Dye Day With Friends

My fiber friends and I decided to have a dye day. What FUN! We did some natural dyeing and a bit of chemical dyeing. We had three pots on the stove steaming up coreopsis and dock, three crock pots crocking daylily and jars of acid dyes, a microwave waiting in the wings and before long there was beautifully colored yarns hanging in the trees drying in the wind. We totally confused the little hummingbird who was used to having the area all to itself. Poor little thing tried to enter the garage area to see what all the ruckus was about then decided against it and just sat in the tree watching all the commotion, chirping at us occasionally.

Since I do lots of natural dyeing, I decided to play in the chemical dyes. My first dye selection was some light brown romney handspun for socks. The 3 color jar method produced this gorgeous yarn. It amazed me that we were able to get the color sequence so close since one hank was dyed then set out to dry. After re-adjusting the colors, the 2nd hank was dipped into the jars. Boy, do I have friends with great abilities, or what?

After the jar method, we added color to the crock pot and used the ball method (don't ask, just enjoy). My selection was handspun mohair from Fairy Tale Farms in Texas (hi Darlene!) It was originally a gorgeous natural white color, but I had visions of a lacy scarf in muted variegations. Into the pot and this is what came out. Lovely as it is, screaming pink just isn't my color, so the plans are to overdye it using the same method, but this time changing the color. I'll let you know what happens!

And my final entry of the day was a method I'd heard of but had never tried. I machine knitted solid colored sock yarn and then handpainted it. Since the knitting machine decided to be temperamental and broke my yarn after 118 rows, I decide to dye that piece in a solid color for the ribbing, heel flap and toes on my soon-to-be-socks. I am now going to unravel the yarn and hand knit it. These tootsie certainly won't be identical, but shoots, who cares.

Boy, now I have a lot of knitting to do, but tell me.....what girl can't use another pair (or two) of socks?

Creative Elements Aligned

It is so gratifying when all of the creative elements around me align. The designer inside of me has been forcing it's way to the surface. After designing a sock pattern (thanks Melodius for test knitting for me!) I've had the urge to design a handbag. All of the design basics are solidly in place in my mind. The only thing that has not presented itself is the stitch pattern for this wondrous bag with many pockets. I shall continue to search until I find the right stitch for the bag.

In the meantime, I run across some yarn in my craftroom that sparks my interest. It is a ball of single light gray handspun which I plyed together with some blueish-gray commercial yarn with a hint of mohair in it and some shiny silver and black thread that I purchased at Spin-In some years go. All of the fibers mingled together to create an exciting effect, but alas, there is only a tiny amount. Not enough for a scarf, but probably just enough for an evening bag.

So I rummage through my computer files for the perfect pattern. No luck! I search the Internet without much luck either. While playing around the Net, I find a swatch someone has knitted up from one of Barbara Walker's books. DUH! Why didn't I think of that?

After printing out the pattern, I settle into my knitting chair and randomly pick a 4 pattern repeat and start knitting away. The original idea was so knit a rectangle and make a simple clutch. As the knitting progresses, I remember that I purchased a silver purse frame at an estate sale. Off to the craft room to see if the frame will work for the evening bag. Amazingly, the knitted piece was exactly the right size to fit inside the frame. I had just enough of the shiny silver/black thread to sew the frame to the knitting. This is unbelievable! Everything just fits together like a puzzle. If I had planned it, it wouldn't have come together this beautifully. So, without any further adieu, I present my Creative Alignment evening bag.....

I Love An Adventure!

Driving home from Lafayette last week, I caught a glimpse of a sign that said, "LYS INSIDE" outside a building. Last I remember, it was a video place or something like that. Of course, anyone who has any fiber computer knowledge knows that LYS stands for Local Yarn Shop. WHAT? A yarn shop is Breaux Bridge. Oh, that's too good to be true. I asked my mother, who was along for the ride, if she'd seen the sign; she said, "No, I didn't."

Today, I had nothing to do so I asked Mother if she wanted to ride with me to check of the LYS. (By this time, curiosity had gotten the best of me.) Breaux Bridge is a small town without much traffic, except for rainy, Friday afternoons. Guess what today is???? Fought the traffic across town and turned into the tiny parking lot of the business and just about doubled over with laughter when I got a chance to read the entire sign:

FLEUR DE LYS SHOP INSIDE

Not sure exactly how is supposed to be spelled, but I don't think this is the way. Talk about a blow to my fiber ego! Well, you just have a good weekend now, ya hear?