Pickled Sheep

Last year at Yarndale, my good friend Curly Girl Coop surprised me with a course in Yarn Dyeing. It was good messy fun, and I vowed I would do some more at home. You didn't need expensive items - undyed yarn, a microwave, some dyes and plenty of stuff to mop up the mess with! We experimented with a variety of dyes, from acid based to plain old food colouring. My efforts looked something like this...

 

and here's the actual piece of sheep I dyed. Look at those curls!

It was great to see how different materials soaked up the dye differently. I loved it, and my friend obviously knew this as for Christmas she bought me these beauties... 

Excuse the small hand, but she couldn't help rearranging the packets as I was trying to photograph them! That's a hank of aran weight merino yarn, and four colours of that American drink thing - Kool-Aid. Finally, 9 months later, I got started on yarn dyeing adventures. I took the opportunity whilst Little P was at nursery one afternoon, I most definitely did not need her help here!

I started by reading up on dyeing with Kool-Aid. It is acid-based, which helps to set the colour. Some dyes you need to add vinegar, but no need with this. I did read that some people added vinegar to the water when soaking the yarn to boost the acidity as it helps to keep the colour bright and vibrant. I did just this. 

When wool gets wet, it just smells like a wet sheep. I guess it essentially is that really. When wool is soaking in a mix of vinegar and water, it just smells like a pickled sheep. Luckily, when you burst open the sachets of Kool-Aid, all bad smells are covered up by a deliciously fruity aroma. I used 2 sachets of Kool-Aid in a small beaker of water and mixed it up well. I wanted my colours to be vibrant and not wishy-washy.

All set up and ready to go...

I laid out my hank in a hoop shape and decided to roughly colour each quarter a different colour and blend them at the joins... I toyed with the idea of just using red and orange as they blend so well... but plumped for going all out with the 4 colours. There are plenty of more opportunities for stylish yarn, this was pure fun!

Using a plastic syringe, I squirted the colours on, rubbing them into the yarn and making sure they all soaked in. You could squeeze out the excess liquid, but you would end up with paler coours. So mine was dripping with dye to keep it bright. So far so good. The next part was the tricky part for me. I carefully transferred the dripping yarn to a microwaveable deep dish thing, and covered it well with cling film. This was tricky to do, as I didn't want the colours to touch too much and become contaminated. Alas, with so much dye on it, that was impossible...

Microwaving the whole lot sets the dye. It's dead easy too. I just stuck it on high power for 5 minutes - you want it to boil and the water it's in to become clear. It had a bit longer after 5 minutes, but not too much as the cling film begins to look as if it is going to burst...

After it was cool enough to handle, I gave it a rinse. Phew, no colour leakage! Then I took a look at it. Mixed results - great bright colours, but lots of areas where colours had merged to create 'brownish' splodges...

As you can see, the bottom picture shows some of the contaminated areas. Hmm... On the plus side, there were also some lovely colours in there too... Time to dry it off on the washing line!

Once it was completely dried, I got out the trusty yarn ball winder and balled that thing up!

Now that's what I'm talking about! The dodgy colours get completely lost in the ball and you can't notice them at all.

Love it! Overall, very happy with the results in my first foray into dyeing with Kool-Aid. Would I do it again? You bet! I may like to try with a cotton yarn next time as I use those types much more. I'm not sure if cotton would work as well, but I'd like to try! 

Next question was what would I make with this? I'm not all that good at wearing wool, as it makes me itch, so a scarf or hat was out of the question. But I could probably handle some gloves, fingerless ones at that! I noticed my hands were getting a little nippy on the handlebars when biking Little P to nursery, so that would be perfect!

When I looked at this yarn, I really thought the star stitch may really show off the colours, so I made a swatch... sorry about the quality, but these two pictures are from my Instagram feed...

and here are the finished fingerless gloves, made following this free pattern by Hilah Kellner. 

