Tea Cup Swap

Remember that tea cup I sent awhile ago? It finally made it to Portugal. Bluejustin posted a photo yesterday. Phew. What a relief.

My April Color-iffic-Swap-o-Rama still hasn’t shown up. I feel really bad because it was my partner’s first swap. I’m still holding on to the hope that it will still show up.

My knitters tea swap partner has been teasing me with anonymous comments. I am really looking forward to getting that swap! I’m going to need a fix to get me through my yarn purchase withdrawals.

Also, I have something waiting for me at the post office. There was a note in the mail box saying someone sent me something registered mail. I’ll be able to pick it up on Saturday. I can hardly wait!

Where my time is going

Since recently I said I didn’t have any time for swapping and dyeing, I thought I’d show you why I don’t have any time.

This is pretty much what our front yard looked like Friday evening (although the photo was taken in November of last year). I forgot to get a before shot.



Here is what it looked like, after my mom and I planted a ton of plants (click on the photo for a larger image). I think we put around 50 plants into the ground.



Here is the pile of mulch Saturday morning after it was delivered.



Here’s what’s left at the end of today.



Oh yeah and I mowed the lawn today. My hands are so sore that I can hardly make a fist.

Summer of Stash

I joined the Summer of Stash knit-a-long where you buy no new yarn all summer and only knit with yarn from your stash. This is going to be a tough one, but I think it'll be good for me.

Here are the rules:
1. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, no yarn purchases allowed. You must knit only from stash.
2. Each SoS team member may have up to two exceptions to their rule this summer. For example, if you find us after Memorial Day, you are welcome to join later, and simply designate a later start date as your exception.
3. Challenge yourself to reduce your stash in creative or generous ways. Share your projects and ideas with other SoS-ers.
4. Rules apply only to yarn purchases. Books, patterns, and needles/notions needed to complete projects are allowed and encouraged if it gets you through the summer.
5. Plan and post about special Post-Labor Day Reward.

My exceptions are:
1. Anything bought on my honeymoon, of course that doesn’t count.
2. Any emergency gift projects that come up where I absolutely can’t use anything from my stash.

My Challenges:
1. Finish my mom’s sweater.
2. Start another sweater using yarn from my extensive Rowan Summer Tweed Collection.
3. Knit socks using any of the pounds of sock yarn I’ve dyed recently.

My Reward:
Oh yeah! I respond really well to rewards. My reward is that I get to buy as much Koigu as I need to make the skirt from the cover of Vogue. This is perfect! It’s Koigu and a skirt.

Swearing off Swaps

At least temporarily and not completely. This won’t be easy since I really love doing swaps. I get to buy people presents and I get presents in return! I’ll probably do round two of the knitters tea swap. I can’t quit cold turkey. I just don’t have the time right now to really participate.

I’ve pulled out of the remaining Project Spectrum hand dyed sock yarn swaps. This was really hard for me because I really enjoyed May. I got some great yarn! But dyeing takes a lot of time. So i’m also sort of swearing off dyeing. Although I do reserve the right to dye in the crock pot. There’s no way I can’t. I have about a pound of undyed yarn lying around.

Once the wedding is over and we’re back from the honeymoon I’ll be swapping and dyeing up a storm!

In the meantime I’ll distract with photos of some roving I dyed last weekend. I used the dye left over from my black and white and… experiments.



I’m calling this “colorway” bruise because it’s black and blue and yellow.

Sent Today

Today at lunch I sent off my Knitters Tea Swap package. It should get to its new home pretty quickly. This is the shortest distance any of my swaps have gone.



I hope it is well received at its new home. I love Pim’s. They are so yummy. And since I live for sweets I got both flavors instead of trying to choose one. I mean, who could choose between raspberry and orange? The tea is one of my favorites right now, Choice English Breakfast. The yarn is from my stash.

Honeymoon

Can you guess where we’re going?



Anyone know of any good yarn shops in Scandinavia?

Black and white and...

Inspired by this month’s Color-iffic-Swap-o-Rama theme of black and white and (pick a color), I decided to try out black dye. Of course, black dye isn’t actually black. In this case, it’s dark purple and brown. The black isn't really as black as it looks in the picture. All and all though, I think it was a success.



I’m not actually going to send any of this yarn to my color-iffic swap partner. She’s new to knitting and I don’t want to scare her off with fingerling weight yarn. I have some good old fashion Cascade 220 to send her instead.

Trading green socks for green socks

Yesterday I finished Greg’s second pair of Thuja Socks. Yes, I know I’ve never shown you the first pair. I’ve asked Greg to let me know the next time he wears them so that I can snap a picture. The thing is, they look a lot alike. Anyway, I really like this pattern and Greg thinks the socks are comfortable. Good thing since I have another skein of yarn to make him another pair.



As a present to myself I cast on socks for me. It’s the yarn from my Project Spectrum yarn swap. We’re talking about Instant Gratification Socks here!! Look how far along I am after two bus rides (plus a little) of knitting.

But I want it!

It’s huge, I haven’t spun in months, I have no idea if it works and I have no place to put it. But I want it!



Here’s another view.



Can you hear me whining and stamping my foot? It’s always embarrassing to see an adult throw a temper tantrum.

Swap Received

Yesterday I got my Project Spectrum Hand Dyed Sock Yarn. It’s beautiful!



It’s from Jeanie and you can get your own at here. It’s the Project Spectrum May color way.

I’m looking forward to making some Instant Gratification Socks with this!

It’s been a busy week and it’s only Tuesday.

Knitting Catastrophe

Yesterday I discovered a huge error in my knitting project that I can’t show. I do mean huge. I had to pull out the entire thing. I have been working on this for a month and had over eight inches knit. Not to mention it took four tries to cast on the correct number of stitches. Always read the pattern twice before casting on. Double check the number of stitches to cast on and make sure you’re using the correct needle size. I won't be discouraged though. I cast on three or four times for Lady Eleanor and looked hot great she turned out. But, so much for working on my mom’s sweater anytime soon.

To distract you (and myself) I thought I’d show you some more results from my dyeing session last weekend. One of the projects that I didn’t show you was some Koigu I dyed. I know what you’re saying. Koigu natural is just as expensive as the dyed stuff and Koigu know how to dye yarn so what’s the point? Here’s the point:



The photo doesn’t show the yarn’s true colors. This is definitely my best dyeing yet. I don't know what Koigu does to their yarn but it really takes dye well. I’m looking forward to making some socks!

Here’s photo of two other skeins I dyed last weekend. These are going to make some funky socks.

Another Swap Update

Yesterday I mailed off my Project Spectrum Hand Dyed Sock Yarn Swap.



It's on its way to Jeanie in Texas whom I've had the pleasure of emailing with for the last week. It's different doing a swap where you know who your partner is.

Yes, I added some chocolate. I couldn't help it. You'll notice it's in green packaging for May Project Spectrum.

Swap Update

Today I sent my Tea Cup Swap package to Portugal. I included an assortment of tea with the cup and some hand dyed yarn. I thought the yarn sort of matched the cup. I hope it actually makes it. My April Color-iffic-Swap-o-Rama package hasn’t shown up yet and I mailed it a month ago.



I used some of the leftover dye from Sunday on some roving I had. When I turned off the crock pot I was really worried that the roving was going to be black. I lucked out and got mostly purple. I lucked out and got some color variation.



I did dye some other yarn but I’ll save those for a later post.

Some knitting

I've been doing some knitting but I can't show it. Instead, I will distract you dyeing. I spent Sunday afternoon in the basement experimenting with different shades of green from Cushings. It was a little frustrating as I had no experience with the dyes. Who knew that Cushings "green" serperated into purple when diluted? I certainly didn't. Anyway, here are my three skeins of green project spectrum sock yarn.



I actually like all three, they're just not very green.

May - The Month of Swaps

May is turning into the month of swaps. I’m participating in four this month. Yes four. It’s kind of like ebay. You bid on a item here and an item there and then all of sudden you find out you’ve won every auction.

The first swap is the tea cup swap on flickr. I already have my tea cup and tea. My swap partner is a knitter so I need to figure out some yarn to send. Then I’ll be ready to go.

Next there’s the Project Spectrum Hand dyed Sock Yarn Swap (another flickr swap). May’s color is green. I just got my yarn today so I’ll be dyeing this weekend. I’m looking forward to it. This is a great swap because I get to dye yarn and I get yarn in exchange. Nice.

Then there’s the Knitters Tea Swap. Yarn and tea, two of my favorite things. This swap you send your favorite tea (easy), a treat (I’ve got something in mind) and yarn. The yarn is supposed to be from my stash but what fun is that? I’ve got some time on this one so I’m not worried yet.



Last but not least there’s the June Color-iffic-Swap-o-Rama. This month’s colors are black and white and… You get to pick. Once I get my pattern I’ll figure out the third color. I have no idea what sort of handmade item I’ll do. Probably something with beads. Again, I have some time so I won’t worry quite yet.

Fortunately all the swaps are well spaced. I'm looking forward to all of them and will post pictures as soon as I can. There's going to be lots of color this month!

May is here!

And not a day too soon. I have to say, I am sick of yellow and orange. I don’t do yellow and orange. Here is a mosaic of my April Project Spectrum items.



I had to dig deep as I’m not really into yellow and orange. I had to photograph my sundries. Yes, my sundries. I may not like yellow and orange (have I mentioned this already?) but I do like citrus.

The great thing about May is that it’s green!



Green is definitely a color I do.