Pretty Yarn!

These are two of the skeins that I dyed last weekend:

All together now: "Ooooooooo!"

The bright one on the right is my favorite, that orange is just incredible. I'm about 1/3 of the way through a vest using the other bright skein and some black from my stash. Maybe 1/4 of the way. It depends on just how long I decide to make it. I'm going to dye one more skein in the same colors and see how far they take me. The darker skeins my small one has claimed as hat and mitten material, which is fine by me.

The last three white skeins I think I'm going to do in more solid colors. Maybe. (ain't I decisive today?) All I do know is that I have yarn soaking and the afternoon to play with it!

Wow!

I am so freakin' in love with the Wilton Dyes! Why?

(sorry about the glare from the tinfoil! I didn't want to 'dye' the cabinets, and I had run out of wax paper to use)

This was so cool to do, and so much fun! I started by soaking the yarn in a lobster pot of water and white vinegar for about an hour. I used a Pyrex pie plate to hold the yarn under, and no, I'm not sure how much vinegar I used! I think it was about half of a 16oz bottle.

Then I took two of the skeins and layered them around the edge of a casserole dish. I used red, blue, green and yellow (which turned orange) icing colorings. I'm not at all sure just how much coloring I used. Maybe about 1/8th of a teaspoon in a small squeeze bottle? (Can I be any more precise?) I filled the bottle twice for each color so I could make sure the yarn was good and saturated.

Then I nuked the yarn. Two minutes on high and then a two minute rest, which I did three times. Then I let it sit for a little while to cool off.

After that I moved the yarn to the sink so I could rinse it. I lost a lot of excess dye in the rinsing, and I wonder if that's something that might not have happened if I had 'cooked' it a little longer. Whatever. I'm certainly not complaining! The colors are fabulous!

The really fun thing was the way that the blue dye took. It's very blue in some spots, but it also faded to that really funky purple too!

I have four more skeins of white wool left, and I don't know how long I'll be able to hold off buying more! I mean, this was *so* much fun to do! And I have to admit that I am really pleasantly surprised with the results. But, next time, I really am going to have to remember to wear gloves...

(Oh, who am I kidding? I got a major kick out of poeple looking at
me and going: "What did you do to your hands?!?")

CrazyBusy

The past few weeks have just been a little busy.

We've just switched over to a new computerized POS (register) system at work, and it's like we jumped from the Dark Ages straight into the 23rd Century. The transition hasn't really been all that difficult for me, but it's been a huge change. And since I work in receiving, the stress really has been on accuracy. What's the point of having a high tech system that tracks every item in stock if the receiving is screwed up?

On top of adjusting to the new system, my immediate supervisor has been pulled away by the president of the company to be her assistant. She is still my supervisor (which is a blessing that I will not deny, the woman is awesome), but she's not able to do much of the day-to-day stuff in the department. As a result of that, I offered to pick up some more hours. Hey, it's more money to buy yarn pay bills with, which is always handy!

I haven't been doing a ton on the knitting front. I finished the glove that I had been working on and, to tell the truth, I really don't like the way it came out. It just feels...funky. I don't like the way that the thumb comes off of the palm, instead of the side. And it caused me untold stress doing the fingers for some stupid reason. As a result, I have given myself permission to not make the second glove. Why should I bother, if I'm just going to dislike the process? Chalk it up as another learning experience.

I have been slowly working on my Peacock shawl, sometimes only a row or two a night. I'm trying so hard to avoid mistakes, but they creep in anyway. As long as they're not glaringly enormous I'll be the only one who will be able to see them anyway. At least, that's what I keep telling myself!

I'm also working on a sock from some yarn that I bought from Elann forever ago. I'd forgotten how much fun turning a heel is. (Yes, I think it's fun! I'm just a wild woman.)

I also took the time to skein and wash a cone's worth of some very sheepy smelling light blue wool that I purchased in Vermont two summers ago. I'd like to be able to use it, but the smell gives me migraines! I also have some dark blue that I was trying to make a shawl out of. It's also going to get the skein and wash treatment.

My husband didn't even blink when he came home from work at midnight to find this in the kitchen.

I don't know why I had never thought of hanging yarn on the cabinet doors above the sink to dry! It was sheer brilliance I tell you! (OK, maybe not brilliant, but pretty darn clever all the same)

Next up is going to be some experiments in dyeing with Wilton icing dyes. There's a pattern in the book Dazzling Knits that I like, but I know that finding just the right colors of yarn for it would be difficult. I might as well do my own. If nothing else, I'll get a fun afternoon of playing with color and yarn out of it. And maybe *gasp* it will be another learning experience!

The Thrills and Chills will continue, I'm sure!