Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Nothing Personal...

That's about it. Nothing personal on the needles. It's all work stuff that I can't show you. I finished a pair of socks ("The Goat" [they're cashmere]) and I can't show you more than this:
And feel bad that this lousy photo will have to do as far as my SAM2 September brownie point! I'm working on another something and I can't show you that, either, but I will say that I am loving Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport. 'Nuff said.

I was working on something else that I can't show you, and even if I could, I doubt you'd really want to see my end of it (tech editing in progress isn't exactly the kind of thing knitters [or anyone else, for that matter] are waiting up nights to see), and that's done, for now. If it all works out, it'll be pretty exciting, I think, but I doubt anyone really wants to read me rambling on about my love for editing others' creative work...

Here's something I can show you. I did a little Kool-Aid dyeing the other day. I had a hank of Knitpicks Paint Your Own laceweight (or, Bare, whatever they're calling it now!) that I figured I might as well dye. This was kind of a spur of the moment thing. I had seen Laura's recent forays into "grown-up colors" and, as I found myself at the grocery store, I hunted down the Kool-Aid and figured I'd give it a shot.

This was the color I had in mind:

This is the yarn, 2 packets of Grape, 3 of Black Cherry, and a simmer later:

I love it when a plan comes together!

This lovely, nearly solid hank is going to grow up to be Icarus for my wonderful mom. The girls chose the pattern, and are so excited that we're going to surprise Nana. Who knows when I'll actually get it done? I haven't even wound it, yet. Which begs the question: Should I bite the bullet and just get a ball-winder already? My main concern is that sometimes when I've had yarn wound for me at a LYS (while on vacation, of course. Still no LYS here!) the tension seems rather, well, severe. That paired with the fact that I have a wooden swift leads me to think I'm better off winding by hand. Any opinions? (I've come to realize that I rarely get any opinions when I ask for them, but I'm giving it a shot, anyway.)

6 Comments:

Blogger klugula said...

I'd give you an opinion or help or suggestions...if I knew what the hell you were talking about!

Sorry. I'm just being honest. Despite my ignorance for this; one of your great passions, I hope you'll forgive me.

It's pretty to look at. Will that do? :)

4:46 PM  
Blogger Bitterknitter said...

Oh, Skippy! You never wound yarn for me, it was the kind of surly woman at the LYS by my mom's house. The two hanks of Cascade 220 she wound for the girls' clogs are, well, TIGHT! So much so that I might have to relax the yarn before I knit it so the things don't shrink even more than they're supposed to!

1:17 PM  
Blogger Skippy said...

Check out the new! Crack is wack!

11:06 PM  
Blogger msubulldog said...

What a great dye job! I can't believe you can match something like that with Kool Aid. :)
I vote for the ballwinder, but that's just because I can't imagine winding a bunch of laceweight by hand. *grin* I have a wooden swift and a run-of-the-will plastic ballwinder and they work great together. Like Skippy said, you might want to wind a little more slowly to keep it from getting too tight, but I haven't really had any problems with tight yarn from my winder. Good luck!

9:07 AM  
Blogger Laura said...

wow! your red laceweight turned out beautifully! i just love that color. :)

5:20 AM  
Blogger Teri.p said...

Thanks for the peek at the super secret cashmere socks... the yarn is lovely!

As for the laceweight - it's amazing! I'm impressed at the colors you got from using KoolAid.

I notice a huge difference in the tension when I'm winding a ball of yarn from my swift. It is much nicer when I go slowly, and pay attention. If I rush the job, I get a tight little ball.

5:19 AM  

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