The past few months, I’ve been knitting more socks. Including my latest one: Knitting socks includes using various knitting techniques — and different sock knitting instructions. My own adaptions, of course. Sock knitting does lead to odds and ends of sock yarn. Too small for a large project. I just can’t bring myself to toss out perfectly good yarn. Even if it is only an ounce or less. Periodically, I look for ways to use my stash of leftover yarn. After a long cold winter, when the colors outside are mostly browns and grays it’s nice to pull out some colorful yarn. And... (Read More ...)

My current project is: knitting a purse. It’s been challenging, because I’m making the pattern as I go.  Always an adventure! And because the yarn is, well, different. It’s rayon spun into a lace weight yarn. However, the individual fibers of the yarn slide past each other instead of staying in a twist. Plus, as I knit, they untwist. Which means the individual fibers tend to separate. Instead of staying twisted and knitting nicely, the individual strands tend to loosen. So I don’t always catch them as I’m knitting the stitch. When I do find them, it can be several... (Read More ...)

When reading about dyeing wool yarn, the instructions usually say to dye the yarn before you knit it. Since I wasn’t sure how much my project would take, I decided to finish the baby jacket first, then dye it. Baby Surprise Jacket before dye I used Kool Aid and food coloring for a nontoxic dye, and am happy with the results: Baby Surprise Jacket after dye The dye looks as even as dyeing the wool first, both inside and outside. I first soaked the jacket for 20 minutes in cold water with white (distilled) vinegar. It took 1-1/2 quarts of water to cover the jacket in the pot. After 20... (Read More ...)

When you buy enough yarn to finish a project, there’s often some left over. The alternative, however, is to not have enough yarn.  Which can be even more frustrating … especially if you’re trying to match dye lots.  Or, if you’re blessed with hand-dyed, maybe there is no more of that dye lot. After a project, sometimes there’s just not enough of a ball left to hold its shape.  Leaving it unwound invites all kinds of tangled messes before you can use it. For years, I rewound yarn the way I was taught as a child.  You may have been taught the same way: wind around... (Read More ...)