Lace Knitting? Me?

After all my talk about simple knitting, for some strange reason the other day I was seized by this sudden urge to try lace knitting! Can you believe it?!

So I searched around on Ravelry and found this pattern. It said it was easy, so that sounded like a good one to try first. Here's my progress so far:

I used a fingering weight sock yarn that had been in the shop and didn't sell, and size 3 needles. I did change the pattern a little since the yarn was pretty fine and would have made the scarf awfully narrow otherwise. It has an 18-stitch repeat with two knit stitches at the beginning and end of each row. So I just doubled the repeat, making 36, and added the four end stitches, for a cast on of 40 stitches. The lace pattern repeat is only four rows, and was pretty easy to memorize even for a simple-knit person like myself. I'm kind of liking the way it's coming out so far.

I've even cast on for another more complicated pattern just for fun, but I'll save that for another post. :)

Hand Painted Fiber

I've been working on painting roving and yarn. Deb Menz's book Color in Spinning talks about using a stencil brush to paint fiber. Here's my first attempt:

This is some BFL roving. Here's what it looks like after drying:

I had thought about just listing the roving in the shop as is, but I was anxious to see what it would look like and just spun it up myself. Just have to list it as handspun, I guess.

Before when I "painted" yarn or roving I used a squirt bottle to apply the color. I've also dyed it using the space dyeing method in glass containers. You're kind of limited in the number of colors that way, though. My roaster will only hold six of the particular containers I use. It seems like you have more control over where the color goes with the brush. And you can use lots more colors! I also seem to have a tendency to use more dye than is needed with the squirt bottle which can cause a problem with the colors running. Using a brush seemed to help. I also did a couple of skeins of sock yarn this way. Instead of the stencil brush, though, I tried a regular paint brush. Made things go a little faster maybe. You can see the sock yarns here and here.

I'm planning on getting out the carder later this afternoon to work on some more batts. Maybe I'll have some pictures of them next time.

Color Experiment

I tried something new on some sock yarn the other day. I did I guess what you'd call some "space dyeing." I used glass jars in a roaster (one used only for that purpose...no cooking in it afterward!). I bought this roaster on sale not too long ago and thought I'd give it a try. The other crock pot I'd been using was pretty small, and this one gives me a little more room to work. Usually I lay the yarn or roving out on plastic wrap and "paint" the dye on with squirt bottles. Then it's wrapped and placed in the crock pot to heat and set the dye. This time I filled the glass jars with dye and pushed the yarn down into the jars. (I actually meant to do it the other way around but was so excited to try it I forgot and poured the dye first. See how I am?) Anyway here's how it looked in the dyepot:

I think I'm going to like this method. I did a few handfuls of roving yesterday to maybe make some needle felted lavender sachets with. Those I just put in each jar separately. Here they are:

The colors came out really bright. I'm thinking more of the dye stays where it's supposed to, and the yarn or roving can take up more of it that way. Also, you don't have to worry as much about the colors running together which can sometimes happen with the plastic wrap. I'm getting ready to do another batch of sock yarn today after dinner, and am going to use the jars for it. We'll have to wait and see how it comes out.

I've been spinning some more on the roving I showed you awhile back. I was going to show you a picture of one of the skeins, but for some reason this thing won't let me add an image now. Maybe next time. There should be four small skeins of it. I'm hoping there will be close to 300 yards. I'll let you know. :)

Meteor Shower

Did anyone get up in the night to look at the meteor shower? *raises hand* We're kind of night owls anyway, and saw a few before bed (11:00 or 11:30). I actually even set the alarm to get up in the night a couple of times. There were a couple of pretty clear ones about 2:30. Really fascinating to watch. You really had to be on your toes, though, because they were so fast. Plus, I guess I was worried that I wouldn't hear the alarm and was dreaming about watching meteors! The meteor shower and lunar eclipse in August were what inspired our EtsyFAST group to make the theme of our August Challenge "Celestial." I listed my second entry this morning...some handspun yarn I called "Moonlight and Orchids." Here's a picture:

Wheee! While the picture of the yarn was uploading, the mail carrier came and brought the package of sock yarns I ordered. Now I need to put my thinking cap on and come up with some colors! :)