Friday 29 August 2008

Something Crafty AtLast

Yay. I found the time last night to put together this layout.


I can't take the credit for the design. That belongs to Karen. I saw hers and just loved it so much I scraplifted it.


Mine uses Pink Lemonade paper from Websters Pages, some Prima flowers (not anywhere near as many as I stuck gems on!!!), Basic Grey chipboard letters which were painted pink and stickles added to the top and some bazzill card.
I have also finished the Rattlesnake Creek sock for the Sock Knitters Pentathlon. No pictures yet though because I had real problems with the yarn. I got it as part of a sock club a few months back and didn't use it for the pattern that came with it so used it for this instead. It is purple and the dye came out all over my fingers everytime I knit with it so I'm assuming it wasn't rinsed after dyeing. There was far too much dye coming out for it to have been rinsed properly. I have had a purple groove in my finger for weeks where the yarn has been wrapped around it. For that reason I hated this project. Needless to say as soon as I finished the socks they went straight in the sink and rinsed until the dye stopped coming out and are currently drying hence the lack of picture.
Trying to make sure I got this one finished on time (deadline is 31st August) made me realise that I shouldn't be knitting to deadlines because somebody somewhere decides to set a challenge. The next sock knitters pentathlon sock pattern is due out on monday and we have been told it involves using 2 colours. This immediately makes me think fairisle which I hate. If it is I will look at the pattern the two colours create and see if I can make it work by using one colour and purling the second colour so the pattern is still there. If not then I just won't do it. It isn't as if it is the end of the world. All that jibber jabber makes sense to me even if you have no idea what I am talking about!!!!
As for Summer of Socks that is over for me. I made the decision yesterday that the 3 unfinished pairs of socks that went into hibernation when SOS started in June are coming back out and ARE getting finished. I am knitting socks to wear them not to have one finished and sat in my knitting bag feeling very lonely because I am too easily distracted by another project that just happens to come along. Maybe it will happen maybe it won't and there is all that yarn that I dyed in the last couple of weeks. One of the hibernating ones (Firestarter) was almost finished anyway so by monday I should have at least 2 pairs to show you.

Monday 18 August 2008

Socks

I did some yarn dyeing over the last few days. The first couple ended up like this.




The pinky purpley blue one looks very faded and washed out and I'm not happy with it so I may overdye it with another colour. I used McCormack's Neon food colouring. Need to swot up on mixing colours first though otherwise I could end up with a horrible mess. The orangey one I am happy with. I couldn't tell you what I used though because there are quite a few Kool Aid packets in there.



My second lot I took notes for. The left hand one is grape & strawberry, lemon & lime and berry punch. I used one sachet of each in jars and added the yarn to them to keep the colours separate but mixed the grape & strawberry. I like how pale the blue turned out and I think it is one I will use again with maybe a smaller amount of the lemon/lime and a bit of pink instead of purple. The right hand one is my favourite. It was one sachet each of cherry and lemonade in jars and then one each of tropical punch and lemonade mixed. Towards the end I moved the yarn about a bit which gave it a more mixed look in parts.




This is what they look like wound up.






Onto socks now. This is the current pair I have on the go. It is Autumn Lace from the Six Sox Knitalong. The yarn was some I bought on Ebay called Strawberry Sundae. It is really soft and lovely to knit with.






I also have the Sock Knitters Pentathlon sock to get finished before the deadline of 1st September. The yarn I chose for it is hand dyed (not by me) in a dark purple and it hasn't been rinsed properly by the dyer so I end up with purple lines engraved in my finger when I hold the yarn when I knit so I have been a bit hit and miss with it. I have done one and am around a quarter of the way through the second. Must plod on with it.
Scrapping aaaarrrgggghhhh nothing has been done for ages.

Monday 11 August 2008