She Was Twisted

I let my 4-year old dye his very own roving the other day. I mixed up Neon food coloring dyes, put them in squeeze bottles, and told him to have at it. The only thing I helped with was squishing the dye into the wool as he squeezed. Didn’t it come out fantastic! (and in case you are wondering, food coloring dyes ARE washfast and colorfast dyes as long as you set it with vinegar and heat. Perfect for kids!)

And here is the resulting yarn.

Love it!

lovely handspuns

and 2 monster needles:

More to come soon!

Overdyeing is the greatest. You can take something that either you don’t like, or are growing bored with, and change it into something new and fresh.

This is the wool I dyed some time ago.

And this is the lovely yarn I spun half of it into. Pretty! (Notice how the white spots all blend together and the overall color gets muted when you spin it.)

Instead of spinning the other half, I decided I wanted to transform it into something new. So….out came the orange dye!

I kettle-dyed the wool in a bath of solid orange. No extra hand painting or rainbow dyeing.

And finally, the resulting handspun. (this photo is horrible, it doesn’t pick up all the vibrant color well at all.) I spun it low twist, into a single-ply yarn. I could not be more pleased! So let’s see them side by side:

Neat!

Here is a quick and beautiful way to stretch your handspun yarn by using a coordinating sock-weight yarn along with your handspun. It adds a nice lacy feel to the scarf while keeping it light and airy. I used 30 yards of my super-bulky single-ply along with a skein of navy blue sock-weight wool yarn. My finished scarf is 3.5″ wide and 4 feet long. -just long enough to tie or wrap around my neck. Use more handspun for a longer or wider scarf.

Note: This is the first pattern I have ever written, so bear with me and its clunkiness.

Stretch that Handspun, Scarf Pattern
Yarn A: bulky or super-bulky handspun, 30 yards or more.
Yarn B: sock, sport of DK yarn. Partial skein.
Needles: US 11

Gauge is not important.

CO 10 stitches. (For a wider scarf, cast on 15-20 stitches.)
Row 1 – 3: Knit with Yarn A. (A)

Begin Pattern
Row 4: Purl with yarn B. (B)
Row 5: Knit (B)
Row 6: Knit (A)
Row 7: Purl (A)
Row 8: Purl (B)
Row 9: Knit (B)
Row 10: Purl (B)
Row 11: Knit (B)
Row 12: Knit (A)
Row 13: Purl (A)

Repeat rows 4-13 until desired length or until you have about 3 yards of handspun left.

Knit 3 rows.
Bind off.
Enjoy!

Notes: When you get to row 10, carry Yarn A (handspun) up the edge of the row so you do not have a large loop when you start row 12. I purposely designed this scarf to alternate knit and purl rows so it would not curl on itself.

Now some more pics:

This is the darn cutest photo…ever!
Awwl, you just want to pull that piece of hay off his whittle head.

Yes, we went outside today in the gorgeous weather, took the lid off the sandbox to find a nice muddy mess. The boys, of course, thought this was the greatest in the world. Well until….

1. Push hands through mud.

2. Shake hands vigorously, spewing mud everywhere.

BONUS: Make older brother mad.
Repeat.
Repeat.
Repeat…

Good times!

I just listed a few more yarns in my etsy shop. Aren’t they purdy?

Knitting!

The sun was shining, it is warm and lovely – you couldn’t ask for a better day. Well, except for the fact that I am stuck inside working.

I spun some new handspun for 3 more dolls:

Pretty! I can’t wait to see them in their full glory. I have one, possibly two more to spin, and then they will be shipped away. Neat!

I actually completed these socks many months back, but never got around to blogging about them. Aren’t they gorgeous?!

These were my first socks knit from a Knit Picks sock blank. I followed the pattern, Two at Once, Toe Up, Magic Loop Socks. A very easy knit! (If you are seasoned in sock knitting.) I’m mentioned before that knitting with a sock blank is the best ever. Plus, you can control the color striping, which is what I loved. Here is what the blank looked like after I dyed it. You can see the beginning of the knitted socks at the bottom:

The only problem I had, is that I did not squish the dyes enough into the yarn. This made it knit up much lighter with white speckles where the dye did not go all the way through. I still love how it turned out, however!

Definitely something you should give a try, if you love knitting socks with simple stripes. I’m on my second pair now. Will post pics of the new socks soon!