The Clueless Crafter

Fantasies, Math and Willie Nelson

2009-12-08T01:12:00.000-08:00

I have a very nice digital kitchen scale that gives me valuable information; it tells me how much yarn. I don't have one of those devices that measures the actual length of a skein of yarn, but set my scale to grams and do a little math and I have a pretty good idea.

I used 15 grams of a skein of Cascade 220 on Kate's leg warmers. It's called 220 because there are 220 yards in the 100 gram skein. 15 x 2.2 = 33, therefor I used 33 yards of the skein, leaving 67 yards for future projects.

That's a good little bit of yarn, so I fearlessly set out to knit a watch cap for another friend with it. The watch cap weighed 72 grams, times 2.2, makes 158.4 yards.

Now to weigh the remaining yarn. 13 grams, times 2.2, makes 28.6 yards.

Let's check for accuracy. 33 + 158.4 + 28.6 = 220 exactly.

Woo-hoo! Math works!

A side question to this is: In my Ravelry stash, should I declare this skein of yarn to be "All used up," or should I let it stay listed with 28.6 yards remaining? It certainly isn't enough for another project, but I don't want to forget I have it -- one never knows when what might come in useful.

This is Willie Nelson.

No, obviously not the country singer with the gray braids.

Willie Nelson is an alpaca. Here's his baby picture.

The lovely skeins of yarn are hand spun from his first sheering. Three skeins, natural Willie color with no dye, and no idea how much yardage.

I have a serious case of yarn lust for these skeins. I pat them, I rub them on my cheeks. I want them! I've been knitting for 22 months now and have yet to knit anything for myself. I deserve this yarn!

The weather is also adding fuel to my yearning. It was 9° out this morning. Never got up to 20° all day. I want a warm cozy for my neck and head. I'd like a tapered scarf, kindof a half scarf, half shawl, that I could flip up over my head like a kerchief or fold down around my neck like a collar.

Do I have enough yarn?

Weigh the three skeins: 59, 61 and 62 grams. Measure 10 yards from one skein, weigh it: 7 grams. Do the math 59 + 61 + 62 = 182 ÷ 7 = 260 total yards. Do it by the skein and I get 84 yards + 87 + 89 = 260 yards - if I spit splice to maximize my yardage.

That's not a lot of yarn. Guess I'd better look for a high mileage lace pattern and plan on frogging my swatch to use in the project.

Wish me luck!

The Oh So Stylin' Puppy Ear Hat

2009-12-02T22:42:00.000-08:00

You can wear it with the dangles hanging.

Or you can knot them snug under your chin when the cold wind blows.

If it's a bit warmer out, you can tie the dangles up top for the classic Dutch girl look.

But wait, there's more!

Don't you think the tassels look like puppy ears and tail from the back?

Woof!

Back From Hiatus and Off On a Project

2009-12-02T00:09:00.000-08:00

Took off for a month of trying to write a novel. Didn't finish it, but got it well under way. I did do some knitting during the silence in BlogLand.

PixelChick asked me to knit her a hat because her ears get cold when she chases wild horses in the winter time. She's a would-be professional photographer, that's why she's chasing wild horses. She surely doesn't want to catch them, just have them smile pretty for the camera.

"What color?" I asked.

"My coat's black, so I guess black," she answered.

Okay, black... I never quite understood my Mom's reaction for so many years when I told her I wanted black mittens -- Mom knits the best mittens in the world. I lose mittens like it's my avocation, so Mom's knit me a bizillion over the years. Now that I knit, I understand her "Are you sure you wouldn't like some other color?" It ain't easy to see all those little stitches on black, plus it just doesn't have a whole lot of pizzazz.

So I munged it around in my head trying to think of a way to make black more interesting.

Hmmm... PixelChick has a cocker spaniel. More accurately, she is owned by a cocker spaniel. She is a devoted slave to a cocker spaniel. She has cocker spaniel themed everything.

The dog is black and white. Cold ears. Stranded color work -- if you can call B&W color.

Now we're getting some place.

So I scribbled around until I came up with the concept drawing. An ear flap hat with a parade of cockers around the circumference.

How many stitches do I have to work with? Measure the head, make the swatch, get gauge, do the math. How to do the cocker spaniels so that they're recognizable? First draw some simple cocker outlines then translate them to graph paper.

But regular graph paper has square holes and knitting stitches are wider than they are tall. I've done my swatch, I know my gauge -- go to that Japanese web site and print out some knitting graph paper. (Pay attention gentle readers, this is an excellent resource, http://www.tata-tatao.to/knit/e-index.html.) Draw cockers on graph paper.

