Happy Holidays

The holidays are upon us.  

Have you finished your Thanksgiving leftovers?  The sweet potato casserole is done and the Christmas baking is in full swing.  As I write this, the house baker is in the kitchen baking fruit cake.

I have limited my holiday crafting this year.  Last year, by this time I had knitted  close to a dozen Christmas stockings. 

Abby Scroni makes a
 holiday appearance.

This year, I am just doing socks for the 5 year old nephew.  He asked for them and approved the yarn, too.

He has also asked me for a vest, mittens, hats, scarves, and armor.  Apparently, he thinks I am the aunt who can knit anything!  He's too young to remember my attempts at knitting sweaters.  

I hope that your holidays fill your heart with joy, love, and laughter.

Results of the Kool Aid Experiment

Two posts ago I wrote about dying yarn with Kool Aid (see the post The Kool Aid Experiment).  I thought you might like a look at what I knitted from that yarn.

Pearl and the Kool Tiles!

What do you think of all the pretty colors?  Georgous! 

I used Knit Picks Stroll Tonal in Pearlescent as a backdrop for the Kool tiles.  Then to make it long enough to be usable, I added crochet box shell to both ends in Sensations Truly Beige.

I love how the crocheted blocks echo the blocks of color.

I owe a special thank you to my friend Karla for helping me dye the yarn and for listening when I was in a tizzy over how to complete this.  She suggested using an earthy color on the ends.

Karla is so creative and has a great eye for color.   Be sure to stop by her store on Etsy. Visit Karla's store by clicking here  I know she will appreciate and you might find some wonderful soap or socks to buy for the gift giving season.

I am entering Pearl and the Kool Tiles into the local scarf and fiber show.  I will try to post photos of it hanging on the wall.

Ready for High School Football 2014!

Are you ready for high school football?

Nephew # 1 is a junior and plays on both the offensive and defensive lines.  In honor of that, I have tatted two pairs of earrings in school colors.  I hope they hold up to all the  jumping around I do while cheering the team on.  

I did these earrings before in another colorway.
The pattern is in Tatted Jewelry by Marilee Rockley.
Pattern name is Keyed Up.
I chose to omit the bottom drop.

I need to re-block these!
Perhaps even to do them again.
These are my version of Time & Again Earrings
 from Marilee's Beaded Tatted Finery.

To tell the truth, I am still a little unsure of my finishing, of my hiding of the final ends.  And of my jump rings.  I need something better at closing jump rings that what I already have.

Don't worry, I'm still knitting.

The Kool Aid Experiment

An afternoon of fun with my friend Karla resulted in this:

LOOK at all the colors!!!!!!

Yes, we dyed it ourselves using Kool Aid.  Being crazy for color we experimented with mixing colors to create new colors, dropping several color on the same mini skein, and having a good time.

Tray # 1:  First color is Lemon Lime (that's the flavor).
 Next is a two tone of a blue and lemon lime.
Followed by Peach Mango, Black Cherry, and
another mixed skein.
The mixed skeins on this tray were done by Karla.
A great job!

We started with Knit Picks Bare, a lovely yarn that's 70% superwash merino wool, 30% silk.  I divided it up in to mini skeins of approximately 25 yards each, more or less.  I'm thinking they are a bit longer than 25 yards as I was not precise when measuring.

Tray # 2
Orange, another of Karla's mixed, a denim like periwinkle, Garden (yes, Karla),
Ice Berry Blue and an attempt for something brown which turned out
mahogany like.

It was simple.  Using the unsweetened Kool Aid, we mixed a packet with 8 oz (a cup) of water.  We soaked the yarn for at least an hour, and then the fun began.

Tray # 3
More mixing of colors.
Karla's Mai Tai, my skein own splotchy,
yellow (Lemonade with a few drops of food coloring),
Strawberry, and what we call Squink.

Using glass loaf pans, we placed a mini skein in one and then added the Kool Aid. Some are just one color, others were mixed.  And we tried our hand at variegated yarn and loved it!

All the glorious colors!

Then we covered it with plastic wrap and then nuked it for 2 minutes in the microwave.  We let it cool and check to see if all the color was in the yarn.  If so, we rinsed it and let it dry.

So fun, so easy.
Look is up on Pinterest or your favorite search engine.

I know we will try this again.  Maybe the next time we will keep track of our color mixes.

