I bought a new desk, with hutch and file cabinet the other day.

I took my workstation from this monstrosity…

…to this.

Big improvement, eh? Especially the tangle of wires being GONE.

abc-along stuff | 5 Comments »

So the other night I wanted to see how the 2 Kool Aid flavors I got would look on the boring pale green yarn. I took a small bit of the yarn and took 2 baggies, mixed some of each flavor, and popped them with the yarn in the microwave. I did 3 packets of the lemonade and only 2 of the mango, and I only microwaved for 2 minutes, so I’m sure I can get more vibrant results.

On the left, we have the original color. In the center, the lemonade, which has certainly pumped up the green to a happier place. The right, the mango, which is a little muddy, but again, only used 2 packets and 2 minutes of heat.

I know there’s concern about dyeing knitted pieces rather than just yarn so I should have knitted swatches, and still might.

The weird thing is, the lemon one has made a stiff, crackly yarn, and the mango is still pretty soft. So if using the lemon, will have to rinse/wash and block a second time. Also, the concern of shrinkage has me thinking that I will use the microwave method the whole time, and not a pot of hot water, which might felt it more.

So the verdict: if I do this, it will probably be with the lemon. I sure have enough green sweaters, but the lemon seems the least likely to cause extreme blotchiness, and it’s readily available down the street.

Knitting Stuff | 4 Comments »

Finishing a deadline late last week meant that I could get in some knitting on the weekend, and I’m nearly done with the back of the Lush and Lacy. I’m not sure what I’m thinking, knitting a Spring sweater out of alpaca (I tend to be warmer than most people), and I’m still not loving the color, but Michelle gave me the idea to dye and I think I will. I want to dye it with Kool Aid since I want a bright happy color anyway, and I’d rather use something fairly non-toxic as I don’t have any big extra pots and I don’t care if I dump this in a soup pot, it’s food after all.

I  had already started the sweater, so instead of dyeing yarn skeins I will be dyeing knit pieces (before sewing) - anyone have any good luck with kool aid and dyeing complete garments?

Now the problem is what color, and finding the Kool Aid. Seems every store in my neighborhood carries only the sweetened kind but I managed to find the packets of only 2 flavors in a local supermarket. Not the ones I’d hoped for, I wanted blues or greens, but you know yellow and orange are the colors for Spring around here.

I bought a few packets to experiment before picking a color. If they turn out awful on the pale green, I might have to resort to Ebay to get other packets. Looks like a dyeing experiment might happen around here tonight, folks.

Knitting Stuff | 3 Comments »

I’ve really been too swamped with work to knit much, but when I do, I’m just getting bored with finishing old projects. Yes, I know I should. Yes, I do need to get them out of the yarn bags and whittle away at the bulk. But I’m also into stash busting lately, so I’m trying to feed my ADD and desire to get rid of all the yarn by starting every new project I can. And so, we have:

Startitis #1, the next hourglass, out of 3 year old Rhinebeck Alpaca. This the one I started twice due to supposed twisting. Damn thing still twirls on the needles but I know it straightens out. It’s mindless boring TV knitting, and yet I can’t seem to get further than this.

Startitis #2, a sock. A plain old sock out of Knitpicks Essential. I needed a subway/office project. No pattern being followed, just some cute twisty ribs.

Startitis #3, started last night. I’ve had this Elann Pure Alpaca forever. ForEVAH. I kept changing my mind what to do with it, and finally decided to use half or less (I have 20 of these suckers) for the cute Lush and Lacy Cardigan that everyone is queueing on Ravelry. It’ll be a cute spring sweater - but I can’t help feeling a little bit like I am over these muted colors and wish it was a bright happy green. This sage/asparagus/avocado is so 5 years ago. But whatever. It’ll be cute. If it gets beyond this stage. Man, just started items are really boring to look at.

I hope after the nightmare that is my 56 page magazine supplement is done today, one of these items might grow a bit. Which one will it be?

Knitting Stuff | 3 Comments »