Fuzzy Bag

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. I've had quite the busy week. Not too much to report on the knitting front, but I did finish the Marsupial Tote from Stitch'n'Bitch. Here is a picture, pre-felting.

And here it is after a tumble in the washing machine:

It came out a bit lopsided, but after the cycle was done I let it sit in the machine for a bit, that might have had something to do with it. The pattern calls for two strands of Lamb's Pride worsted weight held together, but instead I used Lamb's Pride bulky. I bought two balls of the burgundy, and one of pink. Lots of pink leftover, but it's almost my favorite color, so I'm sure I can find a use for it. I forgot to put the book next to the purse for the finished picture, I'll try to remember to take another picture for scale later. It came out pretty fuzy. Not cute fuzzy, I-get-my-rings-and-everything-caught-in-it kind of fuzzy. I went to Target and bought a sweater piller (one of those buzzing electric blades) and went to town. I only got one side done, but it looked so much better. I'll try to get a picture of that too.

My yarn for the K.O. came yesterday, and I wasn't too thrilled with the color. It looked a lot more teal on the website, and a lot more blue in person, but I thought I'd test it out. I knit a guage swatch (the first time I did this in I don't know how long) because the Yarn Harlot said she'd pass that off as "training" and not cheating. I LOVE the way this yarn knits up. It's very soft with just the right amount of fuzzy. It's still not my favorite color, but I think I will love it anyway. In the meantime, until the KO's start, I'm just making some progress on bunch of UFO's (that's unfinished objects for you newbies). Remember, I said I'm the queen of half-fisnished stuff, so I have a lot to choose from. There is the baby sweater for Lida (who's due in May), the shawl for my MIL's bday (in Feb-yikes, two weeks!), a blanket that I've had for about 10 years (that's actually crochet, not knit), and a various assortment of other things. Maybe I'll get something finished between now and then. Maybe not.

In non-knitting news, I went to a choral workshop with my Mom this weekend.

Me and my mama, singing our hearts out. We had a guest director, Pepper Choplin, who led us through about 7 of his songs. It was Friday night and most of the day today. It was fun to do something out of the ordinary. I, of course, chose a corner of the sanctuary so I could click on my needles while learning the music. (There were 90+ people there and I was in the back, I don't think it was too distracting.) I took Bob and got lots of comments on how lovely it was. I'm also working on putting together a simple scarf pattern with some different stitches like cables and ribs for my friend who is learning to knit (with the best knitting instructor of course). Lots more things to do this weekend though, more soon!

this is Tubey

Knitting Olympics

I have decided to join the Knitting Olympics, sponsored by Stephanie over at Yarn Harlot. Check it out: http://yarnharlot.ca/blog/olympics2006.html . The idea is that you cast on for a new project on Feb 10th when the Olympic Opening Ceremonies begin, and be completely done (including blocking and all finishing) by the time the Olympic flame goes out on Feb 26th. Just over two weeks...can she do it? We'll see.... So now I have to decide what the grand Olympic knitting will be, find the yarn, get the pattern, etc. I'd really like to make a sweater for myself. I like Tubey: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter05/PATTtubey.html and there is that shrug that I was dyeing the yarn for. Then again, I was thinking about maybe trying my hand at a lace shawl, but that might be a little too hard to keep track of while watching all the ice-skating (yay)! More to come, and soon I'll post the little button on my sidebar, as soon as I can figure out all that HTML junk.

Dyeing to knit

Today I tried dyeing yarn with kool-aid. I bought 5 skeins of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick in Fisherman (the same yarn I used for Bobblicious) and 42 packets of black cherry Kool-aid.

I'm planning to use the yarn to make the shrug that is on the cover of the 2006 spring/summer Knit It! magazine by Better Homes & Gardens. First you need to wind your yarn into a skein by winding it around the back of a chair, like so:

Then you need to soak the yarn in warm water until the yarn is fully saturated:

While the yarn is soaking, you put a little water in a large pot and dissolve the kool-aid packets in the water. (A good guideline is one packet per ounce of yarn, but I used a little more than that.) Add the yarn to the pot and then add water until the yarn is covered.

Bring water (and yarn) to a near-boil then turn off heat and cover for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once water is clear remove yarn and rinse. I came up with this:

So here's what I learned from this experience: Kool-aid doesn't stick to acrylic yarn at all, only animal fibers like wool. I used a wool blend so my yarn came out looking a little heathered.

It's also not as dark as I was hoping for, again because of the acrylic/wool blend. In any case, I love it. I can't wait to dye the other 4 balls of yarn. More info on dyeing yarn can be found here: http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall02/FEATdyedwool.html

Bobblicious

Bobbilicious is done!!! Finally! I had to run to Michael's 10 minutes before they closed to get another ball of yarn because I was so in my knitting groove, and good thing I did. I was thinking that I wouldn't need the extra yarn because of my height, but I used all but about 3 yds of it! Here are some pics:

Next on the needles: Meema's Marsupial Tote bag from Stitch'n'Bitch. I cast on for it tonight, and it's working up really quickly. I have a LOT of other projects I could be doing, but I wanted to try felting. Also on my list of new things to try: dyeing yarn. I want to take a shot at that sometime soon....maybe this weekend? We'll see....

Short but sweet

All finished with Bobblicious. I'll post a pic tomorrow when I'm not dead tired from being someone else's Barbie doll. My friend Shining is getting married soon and today we picked out bridesmaid dresses. I actually had fun, but all the swirling around in fancy dresses has left me exhausted. I finished Bobblicious in the car on the way there, and on the way home I snuggled up in it in the car, VERY warm. I did have to make a last minute dash to Michael's last night for another ball of yarn.....but that's a story for tomorrow.

Bobbling along

What a wonderful weekend I've had. I went to an overnight retreat with Creative Memories (a home-based scrapbooking company) and got almost halfway through my wedding album. In knitting news, I'm currently working on this: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter05/PATTbobblicious.html Here is my progress so far:

I'm using Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick, and I have to say, I LOVE this yarn. I like chunky yarns from time to time, love how quickly they knit up, but sometimes it can be awkward with the huge needles. This yarn is so soft and very warm. I'd say I'm about 1/3 of the way done, and I bought one less ball of yarn than the pattern calls for because I'm so short (5'2") but I'm thinking of buying another ball to be sure. I'll keep you updated.

first blog....

This is a test blog. I am new to blogging, so I need a few tests to get me comfortable with this.
A little bit about me: I am 25 yrs old, newly married (Sept 17th) and have been knitting for about 1 1/2 years. Everyone who knows me is either learning to knit or being pressured to learn to knit. I'm a chronic non-finisher, I always end up getting too bored with a project and seeing some shiny new project that my fingers are dying to start, so I regularly have about a million projects in various states of un-finish.