Dye Petrified!

As much as I love yarn, and I really love good yarn, I've often wondered if I would perhaps love it more if I dyed some myself.  I've wanted to, I've even knit swatches meant for the dye pot, and then I chickened out.  My biggest fear is that my knitted piece would melt, felt, disintegrate, or otherwise be ruined.  I was also afraid that I would gas myself, set the house on fire or permanently dye my hands.

With all that fear burning bright inside my head, I took the plunge anyway.  I silently prayed that my son wouldn't wake up and find me high on fumes.  So, I took my little swatches, one white Lion Brand merino, the other Lion Brand sock yarn (donated generously by Joanne from knitting class).  What could go wrong?  I soaked the swatches for about 30 minutes:

I wanted to see what the swatches would look like if I dyed them blue:

And such a pretty  blue too!  So I dunked the swatches and I learned that white yarn/fiber will be whatever color you dye it:

But the hand painted yarn will be whatever it will be:

I don't know what color this swatch is, but now I know not to mess with Lion Brand's sock yarn!  I should have soaked the swatch in bleach first.
Now I'm less afraid to dye anything because the hardest part of dyeing is getting the color you want.  I'm at the take what you get stage.

Moving right along to the sock challenge - well, let's just say that almost everyone is still on their first Nutkin sock.  Seems the heel/toe is a hurdle.  Joanne is on sock #2, but Tracy managed to finish both socks.  Yay!

I hijacked her picture from Ravelry where I saw she has some pretty clever creations on her page.  Wow T!  Lovely socks!

My Nutkin socks are done and they spend plenty of time warming my son's feet.  I'm jealous that I don't have a pair, but I'm working on Cookie A's Wanida socks (couldn't get a link) for me.  I've ripped it back several times and I have one thing to say, "Cookie A - call me."  I'm stuck on the math part!!  Oy!

I finally found some ribbon in the color I want to finish baby Remy's sweater:

I'm hoping the wrap style means the sweater will still fit her!  Yikes!  I have to pull out the sewing machine to sew on the ribbons, but it won't be tonight.  I got home too late and I need full concentration to sew straight lines.  I can't sew for beans.

Well, that's it.  Anyone with insight into the Wanida socks, drop me a line.  I'm struggling!

Where Ya Been?

Dear  I've missed you, and I know if you weren't inanimate, you'd say you missed me too.  A couple of my readers have asked where I've been lately, how come no new posts, but I don't think they realize that all I've been doing is snow management and housekeeping. 

I went to the Vogue Knitting Live event at the Hilton Hotel in New York.

Where I heard the Stephanie Pearl McPhee lecture about Your Brain on Knitting.  It was technical and humorous, and I showed up with no camera.  Lord, spare me my forgetfulness!  I also took a class with Meg Swanson and Amy Detjen, and what they shared about fair isle knitting I couldn't have learned if I'd read a thousand books.  It was inspiring.

And then the second snow storm came and was it a doozie!  I couldn't get out of my front gate!  I had to have my son climb the fence and shovel the other side so I could get out.

That was the pits!  And there was no way to get to the grocery store since my car was a little buried.  The picture was taken from the sidewalk side.  You don't want to know what the street side looked like after the plows went through.

A good samaratin helped me dig my car out.  A woman good samaritin.  All the men drove past me while I was struggling to pile the snow into a bank that was taller than my own five feet.  One would think I'd have spent my time being stranded at home knitting, but I didn't.  I had some serious housekeeping to do.

The ladies in the knitting circle got farther along than I did.  Cynthia finished her Multnomah:

It is lovely!  And if you can't beat that with a stick, she got quite far with her Nutkin sock:

So did Winnie:

And so did Carol:

And while Renee didn't get far, she made some serious progress (considering she ripped the sock back and started again:

And last, but certainly not least, Mary Jo made her first sock:

It doesn't fit exactly, but she made it!  Mary Jo you done good and you should be proud of yourself.  One day you're going to make a great pair of socks.

And so ends the day.  I'll have something to show for myself as soon as I get my knitting mojo back.  It won't be long now because I can feel the weather changing and I smell Spring in the air.  If the snow in my front grass ever melts I might see the first signs of Spring.  Oh, I hope so!