Knitpick Rose Garden Over-Dye

Knitpicks Gossamer Rose Garden Colorway, over dyed with red food coloring. The new color is on the left, and the original (grainy) photo of the original color way on the left. I really like how the over dye turned out. the variegation is still present, but much more subtle. There is still a bit more variegation than the photo shows. I think it will work up brilliantly. It is being sent off to my SP within the next few days.

WIPS

I have two main WIPs at the moment. The first is the shawl I designed for my grandmother, made from colourmart silk. I am mostly done with it at this point, but I am also completely sick of working on it too. A few inches more and I will be done, so I am planning on sitting and getting some done within the next few days. Today my plan is to go down to 4th street and visit the cats I have been reading about on the Home at Last website, and go to the welding store to get welding rods to make into blocking wires. Up to this point I have bee justifying my avoidance of the shawl by telling myself I couldn't really finish it without blocking wires anyway, so no need to hurry. I am going to do a preliminary blocking to see how much length I really have after the stretching and such. I have a second shawl of the same silk in a different color that is destined for a shawl for my sister, but I still dont know about a pattern for that, and am a little sick of the silk as well, so I am ignoring it for now.

My second WIP at the moment is a pure indulgence - I have started a twirly scarf from the Silk Cloud I picked up on Wednesday. I love the yarn, I love the feel of it, and I love how it looks. I was worried about having enough yarn to crochet rather than knit the scarf, but it looks like I will be fine.

New Yarn!

Today I began shopping for my SP :-) I am trying to get everything thats local to me, so it is really something out of the ordinary. That means, of course, no package could be complete with Ghiradelli Chocolate. Tomorrow I am going to hunt down some Scharfenberger chocolate as well, so the full range of local chocolate companies is represented :-). I got some gorgeous yarn, spun and died in California, made specially for my LYS - it says so right on the label. I would show pictures, but its supposed to be a surprise :-P
While I was at the LYS, I saw a gorgeous spiral scarf in mohair-silk yarn, and had to have one. I am planning on crocheting mine rather than knitting, because in the case of this type of pattern it is 100% easier to go with the hook rather than the sticks. The yarn is Silk Cloud from Shibuiknits in the Mulberry colorway. Absolutely gorgeous, and very soft. I look at Kidsilk Haze from Rowan as well, but it wasn't nearly as soft, and felt scratchy to me. The Silk Cloud doesn't seem scratchy at all. Since my mother insists that she and my sister are allergic to wool, and more so to Mohair, I am a little worried, but I am becoming more and more convinced it is all in their heads. I can't stand wool in commercially bought items, but things I make don't seem to bother me. Besides, I get Scottish blood from my dad: if my ancestors were allergic to wool they would have died from hypothermia. Last summer when the temperatures hit the 80's in Scotland, I heard that some people were dying from heat stroke. When it is in the 80's here I carry along a light sweater in case I get cold. By the time it hits the 60's I am in my winter coat and scarves. Perhaps my Scottish blood isn't dominant after all :-P

Back Again

I have joined the knitty-board S'no FlakeSwap, so I thought it only fair to my swap partner that I start updating my blog again :-P

I have the official okay from my landlord/father to get a cat. Getting a cat means that I will not be coming back home to live, either over the summer or after college, so I think the idea of me getting a cat makes him a little sad. I am waiting until after the holidays to get a kitty, so I have another month before I am locked into a decision, but I really want a pet. Cats and dogs are supposed to help reduce stress, and I sure could use the help :-P
I am looking at adopting an adult cat from Home at Last Animal Rescue. I figure bypassing the chew-on-everything, use-my-litterbox-as-a-sand-box stage is not such a bad deal. Now, my favorite kitties from HAL, Missy, Iris , Monique, and Cassandra. Later, I'll post some honest to goodness knitting related news :-)

Dye Again

Today while talking to my DBF he described to me a sweater that one of his proffessor was wearing saying things such as "it was a nice pattern" and using vocabulary such as "cables". When I commented that I found it amusing that he talks about sweaters with me he goes "I can't help it, you talk about it all the fricken time." So sweet. :-)
In other news, LAst night I tried dying again. Mostly because I wanted to try something more amusing than solid colors. I over dyed my purple yarn with food coloring, setting with vinegar and the oven. I also decided to try my hand at "self striping" dyeing, so I wond my teal skein in into a super long skein, and dyed that according to the recipe in self striping sock tutorials. The lime green is from overdyeing with tumeric, set with salt and vinegar; the dark green is from a concentrated solution of green jello with a few drop of green and blue food coloring, set with vinegar; the purple just classic grape koolaide purple :-). I am very happy with how the color turned out, and have destined the yarn for a birthday project for a friend, and am leaning towards a felted bag, but haven't quite decided yet. Either way I am excited at the success of the dyeing experiments :-)

The Weekend

My migraine has subsided to the point where I can look at a computer again! I have been getting headaches, and finally went into see someone about it on Saturday, and found out that I have been getting migraines, and the bread that I made Friday, which turned out wonderfully, may be a trigger for migraines. I never knew that fresh baked yeast bread was a trigger, but apparently it is. So I suppose that spells the end of my bread making adventures. Just when I was beginning to get and idea of how to do things right. Though I think my sadness at the loss of fresh baked yeast breads cannot quite hold a candle to my mourning over the fact that chocolate is a common trigger. I will have to find a way to cope. Though what really got me annoyed is te fact that the Excedrin Migraine I have been taking for the headaches probably got me addicted to caffeine and started triggering migraines through caffeine withdrawal headaches. So I stopped taking Excendrin, and spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday wearing sunglasses, and unable to do essentially anything. Except knit. I swatched Branching out in some spare yarn, and decided that I didn't particularly like how it was looking. So I swatched a feather and fan pattern in the yarn I am using for my Mom's scarf (it arrived Friday :-) ), and didn't like the loose stitches. I went online (quickly) and found a lace pattern called Falling Water that struck my fancy, and started in on that pattern. I love how it looks, and I had the pattern memorized after the second repeat. I am very happy with how it is turning out, and its exactly what I was picturing for my Mum's scarf: very light and flowing.
I felt slightly guilty over knitting up a scarf rather than working on my sister's afghan, but after discovering that while attempting to crochet with a migraine that I managed to turn the row before actually reaching the edge, I decided that sticking with knitting worked for me. So overall, a very productive knitting weekend. All I have to worry about now is catching up on the academics that don't cooperate enough to be worked on while in pain :-\

Migraine

Pictures sit in my camera ready to be uploaded. Many knitting excitements to be shared, once looking at a computer screen stops making my head pound. Hopefully this time is quick in coming.