Knit them puppies.

Note what works and what doesn't.

One of the things that doesn't work is my eyes.

Draw the dang thing bigger. Figure out how to do the ear flaps without seams. I'm not real fond of seams.

Now... Start Knitting.

On the Road Again (not to plagiarise Willie or anything.)

2009-10-21T22:20:00.001-07:00

My flight leaves at 5:50 in the morning, pity me for the hour, but not for the trip back to North Carolina to see relatives and friends. I have GoatGuy's scarf all knit and blocking, it's folded double in the picture, to give to him when I see him. Even knit his initial, "H", into the last square. (Come on now, you didn't think his name was really GoatGuy, did you?) I have my knitting bag packed with three small projects: #1 finish off Brother-in-law the Wiser's Expando Sox; #2 GuiGirl's red fingerless mitts with shiny red beads to go on the cuff ruffles. #3 (and a big maybe) The sock blank I died to make another pair of fingerless mitts for a friend with a late November birthday.

And I'll probably have SEX while I'm gone too! I'm planning to hit the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair Sunday morning while the Parents are at church. (Each of us should worship in his or her own way.)

S.E.X. = Stash Enhancing eXpedition, such a titillating acronym.

How's This For an Excuse

2009-10-20T14:03:00.001-07:00

The reason I've been such a bad blogger (besides my inate badness) is that I've been knitting birthday presents.

Last night they went to the birthday girls. They are leg warmers for the charter members of the Friday Afternoon Hiking Club. I shall blog about the creative process within the next day or so.

Sunglasses added, as usual, to protect the innocent.

Today's Blog Entry Is Cute

2009-09-25T16:02:00.000-07:00

This is the baby hat I knit for Zack. See the "Z". Doesn't my Ted make the handsomest model ever? I think the cap looks like a batter's helmet on him.

When I was 15 months old, I told my Gramma that the only thing I wanted for Christmas was a black teddy bear -- not a brown bear, not a panda bear, a Black bear. She searched the entire Detroit metro area and finally found one. I loved my Gramma and I love my Ted Bear. When I was a kid, one of my favorite books was The Velveteen Rabbit because Ted Bear had been loved into "real" and every kid in the neighborhood knew it. (You too can probably tell by how smooshed and worn from kisses his nose is.)

I have my Gramma's good sterling flatware and a lovely eggshell thin porcelain sugar and creamer set, which are both very fine, but not a patch on my Ted. You can't cuddle cutlery.

************

Hmm... Today's blog entry didn't go where I thought it would. I was going to make a snotty remark about saccharine subjects, but then I thought about my Gramma. She died before I turned five and I missed her horribly. I was totally disconsolate until my Aunt Mary, her oldest daughter, assured me that we could send her oranges in heaven.

Sometimes I wonder if the reason she shines so perfect in my memory is because she died before I was old enough to see her feet of clay. They say that everybody has them. But I don't think that she did. She was perfect.

Battle Bowl, The Happy Afterword

2009-09-25T00:13:00.000-07:00

Finishing off the Battle Bowl was a snap. I followed Liat's pattern without a pause or problem. I knit one strand of the Manos silk blend into the round of 40 stitches for a bit of highlight.

I like the subtle gradations of the Cascade 220 yarn (9872-Thunder) color way. This picture is pretty accurate.

The finished bowl was almost nine inches in diameter and quite floppy. I tried it on as a hat and it looked very silly, though vaguely Elizabethan. The contrasting Manos silk blend showed strongly against the dark wool.

After two cycles in the washer on hot-hot-hot, it was still pretty limp, so I ran it through once more for a total felting time of about 28 minutes. At some point in the third cycle, it felted. It felted like a yurt. (I think that's going to be my felting motto.)

It came out smaller than I expected, about six and a half inches in diameter, with creases in the bottom where the Möbius twists pulled at the structure of the bowl. I stuffed it with a saucer for shape and a couple of dry cleaner bags for bulk and let it dry overnight.

The felted Battle Bowl lost most of the lovely color spectrum and the Manos felted right into the wool, showing very little. I think it looks like a rock.

But that's okay, the Engineer is getting it and he works in geoscience, so it's apropos.

Lessons Learned

Use larger needles next time for a looser fabric. I think this may decrease the pumpkin-like appearance of the bottom of the bowl.
Brighter colors, more contrast between body and rim of bowl - so much of that was lost in the felting.
Manos Del Uruguay Silk Blend felts easily, but the gleam of the silk is lost in the process - so don't felt it.
Pin it out on a blocking board in the first place instead of turning into a screaming maniac trying to pick up the stitches freehand.

