Purl Side of the Moon

In a Word

This will be another really super fast post again tonight. I've had to work late and now I'm feeling pretty sick to the stomach after hearing Bush give his State of the Union speech. Bleh!  I'll keep it nice and just move on...Well, after I say I think the man is a dumb ass and full of shit. There...now. Sorry, just saying.

I did this fun thing today.  Check it out...And here's what mine is:

I have a surprise for you guys tomorrow. I did some thing really daring.  But I can't show it just yet. 

Also the verdict is in. I"m scrapping the Jaywalker and I'm going to redo it, but with less stitches. We'll see if makes the yarn pools when I do that. Crossing my fingers!

Keep One Eye Looking

Do you think anyone would notice if it was returned without its fleece?  Excuse me,  I need to take off work and go to  Darnesville...Come here Zodiac...

Does anyone else think its funny that they can't determine whether it is a llama or alpaca for this news story and instead say it could "possibly be."

Learning to Fly (and Dye)

This weekend went too fast!  I finally got to play a little bit with my dyes and spin up some samples.   Saturday I got to spend a lovely day (and evening) with Liz and some of her friends, Anne & Lauren. Ann was visiting from Minnesota Missouri (I knew that, my brain was just not working at 1 AM--Thanks for catching that Liz!).  We spent the day spinning and cackling like we were in a hen house. Marley of course got to spend time with Max so she too had a great time at Aunt Liz's.  I would love to show you some pictures of all the lovely things that were spun that day, but unfortunately, I was having so much fun I forgot. But I'm sure Liz will have pictures of some of our happenings.  Anne spun up many combinations of the Wilton's rovings that we dyed.  And Liz made a gorgeous three ply with the yellow, red and orange roving.  There were some great combinations and I'm looking forward to doing some of the results myself.  One of the things I did while there was spin some of this:

I used my Lanaset dyes to make some reggae colored roving using the cold-poured method.  (Cold pour is when you put dye directly on the roving and then roll it up in plastic and steam it.) I've always wanted some socks in reggae colors. Now, I know that it isn't dyed solid.  I sprinkled the sections heavily with dye, and then steamed it. Partly, I wanted to be cautious and see how much it spread while steaming, and I also wanted a tweedy look to the yarn.  The next time I will attempt the solid version now that I have a feel for the dye.  I also spun it so the colors would ply back on themselves.  This is what a sample of the roving spun up like:

I also spun up my favorite sample of black roving:

The yarn is a slight bit more brighter than this, but it was a rainy day and the light wasn't good. I'm very pleased with how beautiful it came out and think it will knit up fantastically.

I also hot pour dyed this roving:

Once again, the lighting sucked, but it is a mix of blue, green, chartreuse, yellow and gold.  The hot pour method is a little tougher to get used to and control. (Hot pour is when you heat up the roving in a acidic water and pour the dye in the pot on the roving.) I stuck with very simple colors and mixtures, mainly just three colors that are next to each other in the color wheel (blue, gold and chartreuse were the colors I poured).  I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.  I'm looking forward to further experimentation.

Marley had a great and adventurous Sunday too!  Beth, you are going to love this...Marley went to her first flyball practice!  We went as an observer this time, but she will be beginning regular practices; her over exuberant excitedness was a big yes that she wants to train for it.  Hopefully, the training will go well and she will pick up on it.  And yes Beth, the leader said they are always looking for good "height" dogs.  Keeping our fingers crossed that our stubborn little dog will be able pick it up. But they seemed pretty positive that they can train her.  It helps that the leader has two Jack Russell Terriers too.

And finally, the poor Jaywalker.  I'm not sure if I'm going to keep knitting it. Well at least this one...I might rip it out and start over again. It really is quite big.  Liz who has a much wider foot than me, tried it on and it is big on her too. It might be back to the drawing board on this one. *Boo*

Which One's Pink

Just because Cara is on vacation and isn't checking up on us Jaywalkers, doesn't mean that Marley doesn't get to do yet another modeling (some say humiliating) job:

