It has been awhile

I've been distracted with many things in the last month. Most of it is work-related. But the rest has been fiber, and therefore, fun-related. I've spent some time playing with both chemical and natural dyes. This weekend I am taking a natural dyeing intensive at http://deepcolorstudio.com. Should be fun. Will post pictures of the dyeing experiments soon.

Busy, Busy, Busy...

but not with much knitting or spinning; it's been all work, most of the time for this girl. I did finish spinning the singles for my daughter's second One Skein Wonder though.

First time dyeing with natural dye

On Friday night, I decided that I was going to dye some merino top with dye made from onion skins. Now mind you, I've never dyed anything, let alone top, with natural, made from scratch dye. On Saturday, I peeled a pound of yellow onions to get 1 oz. of onion skins. (So that the onions didn't die a slow death in my frig, I made onion soup.) I steeped the onion skins in simmering water for about 40 minutes. I steeped the top in a mordant of cream of tartar and alum for about 45 minutes. I then left both to cool overnight. The next day I strained the onion skins and had a lovely dye stock that was a warm brown. I added what looked like enough waterto the dye potto cover the top. Plunked in the top and set it on the stove to simmer for about 40 minutes. The dye exhausted after simmering for 30 minutes. I let the whole thing cool to room temp, drained and carefully rinsed the top. I got this lovely yellow. I can't wait to spin this up!

Give Away

I've been decluttering and have books and yarn to give away. Details below. If interested, leave a comment. Edited 9/4/06: All yarn and books have been taken!!!

Lamb's Pride Bulky in kiwi (1 skein) and purple (2 skeins). TAKEN.













Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (2 skeins). TAKEN.











Crystal Palace Dragonfly (2 skeins). TAKEN.













Louet Sales Gems Pearl 1 skein each pink and navy. TAKEN.










1 1/2 skeins Knit Picks Andean Silk in Sangria. TAKEN.











2 skeins of Socka in a blue multi; 1 in pastel multi; 1 in a light green. TAKEN.












More Socka--2 skeins in a rusty red; 1 purple; 1 multi. TAKEN.












Lorna's Laces Shepard sock yarn in Mineshaft. I bought this when Lorna still owned the company so this is one of the original LL colorways. TAKEN.









Artfibers Orgami--a nylon paper yarn; Artfibers Sherlock--100% merino; Rowan 4 ply soft.












Tess Designer Yarns micro ribbon--1 1/2 skeins.
TAKEN.










The books are Knit Lit 2 and 3; Knitting Lessons: Tales from the Knitting Path; Stitch 'n Bitch Nation (TAKEN); Wendy Knits (TAKEN); The Harmony Guides Knitting Techniques Volume 1; The Knitting Experience: The Knit Stitch (TAKEN); and, The Knitting Experience: Color (TAKEN).

Second attempt at blogging

About a year ago, I started a blog about my knitting. I lasted 8 days. I just didn't have enough "knitting content" to post everyday, what with a full time job, a kid, a dog, and a bunny. I read plenty of blogs about knitting and spinning and got a little envious that I didn't have a blog so I could participate in knit alongs, swaps, or, most importantly, a place to show off my knitterly accomplishments.

Anyway, I've been knitting on and off since I was a teenager. When I figured out that my mother would not always agree to finish the stuff I'd started, I got serious about the needles. I still send stuff off to my mom but it is generally to sew things together. I have gotten much better about finishing things myself though.

I started spinning on a drop spindle around 14 months ago. I was so bad at it. I never got beyond park and draft. My drafting was terrible and so was my yarn. I loved it anyway even though I couldn't ever see myself knitting anything with it. In March, I took a spinning wheel class at Deep Color Studio. In April, I bought an Ashford Joy. Now I knit with my yarn. It is not perfect by any means. I practice and practice so that I can control the draft and get a consistent yarn.

Some of the projects I've recently completed:

Hot Lava Cardigan out of handspun merino and tussah silk;
Angel's Rest socks out of handspun superwash merino;
a Picovoli t-shirt out of Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere;
and, a One Skein Wonder out of handspun merino for my daughter.



I am currently spinning more merino for another One Skein Wonder with top I got from Carolina Homespun.