Battle Bowl, Week 2, Part 2

2009-09-23T23:29:00.000-07:00

Fini - Rebellion and Retribution

Saturday night I waited until the Engineer was snoring; I didn't want him to witness the full and ugly wroth of GrumpoGirl. I seized the monstrous Möbius, yarn, ball, needle and all, and frog marched it into the antique bedroom. I turned on the bright overhead light and whipped out a big box of T-pins.

"You're going down!" I snarled.

I pulled my blocking boards out from under the bed. What color would be most intimidating?

Blue or green? No good. Those are soothing colors of nature (plus poor contrast against the dark gray of the Möbius.)

Red - the color of blood! But would that subdue a bloodless, mindless hunk of yarn? I thought not.

Yellow - bile and venom! (and good contrast.) The choice was made.

I slammed the Möbius twist down on the board and stabbed it with the first pin, then held it, spread pentagrammed, against the poison yellow board as I rammed pin after pin into its unresisting i-cord bind off.

Panting, I leaned back and surveyed the splayed knitting before me.

Five folds.

Evenly aligned.

HA!

The Möbius was helpless before me, but I feared if I removed a single pin it would contort again. I pulled out my orange crochet hook.

"If you so much as twitch, I'll sharpen the tip of this and show no mercy..."

Then I thrust the crochet hook through the loops of yarn, picking up stitches and transferring them to the following circular needle, cackling like a demented woman as I worked.

(No pictures illustrating these dreadful doings, this is, after all, a G rated blog.)

When all the stitches were on the cable needle, I pulled out the T-pins, one by one, chortling and drooling with each tug of cold metal. Then I knit. I knit six rounds and posed the tamed Möbius on the rack of its yellow blocking board to document my triumph, stark in the 60 cycle per second illumination of the overhead fluorescent light.

(Can you tell I've been reading a rather violent fantasy novel? Do you think it might have influenced or inflamed me at all?)

The Battle Bowl, Week 2 - Part 1

2009-09-22T23:38:00.001-07:00

Most of the week between the two Möbius bowl classes, I spent knitting a baby hat for a baby who had arrived prematurely. It was a rush job. I didn't get around to knitting any more on the bowl until Friday evening.

I picked up the stitches as directed and knit away.

After a few rounds, I realized I'd done something wrong because it was coming out all twisted. Darn!

So I studied my mess and noticed that some stitches had been picked up from one side (does that have any meaning on a Möbius topology?) and some on the other. Ah, well, that must have been my mistake.

Tore it all out and started again, making sure that I picked up from the same "side" this time.

It still came out all twisty.

Okay, I muttered to myself, must have been because I was watching a video (Billy Elliot) as I was trying to do the deed and paying insufficient attention.

Frogged that puppy again.

Picked up the stitches again. Twisty, twisty, twisty - froggy, froggy, froggy - try again.

Knit another half dozen rounds.

It looked like an acrobat going through some pretty intense moves, so I frogged it and tried again.

Still twisty - and it was almost 4:00 a.m.

Ouch! I had to pick the Engineer up at the airport at 9:00 the next morning, so I stuffed the yarn contortion into my knitting bag and tucked myself into bed for three hours of sleep.

I did get an hour's nap between picking up my Beloved and going to class, but I was not (to put it delicately) in tip-top mental condition when I arrived at Blazing Needles.

One of the other students had finished her bowl, in multiple colors, no less. Cynthia, the owner of Blazing Needles, modeled it as a hat. It looked quite Elizabethan. Then it went into the shop washer for felting. It came out three cycles later looking marvelous.

Poo, I wanted to felt my bowl too.

"Liat, what have I done wrong?"

"You've picked up the stitches wrong, you're going to have to pull it all out."

She gave me further instructions. I replied, "But that's what I've been doing."

Ripped it out again, the yarn was looking a little shopworn, and started again. Are you counting? This was start number five (5!)

Still twisted.

Evil Language! Frogged it again.

Liat laid it out carefully on the table for me and once again told me how to pick up the stitches. I was muttering and cussing under my breath.

Try number six. My eyes were crossing. I couldn't focus on the stitches.

STILL TWISTED!!!

My growling and cussing was no longer subvocal. I tore out the errant stitches with unnecessary vigor.

Liat offered to pick up the stitches for me. I wanted to do it myself so that I would learn, but I also wanted to get the dang thing done, so I told her to go ahead.

She flattened it out on the table and looked it over. It wouldn't flatten properly.