That Marley, she sure is a good sport, eh! As we last left the sock, it had to be ripped back. With being so busy this week with work, I've not had time to get back to replacing what all I lost. But after a wonderful lunch with Knittish Rosanna, I'm back on track and on my way.  This was my first lunch break all week, I've been having lunch and dinner at my desk everyday.  Thanks so much Rosanna!  For those that don't know Knittish, she just joined the world of spinning (aka "The Darkside") and got herself a Kromski.  Tee hee...another one down. And she's not the only one...Ms. Rebekah over at Knit Knack also has gone got herself a wheel...Well she ordered one and it's on its way to its new home.  Congratulations ladies!  Welcome to the world of non-commercial yarn!  Better make room for some fiber stash as well the yarn!  And dare I say that I've heard the word's "wanting to dye fiber" come out of both of their mouths.  Oh Lordy be! No pressure there gals; embrace it ...We would love to have you and all your friends enter the fiber padded walls with us!

Keeping up with some more of the wool that was dyed with the Wilton's... (I will get a photo album started on the sidebar sometime soon)  Here's what the "Burgundy" turned out like:

As you can see, it's more a dark pink than a Burgundy. The top one is merino and the far left one is also merino that was dyed with a stronger dose of dye, so it's a bit darker.  Now see that one on the bottom right--the one that actually looks somewhat Burgundy; That is some rambouillet roving that Liz and I used as a "control" for most of the wool we dyed. Notice that that particular roving soaks up the colors a lot more than the others. It was truly amazing how it would pull all the colors in at such a high saturation.  It often times also showed more variety and seperation of colors. 

And since we are on pinks, here is what the "aster mauve" turns out like:

This on is more like a lilac type of pink.  It's kind of muted but still very pretty.

Oh and a Wiltons tip. I know most people are purchasing their Wilton's at craft like stores (Michaels, Total Craft, Etc...)  Screw that...Often times when I go there they have limited supplies of Wilton's or a lot of the them are out of stock.  The mother load is at the party stores. I found mine at a local party store called "Party City."  They had every color there is, some I didn't know about, and full stock of them all. I'm sure the sales clerk was just wondering what the hell kind of cake I was making when I made out of there.  Also, be careful to not accidently pick up the Wilton's candy dye.  (Its usually right next to the cake dye and looks the same )This stuff will not work, there is oil in it. Yes I was inclined to give it a try--hey, all in the name of science, of course--but after reading the ingredients, I saw that there was oil in it.  Oil...Water...Fiber...doesn't sound like a good combination to me.  But if you get gutsy enough to test it...just let me know if my little brain was able to figure that one out without a trial and error.

OK...It's almost 1AM and I got to finish a report.  You guys have a great weekend!  Hopefully Chez Purl Side's house will reek of acid dyes this weekend!

The Time Is Gone

Well my work "holiday" is officially over this week.  I've been back to working like a mad woman and going non-stop.  I hadn't really realized how easy I've had it while Congress was in recess.  Hell, I would have have taken even more time to enjoy it. But now, it's too late; I'm right back to working late into the nights and having no time to myself...Frantic schedules...Frantic attorneys...Frantic clients...And a whole lot of "Can you do it quick" requests. Congress and the United States Trade Representative are also trying to pile up every Free Trade Agreement they can get passed before the expiration of TPA (Trade Promotion Authority, aka Fast Track) this coming year...So now the negotiations are even more frantic themselves.  Makes for interesting work...but definitely exhausting and heavy on the mind.  I get in a mode where all I do is eat, sleep, and think about is politics and strategizing.  I love my weekends.  I want one right now. It's only Weds. right???  Ugggghhh!

I  had anticipated coming home and getting my first test roving done with the Lanaset stock...Now I'm lucky just to come home and catch a half hour of "home" time before I have to get right back on the computer and do more work before going to bed. Yuck. 

So this will be a quicky and a catch up...I have had NO time to knit for the past couple days except to have to rip out quite a few rows of the Jaywalker because I just noticed a mistake.  Was it a mistake of gigantic proportions...nope...could it be seen by the normal eye...nope. Could I have left it and made a subtle corrections...yep, but I know it's there and I couldn't live with that.  Oh, and after turning the heel and all...I've found my Jaywalker is way too big for my foot.  ERRR!  But we'll persevere and either have some good comfy sock/slippers...or they may be gifted.  We'll see when they are done.

