Yarn to dye for

A few months ago, the only yarn I owned which was not factory-spun and machine-dyed was a skein of Hipknits hand-dyed cashmere/silk blend, which I got for resubscribing to Yarn Forward - I wrote a post about it called 'The Adventures of the Blue-Green Skein'.

Then I joined the UK RAK group on Ravelry. Not only is it full of very kind and generous people, but many of them are very talented spinners and dyers, too - like Kristina (AKA Wyndwitch), who created the Heather yarn for me. Now I am in the enviable position of having a whole bagful of hand-dyed (and frequently handspun) yarn.

First I received (from Caroline, AKA craftyfox) a raspberry-coloured skein of the Hipknits, which is sill being wound up and untangled. The stuff is like Velcro to wind, but that also means it clings together when knitted or crocheted, to make a wonderfully smooth fabric.

Then, out of the blue, I received this wonderful package from Zoe, AKA woolbird:

Among the goodies is a large skein of the softest yarn I have ever felt, hand-dyed by Zoe in a wonderful range of shades of violet.

This lovely parcel was from Jaana, AKA Muoriska, in Lapland, and was part of a challenge - we had to post a yellow parcel (put your sunglasses on before you click that link!). Among the other lovely things I received was a skein hand-dyed by Jaana, in gorgeous flame colours of orange and yellow.

Next was another total surprise, from Lucy, AKA LucyJ, and included a skein of Blue-Faced Leicester wool from her own flock, commercially spun, but hand-dyed in a fabulous variegated purple called 'Fizzy Grape':

By this time I had also purchased a green/magenta/copper skein of English DK, hand-dyed by my extremely talented friend Otiva, AKA Patricia, of Yummy Yarns UK on Etsy. I can't show you that just now, because it''s being made into an item for this month's RAK Challenge - but a photo will be forthcoming soon! Anyway, she very kindly asked me if I would make something up in one of her handspun, hand-dyed yarns, so that she could show visitors to her shop what the yarn looks like once knitted. I jumped at the chance, and she sent me a skein of 4-ply Shetland wool. I immediately christened it 'Raspberry Ruffles' - it has the pink of the raspberry centre, the brown of the chocolate, and the dark pink (and, originally, green) of the wrappers!

By the way - if you click that link, I am not responsible for any damage that may be done to your credit card. I've used them a lot, and they're a great firm!

I am about two-thirds of the way through the Eliina shawl with it. She also sent me a cake of brown Ecology Shetland, which will be used for the deep lace border:

I don't know what it is about Shetland - it seems to have a liveliness to it that almost knits itself. I think it's magic....

At the same time, Kristina (Wyndwitch), of Flutterby Creations, asked me to road-test a hand-dyed sock yarn for her. It was a hard decision, as she has some amazing Terry Pratchett-inspired colourways, but eventually I settled on 'Paint It Black':

The red actually looks a little orangey here. It's more of a cherry red. The other photo is a little closer:

I really love the way the stripes are forming in this, with the wider 'flashes' of black punctuating the thinner stripes.

I am very lucky in all my talented and generous friends, and I am very happy to have discovered the joys of handspun and hand-dyed yarns!

The next big thing!

A quick plug for my friend's book, and the excellent website it's on.

Authonomy.com is a website set up by Hodder to 'flush out new talent'. It's a site for wannabe writers to upload their work, and read and critique the work of others. Most importantly, once a month the editors at Hodder will read and consider the 5 most popular books.

There are hundreds of books there, if you don't mind reading online, and you could even spot the new big thing! Speaking of which, I really want to plug my dear friend Amery's book on this site, The Living and the Dead: The Awakening, which is an urban fantasy.

You can register, read and comment without having to upload your own writing.

It was all yellow....

On the UK RAK group on Ravelry, we have started a monthly game where, every month, we agree to send a RAK parcel to a partner on a specific theme. The theme for March was 'Yellow', and I decided to make three of the things in my parcel.

It was only when I put them together that I realised how different the colours were, and how each colour affected the others.

First came the neon yellow doily, crocheted from thread sent in the RAK parcel which came to me, all the way from Lapland (we're not all in the UK!):

This really is yellow - just photographing it on a blue surface is making it look greenish, but I can assure you it isn't!

Next were these vibrant yellow crocheted mitts:

And lastly, the yellow crocheted flower brooch:

(Why, yes, I am having a bit of a crochet binge at the moment. Funny you should ask....)

And then I put them all together to put into the envelope...

....at which point my yellow items became a cream flower, orange mitts and a green doily.

