Friday, May 18, 2007

Mesilla Sans Embroidery


I finished Mesilla, after redoing the neck twice. The first time I didn't pick up enough stitches, so it was way too small. It came out smaller than the sleeves, actually. The second time, I increased stitches in the blue foldover part, so it would lie flat. Otherwise the folded over neck area seemed to curl over and wouldn't stay folded over. I may or may not still put on the embroidery.
I used Mission Falls cotton in Sea for the main color, and Jade, Wintergreen, and Dark Blue for the rest. I really liked using the Mission Falls, since it's really soft. I also got most of the yarn really cheaply on Ebay, otherwise I probably wouldn't have used this brand. The main thing I think I would change is too make it a little longer. Otherwise, it's a really comfortable sweater, and was pretty easy to knit.

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Kool Aid is Delicious




I tried Kool Aid dyeing the other day, with a skein of Knit Picks sock yarn. I actually wanted to use blues and greens, but it's impossible to find any other colors but red and purple. I think Kool Aid isn't that popular anymore. I never really liked it as a kid, because it tasted kind of weird to me. It's a little bit alarming that it dyes so brightly, since you'd be drinking these colors. Anyway, I used grape, tropical punch, and pink lemonade. The tropical punch was definitely the brightest, and the grape is more of a faded purple. I ran out of Kool Aid, since I was underestimating how much I'd need, but hopefully the white parts will blend in and look intentional. I used the tutorial on Knitty, which was really helpful. I hope the colors stay as bright, and the skein still smells like fruit. I'm still looking for a pattern to use, but I'm thinking about Roza's Socks from the Spring IK. Although I think that uses size 0 needles, so who knows.

Sunday, May 06, 2007

New Pet Attacks Yarn

I haven't been knitting as much lately, mostly because I got a new kitten about three weeks ago. He's extremely playful, so that's it's hard to even get a picture of him standing still. I also haven't felt much like writing, for whatever reason. It was hard getting the two cats to get along, because the orange one is very territorial. He still seems annoyed with the kitten sometimes, but they seem to be getting along now. I'm still working on all the same projects, Bonita, from last year's Interweave; Baudelaire, and Eunny's Deep V Argyle vest. They all seem to be taking forever, especially Bonita, which has been in the WIP pile since last year. I'm using size three needles with Knit Picks Shine, so two rows seems to take about an hour. I'm thinking I should have left off some of the side lace and only done the diamonds in the center. Oh well, hopefully it'll fit.