Meg's Mitts

Here are the latest results. Ice Blue, Lemon Lime & Typoon Blue
~MuM

Snowmen

Just finished these funny Christmas Decorations.
I just decorated with buttons that are used for scrapbooking. They turned out pretty cute.
And I woke up to this snow last week.
Holy Christmas.

~Daughter #2

Dry Resist Dyeing.

I know you are getting tired of the whole dyeing thing but hang in there it will be worth it. Most wonderful inventions happen by way of an accident. I have "uninvented"** dry resist dyeing. **That means someone else has done this before accidentally. I am doing it deliberately.In order to dye evenly the wool has to be soaked to be completely wet. What if some of the wool was still dry when you put it into the dye bath..HMM??? I mixed 1 pack of kool aid in about 1.5 imperial quarts of hot water. In a separate bowl I put a 100 gm ball of "On your Toes" superwash sock yarn into a hank and quickly pushed it under clear water. Then I quickly lifted it out before it was completely wet and plunged it into the dye bath......
"Eh voila" as we say on the cereal box. The dye only captured the wet wool. Lots of white bits left behind. Some of which are a little wetter now. Add another packet of kool aid to same water "sans" wool and dunk the hank again. This will do nicely thank you. It is a little tedious but what the heck it was my day off. This first hank took 3 packets of Ice Blue Kool Aid.
The hank above was achieved with 5 packs. There is a subtle difference when dry. I have finished the next 2 hanks one with 7 packs and the last one with I think it was 10. That's 25 packets of kool aid!!!!!! This wool is for our KAL Faroese shawl see (Corinne's post).

It looks better in person.
These hanks are for Julia (*waving hi*). the gold goes from dark to light and the multi is the finished result from the girls dyeing project. It photoed a little darker.

In between doing this I dyed up a special request colour way for Meg's mitts. Oh Meg, I will have to knit this up very quickly before Aunty Corinne pinches your wool!!

~MuM
P.S. Just in case you don't believe Kool aid is acidic just try doing this with a paper cut. Stings like a bitch. I had to get out the plastic gloves besides which my nails were turning a permanent light turquoise.

Tay and Meg Dye wool.

Taylor chose the Madarina Tangerina, Strawberry Kiwi and Berry Blue Typhoon Kool Aid for her experiment.
Meg decided to wear the swatches and "walk like an egyptian."...lolol
Then they got daring and decided to dye some yarn for Aunti Julia.
Meg spritzed the vinegar. Taylor was sure anything this pretty must taste good.
That would be noooooooo. yuck

Then we baked cookies.......Grami needed a spa treatment. Plastic bags in the foreground are full of more white wool to be dyed. Update: One mitten knit the other on the needles. This closeup show off the colours nicely.
Oh and by the way the dyeing with kool aid isn't over yet...More to come.

~MuM

Oh the pretties.....

My recent infatuation with shawls has been inspired again. It's funny that I am working with weights that a year ago I wouldn't even consider. Granted I am using 3.75 or 4mm needles, so that does take the sting out of it.

This arrived in the mail today. I treated myself to some fingering weight yarn that I was raving about a few months ago. HERE



6 skeins of Imagination Hand Painted called Wicked Witch. It's gorgeous and so incredibly soft I want more. It is so tempting to start a new project but mum and I are going to do this together (Hey 'La' Do you want to get in one this with us?)
BUT I have to wait till she finishes the ones she has on the go. Not to forget, I still have to finish my Hallowe'en Mystery Shawl. I stalled out on it because adding all those bead is really annoying. It will be gorgeous once it is done I'm sure but until then...ugh. If I could only find a really really really fine crochet hook.



This is the pattern we are going to be doing. Anyone is welcome to KAL with us, jus say HI in the comments. You can get a copy of the pattern HERE. I'll post when we get started but it won't be till the new year I'm sure. This would make for a nice January project.

~Daughter #1

C'est Fini Fini

The final touches to my shawl. This is my first attempt at using blocking wires. I don't think I did too bad of a job. I have a queen sized bed and this stretched from side to side.



The scalloped edge didn't turn out as well as I had hoped but the great thing is I could always block it out again. In fact I had planned to do exactly that.



Except that moments after the pictures were taken it was claimed. Munchkin has broken her hand and wanted to snuggle in it because I made it and it would make her feel better. Like I could ever say NO the that kind of logic.



Daughter #1

More on the Kool Aid dyeing thing......

I have a Kool Aid friend in California ( hugs to Michele) who kindly sent me a bag in the mail this week just chock a block full of Kool Aid. We knitters are a breed apart. I am sure Canada Customs were very intrigued...lol

Couldn't wait to get started. I used the steaming method this time. Two little hanks are soaking in warm water on the right. I mixed one envelope of Kool Aid with half a cup of boiling water. The steamer is on, the Saran is spread out and the blue spritzer bottle is full of white vinegar.
Pina pineapple is on the right. The wool ( SRK On Your Toes 4 ply sock yarn) grabbed the dye and left a milky residue. Jamaica on the other hand took the colour BUT left a lot of dye behind.
My fingers ended up being dyed a dark red. I squeezed out the excess (Get the bleach water!) and spread the wool on the Saran where I spritzed it generously with vinegar. Wrap into a loose package and pop into the steamer.

Steam with lid on for 10 minutes. When the time is up and you remove the lid you will see that the packages are very puffy they collapse quickly as the steam escapes.
They look shrink wrapped. Caution if you use cheapy cling wrap you will have the devils own time trying to undo the parcel. Buy a name brand! Be careful the wool inside is VERY VERY hot. It will cool down very quickly. Wash the hanks in soapy water the same temp as the wool! This is important, a change in temperature between the hot wool and the wash water can shrink wool that is not super wash. The Jamaica hank had to be rinsed 20 times (!!) to remove the excess dye. The colour is still dark. A little of this is going to go a L-O-N-G way.

Test hanks drying on the counter. The vibrant colours would be very nice in a fall mix..Hmmm

~MuM

C'est Fini!!!

The knitting on my Mystery Shawl is all done. Tomorrow mum is going to stop by and lend me her blocking wires. (but, just for a short time because she will be finished hers soon as well.) Then I can block it out and take another picture. Still it's nice to have the bulk of the work done.

On the other end of the project spectrum, I picked up an interesting ball of yarn the other day from my local. I like the colours and the feel of it. It’s made from soysilk and I thought the idea of tofu socks was good for a joke. My idea was to pass it on to mum and beg her to knit them up for me because I hate knitting on socks.

One problem, it may be the last thing she ever makes me.

The yarn is Tofutsies and is a blend of
50% Superwash Wool
25% SOYSILK brand fiber
22.5% Cotton
2.5% Chitin (made from shrimp and crab shells! Naturally Antibacterial)

It’s that 2.5% that concerns me. Mum is DEATHLY allergic to shell fish. Makes me wonder if she would have a reaction by knitting with it? It’s not like she will be sucking on the yarn… but then this is a woman who can tell if you cooked you fries in the same oil as shrimp, because she has a reaction as soon as the fry hit her tongue.

So, Mummy gets to play guinea pig *G* with me and her honeybunny watching very carefully. She’s going to hold on to the ball for a while and see if she has any sort of reaction. Has anyone else knit with a product that they are allergic to? Anything happen to you?


~Daughter #1