I love colour, but it drives me mental!

Stop Press!

I can now tell how spaced out I was yesterday - I completely forgot my most exciting news!

My very clever friend Kristina dyes yarn and batts for sale in her shop, Flutterby Creations (including a wonderful range inspired by Discworld characters!). She announced a competition last week on her shop blog, where you could win your own design of yarn. I was thrilled to see I was banned from entering - because she was already designing one in my honour!

It's a gorgeous, springlike blend of yellow, lavender and grey, and you can see it for sale on her site.

Mine is in the post. I am so thrilled :)

Stop, thief!

Merlin is becoming more devious and mischievous with every passing day.

Not content with every knitted case I've made for things in the past year, his mousie, his tassel, and various paper balls, he has become a sneak thief.

Wondering where one of my mascots has gone, I find it under my bed, distinctly soggy, and ragged round the edges.

I sit quietly with my knitting (not often, granted, but I do get the chance sometimes), minding my own business - and a little paw comes snaking onto the table, and steals my notions bag.

I put my knitting down, and a black streak shoots past and disappears with my ball of yarn.

Yarn retrieved, I go to pick up my knitting again - only to find he's had that away, too.

And this week, I have had to transfer my imminent-project yarn from the lovely lavender tote, in which it has sat unmolested for several years (not always the same yarn, I hasten to add - although, come to think of it....), into a zipped holdall, because Someone has discovered he can hop up next to it, and find a huge supply of new woolly balls.

He looked very indignant when I zipped the holdall and stopped his games, but there's a limit to how long I can watch my precious hand-dyed, hand-spun goodies disappearing out of the door and down the corridor, trailing between his scampering feet - and it's about 0.1 of a second.

Poor Merlin. As we say to him countless times a day - 'It's a good job you're cute'....

Scrunchie doll

I'm feeling pretty brain-dead today - I enjoyed a Quaker Meeting for Worship at my home on Sunday, but it wiped me out yesterday (hence the lateness of this entry), and I'm about at the end of my energy today - so I'm giving you another free pattern.

This one is from SlipKnot issue 112 (June 2006), and gives a cute and very kitsch way for little girls to store their hair scrunchies - as a tutu on a little ballerina.

You need some kind of small doll for this - I used an Impkins doll which I bought on eBay.

Although I give a scrunchie pattern here, there are loads online. Try Crochet Pattern Central (always a good source of crochet patterns), or the Ravelry pattern search.

Because there are so many suitable small dolls available, this is more of a guideline than a pattern!

Scrunchie Doll

You will need a small amount of plain yarn and a scrap of ribbon for the body, and a hair elastic and some eyelash yarn for the scrunchie. Use needles and hooks which are suitable for the yarn you choose.

Using the plain yarn, cast on enough stitches to go around half the body, with a provisional cast on. Work in stocking stitch for length needed to gusset.

Decrease 1 st each end of the next 4 rows, then increase 1 st each end of following 4 rows.

Work up the back straight for the same length as the front, and do not cast off.

Undo the provisional cast on, and thread a thin ribbon through the stitches. Put the strip of knitting in place on the doll, and thread the ribbon through the last row of stitches. Pull up and tie in a bow.

To make a crochet garment, work in double crochet (US - treble crochet), following the instructions above. Thread the yarn through the stitches in the first and last rows.

To make the scrunchie, I used an oddment of eyelash yarn, which makes it very fluffy and full:

UK version:
Round 1: dc closely around the elastic band and sl st closed.
Round 2: (ch4, miss 1 dc, dc into next dc) to end, then (2ch, 1 tr) to close.
Round 3: (ch6, dc in next ch4 loop) to end, (ch6, sl st) to close.

US version:
Round 1: tr closely around the elastic band and sl st closed.
Round 2: (ch4, miss 1 tr, tr into next tr) to end, then (2ch, 1 dtr) to close.
Round 3: (ch6, tr in next ch4 loop) to end, (ch6, sl st) to close.

Merlin!

Well, we certainly know we have another cat!

It's not just the talking, or the thundering down the hall like a herd of elephants, or even the destructiveness - it's his absolutely unshakeable belief that, whatever we are doing, we cannot possibly accomplish it unless he helps. My books all have teeth marks. My yarn has all had to be securely fastened into containers he can't open - and he's already working on zips. I had to abandon half a yoghurt today because I couldn't get my spoon past his head.

He has a fascination for anything knitted. So far he has abducted my inhaler bag (complete with inhaler - we can't find it anywhere), my glasses case and my MP3 player cosy. He throws them around, drags them into a corner, and then growls over them.