"That's odd."

She turned it over and tried to flattened it out again. It wouldn't flatten.

She examined it carefully and announced, "I think you have six twists in it. It won't work."

I took the monster Möbius back and threatened to throw the whole mess at the rapidly spinning yarn twaddler just to see in which direction it would fly when it hit.

Liat pointed out that might mess up the lovely peacock colored silk that was being twaddled.

I restrained myself.

So I decided to make the smaller bowl to try Magic Looping a Möbius. You can probably guess how much success I had with that...

GrumpoGirl reared her ugly head and snarled at the universe. How embarrassing. She's supposed to stay hidden from view at all times. Never show her face in public. I followed Liat out to her car after class and apologized. Liat was gracious. Thank you Liat.

But now it's getting late and this post is getting too long. I'm going to finish this sordid story tomorrow night.

(So who you think is gunna win this battle - GrumpoGirl or the Monster Möbius?)

The Battle Bowl, Week 1

2009-09-22T00:58:00.000-07:00

I truly enjoy taking classes, partially because I'm lazy - I like having knowledge poured into my head - and partially because I'm bright enough that I usually grasp the subject matter quickly. When these two criteria are not met, GrumpoGirl emerges. (This isn't the only time she rears her ugly head, mind you, it's just one set of conditions which tends to call her forth.)

It's no secret that I think the Möbius topology is fascinating and that I really enjoy messing around with it, So when Liat, who designed a totally cool Möbius bowl, taught a class on it at my LYS, Blazing Needles, I presented myself on Saturday afternoon with cable needle at the ready. I was all set to turn out a good looking bowl like Liat's. These three (and the photo) are hers.

First thing she taught was Cat Bordhi's Möbius cast on. I'd already learned that from the video on YouTube, but refreshers are always welcome. It seems a little weird at first, but once you get into the rhythm, those stitches just swing onto your needle.

Then comes the hard part -- counting how many stitches you've actually cast on. I'm not good at that part. I think it has something to do with being a klutz and trying to hang on to the needle and the yarn and count all at the same time.

After that Liat showed us another hard part; getting four more twists into the Möbius.

Okay, putting the extra twists in wasn't hard. Making sure they actually were there and that there were as many and no more than wanted, that was the hard part. The klutz factor again.

I put the twists in and Liat checked them out. I was good to go,

Knit, knit, knit.

Did something wrong.

Frog, frog, frog.

Knit, knit, knit.

Looks good this time.

The last part of the first class was doing an i-cord bind off. I really liked that.

Here's what my embryonic bowl looked like at the end of the first class:

P.S. You can visit Liat's web site, or Ravelry, to get a copy of her bowl pattern.

The Mother Who Raised Me Is So Tight She Squeaks

2009-09-14T00:27:00.000-07:00

As a relatively new knitter, I am still trying to answer that timeless question: "What the heck do I do with the ends of all these skeins?"

The Engineer suggests throwing them into the trash can.

Waste!

Sacrilege!

You know that within a week after throwing something out, it's going to be needed in a very urgent way. Besides, if my Mom was dead, it would make her spin in her grave. (Fortunately, she's alive and bouncing off the walls like a ping-pong ball.)

I do have some uses for the remnants:

Tie up hair (or other things) when it's getting in the way.
Use instead of ribbon when wrapping small packages.
Keep some of the shorter left-overs in a baggie in my knitting bag -- especially cotton yarn, it's good for provisional cast-ons.
Use as contrast color/texture in new projects.
Test out new techniques/stitches instead of ruining part of a new skein.
Stick in plastic bags and save forever - this is the most commonly done.

Came up with a new idea a couple of days ago in response to the Engineer grousing that I have been horribly remiss in sewing a button back on to his work shorts. Not that I don't have a very good excuse...

My sewing machine is in the basement along with all the rest of my sewing gear. To sew a button on his pants, I not only have to remember to do it in the first place, I have to remember to go downstairs and get the stuff to do it with and not get distracted before getting back upstairs to actually do it.

Then, of course, there's the problem of finding the right color of thread. Or to be more accurate when trying to match the Engineer's wardrobe, the right colorless of thread. He goes in for such stimulating shades as taupe, khaki, beige, putty, etc.

So I decided to make up an upstairs sewing box.

I had an empty stationary box with a magnetic clasp on the lid (way cool, that's why I bought the stationary, I liked the way the lid thunked shut) and filled it up with the necessaries. JoAnn's was selling thread for a dollar a spool, so I bought a selection of drab colors along with a box of straight pins, a packet of needles and a pair of embroidery scissors and put them into my little box. It fits into the drawer of my nightstand. I wanted a pin cushion too, but all of the ones at the store were too big to fit in my cool box.

