Category: Blog

A few weeks ago, it was merely mystery knitting.

Lacking form and focus.

But it has grown.
And as it has grown, I’ve kind of come to like it.
The simplicity of it. Just knitting around. and around and around.
About 45 inches around, going on 30 inches tall.
And the colors. So many shades of brown, gray, almost-black, taupe, silver.

I have named him Stash Monster. StashMo or Stashie for short.

Tamed by the needle, the wild stash has become a friendly, comfy pet of a project.

Still uncertain what will eventually become of StashMo. (He’s beyond “sweater stage” now)
He might get blanket-ized.
Or he might get felted and assembled into a jacket.

But for now, he’s happy being the main focus of my knitting attention.

Sit StashMo. Sit.

Good boy.

Other yarns of note:

First Griff sample of 2012 is in, and it’s a winner!

Think I might have to reserve this one for my long-awaited Brownstone.

And I’m about 2 skeins shy of my necessary yardage for the Classic Oak Cardigan.

what remains to be spun

Hope to get this on the needles by June 1.

(Don’t tell Stashie!)

Good Weekend.
Many thoughts, but too tired to write.

Nothing sweeter than an apple blossom

Unless it’s perhaps a smorgasbord of lichens on the branches!

Hoping I can figure out what some of these are and use them for dyeing.

Other pretty pinks around the yard today-

And these I cut special for the boys.

They love their salmonberries!

Sorry. Couldn’t resist the Bladerunner reference.

But really- that’s today’s story!

I don’t think I mentioned this earlier, but The Man got me an EarthHues dyeing kit for my birthday this year, and I’ve been really anxious to give it a go.
But first I needed a big pot. And a burner.

This weekend it finally all came together!
Here is the setup:

And here is the yarn and fleece all snug in the pot with the alum solution getting mordanted:

I left in in there overnight to cool out, then got a start with the actual dyeing this morning.

First up, Quebracho Red!

Filling the pot-

Dissolving the extract-

And everything in the pot!

the second pot was going to be just Pomegranate, but it seemed to me once it had been cooking a while that it was too khaki, and not enough yellow, so I added some Weld.

And here are the results-

Or most of them anyway. I did some fleece too, but it is all jumbled and messy looking right now and didn’t want to be photographed until it made itself more presentable 😉

Pretty pretty pretty.

I think I’m hooked.

Next up- madder and indigo!

And, here is the mystery knitting project of the week(s)

Anyone have an idea what it is?

Because I’m not sure myself!