A Week's Work

I wanted to take a picture of this past week's dyeing - lots of yarn and the usual fibers... 8 colorways of dyed top - Corriedale, Blue Face Leicester, and Merino. I also dyed tencel and bamboo for the first time... different process using fiber reactive dyes so learning along the way. I did achieve some beautiful colors so it was a success! I dyed some baby alpaca top that is dreamy soft; more silk, and mohair locks in new colors (well, they are all new since I don't try to repeat and I always mix my own!) So, here it is, what is going to the shop in Port Gamble tomorrow morning.

My Dyeing Day

Well, I've been busy over here, dyeing up a storm... yarn, yarn, and more yarn, and a little silk top and some mohair locks too. Summer weather disappeared so I've got a fire in the wood stove and the yarn and fiber drying on a nearby rack. Good grief, August and I have a fire going!!!

I also made my first attempt at dyeing silk chiffon fabric and what fun that is! The blue and green piece is my favorite and I named it the Goddess Scarf. Maybe it is just me, but it looks like there is a Goddess in the center with her arms outstretched! Does anybody else see it??? Anyway, I decided I have to do more of this..

Wrist Distaff & Yarn Caddy... Felty Staff?

Okay, here is another one of those "creations"... you know, the 2 a.m. and you're just knitting along and well... whatever. So, I tossed it in the washing machine and out came the "Felty Staff". (No, I didn't name it, a friend did.) The original Felty was smaller and seemed ideal for finer fibers like cashmere and yak and bison, Oh my! Hmmmm, but I knit too... so the next Felty was large enough to hold an average size center-pull ball of yarn. I can free up my hands in an instant without having to put it down, just poke my needles or spindle into the felty and slide the loop handle up my arm - voila, hands free! I knit this one from some of my hand-painted wool yarn and finished it by embellishing with beads.

Pieces Shawl

I've had a lot of comments on this creation so I thought I'd post it. What started out as knitting a "swatch" of one of my hand-painted yarns evolved into a shawl. It is simply stockinette stitch - no sewing involved as the 2nd and 3rd pieces are knit directly onto the previous piece. The border (3rd piece) is yo's and k2tog's over 7 stitches and is knit right onto the edge of the rectangle. The beads are added as you knit by placing the bead on the stitch with a tiny crochet hook. The beads provide just enough weight for the edge to hold it's shape and drape nicely. For those of us that fear lace this is an interesting alternative. I am writing up the pattern.... Once again I should have made notes as I was knitting it. Now, how many times have I said that!