Saturday, October 20, 2007
Ambition
So all this homework is really cramping my style. Now that I have class again on Tuesday nights & work on Saturday afternoons I don't even get to meet with my usual S&B at Wild Fibre. Sigh. I know that there's a group that meets on Mondays at the Savannah Mall, but that's only every other week & it seems like something always comes up.
At for least next semester I only need 7 hours to fishish all my requirements. Then it's on to grad school, wherever that may be.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Wedding Updates
Monday, September 10, 2007
Back in the Saddle
Like I said, I'll go into more later. Right now I have to finish my estuarian plant ecology take-home test before the S & B tomorrow night
Monday, April 16, 2007
Lookit What I Can Do Now!
It was totally worth it! I have now discovered the joy of hand-spinning. I even took up that drop spinde I bought a while back. Turns out that it works great! Thanks to the Spindolyn, my drafting has improved and that made spinning on the drop spindle that much easier. I ordered a couple more spindles from a different Ebay vendor, Ma & Pa spindles. Very cheap but work well enough. I got them in a pack that included 2 bottom whorl spindles, one large 1.9-ish oz. an a smaller just over one oz., a small niddy-noddy, which is perfect for my little practice skiens, but not so good for winding larger balls of "blanks" for dyeing. It also came with a small nosetpinne, but honestly I'm not to thrilled with it; it wasn't well sanded before it was lacquered and it too is a bit too small for larger skeins. But overall a good deal, the spindles are good for beginning to spin and very cheap.
I really enjoy spining on hand spindles, but if I want to get into production I'll need a wheel. Any reccomendations?
Saturday, April 7, 2007
I Dyed
The purpose of this post is to share my very first dying experience! After reading the Knitty Spring 2007 article on safely dyeing your yarn with food quality dyes I was instantly inspired! I ran out and bought up some McCormick's food coloring as well as some other dyes that I found in the soap and candle making section of A.C. Moore's and a skein of Paton's Merino in white and went to town... in my kitchen.
The purpley- green combo uses the hot-pour method described in the Knitty article using the turquoise, lilac, and rose dyes from the soap dying kit supplemented with the McCormick's red, blue and green dyes. I don't think that I'll use the soap dyes again because I needed to use the entire little squeeze bottle and these dyes didn't seem to penetrate the yarn as well as the food dyes did, hence the small white patches.
The orange was also achieved via the hot-pour method using both McCormick's red and yellow and some of the Wilton's icing dyes, buttercup and Burgundy. I wanted to do a combo of reds, yellows, and oranges, but since I was dying on a natural color (more Paton's merino from my stash) rather than white the yellow didn't look too good.
A note on the Wilton's: at first I didn't have faith. I read the ingredients which included sugar (HFCS) and hydrogenated oils to make it pastey and I thought "eww, won't that make my yarn all gummy?" I figured that the sugar would rinse out, but thickened oils, wouldn't it prevent some of the sugar from washing out? Well, no, it doesn't. The tiny bit of paste added in realtion to all the water in the dye pot isn't much. I believe that the sugars and oils also help the dye penetrate the yarn and helps the dye stay where you poor it, rather than spreading as soon as it hits the water like the soap dyes did. This makes sense considering the loading dyes we use in gel electrophoresis. These dyes are loaded with sucrose the weigh down the dye so that it sinks in the buffer with the DNA. Anyway, I think that I'm hooked on home dying. Etsy, here I come!
Friday, March 2, 2007
I'm back
These lovely ladies were found just off of the patio bar, where I was desperately trying to learn some espanol. This was their body-guard.
Regrettably,I didn't bring a swimsuit.This brave one came up to me. I guess people offer them fruit from time to time. I would.
This guy was the unofficial guard of the temple.
This is an ancient Mayan ball court. One of the goals is still in tact on the left.
We didn't get the overpriced tour guide, so I'm sorry I can't provide more interesting and enlightening captions.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Flying the Friendly Skies
Knitting needles are permitted in your carry-on baggage or checked baggage. However, there is a possibility that the needles can be perceived as a possible weapon by one of our Security Officers. Our Security Officers have the authority to determine if an item could be used as a weapon and may not allow said item to pass through security. We recommend the following when bring knitting needles on an airplane:
- Circular knitting needles are recommended to be less than 31 inches in total length
- We recommend that the needles be made of bamboo or plastic (Not Metal)
- Scissors must have blunt points
- In case a Security Officer does not allow your knitting tools through security it is recommended that you carry a self addressed envelope so that you can mail your tools back to yourself as opposed to surrendering them at the security check point.
