Finished Child Rainbow Scarf

Here is finally a picture of the finished rainbow scarf - I used a pattern from yarn harlot's blog and the rainbow yarn I made of course. It has been shown off many times already and is very loved - of course, with the warmer than normal temperature outside (40s) it is being used but not yet really needed....

Child Scarf - Step 3

All the appropriated wool is cleaned, dried, teased, carded, and dyed... The next step was to stagger and spin them...





Then I Navajo plyed all singles (the original bats had nine color repeats - the singles were split onto two bobbins - 6 and 3, and the finished yarn had to be broken into 4, 3, and 2 color repeats)






That's the four and three repeats - the two was completely used up in the scarf...

The scarf is actually finished and used three repeats (the middle of the three pie is empty) but as it's in use now, I'll have to snap a picture sometime next week... The needle that you see in the picture is another gauge swatch for a matching hat

Some More Dulaan Knitting

I finished the scarf (same home-spun as the hat) and here it is:

Child Scarf - step 2

Well, I had the wool all cleaned and teased. I managed to card half of it, and dye that half some pretty colors:



I used wiltons and vinegar and attempted to dye using the microwave (I've only done stovetop dyeing up until now). I'd say it worked pretty well. However, the smell made my dear husband gag and stay in a closed room until it had vented, so I researched alternative methods....




I now have some powder citric acid, which I used to dye the second half:




In case you couldn't tell, child 1 loves rainbows right now and wanted a rainbow scarf - I figured if I was going to dye that many colors I might as well do a bunch so I could have fun with the yarn after. I think my next project in dyeing (a couple wee-- well, at least a week from now - after christmas) will be dying multiple colors on a single sliver or bat. We'll see...

Some Dulaan knitting

Some knitting for Dulaan. Just another 4 to go to reach my goal - I already started a scarf with the same yarn. Does the yarn look familiar? It should, as it was my second attempt at wilton dyeing, and my first attempt at navajo plying. I think it came out pretty nice. This hat is sized to fit child 1, and she loved to try it on, and kept hearing me say that it was going to go to people who were cold and didn't have a hat.

Bamboo Shawl photos

I feel like I'm cranking them out, even though it's been a week since I posted I have finished multiple projects in that week... Here's the shawl.





I didn't block it yet, not sure if i will, as I didn't think it would help, as the bamboo doesn't have memory like the wool does. Just to recap - This is bamboo that I bought - about two pounds worth, and spun and then knit into this shawl.





I really like the pattern that I choose for the shawl





AND I still have a small amount left... including a small amount that took some orange dye... not very well as you can tell.

felt blanket felted

It felted a bit more than I had hoped as I was distracted and so it finished the full wash cycle - lesson learned - but it will make a great infant blanket or child carrier blanket.

felt blanket done

The knitting was completed on thursday night - felting done friday. I don't have the felting picture up yet, will soon. Here's the knitting though!

Another boring blog

Ok, I've now updated for the past two or three weeks... sorry about the retro-dating, but all are accurate! I'm now working on the felt baby blanket (almost done), the bamboo shawl (just started) and a couple of other odds and ends (bears, lace scarf, etc) stay tuned for more pictures - I should finish something over the next day or so!

More wool to play with

No picture, but then again, I don't know that you'd want one... I picked up some old wool from my mom today - she still has a number of fleece in big black bags that are more than 20 years old. They clean up fairly well, but I have no clue any information about them other than those facts (wool, very old, cleans up pretty). This is actually where I got the wool that I made green and orange/red. This time I am planning to card and then dye and then spin... we'll see how well that works out. My original goal is a pretty color scarf for child 1. Depending on how long it takes to dry it might be warm by the time I finish... Once I'm knitting then I'll decide how big to make it :)

So today I did step one and washed a nice amount - now we just wait a couple days for it to dry, while I keep working on my other in-progress projects.

While I'm at it...

I figured that while I was showing off finished yarn I'd show off half finished yarn.... This is just the smallest little bit of dark brown almost black wool I have - bought multiple pounds and I will slowly (?) be cleaning, carding, and spinning this. Unfortunately when I was spinning the bamboo I needed the bobbin this was on (note: need to go buy more bobbins after christmas) and I didn't want to run the risk of it rubbing any color/dirt on the bamboo, so i took the single off and cleaned it and hanked it up. I think I'll have enough for a sweater when I'm done with it all, I'm thinking something cable-y and aran-like... but first I have to make it into a nice pretty consistent yarn... This is a great first step though! - sorry for the shiny out of focus picture!

Bamboo is done!!