Then the light bulb went off. I got out the remains from the Technicolor Dragon Skin Scarf. Though it was only a couple of yards, it was already rolled into a bitty center-pull ball. I went at it with my felting needle. With only one shallow stab wound and minimal cussing, I ended up with a lovely little pincushion.

Still looks like a ball of yarn, but it's one fairly solid mass; it won't unwind.

Spiffy, huh?

Continuing the Kool-Aid Saga

2009-09-11T23:53:00.000-07:00

Kool-Aid yarn number two came out even nicer than number one, partially, I'm sure, because I much prefer saturated colors to pastels.

But what the heck to do with my masterpieces?

If Kate wasn't allergic to wool, I would probably have knit her something from it. She did drool just a wee bit over it. But it's 100% wool and kinda scratchy to boot. She's a friend, and I can't have her itching to death.

Then I remembered a vest I'd seen at one of the Yarn Quest stores; a vest I'd liked enough that I'd actually spent $5 on buying a copy of the pattern even though it would have cost $80 to knit using the suggested bulky alpaca yarn.

Hmmm... Maybe if I knit with strands of both yarns held together it might be bulky enough. Added advantage: knitting it with two different skeins should break up any potential pooling or striping.

Sounded good, so I knit a swatch. The gauge came out to about four stitches per inch instead of three, so I cast on 33% more stitches to compensate and away I knit.

And knit some more.

I really like the way the fabric came out; the colors meshed better than I'd anticipated. It sure as heck doesn't look like it was dyed with something as fluorescent as Kool-Aid.

I'm the queen of cutting it close. I ran out of the lighter yarn half way through casting off, so I spit spiced the other end of the dark yarn to the tail end of the light yarn and bound off with that doubled. After I sewed the side seams, I had all of about five feet of yarn left. (And, yes, I did hyperventilate more than a little while finishing up.)

Once the object was finished, it went onto the back of the best (and most obliging) model ever for documenting.

She even wore her own top secret sun glasses so I didn't have to Photoshop them in.
(Thanks KC, you're a pip!)

Lesson's learned:

If you cast on 33% more stitches, you'd darn well better have more than 10% over the suggested yardage to start with.
Holding one's breath and crossing all appendages can help.
If I do it again with doubled worsted weight, I will cast on 200 stitches, go down one needle size in the middle section, make all of the sections a little bit longer, and have lots more yarn to start with -- say at least 66% over what's called for of both yarn strands.

Dried and Still Saturated

2009-08-20T22:50:00.000-07:00

I like this darker dye job better than the pastel one from last month, but if I do it again will use still more packets of Kool-Aid. The one area that I thought might be insufficiently covered, where I added the impromptu purple grape, was not covered. Ah well, dye and learn. I will use maybe 20 or so packets of Kool-Aid next time, make the brown with food coloring and orange Kool-Aid and reinforce the blue. I'll also use a chopstick to gently smish the yarn around to increase the mechanical penetration of the edible dyestuffs.

Of course, the real test of the dye jobs' success will be in the knitting. Cross fingers.

The Blue Took

2009-08-19T21:11:00.000-07:00

Drained the water off, rinsed and rolled it in an old towel to dry a bit.
Cross fingers that the color stays as intense once it's all the way dry.

Kool-Aid Dye Job #2

2009-08-19T12:59:00.001-07:00

This time I used a skein of Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool in Oatmeal shade instead of the creamy colored Natural and used a lot more Kool-Aid and food coloring. In fact, I was so generous with my sprinkling that I ran out of blue and green and used purple up one side of the second layer.

I did the first layer much as previously: poured a long "S" of brown food coloring from lower right to upper left corner and sprinkled two packs of orange Kool-Aid over top of it. Instead of straight blue Kool-Aid, I used blue food coloring diluted with white vinegar (and a pack of blue Kool-Aid thrown in for good measure) to outline the brown on one side and sprinkled green Kool-Aidon the other. Then I flopped the second half of the yarn over top and sprinkled on the rest of my blue and green Kool-Aid, for a total of two packets orange, six blue and five green.

Whereupon I decided I needed more colorant and mixed up some green food coloring with vinegar and poured it over the lower left quadrant. And decided it still looked a little scant and added two packs of purple Kool-Aid up the left edge - 'cause I was all out of blue and green.

