Yarn Along!

Joining Ginny at Small Things again this week.

I was going to call this an un-yarn along. Last weekend I unraveled my sweater. Yes. I did. It fit poorly. As usual, I assume that my large self is even larger and overcompensate. I deviated from the pattern and just.. ugh. The sweater was a flop. So rather than keep it and never wear it, I took it apart. It's hanging in hanks outside right now. I redyed it using my (very used up) walnut dye. It's a slightly more even orange-brown now. Hopefully I won't have to alternate balls this time.

Anyway, it turns out that I actually do have things I've been making, rather than unmaking.



When today started I was working on an enderman for B. It's done now. But I'm still reading Spartan Gold by Clive Cussler and Grant Blackwood. My father lent it to me and it's fairly interesting so far.


(Ravelry notes here)

After five years, a new hair accessory for me! It's a little smaller than I'd like. I'm going to try another one with the yarn doubled and larger needles. (Psst. Peggy - see my new coffee mug?)


(Ravelry notes here)



(Ravelry notes here)

So. Remember that sword I made for the Imp? Well the Beast has become emotionally attached to it. So I needed to make another for the Imp. Can you see where this is going? The Beast then wanted the second sword. So I made a third (which is by far the best constructed). Now they mostly get along with a bit of sword-swapping. But the Elf is asking when I'm going to make him one. Ugh.

Overdue.

Well. So that absense was longer than I'd planned.

The Beast will likely wake from his nap any minute, so this will be short. I made black walnut dye! And tincture, but it's still "cooking" for another week or so.



The Elf and I gathered a slew of walnuts from our grocery store parking lot. I had so many and no one to pawn them off onto. We ended up composting half a bag of them.



These were my experiments. I didn't use a mordant, nor did I dye using heat. I just let it soak overnight and rinse-rinse-rinsed forever. The bottom layer is an old (previously white and well-loved) playsilk. The rolled up piece is a 75% wool, 25% nylon double-knitted sock yarn. The center is Sawya by Mirasol (pima cotton, alpaca, and silk - mostly cotton). The far right is a 100% wool that a friend sent me once upon a time (I've been slowly dyeing bits of it for projects). I think it's fascinating how different (yet similar) the colors are.

Tomorrow I hope to dye a cotton shirt and some wool felt. Yay!

On the gnome front, meet my newest favorite addition!



If my internet connection decides to like me again (as I've lost connectivity while writing this!), there will be some new (really new!) additions to my shop this afternoon (and more in the next few days as well).

Yarn Along!

Joining Ginny at Small Things again this week. With how crazy things have felt this Autumn, the Yarn Along seems to really be the only time I update this blog.



Working on this tank top/camisole. I don't care for the project much. Back and forth stockinette is so very dull to me (don't ask why in-the-round stockinette isn't, I can't explain it). I'm a big fan of Isabel Allende, so it's no surprise that I picked this book up once upon a time. It is a little weird that it's taken me this long to get to it, though. I'm only reading when nursing the Imp to bed at night, so it's slow going. But I'm okay with that.

Here are some things I've been working on lately.



Crochet dish rags. I have a mess of kitchen cotton and thought I should use it up. This photo isn't of all the cloths I've made - some have already been used. I really don't need this many. I was thinking about listing them for $1 each on my Etsy shop just to find homes for them - no one local that I know of would want them as gifts. Any one out there need some dish rags? They're nothing special but they get the job done.




Wee gnome hats. Yes, my gnomes are bare headed at present. I've been sewing and crocheting hats for them. When I get tired of sewing, I switch to crochet. Overall, I'm feeling a bit burned out on the peg doll hats - it's my least favorite part of the process. Which is why I'm doing it all at once. If I have a huge pile of hats to choose from, I can focus on the more enjoyable parts!




A long awaited picture (poorly taken) of my sweater! I haven't had occasion to wear it yet. It's awfully warm here again. I had to turn the air conditioning on yesterday. Can you believe that? In November? Insanity!

In non-wool news, this soup has to be about the best I've ever had. Yum!

Yarn Along, Etsy Update, Giveaway!

Joining Ginny at Small Things again this week.



Alright. I'm knitting a new shirt! I finished my sweater (pictures to be taken eventually) and am giving the silk yarn another try. I just started it last night, so not much progress. This morning (after my youngest two woke me up at 4:30am) I finished reading Between Two Ends by David Ward. It's a kids' book, but was enjoyable. Next I'm giving Grey Griffins a try.



I finished this hat yesterday. It's for the Imp but fits the entire family. I lovelovelovelovelove this pattern. I can assure you that I will be knitting more of them. (Rav notes here)




These little Wolf-Kin are new in the shop! They may look familiar as I made some for a swap earlier this year. I've also added some more weather gnomes and some spring and summer gnomes as well.

The giveaway! Over at We Bloom Here the lovely Peggy has posted about my chore gnomes! Enter in her giveaway to win one of my autumn gnomes!