Rainy Afternoon? Dye Yarn!

Several weeks ago, Elizabeth sent the girls some undyed yarn and Easter colors. She posted instructions for dyeing yarn and encouraged each girl to express herself with her own hank of yarn. They were eager to get after it. I promised that we would do it one rainy afternoon. 

And then the bluebells bloomed and we were outside, rain or not. But late last week, it rained and I was all bluebelled out, so we set about to dye yarn.

My girls had seen a sneak peek of Larkspur's beautiful yarn, so they'd settle for nothing less than using every color in the packet. Since I didn't happen to have pipettes on hand, I figured we'd give yarn painting a try. (I also brought out a turkey baster. It was clearly obvious it wouldn't give us detail but it kept Sarah entertained the whole time.)

I determined from the get-go that I would help one girl at a time. Good call. They required careful supervision.

The yarn was tied in several places, using a figure-eight style tie. We left it tied. Critical to minimize tangles.

First we soaked the yarn in 1 cup of warm water and and 1/4 cup of white vinegar. The girls eagerly squished the yarn and turned it over, careful to be sure every strand was wet.

We mixed our dye in our watercolor jars. We added one tablet of Easter egg dye and 1 tablespoon vinegar. And let it fizz. Fun. We talked a little about the chemistry of it all.

[Just an aside, but I dislike both math and chemistry. I'm beginning to suspect that Elizabeth is on a mission--via yarn--to convert me to someone who embraces math and chemistry. Between dyeing yarn and doing the math on  a Baby Surprise Jacket, I'm seriously using a part of my brain I've tried to avoid. Embracing math and chemistry would truly be a miracle.]

Then we filled the cups with water--about a half  cup's worth. We spread the table with a big green garbage bag and set our cups in the middle. Then, we circled the dye with the yarn. And we used our watercolor paintbrushes.

We talked about a pattern and everyone understood that we were going to move around the yarn in a rainbow order. Katie and I worked on hers first. I got her started and showed her how to paint the yarn on top and make sure she was painting the layers in the middle and then to carefully flip it and get the underside. She took off on her own and Karoline watched. There was blessed silence as she worked--everyone concentrating and creating. There was no end to Katie's patience.

Karoline required a great deal more help. First, Mary Beth guided her around. She soon decided that she wanted all the colors Larkspur had, but she was only interested in painting the purple herself. Mary Beth and I thoroughly enjoyed painting it for her helping her finish.

When the yarn was all painted, we carefully transferred it back to the large (15X10) glass casserole dishes. I covered them with plastic wrap and then I microwaved them individually. I microwaved for 3 minutes and then let it sit for 5 minutes, repeating this four or five times. lately, I've suspecting that my microwave isn't really working at full power even when it says it is, so I'd adjust your times accordingly.

Then I left to go to the airport.

When I returned, the yarn was completely cool. We ran a cool bath and swished our yarn around gently for about ten minutes. Then, we pulled it out of the tub, gently squeezed and placed it on the bathroom floor between two thick towels. We instructed Karoline to bourre until she was too tired to bourre any more. So, she gladly danced on the balls of her feet for few minutes. We hung the yarn to dry in the bathroom and waited patiently until the next day.

When there was no dampness left whatsoever, each girl recruited a brother to help her wind her very own ball of yarn.

Ta-Dah!

Mary Beth still has a hank of merino-silk to dye. But now, we're off on a bit of a rabbit trail. I'm pretty sure these  books will work for high school chemistry for both of us, no?

Remember, there's a great bargain to be had on Easter egg dyes this week;-). Go!

For undyed yarn, Knit Picks, has a wide selection at a reasonable price.

{Comments are welcome}

Yarn Along: Where I Break the Rules

I seem to consistently break the one picture and brevity Yarn Along rules. If I didn't, I'd post three or four knitting posts a week. Instead, I save them all up in my head until Wednesday. I love Wednesday. Begging your grace?

