and loops on the other. It then wraps and buttons behind the neck. I don't think I want to do that now, though. Perhaps in the fall, but right now I really prefer it open or more casually wrapped.

  

Thank you to Eunice, the patient sweater model. Looks like the trim on the house needs painting there, and it seems the fence needs a bit of repair. That pot could also use a plant in it ... you know, to keep the weeds down. We really should drive to someone else's house to take knitting photos.

Below are two baby crows that were on my back lawn. Then a couple days later, they were gone. But then we found some carnage in another area of the lawn. I can only hope that one made it out alive. Nature's cruel. Apparently parent crows chuck their young out of the nest when they're within a week or two of flying because it's safer to have them spread out than to have them be easy pickins in a nest. I'd never heard of that, but there's a really smart crow guy on the internet and I found his site when I was in a mad panic about saving these birds. I settled down after reading his material. Dude knows what he's talking about.

This one here is calling for food in that classic bird pose:

I'll be finished the niece's cardigan pretty quick, so that'll be in my next post. WOOT!

Fuse Cardigan and my Queue

I'm working like a madwoman on Fuse, which is probably not right for the season, but with the Juneuary we've been having, I might be wearing it before October. We shall see. Anyway, I'm working like a madwoman on it because I've promised little niecy that she can have a bright pink sweater. That'll only take a week or two, and then it's on with .................

CHRISTMAS KNITTING

Yes, I said it.

I don't have time or the mental stability to leave it all until the last minute, so I figure a five-to-six-month period of at least a 50% focus on Christmas knitting is a good use of my time. With any luck, I'll finish it off in September.

First step: Determine what will be knit and spun for December. That's really the hard part. Then I dig through the stash (because I've got lots ... on a yarn diet here) and dedicate it to a pattern. The use of Ziploc bags is encouraged in this process because otherwise one forgets to what one has dedicated yarn ... and then one winds up with a giantish stash that needs to be tamed.

I'll post pictures of Fuse when it's finished. It shan't be long now - the cowl is in progress and I'm decreasing, decreasing, decreasing.

In other news, I've been dying to tell you that I'm getting dye pots. I'll actually be dyeing at home instead of just at workshops! I've got a man-sweater's worth of undyed yarn that wants to be chestnut brown, and I have some other undyed yarn and roving that I'm going to Kool-Aid dye with my favourite 11-year-old crafter.

Here's to a summer of awesomeness!

New Favourite Online Tool

http://chartgen.orangellous.com/index.php

I made a chart to go with the Manta Pequena pattern. Just took a couple minutes to get the hang of it, and there you go - chart added to the pattern below.

Weeeeee!

Manta Pequeña - Small Blanket Pattern

This small blanket is made for a wee tiny baby, and, as the baby grows, may be that special item that gets dragged all over the place. With its smaller size, perhaps it won't be dragged on the ground so much, but perhaps more through air. It's a lightweight blanket perfect for spring/summer. In my opinion, the crazier the colours, the better. This one did some really interesting pooling. It was exciting to knit, to see how things would line up.

You'll Need:

• 1 skein fingering/sock weight yarn (less than 400 yards). I used Tough Love Sock in the Hummingbird colourway. It gave me a 16x22 inch blankie. If you want a bigger one, use more yarn!
• 3mm needles, straight or circular, but you're knitting back and forth.
• Two markers.

The Stitches:

k - knit

p - purl

yo - yarn over - bring the yarn to the front, under the right needle, then over the top of the needle to the back again

k2tog - knit two stitches together

ssk - slip two stitches (one at a time) as if to knit, then slip them back to the left needle and knit them together through the back loop

The Double Circle Pattern:

Row 1: *ssk, k3, yo, k1, yo, k3, k2tog, k1* ssk, k3, yo, k1, yo, k3, k2tog

Row 3: *ssk, k2, yo, k3, yo, k2, k2tog, k1* ssk, k2, yo, k3, yo, k2, k2tog

Row 5: *ssk, k1, yo, k5, yo, k1, k2tog, k1* ssk, k1, yo, k5, yo, k1, k2tog

Row 7: *ssk, yo, k7, yo, k2tog, k1* ssk, yo, k7, yo, k2tog

Row 9: repeat row 7

Row 11: repeat row 5

Row 13: repeat row 3

Row 15: repeat row 1

Row 17: repeat row 1

Row 19: repeat row 3

Row 21: repeat row 3

Row 23: repeat row 1

Notes:

1. In the chart, the bits between the yellow squares are the repeated sections. Do not knit the yellow squares - they're just markers.
2. Read the pattern starting at row one, reading right to left.
3. Start and end each row with 5 knit stitches, both on the right side and the wrong side. 

4. All rows are purled on the wrong side, except for the five knit stitches at either end.

The Pattern:

Cast on 141 stitches using the long tail method for 10 pattern repeats. If you want it wider than 22 inches, add an additional 12 stitches for each repeat.

1. Knit all stitches for 5 rows.

2. Begin the Double Circle Pattern, maintaining a garter stitch edge of 5 stitches at the start and end of each row - place markers to remind yourself that those 5 stitches have to be knit.

3. Repeat the circle pattern 5 times, or more if you're using more than one skein of yarn.

4. Knit all stitches for 5 rows.

5. Bind off.

The Finishing:

Weave in yarn ends.

Block to desired dimensions.

Put it on a baby, not on a clematis.

Manta Pequeña

Manta Pequeña
I finished the blanket. It's 22 inches wide x 16 inches tall, and used less than a skein of sock yarn. It's made for a wee tiny baby and will be a nice weight for summer. I did five of the pattern repeats, with 10 patterns across, bordered by 5 knit stitches on each end, and a single knit stitch between each repeat. I used 3mm needles so it's a bit loosey, but not sloppy. I'll post the pattern separately, and cover off all the usual random news in this one. Pictures to follow with the pattern.

Camping! May long weekend:

Learned to play crib this weekend, and called it cribbage as a rule. Love it. "What's in your cribbage?"

The camp set-up. Lots o' trees.

What's camping without knitting? These socks are coming out way too small, so they'll be a gift for a neighbour. She'll be happy. Normally I wouldn't make a "way too small" type of error, but I wasn't really paying attention to measurements on these ones so they suffered a bit. However, the rule is that with socks that don't fit the intended recipient there is ALWAYS a willing Plan B person.

A trail behind our site. 

A tree with some character.

Looking straight up from my knitting/reading chair.

Salmonberry bushes ... this is really just fun with the macro setting. 

And the wicked remote holder in its final mounted state:

Wicked, right? I love putting the remotes away in it. It serves its purpose well.