So now we'll rewind on some of the things we've done and not showed for the past couple of weeks.  Here we have one of the most lovely skeins of yarn in the world. Well at least in my world.  Here is a skein of some dark gray alpaca that was gifted to me by Liz.

I'm actually very, very proud of the skein. It's the best spinning I've done yet.  But of course, with this gorgeous fiber...it's a little hard not to love it regardless of what I did to it.  It ended up coming out to a DK weight yarn.  Here's a close up.

And to add another one to the vault of all things dyed with Wilton's cake dye...Here's a special feature on the color "brown."  This too has become one of my favorite colors that were dyed with Wilton's.  The brown colors are a beautiful subtle mix of reddish chestnut browns.  Love them...and I can't wait to see what they look like spun up. 

Now the one on top is special...It was made by first putting in a little bit of "buttercup yellow" then adding some of the brown to the pot.  I poured the brown which I diluted in a cup of hot water right on top of the floating roving and ever so slightly tapped the fiber mass in a couple of places to help soften the strike zones edges. Slightly...like hardly at all...Then I just left it.

It turned out beautiful!  Here's a better look:

Yummy, I think I'm going to have to make a bigger batch of this color...And I want to see what happens with doing it on a orangy color like copper or something.  Oh so much to experiment with!

For all of you that have emailed/commented and I'm truly sorry I haven't got back to you yet. I'm on deadline for several reports and projects, so I will be catching up tomorrow! So please hang tight and again I am really sorry...I'm not ignoring you!

We'll Be Moving Along

I've graduated!

Well sort of...

I've graduated from these:

To these:

What you see here is 13 freshly made jars of dye stock from my just delivered set of Lanaset acid dyes.  From this stock you can dilute it and mix all kinds of other colors. I ordered my dyes from the Earth Guild.  To make the stock you have to combine two teaspoons of dye powder with a quart of boiling water. Of course, there is a little more involved than this...Like wearing a mask, gloves old clothes and treating the stuff like it is nitric acid instead of wool dye. You have to be cautious when mixing because it starts off as a toxic powder form that can get airborne. I was extremely cautions, but overall it wasn't as intimidating once I got started. I used a box with dampened newspaper and believe me, this stuff is concentrated. While spooning out the measurements it was exciting when just a few granules of powder managed to fall on the paper and all of a sudden starburst a bloom of color. These colors a GORGEOUS. 

Unfortunately, mixing all the stock took longer than I had anticipated and I ran out of time to be able to actually get a chance to test them.  I did go to Springwater to pickup some more fiber to do my test batch with. While there, I signed up to volunteer for one of their dye days in prep for the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.  Liz will be joining me.  In exchange for volunteering to help with all the fiber they dye for the Festival, we get to learn all the different methods of dyeing and fibers they use in their studio. I think this should be fun and a great way to get to use and see the results of all the different dyes they use.

And not to worry, I will continue to update you on all the color results I've got from the Wilton's.  And will probably still do some of this dyeing too.  After all, it's quick and easy. I'm just worried that the colors may fade. And with the Lanaset, the colors will be more brilliant, the exact combination that I want and where I want them!

It's been one of those weekends.  I've done nothing but run errands and clean house all weekend.  I had practically no knitting time. By the time I did get to sit down and knit a bit on the Jaywalker, Piper quickly snagged Marley's prime spot in the the house when she wasn't looking.  Marley was not amused by this at all.  In fact, she is just to the right of the picture looking at Piper and sulking.  Piper could care less what Marley thought:

Since we are hodge podging this post...Here's some yarn I spun from yet another roving from Holly Spring Homespun. 

It is the Topaz and Opals colorway and I am once again stunned at Kathy's talent of putting colors together that I would never imagine to.  I love this yarn.  And here's a close up of a small portion of the skein:

Lovely isn't it?  Now there was one major highlight to the weekend...These arrived:

Speeding Away

Oh yeah, we are cruising along here at Purl Side's domain...My Jaywalker sock is growing.  I swear, this sock really is addictive. It's a struggle to stop knitting on it. Why isn't their a warning on the ball band???  No one told me this stuff is made with velcro in its fiber content. 