I must say they are bright, but I somewhat love them. They aren't too itchy at all on my hands either. It is a very satisfying feeling knowing that not only have I crocheted these, but I've also the yarn, making them totally unique. I really enjoyed my adventures in yarn dyeing and hope to do some more soon, probably not until the New Year now, as it's a busy run up to, dare I say it, Christmas! 

Thanks for stopping by, until next time :)

The Adventures of Kiki

Wow, it's been another age since I last dropped in here. I have so many good intentions, and with Little P at nursery every afternoon for a while, I thought I'd have more time for things like this - but I seem to have less if anything! How does that work?
It's been another busy few weeks, settling the Little Lady into nursery routine, which she has finally got used to just as half term arrives! Also, adopting a 4 month old kitten from the RSPCA has eaten up a fair amount of my time. She is so lovely, such a nice temperament and great fun, but definitely scatty and crazy and keeps me on my toes. It's like having two children. I know there is a big cliche of cats and wool... but I guess I didn't entirely think that through when adopting Kiki! She goes crazy for it, absolutely nuts. she loves grabbing the balls in her mouth and making off with them. She looks as pleased as punch with herself too. It's made crochet difficult at best - I have scratches all over my hands from fending her off! I even designate a small ball of wool for her, but it's not as interesting as the one I'm currently using! And then there is batting the hook. Catching the dangling stitch markers. Emptying the stuffing all over the floor. Crochet is now a battle of wits with the cat, but it is also very funny I have to admit. My Instagram feed is mainly full of Kiki related catastrophes and woolly disasters at the moment.
Meet the Kiki, A.K.A. 'Squeaky' ...

There has been crafting... mainly crochet. First up, I finally managed to finish the 'As We Go Stripey Blanket' (pattern here)

As I have said before, it was a love-hate blanket. Love the pattern and colours, do not like the wavy edges. It is a well written pattern, and I'm glad I went for it, but it's not one with a 'flow' that you really get into and can carry on watching the telly whilst making, as you have to swap pattern every line almost, and do lots of counting and checking. Now it's finished, the wobbly edges bother me less as it is rarely laid out completely flat, but crumpled on the sofa, usually with a child or a kitten on it! It's had a lot of use already, in fact, the kitten is laid out on it right now.

I also made a few hats, as it is getting a bit cooler now, especially when I whizz Little P to nursery on the back of the bike. I had my eyes on a pattern for a while now - The All Grown Up Slouch Hat by Moogly and just needed to find yarn to go with it. I don't get on with wearing wool, I just itch, so wanted a cotton based yarn. I suddenly remembered a certain yarn I had squished in a John Lewis haberdashery once before - Rowan Softknit Cotton - an aran weight cotton blend which is super soft, non-itchy and in some yummy colours. After playing around with a colour palette, I settled upon these...

It's hard to get a picture that does it justice, as it looks very different when it's slouched on a head! I love love love the way the back-post double crochet makes 'ridges' around it, almost like rows of surface crochet...

I really love wearing it! Super snuggly! May have to make a snood to go with it. I would make everything out of this yarn if I could!
On the topic of hats, Little P brought two little friends home over a weekend from nursery. We had to do the usual - write in a little diary what we did with the cuddly toys and take pictures of the fun we had with them. First thing the Little Lady asked for was for me to make little hats for them... so obviously I did!

Two miniature MyBoshi's for two little nursery friends! When we returned them to nursery, I was commissioned by one of the staff to make a pink hat for a little girl who is undergoing chemotherapy and has lost all her hair. I was more than happy to do so, in fact I made 2. One earflap hat to keep her warm in winter, and a prettier one made from the super-soft leftover Rowan Softknit Cotton I used for my hat...

