JD Green & Kool Black

If you are my father..stop reading and come back after Christmas!

If not, please continue on...as long as you promise not to tell my father what you learn here :)LOL

I want to make my dad some socks for Xmas so I asked for color preferences...with the intention of doing some Kool Aid dyeing. His came back as gray & John Deere green! How was I going to get that? Then I remembered that I got a really nice green when I mixed 5 Switchin' Secrets and 2 blues (IBRL).


So I happened to find a box of 72 packets of Switchin'Secret on ebay...since I was all out (it's discontinued and hard to find) so I bought it. It came just the other day & I finally got around to working on this.
I knew I wanted some dark regions...preferably black and from my experimenting with Blackberry Ghoul Aid (also discontinued and hard to find) I knew that the best way to get black from the dark purple was to add green...PERFECT!

I started mixing the colors today....Switchin' Secret & Berry Blue and noticed that I didn't have the opacity that I did in the first batch from June....what was wrong? OH YEAH! I used Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade...NOT Berry Blue...RATS! I knew I didn't have any of that left so I added generic lemonade and got this... I was pretty happy :D I poured the Blackberry on the yarn where I wanted it, then dunked the whole skein in the dyepot of green. I horribly tangled the skeins as I squished it around but I didn't want to get any white spots since superwash sucks up color so fast!. Here's the results. It's cooking in the crock pot right now. I'm very happy. I just hope it knits up well.

Here's the details:
2 Skeins Knit Pick's Bare Superwash DK (100g each)


# packets of KA per skein
3 Blackberry
5 Switchin' Secret
2 Berry Blue
3 generic lemonade (not pictured)


Mixed 1 packet Blackberry in 3 oz of H2O. Apply to yarn. Repeat 2 times till coverage is thorough.


Mix Switchin' Secret, Berry Blue, & lemonade


Add yarn to green dye & squish.



Here are some interesting colors from mixing up the green:
4 packets Switchin' Secret


4 packets Switchin' Secret & 2 packets Berry Blue

Knitting till it HURTS!

I've been knitting every day for several weeks now trying to get Christmas presents done. Shortly after I started, my left arm started tingling. I've been to the chiropractor & the massage therapist several times since it started & we were thinking it was a continuation of the issues I've been having from carrying Owen...well, I think it's something different.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome...at the very least inflammation of the nerve involved in that syndrome.
So I'm taking a break...even tho the gifts aren't all done. I found one of my old braces from the last time I had neuritis (in college) & we'll see if it gets any better.

Wish me luck :) I still have 4-6 gifts to work on.

National Alpaca Farm Days

Went to check out both alpaca farms near us today seeing as this weekend was National Alpaca Farm Days. Both farms are really close to us...so it wasn't too taxing of a trip for the whole family.

The very friendly one at Freedom Farm Alpacas


Serena's fave: the 3 month old white cria at EDR Lamas.


Evidence of my stash-building addiction...from Freedom Farms.

YO! Stitch markers, Stay where I put you!

When I knit short rows, I like doing YO short rows as described by Mandie here. So much so that I linked to her page in my Munchkin Rumps Universal Soaker Pattern for any knitters who had not done short rows before. Well it was brought to my attention that it was a bit confusing how to do YO short rows at the marked stitches and still keep the marker in the right place.

Here are the options for turning at the indicated stitch in the Munchkin Rumps pattern...

Option #1: Use "wrap & turn" short rows. They do not interfere with the location of the stitch marker.

Option #2: You can move the stitch marker one more stitch away from center back, then do the turn at the stitch before the marker. That way the turn is in the appropriate place.

Option #3: You can work w/o markers & just watch for the second to last knit stitch before the side ribbing (like I do).

Option #4: Here’s the YO short row way with markers in place…my camera’s busted otherwise I would take pics. You’ll need markers that are bigger than your needles (not the same size).

Knit to the 1st marker past center back.
Pass marker to RIGHT needle.
Turn work.
Move yarn to back for wrapping.
Insert needle purlwise into the marker AND the next st…Purl one st. You should now have a YO & a st with a marker around …that’s ok. (see note below)
Purl to the next marker.
Pass marker to the RIGHT needle.
Turn work.
Wrap RIGHT needle clockwise for the YO.
Pass marker to RIGHT needle.
Knit one st…you should now have a YO, a marker & a new st on the RIGHT needle.
Knit to the st that has the first marker around it. With this st on the LEFT needle, lift the marker back onto the LEFT needle.
Knit 1, pass marker, K2tog.
Continue around until the st before the next YO.
SSK, pass marker, knit…

NOTE: If you pass the marker to the RIGHT, then purl, you run the risk of the marker slipping beyond the wrap to the wrong position.

I borrowed a camera for some pics.
Click on any picture to see it larger.
Mock soaker with center back in the middle & two stitch markers on either side.


Knit to first marker.


Pass marker to R needle & turn work around.


Move working yarn to back & purl into the marker & the next stitch.


Sorry for the blurry photo...
The green stitch marker is around the purled stitch.


Purl to the next marker.


Move marker to the R needle, turn work & wrap R needle clockwise.


Pass marker to the R needle & knit across.


The stitch with the marker around it should be on you L needle.
Lift it up & on to the L needle.


Knit 1, pass marker, K2tog.
Knit around till the next YO is the first stitch on the L needle (2 sts before the next marker).


SSK, pass marker, continue around till the next short row.

HTH :)

Thank you, Ravelympics. The burden has lifted!

It's a bit delayed but...

Here is the medal I received for competing/participating in the first ever RAVELYMPICS!
See Ravelry for more info.

The major project that I worked on in order to be a "Ravthlete" in the WIPs Wrestling event was...the Torturous Baby Blanket. I had not touched it since the linked blog post was written...3 months ago. Here it is. Finally finished!


The actual finished size of this blanket is ~24" x 36" so you can see how tiny the stitches are.
I had to mess with the needle size before I could get a nice even fabric. The end looks SO MUCH BETTER than the first 2/3, but I DON'T CARE!.

It was hand delivered to Karen and is GONE!!

The one thing that makes me a little remorseful about my negative feelings is that Karen told me that the couple who lost the baby that this was intended for (their 3rd loss) is going to have the wife's sister carry a baby as a surrogate. That made me feel bad that I had all this negative energy attached to it as I knit it. But I am happy for them and wish them a healthy baby to love and wrap up in this cute little blanket...well other people think it's cute.

Flitting Butterflies

Just had to share this bit of nature from my front yard.

Monarch vs. Bumblebee


Monarch caterpillar on milkweed.


Monarch chrysalis


Brand new Monarch


Monarch


Male Eastern Tiger Swallowtail


Painted Lady


Black morph female Eastern tiger Swallowtail.

Bloomers leg style added to Munchkin Rumps Universal Soaker Pattern

Pattern revisions are finally complete!
I have made the calculations more user friendly.
Added and changed some directions to be more concise.
And most exciting of all...I've added instructions for a
BLOOMERS LEG STYLE!

In my etsy listing, I have also added this picture of a cover made with the bloomers leg.


For anyone who purchased the pattern previous to Aug 16, 2008, I will send you a revised pattern file if you email, PM, or convo me (on Ravelry or Etsy).

The Munchkin Rumps Bloomers Pattern is still in the works...it will include worksheets with sizes ranging from 4/5 to 14/16 and will also include a customizable worksheet.