Good Yarn Related Week? It feels like it

WIPS
-Soft Stones by Ela Torente
Progress is feels like it's actually being made.  I finished the upper back, did the boatneck and now I'm working my way down the front.

-Cabled Helix Socks by Karen Buhr
The progress I've made is barely worth a mention.  I'm half way through the heel.  Since the last update, I was right before the heel...I will hopefully have more progress to show for this next update, like a completed sock.

-#100DayChallenge
As much as I love the Blankie, I have managed a couple of days without adding anything new...like Friday and Saturday.  I still manage to get some knitting done on other projects.

Almost an FO
-Plain Ol' Strippy Socks 
Eeek!  I had put these socks down months ago because I was struggling with picking up the stitches of the afterthought heels.  Tanya, lovely woman that she is, took my sock home with her and did it for me.  The only thing I have to do now is put in the heel.  I could have technically done this the same day she brought it back for me but somehow I didn't do it.  Next update, it will definitely be an FO.

Why this picture looks like it's a part of a romantic movie with soft focus is beyond me

Coming Back on the Needles
-Quick Silver
This shawl is so addictive and the only reason I put it down is because I wanted to make some progress on my other timed projects, which I have done.  So this week, I going to pick it back up again, especially since I have about another 2 weeks to get it done.

Stash Enhancement
It was mostly a pattern stash enhancement but of course, I do like what I got.
-Celtic Myths by Asita Krebs
A crescent shaped shawl, celtic themed cables with a bit of lace work that is available for free on Ravelry.

-A Little Old Fashioned by Lalie Roque
A Captain America themed circular shawl with a little crocheted edge.  The regular price is $3.50 USD but if you use the coupon code by May 31st 2015, you can get it for free.  (coupon code: language)

On a side note, as soon as I saw the pattern, I had to send a message to my friend JB because I knew she would LOVE it!

-Niamh by Woolly Wormhead
Cabled hat with buttons.  That was enough for me.  I love cables and if you can stylistically place buttons on it as well, I am all for it.  The regular price is £3.50 GBP

Stash Enhancement Amendment
This is kind of a stash enhancement but not quite since I already technically owned the yarn.  I dyed my first skein of  self stripping yarn.  I didn't turn out exactly as I was expecting however I have made adjustments to the colour recipe to fix that problem.

I call it The Evil Queen (or Regina).  It's a 4 stripe, 3 colour pattern.  The only problem as of yet is that it is very hard to see the purple.  I wanted a royal purple and somehow it turned into a navy-ish purple.  The other problem is that it's sandwiched between the blacks making it even more difficult to see...although now that I think about it this gives me 2 different colour way idea still based around The Evil Queen /Regina from Once Upon a Time.

I am anxious to dye another self stripping skein however I have realized I am getting low on acid dyes therefore, I need to learn how to use it more sparingly and to buy some more.  On top of that, I need more white or undyed yarn to continue with my expirimentations.

Wonderful...somewhat sarcastic and definitely not sarcastic

Sarcastic "Wonderful"
Tuesday evening I started mixing out my dye for the dark rich purple I was looking for (for future referrence, I used 2 tsps of sapphire blue and 1 tsp of vermillion red I think).  Somehow I didn't realize that this mix was to be used for stock and not for straight dyeing until about 30 minutes after I put in the yarn but "oh well, let's see how this turns out".  I checked this morning and I started the rinse out.  The yarn looked black.

Me: Okay, cool.  First try and all that.  Definitely need to water it down by alot next time.

Continued rinsing out and my fingers are turning purple as well as my nails which are much harder to clean.

Me: I really should have followed the directions that said to use rubber gloves.  Ooh! This is looking like a really nice, dark navy blue.  Let's rinse some more.

Suffice it to say at last check at around 5pm, I am still rinsing out dye.  The yarn still doesn't look purple but I do like it if it stays at this navy-ish colour and I still have 75 g left to get the right colour.  If this colour is repeatable, I would definitely call it "Might as well be black" since that is exactly what I was thinking when I first started rinsing it out.

ETA: it's been over 4 days, and I'm still washing dye out of it

Not Sarcastic Wonderful
Also on Tuesday at my knitting circle, one of my friends brought a collection of...let's just call it Crafting Books (she really does everything except for spinning yarn - I checked - and flower arranging - since her thumb is really not green according to her).  I saw a book about Knitting Stitch patterns.  I flipped through the pages and I wanted to put the book in my bag and run away with it.  The books were not for sale.  They were for viewing only.  This only made me determined to finally purchase the Stitch dictionary I have had on my wish list for Chapters since I started knitting.  And then she surprised me by offering a trade.  I can keep the book and in return, I knit her a pair of socks, in purple of course.  I asked her if she didn't mind waiting for it.  She doesn't care, as long as I knit her a pair of socks.  I can do that!  I just need to actually get purple yarn.  I still have a skeing from the 2013 Cookie Sock club but it has no nylon so I still don't want to knit socks from it.  One of these days I'll figure out what I'm going to do with it.  Maybe trade it away.