The top one is made from MyBoshi yarn and is a pattern I made up as I went along... I did take notes as I think Little P wants one too now! And the bottom one is made from Rowan Softknit Cotton and is from a pattern called Perenni and is available as a free Ravelry download. It's the second one I have made, and it's a lovely little hat. I really hope these fit the little girl they are going to, as it's not easy guessing sizes!
One of Little P's good friends turned 5 earlier this month, and I made her an 'E' shaped cushion, to match her sister's 'A' shaped one I made her earlier this year. I do like these chunky letters, but they are a bind to put together nicley! The instructions are so well written and diagrams help loads, which makes it a bit easier!

That's my Little Lady modelling it! They are fun things, and would love to make more, but I just can't do them too close, as they do test my patience a bit! If you fancy a go, patterns for all letters can be bought through Ravelry in the CAROcreated store.

I have been designing amigurumi again, in the form of a monster. My friend had a little boy earlier this month, and after a flurry of girl babies it was fun to make something boyish. I drew a few monsters in Little P's colouring book with wax crayons one morning and decided I would make one of them. I love making monsters, so much fun. I made up 'Spike' as I went along, (named Spike as that's what my friend would like to have called her little man if she had no boundaries!) and he turned out something like this...

I rather like him, although I think I would tweak his bottom a bit so he sits flatter and not so pear-shaped. That monster took ages due to the amount of time spent recovering balls of yarn from a certain kitten. Oh the joys!

I am conscious that this post is getting lengthy, and I'm getting tired, so I shall leave the second part for tomorrow. That is my adventures in yarn dyeing. Seems like ages ago, but only just got around to uploading photos and sorting them all out. So watch this space... yarn dyeing coming this way very soon!

To Bunt

It has been an age since I last fired up the laptop and got to this point of sitting down and preparing to write. It's also been an age since I turned the laptop on and was able to even get to this stage. First, there was a mountain of photos to sort through and edit, then upload. And then I actually have to remember what has happened over the last couple of months, and what I even intend to say... so here goes!

Somehow time has skipped to mid-September all of a sudden, and a whole summer holidays has been and gone. It was indeed nice, had a few days out - rock pooling on the North Norfolk coast, wildlife parks, boating trips on the Norfolk Broads to name but a few. Oh, and the family trip to London - Little Lady's first 'proper' holiday. 

She was not much into the idea of going away anywhere (a summer holiday-long problem, some insecure phase she went through!) but nevertheless we made our way out of 'the Bump' as she calls it (that's East Anglia to the rest of us) and ventured to the Big Smoke. It was a home from home really, as we stayed at my Auntie and Uncle's house, so plenty of home comforts and toys for Little P to play with. And she did. We got out and about a lot too, showing her the sights, travelling by as many means as possible - underground, overground (wombling free), boat, bus and cable car. We had a lovely time, my particular favourites were the Emirates Airline cable car-thingy and seeing the memorial poppies 'spewing out' around the Tower of London...

It really is quite a sight. I didn't take too many pictures as I really couldn't be bothered to keep getting the camera out on busy streets whilst trying to juggle a buggy too, but this is one of my faves I shot, looking down Whitehall back at the Houses of Parliament, and the sun catching it just right...

I love London. I couldn't live there as the business frustrates me, but it's such a great city and I never get sick of visiting it!

Amongst all the frivolities of summer, there has been much crafting. New endeavors, old favourites, and plenty in between.
My favourite makes recently have been for a delightful little arrival - a new baby girl cousin for Little P. I met the little cutie the other day for the first time, and was able to deliver my presents to her and her big sister. I had made a baby blanket for her a while back, but can now show it off! I used Lion Brand Baby's First chunky cotton yarn and 3 colours plus white - I love the palette, babyish but without being wishy-washy like some baby yarns can be...

It's very chunky and soft, but at the sametime breathable as it is cotton. Perfect for the upcoming colder months. I used the free pattern by The Stitchin Mommy as a guide... super easy to follow and with chunky weight yarn, works up really quick too.

I love it, and want to make more of these, quick, fun and very pleasing! Here she is in her full glory...

