cosmicpluto knits!

a bit of knit and purl

It’s been a nice weekend. Staying in, doing some knitting, watching tv (the Tudors and just starting True Blood), eating.

I started a pair of plain socks out of Lorna’s Laces (colour: Cedar) and they’re going astonishingly fast! Well on the way to becoming the fastest pair of socks I’ve ever knit, actually. I started on Thursday night and was totally done one sock Saturday afternoon.

So today I started the second one and knit a couple of inches – the leg is pretty long on these, about 8 inches, and I got five inches done! They’re just top-down, gusset heel, 68 sts on 2mm double points. Mmm, comfort knitting.

But then the sock took a bit of a break because I started something else – a cowl out of leftover Malabrigo!

It’s just a really simple one, alternating bands of knit and purl. I need to write up a “master cowl” pattern for a class, it’ll have a couple different fits and then cast on numbers for different yarn weights. So I needed a bit of a practice cowl! It’s actually done now, but photos shall have to wait another day.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to eat some super sexy chocolate cake!

P.S. I’ve got a brand new, super cute wallet that I want to send to a loving home – click here if you need something new! Sold!

a new adventure

Megan (and her husband James) have been hard at work transforming the basement apartment of the store into a swish dye studio!

I’ve been down there dyeing yarns for the store for awhile now, but over the last couple weeks it’s really been transformed – it was a touch sketchy before, also, orange. And there was a fridge.

Why the new space? Why, workshops of course! I’ll be teaching dye workshops in wool/protein fibres and cotton/plant fibres all fall, pretty much every weekend (except Rhinebeck weekend – speaking of which, anyone need company?). Each class except for the handpainting cotton workshop is one session, three hours long. We’ll cover everything – safety, math, and different dyeing techniques.

It’s definitely a cozy space, so each class is limited to three people, at least for the time being. Once you’ve taken a class, you can even sign up for studio time and use our facilities to do your own thing!

The class schedule isn’t up on the website yet, but keep an eye out and it will be shortly. If you’re itching to find out more, email me and I’ll forward you the full schedule and details!

warning: blurry photos ahead.

Gahhhhh. Normally I use an old Olympus digital camera – 2.1 MP, no manual features, sloooow. But the photos come out fine, generally pretty clear and good colour. I’ve used another camera, a Sony Cybershot (DSC-T1) a few times before and had it be fine too. But lately all I can seem to get with it is shots like this:

It wasn’t even really low light, just not super sunny. I took shot after shot, holding my breath when I took the photo, resting my hands on my chair’s arm, etc. Very irritating. I think I’ll go back to my Olympus, thanks – unless someone can help me with this particular problem? It doesn’t even have a tripod mount.

Grey sleeves – Elann Highland Chunky. Super speedy – the second sleeve is already done (and that photo was taken earlier today). For a cardigan.

Blurry black alpaca starting to look like a sweater. Boring but a good standby knit (not that I really need more things to work on).

Last weekend I went to Goodwill in search of another crockpot – I found this:

But no actual crockpot! I’m being taunted.

Let’s see, what else is up…I desperately want to buy yarn. Dude, it’s not like I need more! Although I keep saying to myself that I don’t have much worsted weight wool at all (really, I only have one sweater’s worth, and it’s got a project attached to it) so I should really get some stuff for design playing. Yeah, that’s it.

I’ve also been thinking about the whole holiday pressie situation, and I think I know what I want to do (just a few bigger things). Buy the yarn now? That might lead to adding a few more skeins for myself…thus breaking the yarn diet. Hmmmm. Will have to think about this more.

whoops, it’s late again

I’m a night person – I like the house quiet and dark, and I tend to stay up late and sleep in. Tonight I went to the Victoria Day fireworks, then on the way back walked to Queen and Leslie, then a streetcar, subway, bus and walk later I was home. I was tired. But sleep? Nah. I plied up two bobbins instead (photos tomorrow).

I finally managed to finish the fronts of the Rowanspun jacket (needs a snappier name!) and I think they look pretty good. I’ve also started a sleeve, which being on the short side and straight, should go pretty fast.

Here are the results of the sock yarn dyeing (it was fun – maybe I should do more). I found it terribly difficult to get a good photo of the colour though, so you’ll have to take my word for it. It’s a pinky-purpley colour, with unexpected (although not unwelcome) flecks of blue. It’s quite varigated, and I quite like it!

Hopefully I’ll be able to get better photos of the colour once I start the actual sock project!

it is a good day to dye

I think this weekend shall be quite a dye-filled one.

I’ve got some merino from Denny to dye up – I’m going to dye it all, then give half to Denny and we’ll both spin it up and see how they compare. On the left there is a 225 g bag of merino/tussah (I’ve actually got two bags…shhhh) and on the right, sock yarn.

I bought the sock yarn to make the Traveler’s Stockings from Knitting on the Road – I love those socks! I couldn’t quite find the right colour though, so I bought some white to dye instead. Plus, I had this awesome leftover dyebath to use that was just right – I can’t for the life of me remember what went into it. I think it was a case of throwing roving into the pot, squirting some dye on it, and this mixed dye was what remained. In any case, the yarn’s already been dyed tonight (and I had to go and mess with this original awesome dyebath because I thought it wasn’t enough dye) and it looks awesome. Just perfect. Pictures soon!

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ooh, sparkly

On Monday dark-haired Megan and the lovely Denny came over for a few hours of dyeing – a bit rushed, but fun nonetheless. Unfortunately I don’t have pictures..there was roving, and two skeins of sock yarn for Megan, and some cool mohair locks. Denny left me with a whole bunch of nylon sparkle stuff for me to experiment with, and check it out:

Cool! I dyed these in small jars (pesto and relish!) in the crockpot, just a squirt of dye and a splash of vinegar in each. For the green, I just squirted some yellow and blue right onto the fibre and filled it up with water. It’s tough to convey the sparkly-ness of the nylon, but this might help.

For some reason all the dyed colours really, really remind me of this show I used to watch when I was a kid – I can’t remember what it was called, but it involved these three guys in a rock band. They looked like KISS, but had these crazy sparkly foil wigs in red, green, and blue. Does anyone know what the hell I’m talking about?

Anyway. A new yarnly project! I saw this on someone’s blog, although i can’t remember now – Denny, I think you’re going to love it:

It’s called soumak weaving, and I’m just using my Weavette as the frame and various handspuns. It’s super fun!