When reading everyone's blog about how "fun" it is, and how quickly they are knitting it, I thought it was because Cara set the bar so high. After all, she's now on her 9th pair!  I swear this woman doesn't sleep, eat or work...You know that dustbunnies are taking over her house on everthing but the STR stash and needles. 

I understand, though, really ...everytime I have to do something, I'm constantly saying," just let me do one more row." Hey, I'm knitting circularly on DPNs...I'm not lying, it's just one continuous row!!! To hell with it, I've been wanting to hire a maid...Will she cook and do laundry too? 

And Ms. Marley...she's not sure if she's digging the growth of the Jaywalker. She says it gives her what she defines as a Dr. Suess "Cat in the Hat" look:

Yet, she recognizes the mighty power the Jaywalker has on the knit blogging world and willingly submits to it:

We've just left Flap St., turned on Heel Ave.,  and started crossing Gusset Grove...Heading toward Instep Way...

Then I Guess

Thanks everyone for your comments and emails regarding my trip to NY City.  I'm looking forward to it and keeping notes on the "must see" suggestions you provided!  Thank You!

Shall we play a game (You know you are dated if you read the last sentence with a particular computer like voice in your head)...I will show you a picture and you try and figure out what it is! And for those knitting folks that have been sick of looking at nothing but spinning and dyeing...there's some knitting involved in this!!!

First up--What is this?

You got love the boys in "Brown" (UPS). They deliver even when the government employee postal carriers have the day off. So what do you think this is for?  If you guessed this:

...then you are right.  It is the Dale of Norway Torino 2006 Olympic sweater. Now you know that I've really lost all my marbles since I'm going to attempt this one. Maybe I've been inhaling too much Wilton's cake dye... What am I thinking?  But I really want to knit a Dale and I really wanted it to have some significance.  So I will be doing the dark navy blue version of Torino.  Or try too.  There is no way that I'm going to have this done anytime soon, so as my way to celebrating the 2006 Olympic games in Torino, I will officially start this on February 10th while watching the opening ceremony.  Hey, maybe I'll have it done by the time the summer games comes around in Beijing, right!!!  I just saw today that Stephanie is starting an Olympic knit along...but since the objective is to have something done by the end of the Olympics, I will not be joining.  So any of you out there that are wanting to do Torino at a non-Olympic pace but starting during the Olympics, then join along!

Second--What is this?

Hmmm seems like sock yarn...and it is, but the best sock yarn I've ever felt.

Yep, Blue Moon Socks that Rock in the Carbon colorway...so you know what that means...Yep:

As Marley is showing (Is she a ham or what!), I've joined the whole Jaywalker stampede...er, knit along!  I finally got my hands on some of this yarn. It really does live up to all the talk.  I've been wanting to do the Grumperina's Jaywalker socks for awhile.  I realized after starting them today that I got the "smaller" skein of 325 yards. As most of you know, there are many people that have run out of yarn using this skein for Jaywalkers, so Blue Moon started making the larger 360 yd skein for all of us Jaywalkers.  Well, evidently they started doing this right after I had bought mine.  I don't think I will have this problem, as I have size 6 feet. According to all the talk, any socks for size 7.5 and under, can usually get both socks from one skein of 325 yds.  I'm crossing my fingers. Unfortunately, I bought this size for a couple of people's gifts and I'm praying they have small feet too!!!

Third--What is this?

This was this (The tightly braided Wilton's black roving):

and plyed into this:

The colors are a bit wacked out in this. It is closer to the upper picture in color, a light-turquoisey green color.  The dark purple actually looks very heathery and more dark gray spun in there with the green.  It really is pretty and I'm looking forward to doing the other braided one to see if there is any difference in color since it dyed differently being braided lightly.

A State of Bliss

April 4, 2006.  Purl Side will be in NY for the first time. Yes I know that's sad. I live so close.  Most of my friends have lived there or visit there regularly. Me, I've never "made" it there...Quit singing that damn song!

Well, I'm going to "make" it there. And with a huge bang. On April 4th, for the opening night of the first show in the U.S. I will stop the hands of the clock, and possibly might set the clock back quite a few years...OK over a decade...and be witnessing the sold out performance of the guitar God himself.  I will in a complete "state of bliss," I will be sadly probably be seeing the last tour of this man:

OK...so he won't look like this on stage, he'll be looking more like this:

But I bet you it will still sound as good!

