2 Steps Forward, 1 Step Back

This is my finished little hat. I must say, I like it. It has a nice fit and it will keep me warm. The pattern is the Rescue Hat from the Yarn Harlot’s book Knitting Rules, the yarn is my own sport weight dyed in Cobalt.

I have to say, that I do not like to knit Garter Stitch very much. I knit continental style, I am usually quite fast and do not have to look much. But in Garter Stitch the stitches seem to be a little bit more turned to the left (they want to be purled), so that sometimes I do not quite catch them. Hmmm….

After finishing the hat I picked up the Pie Shawl and realized that my latest rows looked different. I have very little experience with lace knitting and I think I must have picked up the wrong strand for “M1″. It was a mistake to have put it aside for a while.

I frogged the part that I did wrong, but I am not sure I have the correct stitches on my needle and that I can save it. I also do not like the cast-on edge. It should be stretchier. So should I frog the whole thing? Probably! Stay tuned to find out….  

If You Need a Laugh

The first time I got some Vinyl Cafe stories from the library on tape I laughed so hard, that the kids came running. 

These are stories about Dave, a record store owner, his wife Morley and his two children. It is incredibly funny what happens to Dave even though he has the best intentions. Like when he discovered he could not get his wedding band off and suddenly he was desperate to do so. Or when he hires a caterer to throw a party for his wife, but the caterer gets the address wrong.   

I hope you will get to know Dave and be amused, too!

This Is How

 

This is my notebook that I use for dyeing my yarn. I got the idea from Eunny. I bought some cardboard, cut it to size and covered it with fabric. I bought these rings, that have a hinge so you can open them up. I forgot what they are called. I punched  three holes in each and framed them with eyelets. These I had leftover from a sewing project. I filled the book with blank paper.

On the first page I noted down how I made my stock solutions. Which powder I used, if it is a 1% or 2% solution and how I mixed those to get colours like blue-violet or red-orange. Then I made a list of the dyelots I wanted to make. All the other pages are filled with notes about the yarns that I dyed. I wrote down how I did it and added short pieces of the yarn to it.

I then realized that it was helpful to add dates to my notes. I now can keep leftover dyes in a jar, add a date to it and know exactly which colour that mixture made.

In the back I added a pouch for my receipts and graph paper to keep track of my expenses and sales.

I really like how this notebook turned out. It is not as sturdy as a normal book, because the rings let the cover slide around a bit. On the other hand it is flexible enough to take all my clippings without complaining. It is a nice record of my work.

Wonderful

We had such a wonderful afternoon at the beach yesterday. It was quite chilly, but the sun felt so good! I have been really busy dyeing my yarn and have done very little knitting. ( I have replaced my TV knitting with reskeining yarn…..) But these are the projects I have been working on:

This is supposed to become the Perfect Pie Shawl from Weekend Knitting. I have a completely different gauge and have cast on twice as many stitches. I am not sure if I will make 5 wedges… The yarn is Misti Alpaca that I have overdyed.

This is going to be a Rescue Hat from Knitting Rules. I am not sure if that kind of hat will look good on me, but I need something warmer than the little Scullcap that I made a few weeks ago. The yarn is my own hand dyed superwash Merino in cobalt. 

Have a nice Sunday everyone!

In The Spirit of Things

Yesterday I received an e-mail from a customer who told me how much she loved my yarn that had just arrived in the mail. It seems, she would even like more of it! That made me work harder (until 10pm) last night!

Before I dye the yarn, I wind the yarn into very long skeins so that  I get a nice distribution of colour and avoid pooling. This process is quite time consuming, but well worth it, I think.

And look, I have dyed some yarn to match my flowers: