Dyeing?

Recently I bought some roving from Knit Picks.  I went with the cheapest, mostly because I wanted to play around with dyeing it and had no idea how it would turn out. So today, with the gladiolus on my mantel as inspiration, I got to work.

I used four packets of lemonade, two and a half orange, and two red.  I lucked out at Marshalls the other day and bought their last ketchup and mustard bottles, which worked quite well, in my opinion.

After soaking the roving in a hot tub for a little while,I drained the water, put down some garbage bags, and went to town with the dye (I forgot to take a picture of this part).  I then rolled up the whole concoction, put it in a big ziplock bag, and microwaved it for three minutes. Once it was cool enough to touch, I unrolled it in the tub (with another garbage bag for protection).

After a quick rinse in lukewarm water, I hung it up to dry:

Here is the final braid (well, three braids, I split it up to make it easier for me to spin later on):

I definitely could have used less red and more yellow - it was hard to get the yellow to really show up. I think if I did it again, I would make the sections of red smaller, and a lot more yellow.  Orange probably wasn't even necessary.  I also should have used saran wrap to roll it up. That might prevent the red from taking over as much as it did.  My plans are to spin a bare single, then use a different method to dye it green (probably stovetop). Then I'll ply the two singles together and see what happens. Originally I wanted to do green on this roving, but realized it probably wouldn't mix well with the orange or red. We'll just see how this all turns out :)

Finished!

Tada! All done! It is such an awkward size, I had a hard time getting a picture of the whole thing in all of its glory.

It is approximately 60" long, 30" in diameter. Just a little bit bigger than that, I think.  I followed the Vernal Equinox pattern, with one small adjustment. I was tired of Clue 4, so instead of doing 4 repeats, I did 2.5.  Other than that, I followed the pattern.  I used 1.64 skeins of KnitPicks Shadow Kettle Dyed in Begonia (discontinued) and used a size 4 needle.

It actually worked up pretty quickly, despite having it on the needles from April 4 until June 23. I'm sure I could have finished it in a month if I'd spent more time on it and less time on everything else I was also making (baby set, socks, blanket, etc.).  I made it with a wedding in mind and wanted to have it done well before it was needed. Since the wedding isn't until August 7, I'd say I did it! I'm so happy to have it done, I love it. I definitely have grown a lot when it comes to knitting lace. I didn't use a single lifeline, and as far as I know, there aren't any mistakes in it. Knitting my Swallowtail and Haruni first has taught me a lot about reading my stitches and making sure my rows match up.  It was really easy for me to see if I was off a stitch or two, which happened a few times, so I was able to just tink back a little instead of having to rip multiple rows.  As soon as I was done with this, I went online and bought some more yarn - this time to make another Haruni or two. 
All in all, I'm super happy with how it turned out. I can't wait for the chance to wear it!

Vernal Equinox on the Summer Solstice

Last night I wrapped up chart 6a of the Vernal Equinox Shawl.  I've been working on it in spurts.  The plan is to wear it to a wedding August 7th, so it must be done and blocked by then.  I was working on a baby sweater, also, but I've decided it is too small and needs to be made on bigger needles. I'm already using my 4's on the shawl, and broke the other set of Harmony tips, so it looks like I have to finish the shawl before moving on! Yes, I could take the tips off and use the end caps, but then I'll never finish. I'm hoping to be done by the end of the week, and blocked early next week.  Then I won't have to worry about it being done in time for the wedding. Also, then I can work on all sorts of projects without knowing I have this lingering. I have enjoyed making it, but I am getting tired of it.  These last few rows start at 485 stitches and go up to over 600, so even though there are only 6 or so patterned rows, I think it's going to take awhile.
This time around I decided to not use lifelines.  So far, it has worked out for me. I've been pretty surprised with how few mistakes I've made. While making the Swallowtail, it seemed like every other row I had to rip back to the lifeline and start over.  The Haruni and this Vernal Equinox have been going much smoother. I think the most important thing is I learned how to "read" my knitting.  While I'm knitting along, I can see how the pattern is coming together now, which is super important for catching mistakes early on. If I know how the "k2tog, yo, k2tog" is supposed to line up with the row under it, I can see if I'm off a stitch or two. This has saved me a ton of trouble.
Enough talking, more knitting! Pictures next time with the completed shawl, hopefully!

Haruni!

I finished my second shawl the other day - the Haruni.

