Mohair Nightmare

I wish I liked mohair. I know everyone says how lovely it is, soft with a lovely sheen but my skin just hates it! Trying to wear anything containing mohair is like wearing an amazingly attractive barb wire accessory! And that's even after I spun it! Doesn't matter what I do I still feel all these little fibres sticking into me. Which makes this shawl I've just finished the heights of futile endeavour!
I bought 4 of these balls of Moda Vera Boutique. Loved the colour gradients and the pattern I wanted to try worked best if, of the two yarns you use, one of them has some form of gradiation. So this seemed a good choice.

So I paired it with a recycled lambswool which is beautifully soft and cast on. I began to have misgivings when I realized that I could feel the mohair more than the lambswool. And then I thought, this is a shawl. Where will this spend most of it's time? Around my neck and shoulders!
Am I INSANE!!!
So I decided that once I finished the ball I would finish it since it didn't make sense to keep on with something I'm probably never going to wear and which I couldn't in good conscious pass on to someone else unless they can touch it and make sure they don't have the same problem with mohair.

It's such a shame because it looks lovely and the pattern was really good too. I still have plans for doing the pattern again but in yarn I know is nice (The skeins I dyed and nearly felted are going towards that.) Still going to keep the shawl though. Just as an object lesson. No matter how pretty the colour if it feels nasty you are never going to be able to knit something that is not. Just proves the old saying is true.
You can't turn a sow's ear into a silk purse.
Lesson learned!
Happy Knitting :)

New Page

I thought I'd start putting a chapter every now and then of my book I keep trying to finish. I've actually finished it but the polishing process is the part that keeps getting me down. So maybe if I get some feed back I might get a bit more motivated. Raven of Arlon has been so long in the pipeline I can't properly remember when the germ of the idea first came to me but it's been like an albatross around my neck for such a long time now! So, feel free to comment. Just be gentle with me. I really want to get this one off my mind so I can concentrate on the other stories I have percolating!

Raven of Arlon is a story set in a psuedo-medieval world where seige and war bring out deep personal pain in those involved.
Go to the page Raven of Arlon and have a look and leave a comment here on the home page with this post. Constructive critisism greatly appreciated!

Sometime it pays to think before you do something!

Finally dyed all the base yarn I wanted and the house REEKS of vinegar. So, in a fit of amazing obtuseness I put it all into two delicates bags, toss it in the washing machine, added eucalytus wool wash and fabric softener and...
PUT IT ON A NORMAL WASH CYCLE!!!
What was I thinking???
...And here's the result :(

Bugger!
But all is not lost! I figured out that it hadn't destroyed it so much as felted the fibres together so if I put each hank back onto my Swift I could wind them back onto my NiddyNoddy and reskein them up again.
So, after a big, deep, cleansing sigh...that's what I did.

It seemed to take FOREVER!
But now I have a lovely selection of colours where before I had this boring kind of blue/lavender thing. Definitely think I'll try a shawl with this. Probably the pattern I'm doing at the moment in the mohair and lambswool.
I hate mohair! It's itchy!!
This stuff, on the other hand, isn't. It's soft and cosy and I chose the colours all myself!

I've also cleaned out Walpoles IGA of all it's white vinegar and my fingers are slowly losing that green tinge. I'm all out of the dylon powder so that's probably just as well although I'm practising with food dyes and vinegar now. I think I've created a monster :)

But at least it's a fun, pretty coloured monster! Got to get back to knitting though.
Happy Knitting :)

Still Dyeing...but in a good way :)

Okay, still struggling with how much fixative to put in but I'm pretty pleased with this.
First I washed some fleece, carded it and seperated it into two 50g baskets, spun up each 50g onto a bobbin and then plied them together. Viola! One bobbin of 100g of plied wool!

Then I put the washed skein into two jars of dye like the first experiment but I put a heaped tablespoon of salt in with the quarter tsp of dye. It seemed to work although the green still doesn't climb into the skein anything like the pink does!

When I checked it after drying though, I noticed that the strands had felted together somehow. Whether that was a reaction to dyeing or handling and washing, I don't know so I put it on my Swift and re-skeined it up again.

Didn't come out bad at all. I actually really like the look of the colour now all the strands are mixed together and at least it shouldn't felt as bad next time it's washed.
All in all, very satisfied :)
I've also played with food colouring but it doesn't fix as well with salt. Pretty insipid :(

I'll have to try it with vinegar because that works REALLY well! I've been overdyeing some ordinary coloured yarn I rescued from a jumper and that's coming along brilliantly! I've already gone through 2 litres of vinegar! A few shots of experiments.

Very promising :)
Happy Knitting!

Ha Ha! Completion

And the second sock...DONE!!

So pleased with it. The stripes aren't even that much different on each sock! They're far too big for me and I'd never get my conservative hubbie to wear them so I'm hoping almost-son-in-law will appreciate them. He's about the only male in my extended family with the quirkiness necessary for something this bright. I hope he likes them. I put a lot of time, thought and effort into them.

First Christmas present down!
Happy Knitting :)

First Sock Done!

I have finally finished the first sock! It's one of the few really good reasons to knit two socks at once, even though I always find the first couple of centimeters horribly fiddly, is to avoid second sock syndrome! But I know what I'm doing this time so it shouldn't take too long. Turned out pretty cool actually.

The sock all stretched out. Nice stripe pattern :)

The heel and toe will be different on each sock because of the stripes pattern but I think that'll look fine. I couldn't be bothered to try and cast on in a similiar part of the colour change.

And how it looks on a real bloke's foot. I had to borrow youngest son's enormous feet because the sock looks ridiculous on my midgy little foot. If they fit the boy's foot they'll definitely fit the almost-son-in-law's!
Have already finished the toe on the next sock and now working my way through the foot so hopefully a pair of socks will be completed in the not too distant future!

Yayyy!
Happy Knitting :)

Let's try a little Dyeing (as in changing things colours, not the other...well, you get the idea!)

I've been wanting to try a little dyeing for awhile but nothing huge so I decided I'd experiment with a small skein of wool I'd spun from the bag I got with the Traveller Wheel.
I bought two sachets of Dylon powder dye in Vert Olive and Fuschia. I filled two glass jars with water, added a quarter teaspoon of each dye to one jar and added a quarter teaspoon of salt and gave them a stir.
Then I added the wool.

What I'd forgotten was I'd rushed washing this skein and it still had a bit of lanolin in it. Didn't realize it would mean the dye would have a hard time getting into all the fibres.

So...the first hour...... And the four hours later......

Then just before I went to bed for the night.....and in the morning!
Was a bit disappointed that it wasn't more vibrant but I thought, well, it's an experiment and just carried on!

So I took it out of the jars and gave it a good cold rinse, worried that the whole thing was going to wash out but very pleased when it didn't! I actually quite liked the more muted shades of the pink, green and white.
I washed in warm water next and washed it properly so all the lanolin was out. I didn't lose any of the colour which I was also pleased with and got this beautiful soft skein of delicately coloured wool!

Then I knit it on 5mm needles with 45 stitches into a rectangle, felted it a little in an ordinary cold rinse with some teatowels and Hey Presto!

I have the softest, cutest little coin purse I have ever possessed!! I'm going to look for a small pink zip to sew into the opening when next I'm in town. For now though, I just pick it up and rub it on my face. SOoooo soft!
I'm going to dye as much of this wool like this as I can spin and then make something epic with it. It deserves the royal treatment :)

Can you tell I'm a little chuffed?
Happy Knitting :)