picture

picture

Monday 17 May 2010

all kinds of everything

I have been busy diddling again. the vest is nearly finished - I am knitting the rib along the middle just now - or rather the last bit of it after adding the buttonholes. I just have to sew in all ends and fix the buttons - there is no seaming to do, because it's all knitted in one piece. the shoulders were knitted together with a 3 needle cast-off! I hope the recipient likes it - in this photo it looks like a table runner, but when it's worn the pattern runs horizontally of course....

I still have quite a lot left of the blue and red and some grey, too - I am thinking of using it for a large shoulder wrap in form of a wide moebius....
I am also taking part in the workshop of the OLG - "eat or dye" - using kitchen stuff for dyeing. a few results:

the yellows are from saffron, 1st and 2nd bath (the second with some added potash) - no difference visible on the silk hankies, but a little bit on the superwash wool top. the light brown in the middle was dyed with a mix of spices, mainly cinnamon and cloves - the smell is great; I'll keep it for spinning around christmas:)) the olive greens are dyed with red onion skins, 1st and 2nd bath. I always wonder, when I read in dye books that people got yellows with red onion skins - never happened to me, I always get olive tones or moss greens, without any iron! I usually use contact baths for onion skins, because the result is livelier, not totally even. it gives a slightly heathery effect after spinning.
the light green is not a food stuff! I just had to try ivy berries and this is the result.

I also used my easter egg cum alpaca blend - I liked the crochet pattern "Queen Anne's lace" a lot - but not as a short "collier":)) this crochet border will be used to remodel the old Aran sweater, for which I used the purple alpaca yarn originally. I didn't wear it much, because it was too warm as a sweater. the plan is to cut it open steek-like - attach the crochet border on both sides and some at the bottom of the sleeves - and use it as a cardigan afterwards.

and finally (before you ask, yes, I seem to suffer from acute starteritis - again....) - I started to knit with the sock wool I dyed a few days ago with the leftover dyebath from the "spring leaves" yarn. my first idea was to use one ball from the outside in (this one) - the other one from the inside out. but then I stumbled across a pattern in one of the Laidman books and decided to use the Traveller pattern - slightly changed. I like the small flecks of colour and the darker upper rib - and decided to use it in my Harry Potter socks series - and call it Grindylows:)) it looks like the dark lake from under water - and the cables are the snaring fingers of the creatures - just waiting for unsuspecting victims. of course it helps that they are supposed to be from ireland and uk - it looks a bit like celtic patterns, too.... I am going to root through my bead stash and might attach a few of them - water droplets maybe? if I go over the top - I might as well go the full hog:))

5 comments:

Delighted Hands said...

The first knitting looks like a woven piece-beautiful! The green socks are delicious! Is this one of the balls you dyed or a different project? The crochet collar is great use of that yarn. You are on a roll of FO's so don't worry about the startitus....keep going now!

Woolly Bits said...

yep, the green socks are from my dyed balls - I used up all the leftover dyes. great for using up stuff - but not so great for repeat jobs:)) and socks are not too bad as starters - at least the end is within easy reach!

Leigh said...

The best is gorgeous! How could the recipient not absolutely love it.

Looks like I'm missing a great OLG workshop. I didn't renew my membership this year because of being so overwhelmed with everything going on at the homestead.

Woolly Bits said...

Leigh - yes, the fiddling in the kitchen is fun, but I'd say you have plenty to be getting on with right now! and you can always rejoin later - and the old files will still be there for you to browse. it's not much good to dye loads of fibre, when you're so busy in house and garden that you can't use it!
and the recipient of the vest is extremely conservative with garments - my worry is that it is too "colourful"....

Guzzisue said...

loving the idea of Christmas spinning that smells like Christmas :-)