i found a sweet box of yarn at an estates sale last saturday!
yay!
so on with the big circle blankets… no fear of a yarn shortage in the near future!
also – an update on the blankets: i am about 2/3rds finished with one. suggestions are gladly welcome!
i've gotten to the hard part now...
fun layers
I have this red hat that I found in a sale bin. It is absolutely PERFECT and somehow I’ve managed to not lose it over almost a decade of winters. Last winter there were some close calls (me ransacking the house trying to find it) and Read suggested I knit a replacement hat, “just in case, Katie.” Sigh. He’s right. When my family bought cell phones on a joint plan the salesman asked if we wanted insurance, “in case someone loses their phone.” Mom, dad, brother – they all turned as if on cue and looked at ME.
The perfect red hat
Alright, so this brings me to the green alpaca yarn that I recently spun. I decided it would be just right for my replacement hat project. I used sz. 8 needles and did my best to copy the red hat pattern. It’s about 78 sts. around at the base, and includes a few inches of ribbing.
Pre-blocking
I traced the red hat to cut a cardboard template for blocking.
Finished! Well...need to weave in the ends yet.
Replacement Hat
All week I’ve been carding and spinning the green alpaca fiber. At first I was worried it would be too furry for my liking. And there was the whole Oscar-the-Grouch-color concern. But after plying a double-yarn, soaking it, and letting it air-dry, I’ve decided it’s really nice. Light and fluffy – and the two green colors blended into something richer than their individual hues.
Flywheel and bobbin
Single-ply yarn
I bought my Sleeping Beauty spinning wheel (yeah, that’s the real name) from a woman near Corvallis about a year ago. I’ve noticed that owning a spinning wheel somehow booted me into a higher craft-weirdo-level. Which I suppose I understand. Tell folks you knit or sew and they’re like, cool. But when they catch a glimpse of the spinning wheel in your house, expect maybe a spinster joke or a raised eyebrow. However this is usually followed by some genuine interest and friendly questions. I think it’s fun to watch the process, even for non-fiber-enthusiasts.
Finished skein
Sal the alpaca
This week I tried dyeing fiber for the first time. Until now, I’ve been using undyed fiber from Read’s mom’s alpacas, Sal and Pepe. True to their names, their fiber makes a salt-and-pepper yarn. I decided it would make a nice pair of mittens (maybe lined with fleece, for winter bike commuting).
Sal and Pepe: undyed
With a few spools of salt-and-pepper under my belt, I decided I was ready for some COLOR. The saleswoman at the Eugene Textile Center suggested I buy just the primary colors and then custom mix. She kindly warned that red is a much more potent color than yellow (i.e. if you mix equal parts of red and yellow – you’ll get something oddly similar to red). Don’t worry saleswoman, I wasted enough muffin tins of tempera paint in art class learning that rule the hard way.
yellow sun, fire red, sapphire blue
I washed the fiber in the sink with a little dish detergent. This got out most of the dirt, but some of the straw bits are very persistent. Has anyone else found a good way to remove them?
Washing the alpaca fiber
I filled a pot with enough water to let the fiber swirl freely, and added to it this previously-mixed solution: 1/2 cup water, 1/4 cup white vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon yellow, 1/4 teaspoon blue, and a pinch of red. My thinking was that only yellow and blue would make a kool-aid kind of bright green, and maybe I could create something more sophisticated. I cooked it at near-boiling for 30 minutes, stirring often.
Heating the dye bath
In my effort to avoid a child-like green color, I created a color still familiar to children: Oscar the Grouch. Now, my upstairs neighbor assures me that the color is olive and retro, but she can’t fool me. For better or worse I definitely made a pile of muppet replacement fur. Sam said that if I don’t use it, he has some costume ideas.
They share a thing for trashcans...
For the next batch I used less yellow, more blue, and no red, which resulted in a more pleasant deep teal. Last night I carded them both together and spun some yarn. I will post more about that later. ..
First attempts at color-mixing
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