- As a precautionary measure we recommend that you carry a crochet hook with yarn to save the work you have already done in case your knitting tools are surrendered at the checkpoint
Most of the items needed to pursue a Needlepoint project are permitted in your carry-on baggage or checked baggage with the exception of circular thread cutters or any cutter with a blade contained inside. These items cannot be taken through a security checkpoint. They must go in your checked baggage.
Now, what I don't undertand is this statement "As a precautionary measure we recommend that you carry a crochet hook with yarn to save the work you have already done in case your knitting tools are surrendered at the checkpoint." What does this mean exactly? So if you've started a knitting project on 36" steel size 2 needles and they're confiscated in fear that, in a knitterly rage over a stitch dropped when the plane hit an air pocket, you'll garrotte the pilot after stabbing out the flight attendant's eyes for spilling ginger ale on your project that you can simply continue working on said project with a crochet hook?? Do they think knitting and crochet are totally interchangable? Oh that's just ignorant! While I'm bicraftual and I am a strong proponent of knowing both skill sets, I know plenty of knitters who aren't. What are they supposed to do, use the hook as a stitchholder?
Monday, February 5, 2007
Spinning DNA
Friday, January 26, 2007
Moving, Homework, & Lace Work
Anyway, with all the chaos of moving and homework and labs and such, I have not worked on much. I finished my second feather & fan stitch muffler from Knit 2 Together in Malabrigo. This is the first time that I worked with Malabrigo and, if I could only knit with one yarn for the rest of my life that would be it. The easy of knitting, the texture and the colors would be worth it. Just what do they feed those merino sheep in Uraguay anyway?? What fabulous wool!!
I'm now starting the South Seas Table runner from the K2Tog book in Maggie Knits Irish Linen/Cotton blend for our new table. Between this and the muffer, I think that I may like lacework. Something about those big open stitches that are just so lovely. Oh, oh, oh! And my cashmere came in today for making the Gym Slip Dress from the K2Tog book! I is so excited!! I can't wait to swatch it!
I 'm very happy with the new place, but I must confess that I miss my knitting knook at the old apartment. But I look forward to spring and knitting one the screened-in porch listening to Lime 'n' Violet, Cast-On and other knitting podcasts. Now, if I could only fully unpack my stash box.
Monday, January 8, 2007
First Day of School, Happy Mail Day, & I Need an Umbrella Swift
So I started balling up the Bizarre Love Triangle on my new X-mas present so I can work with it ASAP. As you can see, I have to clamp it to a chair since the table we have is not designed for the ball winder. I was using the back of the chair to keep the yarn straight.
Unfortunately.....
... about a third of it now resembles the Flying Spagetti Monster.
I am now attacking the Bizarre Love Tangle from the other end. I realize that an umbrella swift is a necessary companion to the ball winder. I'll be waiting to wind the other hank when I go to Wild Fibre on saturday, if not sooner.
But I love the yarn, so thank you thank you thank you L & V !!!
Sunday, January 7, 2007
Runagogo
Thursday, January 4, 2007
SCORE!
... and colorway 1963 which is a lovely-looking blend of "Light lime, peachy orange, and luscious raspberry come together to make a totally lick-able yarn."
I am so psyched! Now I just have to learn how to knit socks!
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
Ah, the First Completed Projects of the New Year
I also stopped putting it off and finally finished the basket weave scarf that I started for my mom back in November. It wasn't difficult or boring, it's just that I kept putting it off to finish the local people's X-mas gifts (yes, I know, I'm a bad daughter). I used Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran Color #6. It's a wonderfully soft braided yarn, so it's split resistant. I chose this yarn for my mom since she is somewhat "sensitive" to wool and it is a cashmir/ microfiber/ merino blend. She'll never be able to tell that there's wool in it. HA! She lives in LA, so I made it short. I'll either make or find a nice little brooch so that she can pin it loosely around her neck.