Worsted Weight Yarn Blanks

I had a fantastic time at the North Country Spinners Fibre Fallout. I'll do a post just on the weekend later, but I wanted to show you all the worsted weight socks I dyed after my class (we had some extra time and a few extra blanks, so we played with color and design), using the blanks that Kim Haibeck (Yarnsanity) made specially for the weekend. I have another blank, dyed in just stripes that I will cast on soon. The dye pattern was inspired by Kim's sock blank, which I also worked on over the weekend (and finished at my motel in Newark the night before I flew home).

The blank was 100 gr of superwash worsted weight yarn, which is not quite enough to knit an entire pair of adult socks. I dyed a contrasting 50 gr ball of plain yarn for the cuff/heel/toe. These are size 8 1/2, with a couple of inches of blank left, and slightly less than half of the 50 gr ball left over. The combo would be enough to knit pretty much any size adult socks.

My generic worsted weight pattern uses 48 sts on size 5 needles.

Oh, I didn't really try to match the stripes (it was a single-strand blank), but man, they came out beautifully anyway.

Kim sent me one of her dyed fingering weight sock blanks (2-strand). Everyone was fascinated with the colors and style, and they all oohed and aahed all weekend (I did too- I absolutely love this).

I cast on the mate last night. Most of my knitted things end up as gifts, but these two pairs? Mine mine mine.

Workshop Samples

I'll be heading to Hope, NJ in a few weeks, to teach a series of dyeing workshops at the North Country Spinner's Fibre Fallout. This will be my second appearance there, and I'm really looking forward to it.

In addition to teaching my graduated color band class

and the spiral dyeing class

I've added two new workshops. A Watermelon Sock Blank class

and a class on dyeing worsted weight blanks (which I had knitted up specially for the class by my friend Kim Haibeck of Yarnsanity).

It's going to be such fun!

After while, crocodile...

Sit down...

Are you sat?

I've been knitting...

I know, whoda thunk? But I have proof.

 The Kristie Lee socks, colorway named after my friend Kris, who dyed the sock blank when she was here in October.

 The Jane Liz socks, colorway named after another friend, who wasn't in New Jersey when I dyed the yarn in my workshop.

 The Katie Mittens. Katie also wasn't in New Jersey. I love how the colors progress.

There was just enough of the Katie yarn left to do accent stripes in another pair of mittens.

But even more shocking than knitting, I've been doing some crocheting!

A friend posted this pic on my Facebook page, #1 because she knows adorable when she sees it, and #2, she thought I might be interested in making them.

My good friend Google provided the pattern link, which I posted on Facebook. I really wasn't interested in making those specific booties, but other friends were.

Though I wasn't interested in making those booties, because, you know, I don't crochet very much, the stitch intrigued me. And it kept intrigueing me, until I gave in yesterday and swatched...

 The written stitch pattern that I found wasn't very good- it left out steps and was, in general, confusing, so I'm not going to link to it (or name the author). I was able to figure it out pretty well on my own, and there are You Tube videos for the stitch. My Crocodile Scales aren't staggered, but still, they came out well.

The scales are heavy and time consuming, but oh so cute. I decided to work 3 rows of 6 scales for a mitten cuff, then I sewed the cuff together, and picked up 48 sts and finished knitting the mitten in my usual way.

I'm delighted. And after I finish the mate, I'm going to try some more scaley designs.

Oh the yarn- it's Decadent Fibers Cookie Dough in the Salsa colorway- wool and mohair. Totally yummy.

Bits and pieces

Mostly non-related pictures and comments.

 I finished knitting the socks from the sock blank that I dyed in class at the Fibre Fallout in New Jersey. I love love love how they came out, and I doubt I'll be able to resist wearing them (usually, I save class samples for the next class... as, you know... samples). These are just too cool not to show off next week at SAFF.

I finished the water on the current needlepoint project, and learned to my dismay, that 20 year old DMC floss #415 is not the same shade as new DMC floss #415. I don't know if the floss darkened in storage (in a plastic tub, wrapped around a cardboard bobbin), or if the shades really are different, or (most likely) if I wrote the wrong number down on the bobbin. In any case, I used at least seven different grays in the water, so it doesn't matter a whole lot in the long run. I just have the sky left, which will be slightly darker than the water, and will fade to a purpley gray (all new floss, so I don't have to worry about shade differences).

Our leaves are gone now, but they sure were purty while they lasted. I have a feeling that the Asheville leaves will be gone by the time I get there too. Oh well, there is so much more to see and do than leaf peeping, so I'm not too distressed about it.

Speaking of SAFF, most of my classes still have some openings and it's not too late to sign up. There's a link to the left of this page.

These are the other yarns I dyed in the New Jersey classes. The two at the bottom are the same dye lot (graduated color band), just wound from opposite ends of the skein. The other ball will knit up in spiral stripes. I'm excited to knit them too.

 The corn harvest is in full swing here.

That's a whole lotta corn on the ground (and it's on the ground because the elevators are all full).

I just like the look of this corn fountain.

And finally, there was a moose spotted just outside my town. For the record, moose do not live in South Dakota, at least not in my part of the state. But by cracky, one passed through.

See? Proof.

Yarn on the Hoof

Pretty pictures of assorted yarns in the making, including the Baby Yak, who won't achieve full size for 7 years. One picture was taken in The Black Hills of South Dakota, the rest were in New Jersey. Can you guess which one?

The Scenery

I am never going to get caught up, plus I'm leaving tomorrow for another short trip that will probably involve no internet access... My life, one adventure after another.

Anyway, I thought I'd share some scenery pictures because Northwestern New Jersey specializes in amazing scenery. I was not able to catch shots of the winding roads, the tall trees covering the roads, the stone farm houses and barns, or the hex symbols painted on some of the wooden barns. But I did get pics of the camp ground, and man, it was beautiful. (It was also humid- something I was not expecting. Yarn dyed on Saturday did not dry until I got home on Monday... that kind of damp).

 This was the view from the lodge dining room deck. Not bad, eh?

 This is the lodge deck.

 The leaves changed as I watched.

 Pretty little wild flowers.

 Changing leaves.

 Leaf strewn paths.

 Stone fireplace on the lodge.

 Common area of the lodge (the next morning, it was filled with spinning wheels).

 Tall skinny trees.

 Fungus!

 Lichen! (or Moss!)

 It rained a little.

 More changing leaves.

 Pretty.

 My cabin.

 Old cabins from the camp.

 Mossy rock!

 Acron cap!

Foggy morning on the lake.

If I can, I'll post more before we leave tomorrow.