About a gallon of very hot water with two packs of yellow Kool-Aid added (for brightness) was poured over the mess in the Pyrex pan.
I gently smooshed everything down and stretched plastic wrap over the pan. Then on to the cement for cooking in the bright sunlight all afternoon.

Can't wait to see how this skein develops. Cross your fingers for the blue coming out okay, but I think it looks pretty good so far...
P.S. The Engineer's in Saudi Arabia this week, so I get to do messy stuff. ; ) Didn't really make any mess at all anyway, I forgot to use gloves and this was all the more colorful my fingers came out:

Off Away Into the Wild High Mountains

2009-08-06T20:58:00.000-07:00

It's time for the annual Idaho trip. The Engineer insists that we leave before daybreak tomorrow morning. I have my knitting bag packed.

Once I recover from traveling with my BelovedSpousalUnit, I will try to soothe out the rough spots on my soul by sitting on the creek bank and going with the flow.
E- you again in a week or so.

Interim Projects

2009-08-05T00:29:00.000-07:00

So what's a knitter to do when she's got aches and pains in her shoulder?

Be chauffeured around by a fine and excellent friend while yarn questing -- such a loverly friend who wins the grand prize and insists on sharing.

Done. (July 25)

Go buy more yarn for when she gets better.

Done. (July 24)

Just for the heck of it, dye some yarn with Kool-Aid.

Done. (July 29)

Abandon the multicolor baby blanket that requires juggling five skeins of yarn.

Done, sadly and temporarily. Baby's due in September, so I'd better get back on it soon!
Knit on little projects that don't strain the shoulder.

A. Napkin rings - eight down, four to go. B. GoatGuy's scarf - half done. C. The Snakelace - knitting's done, now to make a head and tail for it. (The head it has now, I drew and pasted on in Photoshop.)

Learn a new technique: entrelac. Knit a little something for my generous friend out of one of the prize yarns she shared with me.

Working on this one.

And last, and definitely least, ignore the blogging.

Bad Blogger!

Experiments in Kool-Aid

2009-07-29T13:56:00.000-07:00

A few years back, I had a teenage friend with chameleon hair. It was a constant surprise to see her because you never knew just what style - or color - her hair would be. One day purple ponytails, the next time green and curly, another day straight with pink and red stripes. Being naturally nosey, I asked her how she did it.

Kool-Aid.

I had a leftover big and boring skein of natural color wool and, as I was contemplating how to mutilate it in the most entertaining way, memories of chameleon hair came to me. So I surfed on over to Google and typed in "Kool-Aid dye yarn" - which came up with a mere 24,000 results. After reading a few of the more promising looking entries, I devised my color scheme. Next grocery store run, I stocked up on assorted flavors and colors of unsweetened Kool-Aid and got a box of gel food coloring for backup. Then I bided my time...

The problem, you see, in any colorful endeavor is the Engineer. He's just a wee bit anal retentive when it comes to project cleanliness. Whenever he's working on something in the house, the vacuum cleaner is sitting right next to him and he uses it constantly. Neither crumb nor grain of detritus escapes his radar sight. Every night after I cook dinner, he looks at the kitchen and announces that my middle name is "Mess." Imagine the high hysteria should he realize I was planning to dye something.

When The Engineer was out of town for several days, I used my yarn twaddler (alias: swift) to take the sacrificial yarn from its skein and turn it into a long hank. Using the two ends, I tied the yarn securely into a big loop.

Now, I've got to admit that the Engineer does have some basis for saying my middle name is mess, so I decided to do the potentially dirty deed outside on the picnic table instead of in the kitchen. If worse came to worse, the sun should eventually bleach any sins from the wood.

Following what I had garnered from the web, I soaked my yarn overnight in warm water with a bit of dish soap and rinsed it the following morning, being careful not to rub or squeeze it since it was not superwash. I boiled water in my big stainless steel pan and added a packet of yellow Kool-Aid and mixed up food coloring in a couple of tablespoons of white vinegar to make a brown color. I thought I would have more control mixing small drops of food coloring than I would with packets of Kool-Aid.

I placed my biggest Pyrex pan on the newspaper and garbage bag covered picnic table and arranged about half of the wet yarn in it, then I poured the food coloring in a long "S" shape over it. A couple packs each of blue and green Kool-Aid were sprinkled around the brown and some orange went right over the brown food coloring to brighten the color. I flopped the rest of the yarn into the pan, sprinkled it with my last few packets of blue and green Kool-Aid, then poured the hot water (with yellow Kool-Aid) over it. After stretching plastic wrap over the pan, I placed it on the cement in full sun to cook all day.
By the end of the day, the dye water was clear and the Pyrex pan was so hot I had to use pot holders to move it into the kitchen. Once it was cool enough to handle, I drained it, rinsed it, and squished the water out using an old towel. The wool was then draped over a wooden drying rack until thoroughly dry. I put it back over the yarn twaddler and made an oversized muffin out of it.

