Fun with Kool-Aid

I decided to do a bit of Kool-Aid dyeing today.  This is some Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool.  I used Black Cherry Kool-Aid with a couple of drops of blue food coloring for the main bit and a mix of Cherry, Grape and Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade for the purple.  After nuking that for a bit I poured some pink lemonade to tone down the orange in the Black Cherry.

Here's some that I did yesterday.  The red/purple is some Paton's Kroy Sock yarn that I've had in my stash for a while.  I did a similar blend as for the Fishermen's wool, although the first dye bath didn't saturate the yarn fully so I had to re-dye it.  Unfortunately, my ties weren't secure so when I went to pick up the hank it fell apart and I had a nasty pile of yarn barf.  About an hour and a half later I had it reskeined and ready to dye again.  I'm really happy with how it came out.

This is some Stitch Nation Full o' Sheep.  I used Pina Pineapple and Lemonade for the yellow, Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade for the aqua and the green was a 2:1 mix of Lemon-Lime and Orange.  I'm torn between leaving this as is or over dyeing it to get a bit more saturation.  Think I'll live with it for a week and then decide what to do.

 Finally finished my Color Affection shawl (well, almost - I still need to block it) so I cast on my Bigger on the Inside shawl.

I don't think it will be quite as long as I prefer, so I plan to add more lace repeats.  Will probably add increase/decrease repeats so that the shawl is a bit wider as well.  In order to keep the edges nice and neat I'm slipping the first stitch of each row purl wise.  On the right side rows I'm slipping with the yarn in back and on the wrong side am slipping with the yarn in front.  I think this will make it easier to pick up stitches for the TARDIS section and will make for a more attractive top edge as I don't like the look of garter stitch edging.

TARDIS Love

I've been wanting to cast on Kate Atherly's Bigger on the Inside shawl since it was published on Knitty recently; it went to the top of my queue immediately.  So, although I really shouldn't be spending money on yarn right now, I treated myself to some Stroll from Knit Picks, which arrived today.  Yay!  The color way is Sapphire Heather.  It's a bit more teal than true blue, but I think it'll work anyway.  I like the depth of color the heathering lends to the yarn.

Now I just have to finish my damn Color Affection shawl.  It's a simple pattern but for some reason I have had nothing but trouble with it.  I actually had to frog it once because it was puckering in the three color section.  It seems that no matter how loose I make the edges it still wants to pucker a bit.  Hopefully it aggressive blocking with take care of it.  There are only 2.5 three color repeats to complete and then I'm on to the final section.  Can't wait to be done so I can move on.

Silk Scarf Dyeing Project

I spent the day with my mom and friends dyeing silk scarves with Lanaset dyes.  I always have so much fun during our dyeing sessions.  Often I'll have an idea of colors I want to work with but usually end up doing something completely different.

I ove the bamboo scarf my mom painted - it's the second from the left in the first photo.  I did the one on the far left and the green one, second from the right.

These came out looking so beautiful.  My mom's is on the right, mine's on the left.  The floral pattern is rayon, so it doesn't take up the dye like the silk.  Love the effect.

Lots of pretty colors on the line.

Happy Mother's Day!

I finished my mom's Jeweled Cowl just in time.  Washed and blocked it yesterday and will give it to her this afternoon.  I love this pattern - it's so simple to make yet it looks so elegant.

I know I've mentioned repeatedly how much I adore Malabrigo Lace yarn, but here I go again...
This yarn is so soft and the subtle color variations are sublime.  Can't get enough of this stuff!

Neither of these photos reproduces the color accurately; it's actually somewhere between the two.  The second photo shows off the variegation nicely, though.

Hope mom likes it!

Handspun Hat Update

It's been a busy time at work lately, so I never got around to posting a photo of the finished hat.  I ended up changing the pattern to the Lock & Key Dreadlock Tam.

I really liked the cabled rib brim.  Wish I could have been there when it was given to the recipient so I could've gotten some photos of him wearing it.  Oh well!

Hand Spun Hat

I volunteered (or was I conscripted?) to knit a hat for a family friend using this beautiful hand spun Finn wool.

This yarn is so wonderfully soft I can't stop petting it.  I haven't decided whether to do a striped hat, maybe something like Amy Andersen's Oliver Jogless Stripes Beanie or Jared Flood's Turn a Square hat or perhaps something with slipped stitches or a fair isle pattern.  Any suggestions?