emily k(nits, watches, and writes)

Seriously, though, what’s up with tv shows and commercials broadcasting for people to watch with 3D glasses? There was a random stretch of commercials during the Super Bowl that required 3D glasses and I felt so left out. And kind of confused. But whatever. That teleflora commercial was definitely the best. Well, either that one or the Conan O’Brian commercials. Both of his were excellent.

On to knitting. I used up the hand dyed yellow yarn (hand dyed by me, no less) to make this little number:

Embroidered Sweet Pea Hat

Now that I’ve embroidered a few times I’m getting a lot better at it. The curves of the twiggy things aren’t quite right, but are close. I think it’s cute. The shape of the hat isn’t quite right for me, but it is pretty cute.

I dyed the yarn with a recipe from Nature’s Colors by Ida Grae, which was the standard natural dyeing book back in the 70s. (Thanks to my Plurkbud tigereye for sharing the recipe!) I found out that the Fine Arts Library has a copy of it, along with some other plant dye books and textile dyeing books. So sometime this week I’m heading over there to check a few out. I have about 965 yds of undyed yarn that is just begging to be messed around with!

Well, I’ve been squeezing in knitting while I’ve had time off from school. I got a few great books over break and made some cute little things out of them.

Side Slip Cloche

This is the Side Slip Cloche from Boutique Knits. It was sort of a test-run, so I used some Knit Picks Wool of the Andes that I had laying around. I steam-blocked the brim and it got all floppy and weird … it’s still not quite right. I cast on for another one today using some of the yarn I dyed red. My housemate really liked the look of this one and wants one of her own.

Flapper Headband

And this is a not very flattering picture (not like the first one was either) of the Flapper Headband from Knit One, Embellish Too. I made it from SWTC Karaoke, which is a wool/soy blend. The yarn isn’t very stretchy, so I had to make the biggest size and block it. It’s a tad big but it has almost no give. This was my first experience embroidering on a knit object and I think it went well. Once again I thought I had that button centered but afterwards I realized that I was mistaken. I need to brush up on my sewing skills apparently.

I also re-dyed that yellow yarn, something I mentioned that I planned to do.

yellow hand dyed yarn

So much better! I used 5 teaspoons of turmeric and half a cup of vinegar. Viola! Yellow yarn. Washing out the turmeric has been a big pain, though, let me tell you. I’ve rinsed the yarn twice and it still smells like turmeric. I might wash it again. Or I might just knit it up and hope that blocking the finished product will take care of it. We’ll see!

I’ve decided to dabble in dyeing (not dying). I had one of those giant skeins of Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool and decided to screw around with it. Here’s what I got:

yellow hand dyed wool

The above is approximately 110 yards dyed with two packets of lemonade Kool-Aid in the microwave. I decided I don’t like the microwave method very much. More on that in a moment.

creamy/tan hand dyed wool

This is another 100 yards or so of the wool dyed in a pot with some tea. The color could have been better, but I didn’t pre-soak the yarn. I know better now.

red hand dyed wool

This one turned out absolute fantastic! I pre-soaked the wool, about 220 yards worth, in lukewarm water and some Eucalan no rinse delicate wash. Then I stuck it in a pot of almost-boiled water with 10 packets of black cherry Kool-Aid and let it chill overnight. The color turned out really vibrant and I can’t wait to do something with this!

I definitely like the stove-top method. I’m about to re-dye that yellow yarn with some turmeric and vinegar. I’m excited to see how this turns out!

I have a funny face.

My attempt to sew a button in the middle of something.

It requires some recajiggering (technical term) but I really like it. I thought I had that button in the middle but I clearly do not. I also have kind of a big neck I guess? So I need to move it a bit closer to the edge. But yeah, it turned out well. Easy project, quick knit, not a lot of thought so it was great for tv/movie watching.

Yellow Star Post-it Notes

Yellow Sunflower

Yellow Frame

Yellow Shirt

Yellow Pillow

Yellow Coaster

Yellow Paper Lantern

Yellow 8

Yellow Sticker

Yellow Scissors

Yellow Bananas

When I grow up I want to live in a yellow house.