I can't knit or crochet, because he drops onto my chest every time I start, and tries to run away with my project. He chews my hair, claws my chin, and makes my arm ache by refusing to sleep in any other position than draped over my elbow.

And you know what?

I wouldn't change him for the world :))

He makes me laugh so much, especially when Richard gets him chasing the laser pointer. He has woken Chloe up and given her a new lease of life - they play together several times a day, and seem to get on amazingly well. And he is the softest, cuddliest kitten I've had apart from Tigger (and let's face it, Tigger was a one-off). He has us wound quite securely around his huge black paw, and he knows it :)

Richard has photos and two video clips at his Flickr site, but this is my favourite:

Merlin says: 'So, let's see - inhaler bag, check; catnip mouse, check; Mum's ability to say no to me, check...'

Extra, extra! - revisited

I wrote on Monday:

I've now got my copy of Simply Knitting 51, and I notice the sizes on Spring Leaves, the lace tunic, have been recalculated. I designed it for sizes 16 to 30, and it's been printed for 12 to 20.

I have no huge problems with this - it's their magazine, they're entitled to edit things to fit in better - but I thought it would be nice to reprint here the original pattern, for larger sizes. For copyright reasons, this is not the entire pattern - you will still need to buy the magazine for the stitch patterns. I don't want to break my contract, just provide some extra information...

It seems I posted a little hastily - what the magazine has done is relabel the sizes, not recalculate them, and so the pattern I published here is actually the same as the one in the magazine.

The editor assures me that the top I supplied as a 16 actually fitted a 12 perfectly, and was too small for a 14. That means that the pattern as written would actually fit the sizes with which the magazine labelled it. What happened I'm not quite sure - but obviously, for some reason, my tension measurements were out. Please take this as an example of the importance of measuring gauge accurately!

Thus I've taken down the pattern. The offer for the lace charts still stands, however, and if anyone would like the pattern in a larger size, let me know and I'll work it out for you.

As a footnote, I have received a pdf from Simply Knitting of my design in issue 53, which will fit bust sizes of 38 to 56 inches, and it looks wonderful. I hope you'll like it too.

Merlin

Here's the first photo of the darling boy, taken at the foster home. He hasn't stopped moving for long enough for a photo here yet :)

Chloe was mildly interested, and then stalked off in disgust.....

Good news, good news, and more good news!

I had a rotten week last week, for several reasons (including a replacement carer breaking my CD player and lying about it - that's sorted now, though), and I really needed some good news. Well, I've had it, in bucketsful!

First I found out that one of my patterns had been published in Simply Knitting 51 - I don't know where my contributor's copy went, but it will be nice to see it anyway (a kind fellow Raveler is sending me her copy). It's my favourite of the plus-size patterns, a lace tunic in Artesano Alpaca:

The lace pattern is the Beech Leaf lace pattern from Mary Thomas' Book of Knitting Patterns, and the bodice is garter stitch. There's a band of something called Star Stitch, also from Mary Thomas, at the empire line/start of the bodice.

I've also heard that a sleeveless jacket/gilet thing I made in Rowan Tapestry will be featured in issue 53. It's lovely to see all these items finally hitting the pages. I finished them all quite a while ago, but have had to wait for them to fit a theme before I see them in print.

On Friday I finally managed to find a sewing machine on Freecycle. I have been putting in claims for a while, and not being successful, and even putting in my own 'Want' ads hasn't helped. This time, though, I actually had two offers, and I am now the happy owner of a very lovely Jones electric machine - nothing wrong with it that a little cosmetic cleaning won't solve!

And the best news of all - we think we have found our kitten. Chloe has been so clingy and vocal that I finally realised she was actually missing Tigger much more than I thought, so we decided to get a new kitten which would, perhaps, stop her fretting. It took a long time to find one. Now that people spay and neuter their cats (hurrah for responsible pet owners!), there are a lot fewer unwanted kittens around. However, I have just been speaking to an RSPCA foster mum, who wants us to come and see Merlin tomorrow, to see if we like each other.

He is a black Siamese cross, about 12 weeks old, big paws, bat ears, flat nose - and very vocal! He has had his first vaccinations, but is happy to be a house cat (phew - I hated it every time Tigger went out!). He loves other cats, dogs, and especially people, and when he gets tired he snuggles down and sucks his blankie.... (She thinks he was probably taken too early from his mum.)

Richard is going to meet him and, hopefully, fetch him home tomorrow. Photos to follow. Please cross your fingers for us....