If you are a color junkie like us, you have to try this at least once in your life.

The yarn dried & re-skeined!
Top row is Tray 1, middle row is Tray 2,
and the bottom row is Tray 3.

Just a quick update

IsDihara, you asked for a look at the progress on my doily so here it is along with some other stuff I've been tatting.  Please keep in mind that I have not block any of these items.

Progress on the doily has stopped.  There is another
 round in the pattern but I like it this way.

I like to tat butterflies.
Can you find the one with the mistake?

I won a bunch of tatting goodies on Yarnplayer's blog.
The earrings are done in her thread Stardate (love the name!).
The beads and earring wires are mine from some previous project.
Also included in the goodies were some flowery squares and circles like the one shown above.
This was an experiment at tatting without a pattern.  Not bad, I think.

You know I love books so I ordered two books on tatting.
One is New Tatting by Tomoko Morimoto and that is
where the square motif can be found.

I am a baby tatter, a novice yet and have miles to go and more things to learn and perfect.  Weaving in the final end is something I must work on.  Maybe that's why I like to tat butterflies - no weaving in of ends!

I have found that tatting takes a different mind set than knitting.  With knitting, I can sit down and knit and feel a calmness, a certain serenity come over me as I do stitch after stitch.  With tatting, I have to center myself before picking up my shuttles.  And I can't marathon tat like I can marathon knit.  I find I must put the tatting aside because I lost my emotional center, or just get tired of flipping the stitch.

So someday I may finish that doily.  I may not as I like as it is now.

That's the great thing about making things.  I get to decide when they are finished.

What do you like about your chosen crafts?

A New Craft. Seriously.

My string/thread craft repertoire is expanding.

Several years ago I bought My First Tatting Kit in Colonial Williamsburg.  My first attempt wth it was a fail, so I put it on the shelf.

Acually, this particular butterfly was made
 with the thread my friend Karen gave me.

A year later, I gave it another try with the same result.

About this time, I remember someone saying that the definition of stupidity is repeating the same action and expecting a different outcome each time.

Fortunately, on my third attempt, perhaps a year later, I "got it."  I finally understand what the instructions said and how to make the thread work.

I made the double stitch and some picots, a closed ring, and I thought, "gee, now I can tat."

Right now, all the tatting stuff fits in this one bag.
You know that I will get more and quickly
outgrow the one bag!

Anyway, I managed to do a simple butterfly and used it to decorate my cell phone.  I sent one to a friend who has much more tatting experience than me.

The left is an abandoned attempt at a doily.
On the right, and still attached to the shuttles,
is the doily in progress.  I've made it a bit
farther than my first attempt.

I thought she might tell me, oh that's nice, or something like that.  Instead, Karen gave me a tote bag with some real tatting tools.  Real tatting thread which made the cotton crochet thread I was using feel like cheap acrylic compared to hand spun wool.

Oh what a joy!

Suddenly, I have a new addiction, a new version of crack.  I want more tatting thread, more shuttles!  And wouldn't you know it, I don't know it all yet.  I can't stand that!

I know I am still a novice tatter, a baby when it comes to it.  Large motifs scare me.

But I know that with practice I can master the techniques and create something nice.  Just as I learned with my knitting to make socks, I will do the same with tatting.  I doubt if I'll tat socks. (Notice that statement does not take it completely off the table.  I am crazy enough to at least contemplate the tatting of socks.)

Be sure to check out my friend Karen's blog Ambitatterous.  There's a link to it on the right.

Knitting at a Crossroads

The creative process of knitting socks can be fraught with emotion.

I have found the beginning of a new pair of socks, or any project, that I feel a certain anxiety, one that is part dread at worrying if it will work, and part excited anticipation of making something new and wonderful.

I finished these socks recently and
was disappointed that they were a
shade too long for me to wear.

Then towards the middle  part of the project, I find tiredness, an ennui, a boredom related to the repetition of stitches and/or color.

The end of a pair of socks can be filled with closure and pride in a  job well done.  It can also be filled with sadness and lost at the ending of a relationship with this work.  And if there is no other project waiting to be done, anxiety at having nothing to look forward to.

I have felt all this in the socks projects I have done.  I have felt them in other projects, even non-knitting ones.

Right now, I am in between sock projects.  I have finished a pair of blender socks and have no idea of what to knit next.

Another blender sock?

Perhaps a new pattern found in a book or on a website? 

