Record-breaking

It's been a long time-----like all other ventures I need to be in the mood for blogging.  Today the temp was close to -50 (wind chill) and I am now coming out of my thaw; tho the internal temp is close to 70, asthma has kept me from doing much.

I have been sewing small purses the past few weeks.  I've been collecting fabric for this for a few years.  Some of the fabric was gifted to me as large scraps from a quilter.  I've had my usual insane-fun and will be posting the pics in awhile.

Here are other things I have been working on since the last post:

Embroidered grilling towels for my surgeon for Christmas

These gnomes are some of the 60+ I've done for Christmas 2019.  I began them over Christmas 2018. I just have to move when the mood strikes.  Knitting the little caps was the best.  The gnomes are 2 1/2" tall.

  

Crocheted owl keychains....made with DMC embroidery thread.  I was gifted a box of thread several years ago.  The gifter bought a few gallon bags worth at a garage sale.  I love trying to use it all.

 This is Olaf Scandanavian, made of wool sport wt. Wool of the Andes (Knit Picks).  He is the third I have knitted in 30 years.  He has a wife on the needles.

 My wool socks are drying; I have established a way to utilize the washing machine with no agitation and can get all pairs washed and hung within 30 minutes.  This is not all my pairs; these were the ones that were laundered.

This knitting bag has an amazing story.  The outside fabric is a linen kitchen towel I found at a thrift store.  I suspect it is decades old.  In fact, I had to cut off the edges as they were moldy.  At the bottom it says "Made by Linen Union" and the other edge says "Made in Ireland."  Having some Irish roots, as well as being interested in Aran knitting stitches, I was more than thrilled to pay 15 cents for it.

The inside fabric is a woven kitchen towel (as opposed to having the ink just printed on it)….it was much more pricey with a tag of 50 cents.  Into the cart it went.

 This is the back side of the knitting bag.

Front side of the bag.  A bit of history is given; also, the stitches are illustrated and explained.

 A closer look at Olaf.

 These 3" socks were knitted by me to give me some sort of door decoration.  I had the bunting hanging on the front door over the holiday season.  It made me happy to look at it.

These 2 1/2" gals are painted on wooden doll pegs.  I get a hankering to paint every 5-8 years.  Astonished that my paints last so long!  I daren't toss them cuz I might want to paint again....they were made for a nurse's 4 yr. old daughter.  Very well-received.

I think the water bottle brand is Fashy.  It is German and really holds heat.  I thought a wool cover might be useful...once again wool showed its superpowers.  Never scoff at a water bottle sweater.

I wanted to come up with a warm chemo cap for the local cancer center.

Knitting is my favorite but crocheting felts nicely, too.  It also goes faster than knitting.

The above photo is how large I must make each hat since felting wool shrinks it considerable.  That's the idea because a dense wool fabric is warm and somewhat waterproof.  I can't wait to see how they are received...

Double-brimmed they sure warm the head!

LED nativity scene

Here is the nativity I bought today.  It is "olde world" and I can't tell you how much I like it.

Here it is in motion:

Bear with me....

...new computer; have to figure out where all the pics are that I want to post.

Been busy and hope to share some pics/posts soon!

Hot off the needles

No, I didn't knit these uber-quickly; they have been on their needles for weeks and have just been completed.  I usually knit socks then go back and put in the heels.
Lots of learning curves with striping......on to another pair.

 

 

My first self-dyed Christmas socks

Getting ready for fall

Here is the pair of autumn stripes I finished the other day.  I hope they stay colorfast.  I used food dyes.

Knit Picks

     This is a great shout-out to Kamber at Knit Picks.  I just got off the phone with her, asking tons of questions about acid dyes for dyeing my yarns.  Most of my natural yarn comes from Knit Picks because a) the price is right and b) no one can beat how soft the Bare Stroll is.....the more washed the socks are the more like cashmere they feel.  (Hand-washing advocate here.)
     Kamber, your help was invaluable and I will take your advice.  Thanks for all of your suggestions.

Sneak Peak

Okay, okay----those who know me well know I CANNOT keep a secret, when I am making something for someone.  I'm just too excited.  (I can keep other secrets.)

Here are two sock sets I've dyed.  