Final analysis: No mess was made, not even any stains on the towel - yay! hurray! Overall, the wool came out much lighter than I had expected. Very little of the blue Kool-Aid stayed in the wool, though the green, orange and brown did well. The colors were less neon than many web sites had warned to expect, more pastel.

I think it looks pretty darn good.

Yarn Quest - Chapter Two

2009-07-25T22:41:00.000-07:00

About a week after KC and I went questing, I received a phone call from her.

"Let me pull over, I'm driving."

"Oh, yes, you'd better pull over."

Her statement sounded kinda like one of those TV "Before I tell you this, you'd better sit down." statements. What the heck, I wondered, I hope everything's okay.

So I pulled into the nearest parking lot and asked, "What's going on?"

"We won! We won Yarn Quest, we won the grand prize!"

Turned out that KC's punch card was the one pulled for the Grand Fibery Prize!

Yahoo!

KC, being who she is, insisted on sharing it with me. I tried to demure, but she insisted that she would never have gone questing without me.

And what a bunch of loot it was we split. This is my half of it.

But the real prize is the one I've had for the last several years... my friend, KC.

Thank you for being my friend, you are treasured.

Yarn Quest - Chapter One

2009-07-24T23:41:00.000-07:00

Since I've only been knitting a year and a half, I'm not sure how long it's been going on, but the Local Yarn Stores in the Salt Lake Valley have an annual "Yarn Quest." This year seven stores put on the Quest: The Black Sheep, Blazing Needles, Kamille's, Three Wishes, Unraveled Ewe, Unspun, The Wool Cabin (links to all the stores are on the right side bar.) Questers received a punch card at the first store visited. After visiting all seven, the filled out punch card was turned in and the participant entered for prizes of amazing fibery goodness.

My friend, KC, and I met at 10:00 at Blazing Needles and started questing. KC driving, we forged bravely ahead for several hours (okay, I admit, we did stop for lunch) until our cards were completed.

I am a weak woman, consumed by yarn lust. I opened my wallet in every one of those seven stores.

But look at the great loot I got:

Hey, some of this stuff I really needed. Like the Nutmeg Tones Panda Silk, now I can knit the last four napkin rings to complete the set of twelve the Engineer wants. And the two skeins of green DK Panda Silk. I'll make a set of a dozen napkin rings for ForceOfNature for Christmas -- she's 110% Irish, green's her color. And the Feather Duster Shawl pattern, it's Susan's newest pattern, gotta support Susan, not to mention it's gorgeous. I have big plans for the other stuff too, but can't mention them on my oh so public blog, the intended recipients might guess what is headed their way eventually.

There was only one - well, two - totally impulse buys. The baby jacket pattern and the multi-color handpaint. But it wouldn't have been right to buy from five stores and ignore the other two, now would it?

Tomorrow, Chapter Two

Flying On One Wing

2009-06-27T13:15:00.000-07:00

and typing with one hand.

Reinjured an old injury, so my left arm is now in a sling and my brain on a painkiller (yay! horray! codeine!) The cats have appointed themselves my nurses. Unfortunately, cat nursing tends to involve climbing all over the afflicted human, shoving cat head into human face and purring loudly. This makes typing just a wee bit challenging and knitting nigh onto impossible. Won't know how long I'll be bound up until the X-rays come back (Monday?), so I shall bid y'all adieu for now.

Aloha...

AmbiCrafterous

2009-06-24T00:07:00.000-07:00

Being an incredibly graceful creature, one of my problems when knitting is the amazing escaping yarn ball. Of course, the cats are always more than willing to help the yarn misbehave as well. So what to do?

Mostly I've been using onion bags. They make excellent yarn keepers, but they're light and I have a tendency to pull too hard when getting yarn and end up dumping the whole shebang on the floor. Plus they just aren't very... sophisticated... looking.

Fortunately, I like to play with clay too, so I made myself a couple of prototype yarn bowls.

Came out pretty well if I do say so myself.

I think the hook bowl is the more versatile. I've knit half a washrag using it. Just stuck the skein into the bowl and fed the center-pulled yarn through the hook. It draws easily and the yarn seems to sit securely.

The upside down bowl with the hole is more kitty proof, but you can't quickly and easily change yarn like you can with the hook bowl. If you're not going to be changing yarn that shouldn't make a difference.

