Birth of a Logo

I sketched this out today in MS Paint and wonder what people think of this as a logo for my blog?

Let me know! Leave a comment!

Thanks!

First Use of the New Hand-Dyed Yarn!

This is the newest project:
The Waves and Shell Shawl.

Finally got my hand-dyed yarn balled last night, courtesy of my niece, Wendy. The colors are fabulous! and I can't believe how pretty this will be once it gets finished.

The pic on the right includes the beautiful ball of lace-weight yarn, the one below, the closeup. All-in-all, this beginning took me about three hours, but it is fairly simple and should go quicker as I get used to the pattern. I can hardly wait to finish!

Another Pair of Socks - This Time for ME!!

Finished the Blueberry Waffle socks in the Regia yarn - and it only took a week for each sock . . . . not too shabby! Balled my hand-dyed yarn from last weekend's dyeing party tonight, and will start a lace shawl soon with the blue/pink lace weight. Sure looks different once it's out of the hank and into a ball! Will post pics of the progress!

Dyeing for a Change!

Last Saturday, Niece Wendy (aka Gwen) and I got busy early in the day and began dyeing 14 skeins of wool and mohair. Much of it was lace weight and sock yarn. What a blast! We started out with Koolaid, Wilton cake dyes, and some aniline dyes I had. Then we started mixing our own colors like a couple mad scientists and dyeing little hanks of yarn.





Aren't they cute?







Wendy brought Grandma's swift along and her ball winder, and both got used extensively!







Here we are doing our crazy thing!






Yes, it's a messy business!!




Then into the microwave for a quick steam. Can you say "smells like WET DOG in here????"




But at the end of the day, what a beautiful sight!






And I'm happy to say after almost three days, my hands are almost back to normal - however my nails may never be the same. Wendy cheated and wore gloves!

Finished Products

Here are my results from Saturday's dye job:






Lace Weight













<----- Sock Yarn







Mohair ----->

DIFFICULT Stash Enhancement

Ok - This is difficult stash enhancement:



Niece Wendy tried to divide a skein of 880 yards of lace weight yarn to dye today, and ended up making a mess. As she was leaving - it was still on the back of the couch - she said "knock yourself out." heheheheheh So, after an hour of untangling, you can see the small ball, less than the size of an orange, sitting there. Yes, it's good that I'm unemployed and have time to waste doing this kind of stuff. It will help keep me sane while waiting for the phone to ring!

Blueberry Waffle Socks

I finally finished the first sock last weekend, and have been knitting on the second this week. This is the Regia 1932. Thought I'd post a WIP. I absolutely LOVE this color!! Actually, kind of looks like blueberries! At least the color's right!








Beautiful color!

Shawl Obsession

I have become obsessed!! A couple weeks ago, I followed a link from a blog and ended up finding the most beautiful, just finished, red, round, knitted lace shawl that was pictured blocked to the carpet. Absolutely stunning! One of the comments read "the center's absolutely mesmerizing!" It even had a pattern name, and of course I Googled that, found the pattern which was listed for $7.50 . . . someplace. Do you think I can find it again? It was quite intricate. I've looked at Pi shawls, pinwheel shawls, faroese - which are not round (the name of the pattern started with the letter "f").

Unfortunately, I found it at work. I knew the temp assignment was ending and deleted all my browser history and files, which eliminated any possibility of retracing my steps. I have spent HOURS doing Google searchs for patterns or snippets of what I remember. And NOTHING!

I would love to give up the search - or find that pattern. Anyone have any idea what it is or, more exactly, where it is? I am totally helpless here! Stop LAUGHING!!! I need HELP!

Knitting Projects Begun and Planned

Well, niece Wendy (aka "Gwen) is heading for Chicago and "Stitches" on Thursday, and I envy her! She's got so much enthusiasm for knitting! My grandmother taught me that and crochet when I was under 10, so it has just become a part of who I am. Luckily, she's learning techniques I wasn't taught - I just learned the basics and taught myself Aran and some lace work. Actually, you can usually tell I'm an "old fashioned" knitter - only one project at a time!

So, now, what's going on? I've got a pair of "blueberry waffle" socks started in the Regia 1932. I think it is the prettiest sock I've knitted so far! Am carrying the blueberry waffling over the top of the foot, too. Sock one has the cuff and heel finished and am working on the body. Soon to start the toes! Then on to sock two!

Also, found this lovely Seaman's scarf shown on the right. I may try making it for a Christmas gift for a special guy in my life. Am planning on using a fingering yarn either in a solid color or with a bit of tweed to it, so should be quite interesting.

Niece Wendy and I (see her blog by clicking here) ordered some of the Knitpicks laceweight merino dyeable wool, and some of the sock weight. We plan a Kool-Aid dyeing party on the 20th of August, so we should have a blast. She's in a knitting group in Crestwood, MO, and they dyed a bunch of it back in February (see her Feb archive for details and pictures). The whole thing was written up in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Am currently looking for a suitable lace shawl pattern and can't seem to find the one I saw and was really impressed with. It was on someone's blog, round, red, they'd been working on it forever, and had finally finished it - was pinned to the carpet, blocking, and was beautiful and intricate. Just can't remember the name of the pattern! Anybody have any ideas??

I will need something suitable for the "lovely" Kool-Aid yarn I end up with in a couple weeks! Also, I spent a weekend not so long ago pulling and begging a mohair sweater apart. Wendy knitted it, her love quickly turned to hate, and she gave it to me (I gave her a skein of sock yarn *I* hated, so it all works out!). Is beautiful light blue and white and I need a project for that, as well.