Let me just say that I. Love. It. It was a very easy pattern for me to get the hang of, and I found myself not having to look at the charts very often once I got in the swing of it. I was hoping to have it ready for Easter, but ran out of yarn on the second to last line of the chart. KnitPicks was out of Stroll in Grass, but luckily a fellow Raveler had it in their FSOT stash, and I was able to purchase it that way. Even more luckily, it matched perfectly! Excellent! So, the afternoon I got it in the mail, I sat right down and finished.
The following day, I blocked it, and now it is DONE! I have a blocking picture, but not a "Finished and On My Shoulders" picture yet, so I'll save the final Ta-Da for next time :)

Bad Blogger!

I've been terrible about blogging since the summer ended.
I finally finished my Swallowtail, it is currently soaking in Soak, waiting to be blocked. I am such a goof and forgot to get a picture before I dropped it in the water, but it measured at 37" across the top and 16" down the center. We'll see how it ends up. It was a little smaller than I'd wanted, but I'm hoping it will block larger.

I have quite a few WIP's going right now. I'm finishing up a crocheted granny-square afghan for my mother-in-law. I need to just sit down and get to work and it will be finished. I've been joining the squares as I go, which was a brilliant idea. I hate seaming, so it will be nice to only have ends to sew in as I finish instead of piecing the whole darn thing together.
I'm also working on the Woodland Scarf. I really like the pattern. Once I "got" what it should look like, memorizing the chart was a snap. I haven't even looked at it for the past few repeats, which is nice. I don't have any pictures up yet, but I will soon.
The last two WIP's are a diagonal baby blanket, and my two-at-a-time socks. Both are coming along, but barely. I was so excited to finish the Swallowtail, and need to get moving on the afghan, so they have sort of been put on the back-burner.

Well, I think it is time to get out the pins and block this sucker!

Making A Dent?

I really want to get some new yarn and start a few Christmas presents, but first I have to make a dent in my WIPs! I picked up my ripple afghan again, and am just about out of yarn. I'd like to think that by tonight the body will be finished and I'll just need to add the edging tomorrow afternoon. The diagonal baby blanket I'm making with Crayon is taking FOREVER. A stitch is added every row so it just gets slower and slower as I go. I also discovered I'm going to need approximately 6.4 skeins to make it the size I want, and I only ordered 6, so I need to get one more. I think I'm going to get white instead of the same blue so I don't have to worry about dyelots, then it will have a diagonal white stripe in the middle. It should work out ok, I guess we'll see!
I also have my socks going right now, plus my dad's deer. I've sort of given up on the deer - my brother joked that I should make the body the neck instead, and then mount it on a piece of wood. Slightly morbid, but something my dad would think is funny. Oh, plus the Sweet Dreams throw. I'm thinking of making my MIL the same throw in colors to match their new living room, but I'm not even 1/3 of the way done with mine, so that might be too ambitious. I just have too many different projects going at once! I really want to start a shawl, but clearly I have other things to do first :)
Since every post needs a picture, here is the most recent shot of the ripple:

Done!

I finally finished my sisters blanket, just in time to give it to her this past weekend when she visited. It was a complete surprise (yay, I handled keeping a secret!) for her to use when she moves into her new apartment today. Hopefully she'll get lots of use out of it.
It ended up taking around 2.5 skeins of each color of Loops and Threads Impeccable. I didn't measure it before I gave it to her, but it was probably around 4'x5.5'. A good snuggling on the couch size. I used the pattern I found on a leaflet at Michael's and followed it for the squares and color placement. Then I did a border of black sc, white hdc, and blue dc. The squares are seamed together using a sc join through BOTH loops of the edges.
Not only am I done, but I was the first person to finish one and post it on Ravelry, so my picture is the main picture for the pattern :) How fun!
Up next - socks! I am using the Lifestyle Toe Up Socks patern from Charisa Martin Cairn that I found on Ravelry. Really, the thing that drew me to it was the no-swatch needed aspect. It takes me so gosh darn long to make a 4"x4" square on sz 3 (or less) needles, I figured by the time I had it done I could be halfway done with socks! So far, I love it. Judy Becker's Brilliant Cast On is, well, brilliant. It worked so much better than all of the other methods I'd been trying. As for now, I'm just knitting one sock on two circulars, but I can see how next time it will be really easy to do two at a time instead. Ah, pretty Knit Picks yarn, already made into a toe for a sock! So excited! In fact, I'm so pumped, it's time to work on it some more. I'm doing a K2P2 rib for the instep that will carry up the leg, and I think I'll finish the cuff with a k1p1. We'll see.
Here's a picture, on my foot :)