I finished the last of the bamboo... It's been a long process over the last couple of days, trying to speed card and then enjoy the spinning. Thankfully my children cooperated and the housework was put on hold. After so long of it sitting in the box, I could feel it itching to get out and be done. I thought it would be last night, but instead I hid the last of the bats and went to sleep and finish it this morning. Funny enough, I have already started a shawl with it.. I picked up the pattern this morning at Creative Fibers. I kindof knew what I wanted since I've been scoping out all sorts of patterns and objects online while spinning the last bit. Unfortunately I've only done about the first 30 rows, since I've been trying to finish the wool/felting baby blanket.

I have about 4 balls this size, and then a couple of really smaller ones from my first burst of bamboo spinning (ummm, 6 months ago?). I really don't know what I'll do with whatever is left from the shawl - we'll just have to wait and see how much that is...

New baby blanket project

I still have a couple more baby blankets to do before this baby explosion is over... this is probably going to be for one of the siblings (rather than a church person or a neighbor). Basically I realized I had a bunch of wool in my stash and I haven't really done that much felting... So I tested to make sure they felted at approximately the same rate, and then cast on. This is also a project that I am learning more about non-stranded color-work. I have a third yarn that I will use to make a border... Should be interesting and hopefully big enough and warm....

Old projects

Here's an old project that just got taken out of the closet again... getting lots of compliments on it of course! The yarn was a bulky yarn that we bought on close-out at webs. The pattern for the coat was the einstein coat in the Knit book. The pattern for hat was done on the fly, I remember that I crocheted it, and it isn't too bad now, the brim was a lot more pronounce when child 1 wore it, but still looks fine on child 2.

More Bamboo spinning

I have been spinning the bamboo I have... I originally bought 2 lbs back in July 2005, I've spun some of it up, but mostly it's been sitting in the box. I now have another bobbin full... (the bobbin on the right is a small amount of wool - my sister is learning to spin.


And now I am working on filling bobbin number two.

Spinning Progress

I finished my neat green wool. It's 180 grams and a little over 220 yards. I think it's pretty - has some specks of aqua in it also. I tried Navajo plying - that was some fun! It worked though. We'll just have to see how it knits up - I was thinking some hats or maybe more....

Still another baby blanket

Okay, here's another baby blanket... finished just barely in time for the shower, which was actually held after the little boy was born.. I thought this was still a pretty use of stash? The bear of course was not stash, but was VERY soft.

Previous Projects

I thought that since I am still working on yet another baby blanket and bear (and have at least 2 or 3 more to do before christmas....) I would post some of the things I have made previously, to prove I don't do just baby shower gifts!


One of the pictures is a lopi tan cable sweater, the next is a green poncho made of commerical homespun, pattern by me, pretty plain with a single cable running up the middle.


The next couple pics are of a small beaded purse i made as a gift, the pictures are pretty bad, but i don't have it to retake them of course. I'll post some more old projects over the next couple of weeks....

Yet Another Baby Blanet

I think I'm about half done with baby blankets for this baby cycle.... This is one of two girl blankets that I'm planning to do (this one, of course, now being done)

I don't know what this pattern is called - kind of a false rib. I obviously like one side more than the other....

The matching teddy bear, with a cool sweater that I had fun with.

Another Baby Blanket

The Brown square blanket is now done - not sure which siblings' baby this one is going to. I finished this one sometime last week (Wednesday or Thursday?)

This is a pattern completely designed by me - I used an edge from knitting on the edge, and then a corner patterned after the diagonal knitting book, and then of course, the main blanket was worked from the outside - in, decreasing in the corners, while knitting basketweave.

Wilton's Dye

The first time dying wool - I ended up with an orange-y shade (used christmas red dye), and someone else knit it into a small shallow hat/bowl.



I've since dyed some green (with some blue in it) and I have yet to spin that.... sometime soon i hope! -btw, that's one bag, just different angles to get all the shades

Blue Bear

Well, i got the bear done to go with the blue blanket, just minutes before it was time to go to the baby shower! Next time I'll try not to cut it so close! Pretty impressive considering I started the bear the day before, and then did the sweater in about 2 1/2 hours!



And then a couple more shots just to show off the angles...

Blue Baby Blanket

Well, i finished this one today! I don't like how it lays - not quite flat, i'm hoping a washing will help - but this one was an experiment anyways. (When you plan to make 5 or 6 baby blankets you have to try out a few things). So now I just need to finish a bear to go with it, for the shower tomorrow night! ....and then on to finish the next blanket in progress!

The beginnings of workbasket

I decided it might help me keep track of all my projects if I make a blog entry for them... I have about 5 projects in progress, so as I finish (or make major progress) I'll have to update it here!

My current kntting projects:
Blues Baby Blanket
Browns Baby Blanet
Pink Baby Blanket
Two different Teddy Bears
Lace Scarf

My current spinning projects:
Bamboo yarn
Brown Wool (for a sweater?)
Wilton's dyed green wool

...and then of course there are the sewing projects, which I have patterns and fabric, but have not started multiple dresses for each girl, and then a skirt or two for me!