I finished Chloe #4, blocked it, put a button on it, and gave it away. Officially, it's the first finished sweater because I still haven't put buttons on the ones for my girls.  This one went to Zoe, which means that as I knit, everyone found every opportunity to say, "Oh, you're working on Zoe's Chloe?" Yep. Very fun. And what a sweet, sweet baby...

I have cast on for yet another Chloe (the 6th I have cast on), this time for a baby not yet born. This one is in Blue Sky Alpacas Multi Cotton. It feels lovely in my hands and is stitching up rather nicely. I'm pleasantly surprised with the cotton. But I still don't want to have to knit everything in cotton.

I've promised myself that I will move beyond Chloes after this sweater. Not sure exactly where I'm going, but I'm going to knit something other than a Chloe. I think even my family is getting bored. Carmie made this adorable vest for Sarah. She's worn it and worn it and worn it since it arrived a few weeks ago. I see the value of vests for toddlers and I know that these could be the workhorses of her wardrobe, so maybe that's the direction I'm going. I just need to figure out which yarn...

Reading? I have stuck to my Lenten resolve, but I have lined up Easter Week reading. Here's my problem: my Lenten reading was on audio; I listened to all of it. But now, I have some books to read. As far as I know one cannot read and knit at the same time. How am I going to find time to knit, to read, and to blog? 

I caved and bought three book-books, despite my promise to myself only to buy books on Kindle this year. At the insistence of every knitter who offered an opinion, I'm going to read two Elizabeth Zimmermann books, simply because it appears to be the thing to do. And then, in hopes of getting my house so together that I create more pockets of time in which to knit, I am going to read Organized Simplicity. {Mary Beth notes that all our "simplicity" books are blue. Could we just paint the house blue and attain peace of simplicity?}

Be sure to stop by and visit Ginny and see what other folks are knitting and reading.

{comments are open to chat about knitting and reading and organizing and such:-)}

Yarn Along: How Many Sweaters before Easter?

This week, I finished Chloe sweater #3, a striped shrug for Karoline. I knit it with Spud and Chloe sweater weight yarn, which is the yarn for which the pattern was written. The yarn is really wonderful. The stitches are so pretty and the colors are amazing. Mike is bemused as I sit here at night, alternating between knitting and researching yarn. He wishes he could be as excited about yarn as I am. I just about have him convinced to go to this fiber fair (okay, so I think the name of it caught his interest). We have to see about working it in around soccer. He reminds me that years ago he tried to convince me to move to New Zealand and I told him there were too many sheep there. I'd be wheezing all the time. So, maybe a fiber fair isn't a great idea. Sounds fun, though (except for the breathing part).

Back to the sweater:  I thought the yarn was causing me major allergy issues long about Thursday. But as the rest of my family has fallen victim to the same ailments, I am re-thinking my allergy diagnosis. We'll see. I have more S & C stashed away and I may bring myself to give it one more try before deciding the wool content was making me feel sick. In the meantime, I've ordered some Bue Sky Alpacas 100% cotton for the next Chloe (#6), to see how it compares. The only cotton I've ever knit is dishcloth cotton; hopefully, this is not that.

My mom bought these Hanna dresses for the girls last month. I love the way the Spud & Chloe stripes look with Hanna's colors. And Karoline was pleased.

I have cast on two more of the same shrug (#4 and #5) this week. (Obsession anyone?) One, I only did through the set up and puffed sleeve rows. It's winging it's way to Canada where a mama will make a sweater for her own curly girl with eyes of blue. That little girl's sweater will match Karoline's blue cashmere shrug which is on its way here from Elizabeth's. My girls are really loving this game of spinning and knitting and sharing (and shrugging). The other is a wee baby one in pink. More on that next week. Still no buttons on any of my sweaters. I'm waiting to see how Elizabeth did it and then I promise to summon up the courage to do mine. Karoline's really needs buttons.