And which yarn will I use?

I feel like I'm stuck at a knitting crossroads.  Do I sell my needles to the Knitting Crossroads Demon?

What do you do when you are creatively stuck?  Or have you never been?  Do you have any comments on what I should knit next?

The Second Stash Exchange & The Color Yellow

I participated in another sock yarn exchange.  

This time we did a blind exchange.  As we entered we placed our donated yarn into a brown paper bag.  That was set aside as we had a wonderful lunch that Sue had prepared.  Karla brought dessert, a plum cake.

We adjourned to the living room and discussed our first blender project.  Socks were displayed.  Socks were touched.  Socks were tried on.

We are not all at the same place in our blended sock journey.  Karla had one sock completed.  Sue shared her pair.  And I showed both of mine.  I'm sorry I didn't take a picture of all of them.

After a while, Sue retrieved the brown bag from hiding and we reached into the mystery.

I pulled a lovely ball of dark purples, greens and browns with a sparkle first.  It was right in my favorite palette of colors.  My next pull was purples and blues, still in my color palette.  The third ball was greens and blues, a yarn of spring colors.

Abby surrounded by the yarn from our second stash exchange.

 I stared at my stash for a long time.  This included the gifted mini-skeins from Karla.  Something seemed to be missing and I could not find it in my stash.  I messaged Karla with my plea for help.  She arrived at my door bearing more yarn gifts.  This time a bright yellow and a lighter purple and green yarn.

The improved second stash.  Note the big ball of yellow and the purple with no sparkle.  And take a look at Abby!  She has new "clothes."

I am still working on the socks from this stash.  

Start of the sock from the second stash exchange.

I am waiting until I am done before deciding whether or not I like them.  The lighting in my knitting den is not the best for color.   I did take them near a window and saw that they did not look as bad as I thought.

 While I travel this journey of color, I find myself working with colors I am not comfortable with, colors I have avoided for one reason or another.  Yellow is that color which is in this pair of socks.

Yellow is not one of my favorite colors.  Which is strange because my bedrooms curtains are flowers on a yellow background.  My quilt is yellow.

You have a favorite color, we all do.  But have you ever thought about that color, or colors, you do not care for, may even dislike?  What is it?  Leave a brief comment.

Thank you!

The Blender Sock Experiment Continues

Did you notice that my sock look a bit, well, um, big?  

At least, for my feet they are.  Then there is the problem of the owl cable.  Like any knitted cable there is not much stretch.  Let's just say it as it is, it narrows the leg.  You can see it in the photograph.

So left with the idea that no one would be able to wear the socks, I made a drastic decision to remove the owl cable.  So here's what I did:

First, I threaded in some lifelines.  The lifelines (I used crochet cotton thread for mine) keep the yarn from completely unraveling.  It acts as "stop raveling here" device.

 Next, I took the scissors to my owl cables.

Then, I carefully unraveled the beige yarn and threw it away.  It was on sale cheap when I bought it, so no worries there.  I grabbed the neutral autumnal yarn I had used in the foot and blendered it in.  That was followed by Flame thrower, the same yarn as the very top.

And after I grafted the new leg body to the cuff this is what I had:

You might be able to tell that they are a little long for my feet.  But now, when I find someone with longer feet, they will be able to get their foot into the sock.

I finally decided to declare the socks done.  Recently, while looking at them, I realized that one cuff was inside out.  I decided I could live with it.

This is not the end of the blender sock adventure.  I blended another sock, this time using yarns from my own stash and a pattern I knew fit my feet.  But that's a tale for another time.

All That Yarn Around Abby Scroni

Abby Scroni surrounded by yarn.

I posted this picture at the end of my last entry and promised to tell you what I made of the yarn.

First, let me tell you about how I came into possession of this collection of yarn.

I am participating in a yarn exchange with three friends:  Karla, Karen, and Sue.

The idea is that we each contribute yarn to each other and make socks using the Blender Method.  For a detailed description of the Blender Sock Method please check out Blender Socks on Ravelry.

In short, the Blender Method is a way of combining colors to make the transition between seem natural.  this is done by alternating rows of different yarns in a specified sequence.

We met at a local coffee shop and were suppose to bring four balls of yarn, each of about 100 yards.  Being overachievers and conscious of others opinions, we brought 12 + balls each to the table.  There was no lack of yarn that day.

