Knitting Dragonflies

Drop over and take a look at the new Spring/Summer Knitty 2010 ! My favorite pattern? I can’t decide yet. A wide variety from socks to shawls, easy to challenging. Below is some beautiful core spun yarn from urbangypz's photostream on flickr! She has an etsy shop UrbanGypZ . This beautifully spun yarn makes me think of spring! I’m still struggling with my core spun, I’m not sure that is for me, I’m going to go back to traditional spinning. We have been busy at my house, painting and getting a new privacy fence! While visiting my Dad, I got sucked into Genealogy world! I have never done any research like this. And it is fun and very interesting. I feel like I’m turning into quite a sleuth. The stories we hear about family and are they true? Tracking down records and more records. I can’t imagine how time consuming this was before the internet! I’m teaching  a 7 year old little girl to sew. Any hints would be appreciated, so far we have; made a tote bag, a cat bed, and a ...

I've gotten some wonderful gifts in the mail recently!! Thank you times a thousand!! From my Doppelgänger, Vicki at Dragonfly Soars I received a package full of LOVELY fiber!! I can’t wait to get spinning with these! The braid is BFL from Girlontherocks.com , I love the turquoise (i just painted my living room a lighter shade of this color) and the golden yellow mixed in. The green batt is a super soft batt of blended wool and soy silk from Ogle Design.etsy.com , a perfect spring batt to spin, this green color with a little blue added really puts me in the mood to get out in the garden. From Paula The Quilter , I received five skeins of excellent wool to dye! I’m not sure what colors these want to be yet, but I’m ready to get my pots out! The sun is out today and I haven’t done any Solar dyeing since last fall. Hummmm… I got a huge package of glitz and angelina to add to my spinning from Jane on ravelry!  Thank you Jane!! Great for you to add a lot of sparkle or ju...

Sun, and bright blue skies! I’m in the mood for some bright yarn and some Reggae music from Jamaica ! So pick a song from the top 25 this week and get some sunshine into your life. So I got my dye pot out, and decided to try some kettle dyeing! I used the kettle dyeing tutorial from Fiber Fever’s blog (throwing knit fits since 2006). It is easy and understandable. So with just this amount of info, I got started… I quickly found the red dye over powers everything else, I was trying to half orange and half red. But I like the extreme vivid colors, I found if I didn’t stir it in and let it “settle” on top, and then stuck a chopstick in straight down, and just “wiggled” it a little, the dye dispersed without getting too even. Then I tried some blue and green, ooo pretty. I’m trying to keep a little white in it for more variation, and the colors look cleaner.   This pot has 1/3 red and 1/3 orange, 1/3 yellow, just a little wiggle, and then after bringing to a s...

I’ve had an energy spurt with the onset of spring and nicer weather. Thank goodness the sun has shown up, just in time. Here is what I have going on over here…. I pledged to finish my simple diamond lace shawl, and I am working on it! [ rav link ] I frogged my Kumara bed socks   [ rav link ] and decided I would use some of my hand dyed. I picked my Spicy Mama color way   I was anxious to see how it would knit up…just getting started, but I’m very pleased with the colors. I had some round bamboo handles in my stash that I have never used, I found a pattern by Patons, a nice cabled bag pattern , and decided I need a sunshine color for it. [ rav link ] I kettle dyed up several skeins of this I think it will make a pretty summer bag. I have been spinning with a girlfriend of mine, who is moving back to Michigan soon. She is the only spinner I know down here! Even though she is a new wheel spinner, she has already started wrapping and coil spinning! I am f...

I’ve been on a hat knitting binge this winter. I had some of my hand dyed berry yarn, that need to become a hat! One skein dark with purples it in, the other blues. I found this hat through Ravelry, a free download. free Owl Hat pattern by Ruthie Knits. Just starting here and I’m pleased with how the colors are flecked through out. This pattern works up very quickly, perfect for a fast gift and great for just about anyone. If you look around on Ravelry you can see the many different versions. Some have small beads in the eye area. I thought I was going to add eyes, but when I couldn’t decide what color or size. I just opted out. I especially like the version by sekini , she made the owls in a different color, it changed the whole look of the hat!  I would definitely make this pattern again, and try it her way. May your knitting needles fly as fast as dragonflies…. Technorati Tags: Ruthie knits , knitted owl hat pattern , hand dyed yarns , kni...

I’m ready for spring. I’m sure that is true nationwide. OK, I love snow and winter, but time to move on to the next season. Below are my inspirations, along with how I got the colors.  Bright flowers and sunshine were my inspiration as a got out my dyeing supplies. My husband always helps me. Looks like he found a knot. So first thing, yellow, I need some yellow yarn! Yellow like the sun that gives spring life. All yarn is soaked in water 15 min to saturate and then gently squeeze out excess [4 T of Acid Dye (Jacquard) in water, golden yellow, microwave for 5 min. and let sit for 1 hour, rinse in cool water, and gently squeeze excess water out, sprinkle some of the same color over the yarn, while tossing, microwave 4 min and let sit for 1 hour, rinse in cool water, and hang to dry]   OK soaking, Now some pink, pink for the little pink buds of wildflowers [1 t of Acid Dye in water, microwave for 5 min. and let sit for 1 hour, rinse in cool water, and gentl...

I got my Olympic reindeer hat done! Yay…I was trying to get it done by the end of the Olympics, well actually way before that, but it didn’t get finished until 2 days after the closing ceremony. Olympic Reindeer Hat pattern free download [rav] thanks to Helena Bristow Here is the start of my hat, It called to use a provisional cast on, I found a nice tutorial on You Tube by Numenorean77 (mountain mom) , she has a variety of tutorials that are useful. Crochet provisional cast on tutorial video What better way to watch the Olympics than to knit! Well, thank goodness for the instant replays. I always was missing the jump or slip, I usually stopped to see the finish.   Here is the band joined together, now I’m ready to start the exciting part of the pattern! The reindeer! Did you know? The Reindeer family also includes the elk, moose, caribou, and deer. The Reindeer differs from other deer in that both sexes carry antlers. The origins of the word 'deer' comes f...