Yep, Purl Side will be at Radio City Music Hall.  One of only four venues David Gilmour will be playing in the U.S.  (For those of you in the not-knowing, Dave is the lead singer of Pink Floyd.--You would be surprised at how many people that don't know this...Or maybe I'm just getting old and shouldn't be so surprised--Yikes!) We won't talk about how much it cost me to get good seats to see the man, but let's just say, it's a hell of a lot of yarn. (And a extremely understanding and awesome husband.)

Sorry for the lack of a fiber related post, but right now, I've enjoyed a few too many glasses of wine, still reveling in my acquirement of tickets and don't have to work tomorrow.  So stayed tuned tomorrow and we might be back to normal.

Also, if anyone has any ideas on "must see" places in NY for my first visit, suggestions or tips--Throw me a bone.  We'll be going for Sunday night through a Weds.  Not a whole lot of time, but hoping to take in as much as possible. Ideas for decent hotels close to Rockerfeller Center would be appreciated too!

Shine On!

We Don't Need No Education

The gig is up...We're busted...Rebekah, how did you know?

Heh, heh! How funny is it that Marley is sitting like that on her bum while strattling the couch arm.

OK kiddies...Today we will start lab class for Wilton's 101. First, I'd like to thank Liz for being my schoolmaster and teaching me how to dye wool with Wilton's cake dye. I too am a very visual learner, and didn't trust just having a go at it all by myself, from what little information was out there on the net. Thanks Liz!

Even though we used many different fibers, we always had a batch of Domestic wool top (roving) in each pot.  If you are in the area, I get this by the ounce at Springwater Fiber Workshop here in Old Town.  They also have a merino wool top.  Merino is twice the price but much softer in texture.  Word of warning, Merino will felt a lot easier though, so it must be treated extra gently.  For today's class I will dye the last of my Domestic top with some Corridale top.  We will be doing the color "violet." With the Domestic we bought, the top is folded in half length wise before it was wrapped on the bundle that you buy it from. It will stay like this during dyeing. You could unfold it, but I like it folded because it causes the dye to variegate more and make a color change. Certainly you can open it up (unfold it) and dye that way if you want. Here's what it looks like, the left side is with it opened up a bit:

Prepare the wool however you want. I usually use much longer pieces of roving for a batch. But for demo purposes, I'm doing a small amount of each. You can weigh your ounces to be exact.  For large batches I do about 3-4 oz at a time. This time I didn't weigh it, but it's about two feet lengths. I prefer tying a very loose gigantic knot in the roving or coiling it up on itself a bit.  This time I also did an example of the crocheted chain I talked about yesterday. If I was using a longer roving I tie a loose knot  in the middle and coil up some of the extra around it or make two large loose knots.  Play around and see what you like the most. I like both, some I've found the chain tuns out better, others I like knots, and still some I like just straight and dumped in.  That's what's fun with experimenting:

OK, fill a pot up about half way with hot water.  Then pour a couple "glugs" of distilled white vinegar into the water.  (I'm estimating that it's about half a cup or so.) I don't know really how much should be added, but it works for me.  Vinegar adds acidity and helps the dye stay locked in and help prevent  heavy bleeding. I've read that some people have had luck without using any vinegar. Me, I'd rather not chance it.  I now am a regular at my grocery store buying gallon jugs of vinegar.  My grocer thinks it's nuts I'm sure.  Especially seeing me doing this three times in the past week.

You want start bringing the water to an almost boil.  You will be able to tell when that is about to happen. There will be bubbles starting to burst  on the edges and steam is starting to really come off the surface. You can add your dye at anytime so drop it in:

As you can see this is a bit of a heaping 1/8th a teaspoon.  I'd make it more heaping if I was doing more wool. This too you will get a feel for. Actually, this was probably a bit too much for how much I was dyeing, but I liked the result so that's all that matters!

As you can see the water is turning colors, but those blobs down on the bottom are dye that has yet to dissolve.  Stir that up and the water will get much darker. Make sure you stir and see what it looks like before you decide to add more.

Now the fun part...Once it just starts to boil. Turn the heat down to low. I use #2 on the dial of my gas stove.  Then drop your wool in and gently push it down into the dye. Don't stir it around, you want to keep it from felting.