For the most part, the reading is the same. I did do a little tiny hop off the Lenten  reading path to take a look at my friend Suzie Andres' new book, A Little Way of Homeschooling. On Sunday, I treated myself to just the chapters written by Suzie. Suzie is a personal friend who is as warm and genuine and real as people get. I was eager to "hear" her voice as she reflects on two topics which have long been her passions: The Little Way of St. Therese and unschooling. Suzie's gentleness resonates throughout her chapters and inspires some beautiful things in my mama heart. (Sorry, no book picture as I have already handed it off.)

I expect that both blogging and knitting will be light the next few days: it's bluebell time. Be sure to stop by and visit Ginny and see what other folks are knitting and reading. It's a enough to make a girl twirl with joy.

 {Comments are open: it's fun to talk knitting:-)}

Yarn Along: Spring Shrugs

I finished Katie's Easter sweater.

I know the many mistakes I made while knitting this shrug. It amazes me that, despite those mistakes, the sweater really does look darling on her. And she loves it. I've had a hard time keeping her from wearing it every day. I think that's a great testimony to the pattern. Truly, before this shrug, I had only knit washlcoths. This is  perfect pattern for learning. (Nicholas did ask me if I was ever going to knit a whole sweater.)

Katie's shrug is a little tight through the top. I should have made the 10 for her and made the 8 instead (so ended up adapting the sleeves a bit). We decided to skip the buttons, since they would strain. But, Sarah's doesn't have button either yet, because I still can't figure out how to do the loop. Comments open for kind-hearted tutorials:-).

And I have begun to work on a shrug for Karoline. Elizabeth is knitting Karoline's Easter shrug in blue. {If you click here, you can see the blue cashmere and you can read a wonderful picture tutorial on how to dye yarn with children, using Easter egg dyes.}

The sweater I'm making Karoline is my first attempt to stripe. So far, so good. It's fun to switch colors so often and it's so much easier to count rows. Seriously, I had the hardest time counting rows with the other two. There must be some row-counting trick I'm missing. I love the Spud and Chloe sweater yarn. It handles easily. The wool content is bothersome. I don't think I could wear it and I do have to put it away and take Zyrtec every so often, but it knits beautifully. I found myself considering allergy shots last night. I wonder if they even do those for wool allergies. I keep telling myself that by handling it, I'm desensitizing myself (I'm not really believing that, though.)

Still following the same Lenten reading plan: knit and listen. When the children are awake, I listen to them read these to me.

I'm also reading quite a few new blogs, thanks to last week's blitz through all the Yarn Along posts at Ginny's. Go!

Yarn Along: One Pink "Fweater"

Pardon me, please. I'm a little late to the Yarn Along.

I was knitting.

Elizabeth teased me last week that I had my first UFO (Unfinished Object). Indeed, I had casted on for Katie's shrug before finishing Sarah's.

But only because I didn't know how to finish Sarah's.

I definitely don't think I will be the UFO type. I'm all into finishing. Like stay up until midnight and get up a 5 AM to finish finishing. So, this week, Sarah's "fweet fweater" is finished.

 

{Come here, Baby Bedhead, see what Mama has for your morning surprise.}

And Katie's is completed all except a few more easy rows of length and the ruffle.

 

{{{And blocking and buttons (but I don't know how to do those yet and I've lost the buttons somewhere in the van).}}}

The goal is to finish all by Friday, when I expect the mailman will deliver yarn for Karoline's striped shrug. I don't want to start something new until I finish these.

 

We're reading lots of knitting-and-wool-related picture books. I cleared out the glass-fronted cabinet in the family room and installed our yarn (a shelf for me and a shelf for the girls), a basket of needles and such, and these lovelies:

Phoebe's Sweater (for more on Phoebe, don't miss this interview and Phoebe Mouse's blog)

Freddie's Blanket

Knitting Nell 

Charlie Needs a Cloak 

Warm as Wool 

The Mitten 

Sunny's Mittens 

Pelle's New Suit

and these for next week:

Woolbur 

Noodles Knitting 

Red Berry Wool

Argyle