more dyeing

I am quite hooked.

I dyed these skeins this morning. I tried a new method of putting a few drops of food coloring into the pan with a little bit of water, and then placing the skein on top of the dye. The wool really sucks the color up; it's pretty neat to watch!

and these are some skeins from earlier this week:

this behemoth is half a pile of fiber I spun during the summer

I am seriously infatuated with the dyeing process!

Other than dyeing, I also knit this little bunny from handspun:

it was a teeny skein someone gifted me in a swap package, and it made a very sweet bunny nugget! I still have some left, I could probably squeeze a few more out of it.

I also finished Call the Midwife: Shadows of the Workhouse by Jennifer Worth. There are three books to the series (I haven't read the first one) and this is the second. It has also been developed into a tv series on PBS. I really enjoyed reading this. I expected it to be more of a memoir, and about halfway through, it did read more like one. The first half tells the stories of three people Jennifer Worth came to know, how they survived life in the workhouse, and their lives after. They are very sad but beautiful and moving stories. The second half shows more of her life as a nurse and her very special friendship she makes with one man. I do recommend this book.

 One last thing to share:

This absolutely yummy fiber is from paperdag of Sheep on a Spring. Gahhh!! I can't wait to spin them up! aren't the colors amazing??

I have a short work week, so today is my Friday, woo hoo!!!!
I hope you all have a wonderful day xx

a new adventure: yarn dyeing

All week long I look forward to the weekend :) I know I'm not the only one!

I tried my hand at Kool-Aid dyeing this week. I covet speckled yarn and found a great stove top tutorial through the super cute Hey Porkchop's blog. I used a partial skein of Paton's Classic Wool in white and micro-leftovers of Berroco Cuzco. Technically, I purchased three flavors of Kool-Aid powder mix, but it really turned out to be just two different colors... Tropical Punch is not blue even though the packet is :)

Patons Classic Wool

Berroco Cuzco

I secured the Berroco hank too tightly, and the dye didn't absorb into the yarn under my ties! (above photo) I realized this after I reskeined the hanks.

It was a very fun morning! Dyeing is something I've wanted to do for awhile. I'm glad I finally tried it and I will definitely dye more yarn. I will have my speckled yarn :)

I finished my Halloween socks! This is my eighth pair this year :) I don't think I will reach my goal of thirteen but that's ok. There was something so satisfying about these plain socks; I wanted to knit on them all the time.

Pattern: just a plain vanilla sock, 64 stitches
Yarn: Patons Socks in Bramble Stripes
Needles: 2.25 mm

I really like this yarn. I know it's not the fanciest or the softest, but it makes very durable socks.

I cast on a pair of Hermione's Everyday Socks. If you know me or read this blog, you know how much I adore this pattern! I have knit three pairs already (one was a gift) and they are my favorite socks! They have such nice texture and are just snuggly enough on my feet without being too tight.

Berny loves knitting time too

One more thing, the lovely Jen of figknits is having a sock pattern sale through October, two patterns for the price of one! Click the link for her blog and additional information. I have two of her gorgeous sock patterns and can't wait to cast on :)

Hope you all have a happy and fun weekend!!

hats, pallets, yetis (actually just one of each!)

I have two finished objects to share. One is mine and one is Scott's (no, he hasn't taken up knitting yet):

Pattern: Whitecaps Hat by Emily Wessel
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers
Needles: US 6 and 7 circulars
Modifications: none

I LOVE this pattern. I made the bulky weight version and loved it, and really wanted to try it in worsted. The pattern is written for three different yarn weights. This hat is for a friend and I am hoping to mail it off very soon with a few added goodies. 

I double dipped into two KALs, my first FOs for both! :)

Knitspiring Odyssey's BAL

My Sister's Knitter KAL/CAL

Scott's FO is a tv stand that he built from a pallet!

I am so proud of him! He started taking apart pallets earlier this summer and since then he's built a coffee table, two little end tables, and now this tv stand. At first he only used hand tools, but for this last project he borrowed a miter saw from his dad. I love to watch his process, from sketching out his ideas, to the deconstruction, to the building :)


Since one of my goals this year is to cook at home more often, I thought I would share a few of our recent meals.

This is my favorite meal, scalloped potatoes with ham. I used my grandma's recipe. She always made it for my birthday :)

Chicken and mushroom casserole (kind of) with biscuits on the top. It was very good, and so simple, but next time I would definitely add more veggies!

This one was also ridiculously simple, but so good. We don't cook seafood at all, but we both like to eat it...go figure!

While I am talking about goals, I am only four books away from reaching my fifty books read goal this year! woot! Most recently, I just finished Agatha Christie's Sleeping Murder, a Miss Marple book. Highly recommended for its eerie scenes.

Happy Wednesday! What have you finished lately?

a little BALWM

Beanie-a-long information here!

I decided to cast on Whitecaps Hat by Emily Wessel in Cascade 220 heathers. I really like this pattern, and think it will be very nice in worsted weight. I will be sending it to a friend who lives up north, because she has been so kind to me.



Today was such a beautiful day! It reached 60 degrees and was very sunny all day. I even hung some socks out to dry :) they didn't fully dry but I savored it because it's most likely one of the last days I'll be able to hang them outside until spring.



It's frosted the past few nights, so we cleaned out the garden. All of the marigolds and cosmos were wilted. The tomatillos did not get very big before the frost either, but I'm hoping Scott will make his tomatillo salsa with the ones we saved :)

I did a little shopping last week:




It's kind of funny that I buy all of this fabric, because I am not very good at sewing! But when I see these cute prints, I can't help myself. The skein on the far right is tweed! I haven't knit with tweed yarn before and am pretty excited about it.

Ok, time to make a pumpkin shake :) if it turns out, I'll let you know!