If at first you don’t succeed, dye, dye again

Sorry, couldn’t pass up the pun! I have been going through my stash mentally and physically over the last few days, and starting to make decisions about what I’m okay leaving behind (as little good stuff as possible), and how I might use up some things. I had a skein of yarn I had dyed with sunflowers a few years ago, and wasn’t wild about the results. It was a weird yellow color, and I wasn’t very inclined to actually use it.

Then, this weekend, the dying bug hit. First of all, I made up some dye, froze it into ice cubes, and put it out in the sun with some cotton yarn I had lying around. The randomness of this method appealed to me, and if it hadn’t rained this afternoon I think it would have worked better. I ended up cooking it in my crockpot all day Monday to set the dye; I’m very interested to see how that works when I go rinse it…

Then, as I was sorting through my dye tablets, I thought about overdying that weird yellow, and figured that purple might work well. So, 4 purple tables, a blue, and a red later, I threw it in the pot and got this lovely result:

I LOVE it when a gamble pays off like that! I want to play around with a self-stripping and some more tie dye, but I think that will have to wait till later. Dying takes a lot of time and space!

On the knitting front I have finished not one, but TWO hats! First, the Sausalito. I didn’t read the decrease directions carefully, thought I could live with it, tried it on, and then realized that I was going to have to FROG back and do it right. I’m pleased with the results; it just needs a bath now.

The second hat I finished was the super basic brioche baby hat. I also managed to mess up the decreases on that the first time through, so out they came and I tried again with better success. Still not sure how I managed to follow the simple directions so badly… I think I’m going to top this with a pom-pom to use up the last little bit of the yarn. Not sure how it will look, but I don’t have to actually put it on, right?

I finished the ribbing on my Sockhead hat over the course of my morning bible readings last week--yay! The stitch marker shows my total progress. Little bits of time add up!

Lastly, I've been having fun with a new level of madness--non-mirrored double knitting. I'm slowly working on a cotton potholder that has the character for tiger, my zodiac sign. It took a little getting my head around, but now I'm enjoying it so much I'm considering how to have two totally different pictures charted for double knitting!

Parting shot: I tried string art! I might re-string this floss as it is a gift and looks more leaf than feather like, but I'm loving the results!

All About Hearts

I totally had a blog post written out last week, but then stuff happened. Lots of stuff… So, here is two weeks worth of news.

I follow Hunter Hamerson’s blog (such pretty pictures!), and when she released her pattern Palpitation, I knew I had to have some seasonal knitting. I’m making two hearts as Valentines for deserving friends, and two for me. Perhaps next year I’ll add some different sized ones, but four is about all I can manage (and get dried!) right now. The beginning is super fiddly, but once you get the point big enough it is smooth sailing. I love Hunter’s patterns, and I love this whimsical use for leftovers. Here are some hearts pre-stuffing,

And this is what they look like afterwards. I poured a little lavender from an extra sachet I had in with the stuffing to give them a nice smell as well. It was a tad fine for the job I was giving it, but it’s what I have at the moment. Next year!

Though it’s not much to see, here is the Sockhead hat I’ve been working on in the mornings while I soak my foot and read my bible. The colors are not knitting up at all like I expected from the skein—not a bad thing, just not what I was expecting.

I also started a brioche baby hat with the leftovers from the last vertebra I knit. I’m really enjoying it, and doing a cable cast on in the round was way less of a deal than I was thinking it would be. I actually restarted this hat because it was turning out way too big and I only have a little bit of yarn left over. I’m liking the firmer gauge a lot.

Oh, speaking of said vertebra? It’s done and blocked!

As well as knitting tiny hearts, I put up a few Valentine’s decorations in my house and classroom. I will be defiant until the end in the face of my non-celebrator WPAs! (Workplace proximity associates—Parks n’ Rec). I was going to make my kids Valentines, but then realized that Past-me was *brilliant* and bought Valentines when they were on sale. Since I was in a super long and tedious staff meeting till late, it was a double bonus. Looking forward to being Stateside next year!

Hopefully tonight I can cast on my Chinese New Year project--I'm mulling over a super crazy version, but right now I'm going with only the kind of crazy already provided version. Hint--double knitting!

I apparently am going to be on the sock kick for awhile longer; I found a pattern I’m dying to cast on, but I’m making myself finish one of my other three hats first. It’s a 3 color stash buster; I might be able to salvage some weird yarn I dyed with sunflowers a few years back to fill things out. It’s kind of frustrating right now trying to knit what excites me while also making sure that none of the ‘good stuff’ gets left at school when I leave at the end of the year. I found my Coraline sock that I started in the fall; I have a feeling once another hat or two is out of my system I’ll be ready to get back to footwear.

I make a snail and find myself in a hat place

Several of my students and I are locked in a battle of wills. Their will to do no schoolwork versus my will that oh yes they shall. Oddly enough, this battle takes a lot of time and energy from their teacher, so in order to combat the urge to organize a firing squad and do humanity a solid, I turned knit a snail.

This pattern showed up on my Facebook feed, and I realized that here was the answer to a) glaring personal defects in immature persons and b) my naked tea pot that I have been meaning to cloth for quite some time. So, shoving pipecleaners up icord is harder than I had thought. I was so excited about putting on the eyes that I forgot to block it so it's not as even as I would like, but oh well. Too late now! I also probably should have doubled them like I originally planned, but my little critter is DONE, and I'm charmed!

Other than being gripped by a great need to knit a snail, I'm weirdly in a hat place right now. I have one going full steam ahead, one waiting for when I finish my current mindless project, and a brioche baby hat that I can hardly wait to cast on. Here is my third Sausalito hat; I added a repeat after the band; not sure it will actually make any difference (it certainly won't make it slouchy like I was sort of hoping but I might try again...) but here we are.

My other accomplishment for this week was finishing the French knit hot pad I was making as an example for my handwork class. Boy did that take me back to my childhood... I had this massive piece of spool knitting that we were sewing into a hot pad, but never actually finished. This wasn't as big as I was expecting it to be, but the yarn finished and I was ready to stop working on it. Both good reasons, right?

This weekend I decided to try cooking my potatoes that were quickly reaching their expiration date in my slow cooker. It was a new idea for me, but apparently (at least according to the internet) a fairly common practice. I forgot to prick the potatoes first, but it worked beautifully! When propane is as expensive as it is out here, having a house with enough power to run a slow cooker is a HUGE blessing!

Well, that's all I have at the moment. I plan to make something seasonal this week, and I can't wait to try brioche again. I haven't worked up to a two color project yet--partially because I'm not sure I have enough yarn that would go together, but it's definitely on the knitting bucket list! That and steaking are two knitting skills I most want to encounter. There is another tea cozy that might be a good introduction...