Analyzing the bowls for this blog entry is giving me further design ideas. I think I'll go play in the mud some more to test them out.

I do enjoy being ambicrafterous.

Girding My Loins For a Marathon Knit

2009-06-10T11:43:00.000-07:00

One of my very long-time friends recently found out she's going to become a grandmother. The embryo's parents live in New Orleans, so no wooly wear is needed. Hmmm... I think I'll knit a baby blanket.

First job: Find machine washable and dryable yarn that's soft and has good cotton content. (Don't forget blankets take a lot of yarn, so not too expensive would be nice.)

Ooh, Lion Brand Cotton-Ease comes in some nice colors. Don't know what sex Embryo is yet, so let's get green and blue and purple and cream.

Second job: Select a stitch pattern -- remember to try for something two sided.

Browse through all of my stitch dictionaries and decide I liked "Pucker Pattern" the best. Looks like it should be presentable, if not virtually identical on both sides. Besides, of course, I like the weird name.

Third job: Knit a swatch in pattern and measure.

Knit, knit, knit, purl, purl, purl, cable to the front. Ten inches wide, about four inches long. Four stitches per inch on the suggested size 8 needles. Took somewhat less than a quarter of the skein for 40 square inches.

Fourth job: Do the math.

Need more yarn. Job 4B: Back to the store, get another skein each of blue and green. That makes three blue, three green and one each of purple and cream.

Fifth job: Okay Brainiac, you bought the yarn before you had a firm design in mind, so now design for the yarn you already have.

Draw, draw, draw, calculate, calculate, calculate.

Got it. I'll be cutting the blue and green yarn tight, but if I run too low, I can simply make the blankie a wee bit shorter. (Considering as how I've already spent close to $50 on the yarn.)

Sixth job: Knit the thing.

Now there's the hard part...

The Three Faces of FoamHead

2009-06-08T16:58:00.000-07:00

Okay, okay, if you want to get technical, one of them is the back of her head.

Taking Some Lace - and My Mind - 'Round a Möbius Twist

2009-05-30T11:40:00.000-07:00

Being more than a little bit of a nerd, I've been fascinated by the Möbius topology since I was a kid. One surface and one edge on a three dimensional object is simply totally cool.

.

So cool in fact, that the first thing I knit 16 months ago (it was my learning project) was a wide, flat scarf for SuziTheFloozy that I twisted and sewed into a Möbius scarf.

Then I discovered that a Möbius cast-on existed.

After trying unsuccessfully to get a Cat Bordhi book at the public library, I found the instructions on YouTube. Yay! Hurray!

My friend GuiGirl is a bigger nerd than I, so I decided to do the next Möbius for her.

It was not one of my more successful projects.

It was intended to be large enough to wear as a shoulder shawl, and GuiGirl is pretty busty, so I did the math and cast on leventybillion stitches hoping to get a forty-five inch functional circumference. That part worked. The sticking point was that I used Lion Brand Suede yarn and put those leventybillion stitches of it on a 40 inch circular needle.

Never again.

Never.

I'm a fairly tight knitter, and trying to move over-packed stitches of that totally nonelastic yarn around the confusing twist of a Möbius needle formation was maddening. Even though it was straight knitting, not a single perl stitch involved until I did a few rows of seed stitch so the edge wouldn't curl, it took me two and a half months. And the end product was not aesthetically pleasing.

But I'm a stubborn critter (either that or it takes me longer than the average bear to learn something.) I am venturing onto the Möbius strip again, knitting a lace cowl as a thank you for a friend who was kind to my Daddy.

I had been given some antique alpaca blend yarn in the perfect color, so I knit up several lace patterns in it to see what would work best. Some I frogged to reuse the yarn -- not an easy task as the yarn is very fuzzy -- a couple I kept.

This one looked nothing at all like the illustration in the stitch dictionary after I knit a short sample. Was it my funky knitting or the big needles and fuzzy yarn?

This one, supposedly a traditional Orenburg lace pattern, looked the same on both sides, so I decided it was the one. I did the math (always), cast on and started knitting.

What's coming off my Möbius needle looks nothing like my swatch.

Why?

Because regular knitting goes back and forth. Knitting on circular needles goes round and round and round. The pattern repeats on this lace are not perfectly symmetrical, thus not the same coming and going. Realizing that was a classic "well, duh!" moment.

Add in a Möbius twist and...

Ah well, I think I like it anyway. And I'm learning a lot. Yep, getting smarter every row.

I hope.