The Hardest Thing is Sometimes Saying Goodbye

As pour myself into all things FIBRE ARTS, I've got this crazy idea that the hobby at some point has got to pay for itself.

My latest venture is into hand dyeing and painting (see previous posts).  As my summer is full of being a Mum and lots of time at the soccer pitch, I had to pass on my crazy idea of going to our local farmer's market to sell my wares, so, as I build up the nerve to open an etsy shop, I've created a small Facebook page to showcase (and try to sell) some of my crafts. There hasn't been too much activity there (mostly a few sales to friends and a custom Grumpy Cat ornament or two), but I see it as a good place to build up my confidence to start to turn this into a very modest money making venture.  That and a way to decrease my stash and make my husband stop raising his eyebrow at me when I talk about needing more yarn!

Today, I sold 2 of my favourite fingerling yarns: Crumpled Rainbow (above) and Stormy Lagoon (below).  A friend is buying them, To knit socks.  The perfect use for them.  But as happy as I am with my success, I'm finding it so tough to let them go. The colours are truly gorgeous.

 I was almost hoping that there wouldn't be interest so that I could make my own creations with these beauties.  I have the same problem when it comes to knitting projects: I grow attached.   After all the hours and care and attention invested in a project, it really is hard to say goodbye.  I'm such a tactile person that I need to be able to get my hands on something to truly appreciate it. I can't get the same satisfaction from a photo (or worse, seeing it on someone else!)  I guess with these beauties, I'll just have to find solace in the fact that I can visit the yarn and contribute to it's final form with needle and pattern suggestions. I know that my babies are in good hands.


Oh, and here's the custom Grumpy Cat (just for fun)

Sometimes Our Failures Are Our Successes.

I'm a little obsessed with playing with colour right now.  I'm so excited with how the colours in the wool I'm dyeing blend together or fight one another in the skein.

One particularly happy project is my new table runner.  I wove it using Wool-Ease Sportweight dyed in pink, purple, blue, and green. The yarn is only 20% wool, so the result was very faint and uneven, (much like a kettle dyed wool).

 The final project was a lovely surprise. Before starting to weave on my Cricket, the colours looked quite distinct, but together they blend together so well.

I had thought that the dyes had been failures, but together the blend of the weft and weave is subtle, but really pretty; it almost makes me want to make more mistakes when dyeing.

Works in Progress (WIP) - Week 3

I'm really over due on my WIP, but with the start of summer break and all of the hand dyeing I've been doing recently, I've been a little negligent to both the blog and my knitting projects.

But here goes:

Current Project #1: The 7 Year Sweater
Although I haven't picked up the sweater in about a month, I'm now at the point where I'm ready to section off the stitches for the arms.  But somewhere along the way, I've missed a stitch.  1 stitch out of over 300 to account for.  I've put things aside until I want to sit down and sort out if the stitch was dropped or just never added in the first place.  My husband has waited over 7 years for this sweater, so what's a few more months?  I am pleased, however, with the stripes I'm adding in lieu of the snowflake pattern in the original design.

Current Project #2: Hand Dyed Socks

This one is really a half-finished object.  And considering I've already worn it to bed one cool night to keep my tootsies warm, I'd hardly call it a work in progress.  But I have cast on the second sock using Knitty's Solidago Sock pattern, so that is a start.   The Briggs and Little Sport wool knitted up quite nicely, although I am concerned that the single ply may not last through normal wear and tear.  I'll keep these as bed socks when done.

Current Project #3: New Wrap

 As it's summer, I'm now spending 4 nights a week at the soccer pitch to watch my boys play or practice and I needed something fairly simple to knit up, without referencing a pattern.  I've already started and frogged 2 projects  with this wool, but I'm excited to be designing a wrap with it that will show off the lovely colour variations from the dyeing process.  I can't wait to finish this piece and share the pattern.




Current Project #4: Rainy Day Shawl

Finally, I've been working with some of my handspun incorporating it into the Sunday Sunrise Shawl.  My colours aren't as cheery as the original, hence the name for the project.  The blue is a gorgeous silk-merino blend by Louet plied with a Noro lace-weight yarn.  The multi-coloured is a combination of a rainbow coloured merino and grey faulkland roving.  I've been itching to combine the 2 skeins for quite a while, but until recently, had not found an appropriate project.  I'll follow the pattern, but if I have a lot of yarn left over, I'll add a more decorative  edge. I'm most excited about this one!

Umm... What happened to June?

They say that time flies when you're having fun, but it seems to soar when you've got 2 kids in soccer and it's the last month of June!

I had a look at my blog the other night to discover that I haven't made an update since May 20th.  So much for staying on top of things.  At least I've been busy, not only wrapping up the school year and my busy volunteer schedule there, and spending 4 nights a week toting the boys to and from the soccer pitch for practices and games, but also with some knitting, spinning, and plenty of dye experimentation.

Now, unfortunately, I haven't completely documented the dyeing process as much as I had initially planned (I got WAY too excited about doing it), but I do have a few records here and there of my efforts.

In early June I thought I'd haul out my giant pickle jar and attempt to dye some wool with coffee beans in the sun. The heat from the sun is supposed to release the colour from the beans into the water to dye the yarn and the tannin in coffee is supposed to be a natural mordant.  To help things along, I made liquid portion of the project 1 part vinegar to 3.5 parts warm water.  I added about 1 1/2 cups of whole beans to my pre-soaked wool (1 skein of Briggs & Little Regal), covered the jar with a thick plastic shipping bag, and let it sit on the deck for a day in the sun.

Upon inspection on day 2, I wasn't happy with how the colour was saturating the wool (see above photo), so I brewed a pot of strong coffee, let it cool, and added that to the jar.  The wool didn't seem to pick up too much more of the colour, but after a few more days on the deck, I steamed it in the microwave as I do to set my food colouring dyes, rinsed it, cleaned it and I'm pretty happy with the final result.  It's not as dark as I had anticipated, but it's a lovely café au lait colour.

I'll try this again, but next time I'll do it on the stove top and go straight to the brewed coffee.  I've read that a pot of coffee run through the machine twice will yield an extra strong result, and, I hope, it will also yield an extra strong dye.