Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all!

The Leaf Collection pt 1

Three new scarf patterns are available now that I think of as the leaf collection. Not sure if three constitutes a collection but it's how I see it in my head. Thought I would write about each of them here.
The first is Foliage. This design had been floating around in my head but it hadn't fully gelled yet, the yarn, how to make it, etc. I had been frustrated with variegated yarns and how they pool and read on Ravelry others felt the same. I love the beauty of variegated yarns, all the different colors and the way they transition but sometimes the way they work up on finished items doesn't do it justice with the pooling and the way they stripe.
Around this time, my swap buddy sent me two skeins of Noro Silk Garden in a swap, been wanting to try this yarn for a while, the colors are really lovely. While I was looking for a pattern for the yarn, my head put two and two together and Foliage came together pretty quickly after that. I love the way the colors pool and it shows off the yarn and the wearer of the scarf.

More Overdyeing

I overdyed four more skeins of the Cascade Jazz. This colorway, 315, is mostly lavender and blue. I wanted something darker and richer so I dyed it in violet. I tested with a blue shade and the results were very close. This is more of what I expect from a $19.99 yarn. This time I took before and after pics. Before:After:

Overdyeing

Webs is having its summer sale and Cascade Jazz was only $2 a ball, 100g a ball. It was described as a thick and thin yarn, comparable to Colinette Point Five, normally retails for $19.99 each. Well, I always wanted to try Colinette Point Five so I thought I would try this, at $2 a ball a great deal even though I wasn't nuts about some of the colorways. I ordered 15 skeins, 3 colors, hopefully enough to make a throw.

It arrived pretty quickly, I was excited to open the box. The yarn is so soft, the softest thick wool I've worked with and the colors are, well, okay, not great. After crocheting a ball of #319, its pretty too much pink for what I wanted so I decided to try overdyeing some of the skeins. I wanted to tone down the brightness so I overdyed a couple of skeins in some brown, that was better. The other two skeins I overdyed with red, #319 has mostly pink and orange with a little purple and blue, so the red wouldn't turn everything a dark brown. The wool took the color beautifully. Here's a pic :
I was really happy with the results so I decided to overday #320, which is mostly primary colors, yellow, green, red, a little blue, think pretty bright basic crayolas. I tested a couple of alternatives and decided to go heavy with the green. It turned out a little dark and felted a little but still a big improvement. Here's the result.These turned out so nice and the yarn is so soft, I wish I had ordered more, a steal at $2 a ball.

Multi-tote

Oh why are the simplest things harder than we expect. My latest bag pattern, the Multi-Tote is an easy pattern. But it was not so simple to make it work! Conceptually it seemed very easy, but I had to frog it so many times to get the lines and proportion right, so that it would fold properly and in the right place. But all that extra work paid off, I'm so happy with the bag, love using it, especially with the felted purse organizer.

Purse Organizer

The new website and blog is finally up! Thanks for your patience during construction. To celebrate, I'm posting this new free pattern. It's simple and easy, and so functional. I've noticed that unless I sew a pocket into the lining of purses, for the most part they are one giant bag. Well, I have a bunch of stuff, cell phone, lipstick, lip balm, hand sanitizer, biz cards, receipts, and more and it all gets jumbled together. I remembered seeing a purse organizer on tv and found it on the internet, then thought it would make a good felted project. It was so fast and easy to crochet it up, then I threw it in the washer a couple of times, blocked it and it was good to go. It works great. I can load all my stuff in it, roll it up and stick it in my purse, easy. Plus, it's so easy to change purses now. Don't know how I lived without it before. Download pdf instructions here.

Under Construction

Well, this blog was looking a little crowded and dated, so it was time for an update. I found this great template at eblog and am working on adapting it to my content and making it functional. My favorite section is the live traffic feed where it shows where you all are from. Links to all the old posts should still be working. Thank-you for being patient while this site is under construction.

The Hand-dyed Yarn Swap

I received this wonderful package from Stephanie yesterday. 200g of bulky alpaca/wool in my favorite blues and greens! So soft and light, I want to hug it and keep it all for myself. Maybe a hat and neck warmer ....

She sent me not one, not two, but a whole book of fast and easy knitting patterns. Wow. Perfect for this novice knitter. Those mittens are really cute!

And for noshing while knitting, she sent a bunch of premium Scharffen Berger chocolates for snacking. Yum!

Luv it all and can't wait to get started!

Dye Pot

I participated in The Hand Dyed Yarn Swap and it got the yarn pot out for me, which was great since it was a great winter activity. This is two skeins of KnitPicks bulky peruvian, just straight dyed in pots in bright colors. I'm very happy with the outcome and decided it would be perfect for a new purse I'm designing.

Now that my swap partner has gotten her yarn and posted about it I can too. My swap partner and I decided to exchange 200 g of yarn. I wanted to use greens and browns since those are her favorite colors and tossed in some blue and yellow for good measure. One skein was straight dyed in pots of color, standard dyeing stuff. The other I wanted to handpaint and play with the color a bit. In the past I've handpainted by laying wet yarn on plastic wrap, painting, then microwaving or steaming. I wanted to play with the technique a bit by combining with free form kool-aid dyeing. When I first started dyeing, I soaked the yarn in a vinegar solution in a pot, then sprinkled kool-aid powder on the yarn, the effect was soft and free form, not like space dyeing which is more controlled. So I used a flat roasting pan that I could lay the yarn in and still have it floating, but since it was large enough I could control where the color went.

Lyra Hat

I made this Lyra hat from the Golden Compass a little while back with 6-7 strands of dk wool from my stash and a strand of bulky. It looked a little funky with all the different colors so I fulled it a little so that they would blend together. Of course it's warmer now and probably too late to wear but it'll keep. Here's a pic before fulling.

Happy New Year, Gung Hay Fat Choy

A belated Happy New Year and Gung Hay Fat Choy to all. I didn't realize it's been so long since I last posted.

Anyways, while I was cleaning house and organizing my yarns and little projects I found this ball of fluff that I never finished spinning. I didn't want to get rid of it (I was in a declutter frenzy) so one week-end I determinedly finished spinning it. I wasn't quite sure what I was doing but kept following instructions. It ended up with two plys of thick and thin, some parts are a little fuzzy and of course it's very rough and amateurish but I'm very proud and happy with it.

Next step, dye! I'm thinking something very freeform, soft and blended. Other than that, not sure yet, maybe pinks and a little lavender. Or I'm thinking maybe soft blues and greens with gray touches but I don't know how do gray?