We each worried about what the others would think.  Would they like our yarns?  What is they didn't like what we each chose to bring?

Such angst was needless.

We were all excited to see and touch the yarn, to talk and explore color and technique, that it didn't matter what we brought.  We found joy in talking with someone who knitted and loved yarn.

Only three of us could meet, as Karen is participating via long distance.  We bundled up our contributions to her and waited for her contributions to us to arrive.  No one wanted to start knitting until they had all their yarn at hand.

Now as for my yarn choices which you can see surrounding Abby Scroni....

I tend to gravitate towards purples, greens and blues.  And I can honestly say that I do not pick solid colors.  I like multi-colored yarn; the more colors, the merrier.

The yarns I chose are not on my usual color palette.

From Sue, I picked the big cake of yarn you see to right of Abby.  It has an autumnal feel, with its reddish browns and beige.  It has a sparkly thread running through it and that is what grabbed my attention at first.  Also from Sue comes the orange and black yarn (to the left of Abby) that is in my high school colors.  Go Bobcats!

From Karla, I just held out my hand and closed my eyes.  "Just put something in my hand," I said.  She placed two mini-skeins in a lovely cashmere blend turquoise.

Karen, our long distant knitter, package up our yarn in little baggies and sent me the blazing orange/red/yellow yarn that's directly in front of Abby.  It's a lace weight yarn, thinner than than fingering weight normally used for socks.  Also, that bluesy ball of yarn sitting behind the orange and black.  This was regular fingering weight.

And believe it or not, all those colors, along with a beige I had in my stash, appeared in my first pair of Blender Socks.

This is more of a sampler sock.
I am working on a second pair of Blender Socks that are different from this one.

Let's get a little technical about this sock.  If this sounds boring to you, just go on about your day.  You really need to learn how to knit.

I started with a star toe in Karen's bluesy yarn.  This was blendered with Sue sparkly autumnal yarn.  Then Sue's orange and black was followed by more of the autumnal mix.  Then for the modified eye of partridge heel I used Karen's bluesy yarn again.  Then the orange and black was blendered in on the leg.  The beige part is an owl cable motif.  On top of that is the turquoise  in a sort of broken ribbing followed by the flaming frill of the yarn we have come to call Flame Thrower.

As any knitter will tell you, that it not a technical explanation of my sock.  And yes, there is a matched mate to it.  If you want something approaching a pattern, please let me know.  I will gladly share with you what I can.

This post is getting long so I will wait until next time to tell you about the trials and tribulations of knitting these socks.

The Story of Abby Scroni

This past Christmas I received a gift of original artwork from my cousin Rhonda.

This figure is about 6" tall and stands on a base of floral foam covered by ribbon.  the head is a hand painted plastic lemon from the dollar store.  The eyes were purchase while the nose and lips are molded from clay.  The pigtails are fake hair extensions from the dollar store.

The main feature, Rhonda's inspiration for the piece sits on top of the lemon.  It's the "hair" on top of the head.

Before I tell you what it is, here's a little yarn, the back story.

Rhonda lives on a ranch in Northern California, in the area where the Happy Cows of California live.  She enjoys it and, at times, seems to have been born in the wrong century.  She has the pioneering spirit of our great grandmother who chopped wood well into her 80's and was well known for chopping the heads off of snakes with a hoe.

Anyway, Rhonda enjoys helping out on the ranch.  She willing holds the heads of calves when they need tended to.  This includes castration.

The ranchers in that area have been known to take the scrotal sack, dry and cure it for use as a cover on a gear shift knob of their tractor and trucks.

Rhonda took some home and stretched them over some handy pine cones to dry.  She thought they looked cute and could envision facial features on the pine cones.

She named them "Scroni's" and laughingly says they will be the next pet rock craze.

Her first batch became play toys for the ranch dogs one day while she was away at work.

The latest batch, she hauled home to Pennsylvania and created gifts for her family.  Unfortunately, Pennsylvanian pine cones are not the same shape as Californian ones.  The closest she could come in shape was plastic lemons from the dollar store.

Oh my!  Look at this collection of yarn.
 Stay tuned to find out what I made from it.

While showing my original Scroni figure to one of my uncles, he made the commented that it looked like a certain forensic scientist on a tv show.

Thus the name Abby Scroni.

Be sure to look for Abby Scroni in my photographs of my knitting.  She will be posing frequently this year.