Sheep Shots

Monster Pants are progressing nicely. A combination of washable wools (well-aged) are (dark blue) Austermann Juwel and (all the other colors Filatura di Crosa 501.

The actual Monster Face is embroidered in duplicate stitch or sewn on as knitted appliques.

Leg #1 is finished. This is not Sleeve Island.    And besides, they are very small.

It seems that I am getting into this random pattern thingie.


And for something a bit more traditional, this weekend, I finished a shawl, following the basic triangle that's started at the neck. Increase 4 stitches every other row, 2 in the center, two on the edge.

I used some stashed merino silk blend that I bought on-line umpty two years ago. I wound up over-dyeing  a lot of it with Wilton icing color (I think) in a strong blue which made  for shades of purple-y and turquoise-y that I striped with the green shades that seem to be original.

I used a little over a pound of worsted weight to make the shawl. It's about 80" wide.


I finished the whole thing off with a knitted lace edging from Sally Melville's The Purl Stitch that served to both embellish and bind off.

I'm pleased with the way it came out, though I did find Ella (our cat) had decided that she really, really loves this yarn. She was sleeping all over it on the blocking mats.*

In fairness, the blocking mats were on the pool table which is where she spends a lot of her time.

I may have to use the odd bits to make a little toy for her.

*Earlier, I found her dancing on the shawl-in-progress.

Labels: baby girl, baby grands, baby things, big people clothes, dye stuff, FOs, WIPs

My pile of UFOs has grown exponentially over the past few weeks, so I am posting a photo in hopes that something will get finished. (Are there still Knitting Fairies out there?)

In no particular order (okay, starting a 9 o'cloc, sort of) moccasins, wrap sweater for The Tiny Prince, POCghan, Toe Jam sock , Bear Claw blankie, cotton sweater for Tiny Prince, odd balls to make sweater vest for Children in Common, Santa pair. Regular readers will recognize a couple of these projects. I am hanging my head.

But there is a FO to show:



First sweater of 2008 for Children in Common.

It's odd balls of girly colors of wool (Gjestal Naturgarn) that I dyed up a while back with Kool-Ade.

I know that the yarn was "almond" (a color so insipid that it begged for dyeing). I believe I used cherry and raspberry, but I could be way off base there.

The blue was a bit left over from a sweater I made a couple of years ago.



And here it is all spread out.

I really wish that I had noticed the diagonal before I started the yoke.

Steam-blocking helped some.

This one is about a size 4. CIC is collecting sweaters and vests in sizes 2 and 4 right now. It breaks my heart to think of little bitty kiddies (Tiny Prince size, no less) living in orphanages!

I'll be mailing this sweater and a "boy" one as soon as I finish the boy one. It's on the needles.

Red, shades of blue, little fishies, I think.

Labels: charity, children's things, dye stuff

I had to make a run to the Mart of K today. The drying rack that has served me well for several years died a sudden and unexpected death on Friday.

So, sad though I was to see it go (out to the curb), I was ready to move on.

I won't bore you with the pictures, but the new one is metal, not wood, and should hold up under the abuse of sopping wet skeins and bras and such.



I happened upon the leftovers of Easter, and being a person who cannot pass a clearance rack without at least stopping to look, I could not pass up this incredible bargain!

90% off! the original $1.49 price.

So I bought 10!




With the fair fast approaching, I started a blankie with the marigold yellow Encore.

Cast on this morning. All you see there is the garter stitch border. There will be lacy hearts, too.

Two entries finished, two on the needles. Four months to go.

Labels: dye stuff, fair entry

Or explanation, or something.

Rabbitch and I were "talking" early this morning as we often do (she being a late-night person and me being an early-morning person, living on opposite coasts) and I commented on a discussion that's been going on on one of the lists I read. Hop on over to her blog. You'll see the gist of the conversation without me re-typing it.

I will readily admit, in the face of undeniable evidence, that some people's children (mine and Janice's included) did or do know how to behave in public. They can be taken into stores and restaurants and conduct themselves with some decorum. (And other patrons, and nuns even, will comment on how well-behaved they are. So there!)

My objection (aside from being censored and having my reply returned by a "listmom," who feared the erruption of a flame war, twice, once on this subject and then on a blatant copyright violation, but hey, if I want to post what I want without censorship, I'll blog, did I digress again?) was that the list only heard one side of the story.

Were Vermin Child's hands clean? I don't know about you, but I'd really rather not pay full price for yarn or an expensive knitting book that has the leavings of a popsicle or jelly donut. Just sayin'. And how was VC behaving?

Shop owners have the right to protect their inventory. And shoppers who don't like it can shop elsewhere.

I've seen too many out-of-control kids in stores lately. I was shopping at the bottom of the heap yesterday (the Dollar Tree, if anyone cares) and there were more than a couple small children running amok and one small screamer riding in a cart. Okay, it's not Macy's, but still. Even for a buck, I don't want stuff that's been kicked around the store. Or thrown, either. Nor do I want to leave with a pounding headache because of the noise level.

And I know it's not just kids doing it.

Janice sings the praises of a local (to her) fiber shop. It sounds like a lovely place and again, their shop, their rules. I had a similar shop (long gone) when my kids were little (long gone). There were things that the kids loved to look at and I would sometimes buy for them (plastic canvas in shapes and bright colored yarn to work the shapes into "stuff" like coasters). They were welcome, but they were also well behaved (and had clean hands).

I am the first to admit that not everyone is cut out for retail. Maybe that was the case in this instance. But without hearing the other side, we'll never know.

Eye Candy:

What better way to spend a cold afternoon than rescuing unfortunately dyed yarn?




Some time back, I bought a lot (like at least 5 sweaters' worth??) of Gjestal Naturgarn No. 1, a lovely Lopi-type bulky wool in many colors.

I made two sweaters from it so far and have a lot left and I'm thinking Dulaan!

One of the colors (what in the hell was I thinking?) was this one [eyes left] that they called "Almond."

Um, er, ick.

Nine skeins. Why?





Enter The Cheap Stuff.

It was on sale (still is) at the grocery store: 7/$1.

There's a reason!

For one thing, it clumps (good thing I have a wire wisk and know how to use it).

For another, it took 20 packs to dye 600 grams of yarn.

I'm thinking that Kool-Aid would have done the same job for the same price. And I would have had a better choice of colors. Live and learn.



Here it is, cooking up in a pan.

Dye's all exhausted and the color is wimpy.

I put it in for a second dyebath.









And here's the result.

Three skeins (the raspberry-pinky ones) were dyed with Wilton paste--purple. I will eventually get the hang of how much paste it takes. This was a better run than the last one (the one that ran and ran and ran).

The rest is dyed with Cheap Powdered Drink Mix (tm). I'll wait for a sale on The Good Stuff.

Labels: dye stuff