Out of the Dye Pot!

OK, so I officially have the dyeing bug! After playing around with Kool Aid, I thought that I'd play around with some more dyes - in this case, Wilton's. I'm really pleased with the way that these have come out and wanted to share them! i used the microwave to 'cure' these yarns. The first is a Knit Picks Merino Bare and violet dye. I love the way that the dye 'broke' and the component colors, the pinks and blues, look lovely.


I am totally in love with this colorway, and will be replicating it in the future under the name of 'Kingfisher'. it consists of a number of blues/teals and copper for that contrast. Love it, love it, love it!



This is from a kit that I bought about a year ago from Gina Brown's in Calgary. The kit is by Louet and consisted of three 50gm skeins. Hubby loves the color way, so it looks as though there will be a pair here for him!


And finally, this is an experiment that went (a little!!) wrong, but I rather like the result! The plan was to have light green, yellow and lilac stripes. The green turned brown (it looks khaki in this picture, but is truly a lovely warm brown), but still looks pretty good! To me it seems as though the dyes know what they want to be and do rather than wanting me to impose my designs on them. . . . more practice required before I become the 'yarn listener'.


My next step will be to make a color wheel comprising of 12 colors. I've got one last ball of Patons left, so will probably use that to make mini skeins to practice with! Once I've done that, I think I will be making up yarn for my Etsy Shop. Woo hoo!

Trossocks & Somewhere Down the Lazy River

I've finally got round to releasing two more free patterns - Trossocks and Somewhere Down the Lazy River. They were both test knit on Ravelry, and here is the info on them:

Trossocks

In my head, where quite frankly this is plenty of space, I have this vision of Mr. D’Arcy striding across the moors with a kilt swinging in the breeze (hey, it’s my vision!) wearing a handsome pair of cream hand-knitted socks with cables and textured stitches. Sigh . . . ! I, of course, am waiting for him in front of a burning log fire in my matching socks (lilac for me please) – the perfect unisex footwear!

This lovely pattern, which suits all Mr. D’Arcy’s and his ladies alike, is made up of a pair of cables that run down the side of the sock and then split with two following the top of the foot and the other two bordering the heel flap. The centre front and back panels have a simple but effective textured pattern that keeps your attention without detracting from the Mr. D’Arcy vision. This is a cuff-down heel-flap sock with a wedge toe using the beautiful and economical Knit Picks Palette. Enjoy!

Somewhere Down the Lazy River

You believe that dropping stitches could be a design feature? Check!

Well, these socks could be for you! The drop stitch pattern reminds me of water running down a slow moving stream, meandering around rocks that are in the way. The yarn works really well with this pattern, but don’t restrict yourself to blues and greens :o)

The pattern is a fun, quick to knit, 20 row repeat. It is quite a loose fitting sock as extra stitches are used and dropped. Stitches should only be counted after rounds 9, 10, 19 or 20. It is a top down/heel flap design.

Both pattern can be downloaded for free if you are a Ravelry member, or for just $1.99 from my Etsy site. All proceeds from the sales of patterns on Etsy will be donated to my local greyhound rescue organization, SAGAA, and MacMillan Nurses.

Thank-you

A new begining . . .

I've started blogs a few times - in fact, I have a couple floating around with about 10 or 15 posts on them. But in the end I kind of get bored. Well, not really bored, it's just that so far they have been about one particular subject - knitting, sewing, losing weight. Of course, the upkeep and maintenance takes time and they begin to fall by the wayside along with my enthusiasm. So, I had this idea . . . . why not just have the one blog and talk about everything in the one place. Clever huh! Bet you didn't think of that did you!