I push it down and get it all submerged and make sure the areas in the knots are allowing dye in (I usually poke in the knots with a spoon handle to open them a bit to make sure liquid is able to get in. If you did the knot loosely, this is easy to do.  I don't play too much with it or hold it down.  I submerge it by poking a few times and let it float back to the top.  I think this allows the wool to pull in colors differently in areas and adds variation.  If you were looking for a more solid, completely dyed roving. Use small sections, don't coil it up too much, and hold it evenly down in the dye for awhile; make sure all areas are getting even coverage.  You might still have areas that soak up more dye or certain colors, but it will be less so this way.

Let it soak until the dye is exhausted and the water looks clear.  You will see it change before your eyes when it going through the stages of exhausting. Some colors haven't always exhausted all the way. Our violet this time left some blue in the water but it was clear enough that I think it was exhausted as much as needed or would.

Next you are going to wash and rinse it.  Remember friction and over aggressive handling can cause the wet wool to felt.  I don't have a double sink, so I use the sink and a very large bowl for this process.  I have in the large bowl the hottest water I can get from the tap mixed with a swirl of mild dishwashing soap and another couple of glugs of vinegar. (You want to avoid extreme temp changes that will promote felting.) Use rubber gloves to protect your hands from any possible left over dye and the hot water. I then carefully submerge it in the bath to let the soapy water run through it, agitating it as little as possible. Don't get too freaked out that it will felt.  I am just anal and super cautious.  I want it in the best condition possible when it comes out, and hate doing more predrafting work than necessary.

I then carefully pour this out and press it up against the side of the bowl to get out a good amount of the soapy water.

Now I set the bowl aside and fill up a my sink with a few inches of just fresh hot water. Then slide the roving from the bowl in.  And I again submerge and smoosh lightly and let water soak in and out of it. Make sure that the roving is running clear and not bleeding. Note, red is a very volatile color and will most likely bleed a bit.  When dyeing the color red, I have to do a couple of extra rinses.   

I then pull the plug on the drain and then slide the roving to the side of the sink and gently press out the excess water.  I then refill the bowl with hot water for one more final rinse. When picking up the fiber from the sink to transfer it into the bowl of water, support the whole clump.  You don't want it pulling apart.  Also, I like slipping it into already prepared water as oppossed to putting it in the bowl then filling it up.  This again avoids any agitation.

OK...now dump the water and squeeze again...Now meet the secret weapon.

Yep, a salad spinner.  This makes life so easy.  Dump your wool in the salad spinner. Give it some good twirling action to get the initial water out and dump that water out afterward. At this time, you can carefully undo your knots and get a first reveal of some of the colors that developed. 

Woo hoo...looking good. Now keep spinning and dumping the excess water until there is practically nothing left. The dryer it gets, the better...And the faster it dries so it can be fondled! It also prevents dripping and any weight develping at the ends.  If you don't have a spinner, squeeze out excess water and roll it up in a towel and gently smoosh to get the excess out .  I think the spinner is worth going out the store and picking up.  It's my buddy and a whole lot easier and less abrasive on the wool.

Now...pull out your roving and gently spread it out and unfold any creases.

Here's what we got! (The braided one is on the right).

And on the other side:

Notice the when opening the crease on the Domestic, it is lighter and different shades.  Sometimes you will find starburst effects in there too.  When spinning, this lighter color will perfectly draft in with the colors on the other side giving a pretty soft blended effect of several colors.

Now just hang them up to dry. It usually only takes overnight. I often fluff them out some as they get more dry.  Also, sometimes it easier to undo the fold after it's been hanging and dried out a bit instead of right after you pull it out of the spinner.

Wasn't that easy!  (And please ignore all the dust on that shelf!-ugh!)

Hopefully, that is explained well enough. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Also, if you have tried this method and have any tips...Let me know!!! I haven't tried this with yarn yet, but I am itching to do so.  You know, all for the sake the of research of course! Lastly, if you do try this, email me and let me know your results. I'd be glad to post a pic or link to your results!

***NOTE- How long were you people going to let me go before telling me I was spelling "dyeing" as "dying" instead!!!! ????  DEAD WOOL!***