Argh! I wish I had taken notes!

Since I have been knitting with the Peacock Fury skein and re-dyed successfully (the one time), I have been wanting to re-dye more. I went looking for my dyeing instructions...they are no where to be found. I looked in my notebook, through the notepad on my phone, this blog and my posts on Ravelry. I did not keep any notes.

So I guess this is a one time dye. It will take some work to figure it out again.

Printed up and ready to go

Certain things have to go on hold for now. I just downloaded the next set of patterns for the Cookie Sock Club 2013 and I doing the Pirouettes first, although I may rename it "Spin for me, my darling" on my project page. I'll be finally using the Muscadine Yarn for Springtree Road in the colourway Tea Rose.

I casted on and I was ready to go...but now that I'm on the leg and I'm seeing all the errors I have made, I'm going to have to restart or at the least go back to the end of the cuff. I may just change all the many types of 'make ones' to yarn overs instead.

Here's a view of the yarn I dyed yesterday. I still love the colour. I'll try to cast on later on this week.

Way to Dye: Part 2

I didn't like the way my dye project turned out originally so I have to re-dye it. The ended up being a lot of white spots and color bleeding. I kept the colors the same and I tried again. I really like these these finished results it's a lot more vibrant almost wine colour. I hope the colour stays after the yarn has dried.

A) the first dye while the yarn was still damp.

B) after the yarn has dried. What you can't see is the white spots where the yarn was tied. I even tied the yarn loosely

C) this is the re-dye. No white spots but there are lighter and darker areas which are fine with me.

Way to dye

I found one more ball of Patons Kroy in white and as things seem for me, it can't just stay white. I debated between red or purple while looking through the past Successes in the What A Kool Way To Dye group on Ravelry.

I was aiming for a rich, jewel like purple, with a hint of red. I ended up with a jewel like burgundy. It wasn't until I had already hung up the skein to dry and made it back to my room that I noticed that I didn't use Icey Blue Lemonade like I thought, but a packet of Tropical Punch.

I like how it turned out regardless. And for reference if I ever want to try this again: Tropical Punch and Grape mixed together. Add Cherry in separately afterwards. 50g of sock yarn.

I've been dye-ing to do this!

Oh the dilemmas! I have decided I don't want to wait a moment longer to dye my yarn. I went looking for a Kool-Aid based colour combinations because of course I couldn't look for anything simple. The first site I went to had packets of colours I don't have yet. So I went looking again and found this site about mixing solid packets and then a new problem arose as I saw each all of the different colours. And I wanted to dye them all!. I think I've settled for either ice blue or lemon-lime but of course I can attempt to be daring and try to mix colours together with absolutely no previous experience.

Right now I've for my yarn soaking for 30 mins before I add the colour. My cuz said I looked like I was wearing spaghetti when I had the skein around my neck as I transported the bucket and Kool-aid up to the kitchen.

So the yarn is now done soaking and I asked my grandfather's opinion I. Colour and he really liked the Icey Blue.

So the yarn has been zapped in the microwave 3 times so far for 2 minutes a piece, with about 5 minutes of resting in between. At last check, the outer parts if the yarn were a very nice shade of blue but there was quite a bit more white than I wanted in the middle so stir stir stir and zapped it back in the microwave. Lets see it's progress now.

The colour from the water is almost all gone and there is still quite a bit of white. I wish I had stirred it after the first 2 mins. Ah well! Such is life I cannot wait to see how these will turn out for a pair of socks

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I squeezed out as much water as possible from my newly dyed skein after it was rinsed.  No colour came off during the rinsing so I assume that is good.  I took it down to the basement and hung it out to dry on the clothes lines hanging over the sink...of course checking on it every 5 minutes wondering to myself "Is it done yet?"

I love the finished skein and I really want to go through this whole process again.  I've even managed to talk my mother to look out for the more "exotic" (aka anything other than orange, grape, cherry) varieties of Kool-aid.  Wouldn't this make a pretty gift?

I networked!

Last Friday, I was on the bus, heading to Hamilton as per usual, when I met this woman on the bus. It ended up being one of the most interesting and positive experiences I have ever had on the bus.

1) we both have iPhones
2) she's a crafter
3) we both like gerbils, hamsters and those kind of pets
4) she just finished the program I am about to enter

So by the end of the trip, she gave me her phone number and I got a new fount of info!

She even gave me the idea of selling some of my knits on Etsy. Maybe I can attempt things like baby items and see where it leaves me.

She had also asked me what career I wanted to get into. I joked and told her one to support my yarn habit.

And before I forget, I bought more Kool-aid packets. I am now the proud owner of Orange, Grape, Cherry, Lemon-Lime and Ice Blue. I cannot wait until I actually have yarn to dye. It will definitely be on my next Knitpicks order at the end of November.