New Adventures in Knitting

Felted Vessel

2008-10-26T14:07:00.000-07:00

My spinning guild holds a class day every year the end of October. This year I took a felted Vessel class with one of our guild members Sandoval McNair. It was a labor intensive class - lots of rubbing - LOL but worth the effort. Instead of a vessel I'm going to turn mine into a purse.

Sockies !!!!!

2008-09-14T12:56:00.000-07:00

I decided I was going to make two of my nieces and my son some socks from yarn that I spun myself. My one niece attends Rowan University in NJ and their colors are yellow and brown - that's a little hard to get to look right. My son I'm doing a light camo type yarn and my other niece is attending Boston University - that's the easy one - LOL Here's some pics of the yarn I did for my son and my niece

Newest Dyeing

2008-06-16T19:42:00.000-07:00

I've been steaming up a storm - I LOVE this way of dyeing - I get so much done and I LOVE the surprises I come up with. Here's my latest along with some super wash I dyed for socks for my son and my niece
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Been WAAYYYYY Too Long !

2008-06-08T18:27:00.000-07:00

Since I've posted anything to this blog. I've been dyeing like a demon and have decided to move my stuff from ravelry to etsy to get more exposure. So far it's been a good move. I've also experimented with cold dyeing/steaming ALA The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook. This method has been far more productive for me and I'm in awe every time I rinse out a new roving at the colors I get. Here's some of the ones I've done today:

These are some of the first ones I did:

From Dyepot to Yarn

2007-12-08T17:04:00.000-08:00

I've been dyeing quite a bit of roving and selling it on Ravelry. I have no idea what it's going to look like once it's spun up. I picked a roving that I thought was interesting and gave it a whirl ! I'm pretty impressed with myself if I do say so ! LOL

Dyeing Diva

2007-11-12T18:48:00.000-08:00

I'm having WAYYY too much fun doing this ! Here's some of my favorites from the latest batch

I'm OBSESSED !!!!!

2007-11-03T17:46:00.000-07:00

With dyeing !!!! After having some unexpected days off this week I put what I learned in class into practice and did some more creating. I took a trip to my favorite spinning place - Woodland Woolworks and purchased some Landscape dyes in the primary colors. I also experimented with some color mixing on some yarn (have to get a picture of the result) and being pleased with those results dyed some roving those colors (drying at the moment - picture to follow). Here's some results :

Roving Buns - LOL

2007-10-28T18:36:00.001-07:00

My roving has dried so I braided it. Pretty nice if I say so myself :)

Natural Dyeing

2007-10-27T19:47:00.000-07:00

The second class I took was dyeing with natural extracts - we used cochineal, madder, fustic, Osage orange, lockwood and Indigo. We had 8 1oz skeins to dye. The cochineal we used Alum as the mordant and after we'd all dipped a skein the teacher added Cream of Tartar which turned the dye from burgundy/wine to a wonderful scarlet. I dyed two skeins in the Osage and then over-dyed one in the Indigo getting a wonderful leaf green. Judy is a WONDERFUL teacher and I'd love to take more classes with her.

FINALLY an Update

2007-10-27T19:34:00.000-07:00

I know I've been a VERY bad blogger (hanging my head) but today that changes ! I recently joined the local spinning guild in time to take part in their annual class day. There were a few classes I wanted to take bu decided on the two dyeing classes being offered by Judy Ness - a fiber arts teacher from Eugene, Oregon. She's taught at Black Sheep and OFFF. The classes I chose were crockpot dyeing and dyeing with natural extracts. The natural extract class was kind of an after-thought but turned out to be the class I liked better.

My first round of crock pot roving came out with too many white spots because I packed the pot with too much fiber - lesson learned. The second round was much better.

Spinning Progression

2007-04-21T15:20:00.000-07:00

I had no idea how much I'd progressed in my spinning until I looked at the various skeins I've spun. Here are some pictures going from the beginning (January '07) until now.

Socks for a friend

2007-04-21T15:15:00.000-07:00

One of my co-workers saw my crazy socks on this blog and just had to have a pair. She's rather a wild-child so I made THESE for her:

First REAL Skein of yarn

2007-03-05T20:20:00.000-08:00

I managed to finally create a balanced skein of yarn and I LOVE it ! I'm going to need more of the Ashland Bay fiber if I'm going to make anything significant with the yarn but that's not a problem (HA - what's a little MORE money). Getting better all the time !!!

EUREKA !

2007-02-12T20:30:00.000-08:00

By jove - i think I've got it ! When I bought the first wheel I also was gifted with some fibers that she no longer wanted. I'm using those as my test fibers. On the left is the original roving, on the right is what I turned it into ! WOW - I'm impressed !

First Results

2007-02-12T20:27:00.000-08:00

My first attempts at spinning on my new Sonata - still don't have the hang of it !

New Obsession

2007-02-12T20:11:00.000-08:00

My parents always get on my case about using my Christmas money to pay bills instead of on myself. This time I used it to take a spinning class. NO - not an exercise spinning class - a yarn spinning class using a wheel. !
I enjoyed it so much I had to get a wheel of my own. I bought a used Louet wheel and we just didn't bond very well. I took it in to get it tuned up and ended up coming home with a BRAND_NEW Sonata - the wheel I lusted after !
Being Polish, I couldn't help but choose a wheel made in Poland. She does not have a name yet but she and I have definitely bonded !
Here's a picture of my girl !

It's about time

2007-02-12T19:51:00.000-08:00

Ok - I've been REALLY bad about keeping my blog up. I never seem to have any time for it anymore. I've been knitting like a fiend but not posting any of my progress. I still have to felt the girls bags I made them for Christmas and give them to them. I also have to finish Josh's socks and make my darling Smoof his socks from the Thoroughbred yarn I bought him months ago. Bless that man for putting up with me !

Newest Pictures

2006-01-21T18:21:00.000-08:00

More recent picture

2005-12-08T14:26:00.000-08:00

This picture was taken by my son Joshua on 12/07/05

Socks !

2005-07-22T13:24:00.000-07:00

This is the first sock of the second pair I've knit using the Magic Loop method. I happen to think they are adorable but my kids thing they and I are bizarre. Oh well - I'm the one that has to wear them not them. My next pair will be using some regular sock yarn and a different pattern.

I have a moebius basket I have to felt yet - soon as that's done I'll post those pictures too.

Link for scarf

2005-02-25T09:48:00.000-08:00

Thought I might post the link for the scarf in case anyone else is interested in doing it.
http://irishhikingknitalong.blogspot.com/ It's coming along very well - hope to post a picture soon.

Loraine

My first entry

2005-02-24T20:08:00.000-08:00

Hi,

I don't know why I need a blog but it sounds like a good idea. I'm just getting started hand-knitting. I've mostly done dishcloths up to now but today I branched out to an Irish Hiking Scarf. I'll post some pictures soon.