Booga J

Okay -- this is kind of sad -- we have had a digital camera for a year and I could only find one picture of myself. And in that picture I was trying to hide behind my daughter. So, in celebration of becoming a lifetimer at WW this coming week I decided to have Pete take my piture with the camera. So, here I am with my Constant Companion bag. Hi!

I thought it was time to take out the spindle and make a little yarn. My last few attempt have been less than inspiring, but today I actually got yarn! Honest to goodness yarn that I could actually knit up! It has taken a bit of practice, but I think I'm finally getting a more even draw (?!? I don't know any real spinning terms since I pretty much taught myself from a very old book I found at the local library) and my singles are much finer. Previous yarn was very lumpy and uneven. So this is a 2 ply brown shetland wool. and here is a close up:

I'm so proud that I think I'm going to go purchase some Blue-Faced Leicester roving which was recommended to me by Caroline who is sending me one of her beautiful spindles in trade for some of my stitch markers. If you want a spindle too -- just check out her new website A Twist on Wood.

I was kind of bored this afternoon, so I got out some of the ugly eBay yarn I have and the packets of koolaid that I bought at the grocery yesterday and went to work. Above you will see the yarn before. The pinkish one is Barella Country Garden Superwash Wool -- a dull pale ash rose type color -- blah. The cream color one looks better in this picture than it did in person -- a very yellowish cream color. It's Jaeger Matchmaker DK.
So, I took the yarn and put it into some loose hanks. I got the yarn soaking wet and put it in a pyrex pan. I mixed up the koolaid and a little bit (1/4 cup?) of warm water. Then I spooned the koolaid mixture over the yarn -- flipping the yarn over once so that I got good coverage. The yarn drank up the dye FAST. After the water looked clear (cloudy white-ish actually) I poured it off and rinsed the yarn several times in warm water and then cold water. I squeezed all the water out and then microwaved the yarn in the pyrex pan for a minute.
And here is the completed yarn!
The blue was made using 1/2 a skein of Jaeger (the cream colored) yarn and two packets of blue lemonade koolaid. I thought the yellowish color of the yarn would make this turn out more teal, but that didn't really happen.
This red one was the Barella (pinkish) yarn with one packet of pink lemonade and one packet of cherry with a little orange thrown on at the end.
And here is my favorite -- although I don't know what I would do with this color yarn! This is the other half of the Jaeger yarn. I used the rest of the orange on this one, but I really diluted it first. Then I added a packet of lemonade (yellow) that was very diluted. It looks even better in person.
That's what I did today!

This weekend Theresa and I finally got together and did a little fiber shopping -- and look what I got!! Yep -- more birthday gifts! A beautiful drop spine box in cute little fishy paper and a gorgeous scarf made from Noro Silk Garden -- both handmade by Theresa! Thank you so much Theresa!!
After an extended cold/flu thing that kept me down for almost two weeks, I'm back and finally getting some knitting done! That's Nettle up there. I'm past the decreases for the sleeves and should have the back finished soon -- yipee! I really love this yarn (Jaeger Chamonix).
And here's my fair isle -- the Setesdal Cardie for Maddie. I'm up to the neck shaping and I think that this one might stall for a little while until I learn to purl with BOTH hands. The two handed knitting was great when I was working in the round, but now I have to go back and forth -- ugh.
And finally here is Pete's sock. This one has actually gone in reverse. I started this one toe-up, but I was stalled. I guess I like doing socks from the top down. Nothing wrong with that -- but it meant frogging a good 4 in. of completed sock. Then I tried to start using the socks on two circs method, but the Addi Turbos that I bought were only 12 in. long -- I messed up. These are just way too short. My hand was experiencing discomfort after only two rounds. So. . . . here I am back on the trusty Brittany dp's and things are moving along smoothly. Socks are my "easy" project and I'm not going to make the mistake of trying to make them so complicated next time (unless I already have an easy pair on the needles to fall back on)!
And here is a picture that I should have had up here last week, but sickness got the better of me. This is a beautiful scissor case that I received from Chris. Don't you just love it? Thanks so much Chris!!

Yep -- I forked over $15 to Blogger and got rid of the ads. Whew, glad I finally did it!