Success!  Self-striping knitting is such a blast.

 

This is what the mill looks like with 100 grams of wool----462 yds. of this brand.

The mill rotates smoothly like a windmill---mesmerizing and addicting.  It puts me in "the zone" and unfortunately only takes 30 minutes.

Each color of striping takes about five yards of warp (for lack of a better term)....the knitmath is fascinating and is best left to daylight hours.

 

Tying it off at intervals----still tangles threaten once the wool is wet.  Courage!

Tying takes upwards of a few hours if you add more ties (which I am prone to do).

You have to learn to like each stage of the process or you'll be miserable.

Don't ask how I know.  :)

 

I remember my weaving days.....when I dress the mill there are 20 yards in circumference....loosely chained, as above, it is only 2 yds, which makes it easy to store for future dyeing.

Hot dog, a very happy dyer here.

 

My autumn stripes.  I'm not into tonal---I like my stripes fully saturated.  Still, it is knitting up to be a lovely pair of socks.



Success?

Last night I dyed the correct length of yarn for striped Christmas socks.  There WAS a nasty tangle in one section, heaven only knows how it got there.  I went to bed because it seemed the wiser thing to do than tackle a tangle in the wee hours.

This morning I rewarped the long sections onto the mill which took about three minutes.  So far so good.  I began to wind the yarn into a working ball (from which to knit) and carefully navigated the tangle(s).  How happy I was to get it done with little fanfare.

Here it is on the mill.  Then the finished ball made me soooooo happy.  I contemplated as I wound the ball that there are a lot of scary things in life.  A lot of traumas have governed my life the past two years.  You just have to plow through (or in my case wind) to the other end.  It was so less complicated than I had thought last night. 

Christmas socks are well on their way....I'm in to seasonal dyeing at the moment.

Failure and Success--maybe

I'm feeling a bit of a failure tonight.  I had a long day trying to put 20 yds. of sock yarn on a warping mill, a weaving tool used by some sock knitters for making long hanks with which to dye stripes.

As.
In.
Long.
Uber-long.

The mill is new to me, having been made by a friend I refer to as "Amish John."  He is a local man and has been willing to make some wood items for me that in my craziness I believe I need for my arts!

The mill turned out beautifully.  We spent about 4 hrs. discussing the potential elements of it and how best to make it.  He didn't use any glue, only screws and bolts, so it is completely collapsible.  Now if I can just learn to work with it!

I warped the mill last night but knew I had a problem due to one thread that was rogue.  I had seen somewhere that a rouge thread can reverse your striping order.
No thanks.

So today I trashed that yarn (maybe the second time in my life) and started over.  I got the mill fully warped and was so pleased with myself until I realized that I was using weaving math instead of sock math.  To simplify, I just unwarped and wound the yarn into a cake (don't ask) then rewarped it but only half the length.
Now I was in business, or so I thought.

I did the yarn ties (40 of them) every 18 inches to keep the yarn from tangling.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Do you see me grabbing my sides due to pain from so much laughter?

How can you wind 463 yds. into 20 yd. increments and NOT have tangles?
Reminds me of my daughter's hair when she was young.  The solution then was to cut the hair in a pixie.

No can do when I am determined to make striped socks.
Anyway, here are a few pics of the warping mill.  The mill is made of maple and the stand is made of pine.  My dog is petrified of it. Sigh.  Rough day at the mill...

Here is the mill before the stand was fine-finished

 

By removing a few screws the mill can be folded down, lifted off the stand, and the stand can be disassembled.  Hurrah for easy storage!

 

This is how the yarn gets warped onto the mill  (by spinning the mill).  A guide thread is used to keep track of where you should be.  Ha ha, this is the accidental 39 yards----when I really wanted 20.  I didn't realize this until all the ties had been hand done (all 80 of them) and the yarn was presoaking in vinegar water.

To the trash it went.  Don't despair, I'm being as philosophical as I possibly can.  I for one surely won't lose sleep over this.

Sock Challenge--2018

I'm going to try to list the socks, backwards, in order by which they were knit.  Some were almost finished prior to Jan 1; but they are listed in 2018 as that is their finish-date.  The learning curve has been sobering and exhilarating at the same time.  Here goes: