I felt like dyeing...

Thank you to everyone for your well wishes. I'm definitely on the mend, in fact, I was well enough to finish my socks...
Before you ask, yes, that really is my skin color. I'm almost as white as the wall behind me. I think the funniest part is, my legs have actually see quite a bit of the Colorado sun, and still they are this white (of course that may have something to do with the SPF 50 I slather on everytime I know I'll be outside for long periods... what can I say? I hate sunburns).



You can't quite see the cables from this particular picture so here's a close up on the detail of the leg. I am still in love with Koigu and I really love the pattern I made up, the only problem is variegated yarns and somewhat intricate sock patterns just don't go together well. The colors of the sock yarn completely overtake the pattern so much so that you can barely see it. I'm fine with that though. It was all an experiement anyway.

So, remember that laceweight merino yarn that Toni sent me? Well, I was feeling sort of creative this morning. Gabe's at work till 5pm, I don't have to go to work till 5pm... what's a girl to do when she has that kind of time on her hands.... Some would say knit.... others would say spin... but this particular morning I was feeling more like dyeing...

I ran out to the craft store and bought a couple different colors of Wilton food coloring. I soaked the yarn for a good half hour with a bit of vinegar.

Wouldn't you say this pink was just dying to be another color? (No pun intended there) Then I added the dyes, wrapped it up and sent it to the microwave...

After a few good zaps in there, I let it rest for a bit, then rinsed it till the water ran clear...

A bit of a side note here... whenever you're dyeing anything, be sure to think ahead and get some rubber gloves. However, if you happen to forget to get rubber gloves like a certain someone I know, never fear... soft scrub with bleach will be your best friend. I was sure that dye was not going to come off of the countertop, or my fingers for that matter, but it came out of both! Good thing too, I'm not sure if people would really appreciate a waitress with blue fingers...

Back to the fiber: The finished product is now sunning itself on the back porch...

I absolutely love how it turned out. Here's another little picture that shows the colors a bit better.

So now that I've dyed both fiber and yarn, I have to say I like dyeing the yarn better. Sure it's fun to dye fiber, but sometimes the finished product (that is, the spun yarn) does not turn out as nice as the dyed fiber. Or it just doesn't come out looking at all like you imagined it to. With yarn, it's already spun and you know what it looks like. I guess that's why I liked it better.

I can't wait to try knitting something with this... lucky for me it's quite arid here in Colorado and I don't have to wait very long for my yarn to dry!

Ugggghhh...

I was so sick this past weekend. I'm just now getting over it. I can't even remember the last time I was this sick. I know I haven't been sick yet this year. I even had to take a day off work and I never skip work! As you can imagine, no knitting has been done. You'd think that a day off work would be great and I could knit all I wanted... not so... I could barely lift my head off the couch. Ah well. I'm getting better now and should have some more interesting things to post about in the near future.

The funny thing about Colorado....

There are actually quite a few funny things about Colorado, but one of the ones that is most apparent to me is it's lack of humidity. It's definitely what you would call arid here. A couple of things I've noticed that really illustrate the dryness is my sinuses are not loving it here. The only relief they've had this entire time was the two or three days where it rained non-stop... ahhh... it felt great. It was funny because I overheard people talking about how humid it was and how sticky they felt.... they don't know sticky... Growing up in Maryland, I know what hazy, hot and humid really means.

Anyway, another demostration of arid Colorado is the lack of condensation on cold glasses. This totally threw me for a loop. I know the glass is cold because there are ice cubes in it, but everywhere else I've been, a glass with ice cubes in it is also accompanied by sweaty condensatoin on the sides of the glass. Strange I tell you.

The third, and probably most peculiar thing that really shows me how dry it is here is this....

Notice the wavy, curly hair? I have never in my life experienced curly hair. My hair is not curly. At least that was true up until I came here.

Now most people who have somewhat curly hair experience the frizz and curliness when it's extremely humid... not me. I've air dried my hair before in NY and it never looks like this. In fact, it looks rather limp and sad. But here, let it air dry and poof! Curly hair.

The only thing I can think of that would possibly do this is the lack of humidity. You see, my hair is very fine and anything can weigh it down. I figure, it dries so quickly here that the water in my hair never gets the chance to weigh it down. It evaporates within fifteen minutes of getting out of the shower. In NY, it takes a good hour for my hair to air dry.... truly, truly strange...


Oh... did you come here for knitting? That's right, I sometimes forget this is a knitting blog... so sorry...

I finished the first Koigu sock...

I am in love. I decided to make it up as I go. I put some cables in the leg and just knit until the first skein ran out. They fit great and they're so comfortable and they're just gorgeous if I do say so myself!

I've started the second which I'm sure will be done within a week. Hmmm, then what do I start? Ah, the eternal question of which project to do next... at this point... it's a mystery.

The most random posting ever....

Fortunately, almost all the randomness revolves around fiber....

First off, the frump...



Oh sure, it looks semi-decent from this view, still maybe a little bit big, but possibly something I could live with...





You really don't get the full effect until I show you a little side view action...

Ah, there it is... frumpy, frumpy, frumpy. Not even a little bit flattering on me. Oh well, you just can't win them all right? I still haven't thought of a recipient for this yet, but I promise, once Christmas rolls around I'm sure I'll be very happy it didn't end up fitting me!

Which brings me to my next totally unrelated and slightly random topic... Sushi. I am a vegetarian.... most of the time... the only exception I make is for sushi, and that's only very rarely. I'm talking once every couple months rare. And when we're talking sushi, it's probably best that I only make an exception once every several months because that stuff is expensive. So, Gabe, a couple of his friends and I went out for sushi on Wednesday. Normally, this wouldn't be something to blog about, but on this particular occasion I found something so incredibly blogworthy it isn't even funny... or maybe it is... How's this for a boat-load of sushi?



And if you're wondering, that is an actual boat of sushi. I couldn't even fit the whole thing into the picture because it was so big! We all definitly got a kick out of that. The food was excellent. I've never been so stuffed eating sushi in my life! The exception, I must say, was worth it on this occasion.



So, my next topic switch brings me to laceweight yarn. Particularly merino laceweight yarn sent to me by Toni. Bloggers are the most giving people ever! She sent it to me because I mentioned in a comment that I wanted to try the Trellis scarf from IK, but that I really didn't have much of a yarn budget! How sweet is she? Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

I'm thinking about dyeing it a darker color, but that won't be until I actually find some time. It seems this is the busiest summer I've ever experienced and this is in no way me complaining about how busy it is, just an observation.

So, are we ready for another topic? Let's talk about how much I love Koigu... I love Koigu so much, I may never use another type of sock yarn again! Yes, my love for Koigu was brought on because I totally gave in and started a pair of socks. All my good intentions for starting Christmas presents went right out the window...

But just look at it! I swear, I am endlessly entertained by how the colors are turning out and playing off each other. It reminds me of a garden in spring when the greens are still light and new and the flowers are just starting to bloom. I've never been so poetic about a pair of socks, but apparently Koigu does this to me!

I'm making them toe-up so I can make them as long as the skein will go. I'm not wasting any of this precious stuff!

Well, folks, it's time for my last topic. Spinning. I've been spinning a little bit recently. Let me be more specific. I've been plying recently. To be honest, I was inspired by the Koigu. It's a two ply, but the spin is very tight, yet it doesn't wrap in on itself. I wanted to sort of recreate something like that. I've been working on this fiber for my friend, Bean, that she bought at Rhinebeck last year. I have to say, I'm very happy with the results.

I'm tempted to say that this is some of the best stuff I've ever spun. It's very even, and I'm just so proud of it. I still have a few ounces left to spin up. Hopefully I'll be able to do that before the summer ends. We'll see.

That's all for the random post!

Disappointment, among other things...

My week has been so busy which is why I've been somewhat absent from the blogosphere. Forgive me if I haven't commented on your blog in awhile, I'm still trying to catch up!

So, first off, the knitting. I have finished the tank I've been working on. Not without it's share of difficulties. First was the forgetting to decrease at the other end of the decrease rows. That problem was solved with some ripping... Next, however, came the part where I slowing drove myself mad simply by following the directions. I had gotten to the point in the pattern where I had to divide for the front triangles and for some reason, they just weren't looking right. In fact, they were looking pretty bad.

I ripped out my first attempt thinking I had done something wrong. My second attempt looked pretty much like the first, even after I tried adjusting some things. It was on my third attempt that it dawned on me that the problem might not have anything to do with how I was knitting it and everything to do with how the pattern was written. By the way, the internet is a glorious thing and within two minutes I was able to find on the Interweave website corrections for the very pattern I was working on. I only wish I knew it needed corrections before attempt two and three were made!

So, after that little hiccup, I went on to finish the tank. It is now blocked, sewn, and the ends woven in.... and you know what? I really hate the way it looks on me. There lies the disappointment. It's too big, (though I made the smallest size), and it just looks frumpy. I really can't stand my clothes looking frumpy. If it were to even remotely fit me, the width of the lace panels would have to be decreased as would the actual sides of the thing. I swear there's about four inches of extra fabric on both sides just hanging there... looking frumpy.

Oh well, it's destined to become a gift for someone who might better fill it out than me. Though I really don't know who yet...

Anyway, like I said, I've been busy. Gabe and I did so much yesterday alone. We went to a rock climbing gym and stayed there for a couple of hours. Basically we stayed until neither of us could grip anything anymore because our muscles were too tired. Then we came home and went swimming. Then we took a bike ride across town to eat dinner at the chinese restaurant that our roommate works at. We biked home just in time to miss the hailstorm (I can't imagine I would have liked biking through a hailstorm, call me crazy, but that sounds like it hurts) Then we stayed up 'til 1am watching a movie. To say the least, I'm pretty tired and sore today.

I haven't actually done a whole lot today, the soreness being a major factor in all that, but I have started fixing Gabe's sweater. We sized it out and it's not going to be that big a deal to fix. The only other thing I've done today was go to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Has anyone else seen it yet? I think it's one of those where I'm going to have to watch it again to catch everything and it seemed to me that all they were doing throughout the movie was setting up for the third one.

Anyway, this post has gone on for far to long already. I'll be sure to take a picture of the disappointment tank as soon as the batteries for my camera charge.

Lots of zoo fun!

The last few days have been fun. My fourth of July was uneventful. I kind of like it that way. Sometimes it's nice just to have some downtime. The day after the fourth, Gabe took me to the zoo. We had a great time.
These peacocks were all over the zoo, I swear they must have had at least twenty or thirthy of them! There was the baby giraffe that I fell totally in love with!There were tons of these little guys running all over the zoo, grabbing food that was more than likely thrown from strollers by little people.Gabe had his own little "wildlife encounter" with one of them. They were just starring at each other for awhile. Pretty cute if you ask me...The baby gorilla was absolutely adorable and I finally got a good picture of it! This little guy was super cute. What can I say? I just love baby animals!

So we had a pretty great time. It was fun to see all the kids get so excited about the animals. That was really great.

Now for the knitting-related content. I finally got somewhere with the front of the tank. In fact, I'm about where I need to be to start the shaping for the top.

I'm definitely glad that ripping it out didn't hinder me too badly. It's actually a pretty quick knit once I actually pulled myself away from the cross stitch for more than two seconds! In fact, I haven't touched the cross stitch too much recently. I've been tank top crazy instead! I really want to get it finished so I can wear it before the summer ends!

Oh and sometime during these past few days I went to the lys here and gave in to KPPPM...

This stuff makes me want to drool. It's so nice and I just love the color variegation. We'll see if it's going to be my next project or if it goes to the stash because I'm actually starting to think about Christmas presents already (mainly because I know that once school starts up again, I really won't have too much time to work on anything!) I may not be able to resist though... we'll see...

So much for that....

My last post showed progress on the front of the tank... now... there's negative progress. I ended up goofing up fairly consistently. The pattern called for me to decrease at each end of every 10th row five times. I've done this sort of thing countless times on many different sweaters and yet, I messed up by only decreasing at the beginning of the row. What amazed me was how many times I did that (which, by the way, was all but one... amazing) So I ripped... big time ripped. Pretty much pulled out the ball winder and ripped the whole thing apart. I did try to ladder down and fix the problem that way but it just ended up with crappy looking, loose stitches... cotton is so unforgiving.

Anyway, I'm back to where I first started messing up, which is still quite a bit farther back than I had gotten, hence the negative progress. Oh well.

As for the story about the frog. When Gabe's mom moved into her house (which was few years ago) his mom allowed one of Gabe's sisters to decorate the bathroom and she decided to decorate it all with frogs. Not those cutesy, country frogs... real frogs. They're everywhere; all over the bathroom. I decided, in my cross stitching delirium, that I wanted to stitch a frog for her for Christmas.

However, there was a problem... I searched everywhere only to find there are no cross stitch patterns for frogs, life-like or otherwise (unless I wanted those cutesy, country frogs, in which case, there was one pattern) So what did I do? I found the perfect picture of a frog... you gotta love google... and a computer program that turns pictures into cross stitch patterns. Eventually, the stitched frog will look like this...