Monday, June 12, 2006

And maybe what’s good gets a little bit better…

Oh thank heaven and saints be praised!  We have sun!  Not only that, but this is the second day it has been out.  Lawns and roads are actually drying out and, yesterday, there was a symphony of lawnmowers as the entire city rushed to cut it’s lawns while the sun was out, things having gotten very shaggy indeed :)

The baby blanket is finished.  I decided not to edge it yesterday, but it’s still possible :) I like it very much as is.  There’s a pleasant, almost optical illusion situation with blankets made on the diagonal.  Since they are not generally used diagonally, they are rotated 45º (so they resemble a square rather than a diamond) at which point the mind (well, my mind anyway) insists that the thing was made on the square and drives itself nuts trying to figure out how the effect of the stitches was achieved.  I enjoy this little conjuring trick that my brain plays on my eyes; it’s quite amusing.  It does make me wonder though - is this the only time this happens (when I’m doing diagonal knitting) or is it that this is the only instance I recognize?  And if that’s the case, how many things am I looking at cock-eyed and not seeing what’s really there?

I was contemplating a ball of cream-ish alpaca lace-weight (this lace weight in color “sunlight”) when it plopped into my brain that I could dye this :) I thought it might be interesting to see what happened.  I used exactly the same colors in the same proportions that I did for this (the pink yarn in the middle of the post) and used exactly the same method - my trusty and beloved crock pot :)

The original alpaca yarn was not an undyed product; it had quite a lot of yellow and a bit of grey in it.  It was very interesting to see the dyed yarn tend quite a bit more towards copper than the fingering weight merino had.  The alpaca is also (I think) a slightly deeper color and took the dye much more evenly than the wool.  Whether that’s one if the differences between alpaca and wool or whether that might be the result of , perhaps, the ways in which the alpaca had already been processed, I couldn’t say.  Further experimentation is in order.





The alpaca is on the left and the wool on the right.  Incidentally, the alpaca didn’t full/felt in the slightest.  Remember I complained that the merino had ever-so-slightly felted during the dye process?  Is this typical of alpaca, I wonder or did I just handle this batch more diffidently that the others?

Finally, I got the Japanese Feathers Hood back out to finish, as it should have:
(1) been done long ago
and
(2) is tying up the size 4 (US) needle I need for Picovoli. 

With any luck, I’ll finish this up today or tomorrow and then I can swatch for the knitted tee.  I notice that as I typed that commitment-type statement, my stomach did a leisurely roll :) It’s not the commitment, it’s the sweatery aspect of things that gives it the jitters.  All I can think is that once me and my nerves get through this there may be nothing we can’t do!

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1. oh, what a pretty baby blanket!! i really like it just ‘as is’-

   dye envy consumes me- i cannot wait to splash around with some colors, but i am using that treat to reward myself for eventually finishing this endless afghan-

   enjoy your sunshine- i am already quite paranoid with the weather people reminding us we are ‘x number of days into hurricane season’- it’s not like anyone is going to *forget* last years disasters! umm, i wonder if aarlene has her ‘storm gear’ prepared- i know she too remembers last year far too well-

   stay happy-

   Posted by  on  06/12  at  10:28 AM
   Location : right here- waving at you...



2. Barb - I’m trying not to worry about hurricane season though it doesn’t often impact us much this far north.  You should be trying not to worry too but I know how sifficult that might be given how close you are to the gulf.

   You and Aarlene just make the best preparations you can and, if it looks like things are getting dicey, get out!  No riding it out in the house this time :)

   Posted by Robbyn  on  06/12  at  12:46 PM
   Location :



3. Robbyn, the baby blanket is gorgeous—so interesting looking.  And the alpaca turned out a gorgeous color as well.  I just dyed some Coopworth with some Country Classics dye called Sugar Plum—a lilac color.  I was concerned the results would be way too sweet, just like the name, but I added a little bit of Maize (a strong yellow), remembering that Deb Menz, in the Color in Spinning book, said adding a complement creates an interesting darker color, more interesting than adding black.  I really like the results—a sort of periwinkle, really darker than I had thought it would be.  Still pretty uneven, but this is on fleece, so once it is carded and spun that might disappear.  Still haven’t tried Kool Aid.  And why oh why are you worried about knitting a sweater??????????

   Posted by Rob  on  06/12  at  01:07 PM
   Location :



4. Rob - Your fleece sounds sensational - I can’t wait to see it spun up!  Periwinkle! Be still mt heart…

   I’m nervous about making a sweater because I’ve never done it before.  Since Picovoli is knitted in the round, I get to avoid the dreaded Do this... and at the same time do this other thing too....  Just reading those words sends me into an absolute, undignified panic :)

   Posted by Robbyn  on  06/12  at  06:10 PM
   Location :

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