I hope little Cora enjoys this blanket as much as I did making it! I also made some bunting for the girls - as I knew their Mummy loves the crochet bunting! Some for the newborn...

and for the big sister...

I made this using Lily Sugar 'n Cream Solids - 100% cotton worsted weight yarn. I love this yarn, the colours, the stitch definition, the way it doesn't split hardly at all when crocheting. I also love playing about with the colours when designing bunting - the last few I have made have all had 'neutral' triangles with coloured edges, so it was fun to reverse it this time!
This is also when Little P, whilst studying her bunting above her bed asks 'Mummy, why did you bunt my name?' Yes I thought, what a good verb - to bunt. It should be added to our language. I often find myself bunting names right now.

The little piles of freshly pressed triangles melt my heart!

I have also had more fun with Lily Sugar 'n Cream - making more moss stitch covers for iPad and iPhone. I call it 'moss stitch' as that was what the pattern I first followed called it, and if you search for moss stitch, it comes up with that, although someone has informed me that this is in fact 'linen stitch'. Apparently moss stitch alternates between single and double crochet, whereas linen stitch uses single crochet and chains only. Whatever it is truly called I love it - works up quickly and creates many different effects depending on how you use the colours. For example, working alternate coloured rows and white rows gives you a 'spotted' effect...

That's from my bolster cushion I made a while back. Here is the first iPad cozy made from my own free guide available here. It is made with tropical summery colours in mind...

It has a reverse single crochet border and double button detailing to fasten...

And another, using colours inspired by this piece of art by Her Art. Summery goodness...

I wish I used a smaller hook for this one though, as you can see there are a few gappy bits when the iPad is in, but I do love it!

I also toyed around with a smaller one to house my phone if I sling it in my bag - it just gives a bit of protection...

And a mossy-montage...

Also on the crochet front, the 'as we go stripey blanket' as striping as it slowly goes. I have been picking it up in the evening again recently, and it has started growing after somewhat of a break. It is a love/hate blanket. I love the colours and different stitches, and it looks pretty. But on the other side I can't deal with the 'wavy' edges that using all these different stitches creates. I have read that when the border goes on it does pull straighter. I shall continue to stripe away and see how it turns out!

Other crafting adventures have included painting old furniture and flower pots - pictures next time! And making this card for my brother and his girlfriend who have just bought their first house together...

It is made with different papers, a Copic Multiliner and POSCA glitter markers. I had great fun making this one afternoon whilst Little P was at nursery... which has been an eventful time in our lives! 2 weeks in and she is getting better there - gets upset leaving me but then has a great afternoon playing and joining in with everything. She just likes to make it hard for me dropping her off!

I have also been playing with the camera in the garden as usual. I love patterns and design in nature. This sunflower head sums it up...

and this dew drop covered spider web...

We also met these creepy looking characters in the garden one afternoon - a sycamore moth caterpillar I have since found out. Would make sense as they were on our little maple tree!

Now I must be off, a bit more flower pot painting before Little P returns and is a bit too helpful! Until next time..

Quilt Love

I thought I'd just give a quick update on the craft swap with FromTwelveToTwoFifteen... well as planned last Sunday I quickly popped over to where she was staying, dodging rain showers and traffic in town and we happily swapped blankets! Very happily! I was so eager to see the patchwork quilt she had made for Little P after seeing photos of it on her blog... It did not disappoint!

It's so bright and cheerful and each and every fabric is lovely - I like just sitting and looking at them all and how well they work together! 

It certainly is a feast for the eyes. It's so soft and squishy too. My favourite part is the edging...

and how it works so well with the fabric on the back. Amazing. I wouldn't know where to start when making one of these but I'm so glad Maddy does! Little P also loves it too. She spotted it as soon as she walked in and promptly made herself a bed on the floor with it and asked it she could sleep under it all night. I like it because it is just the right amount of 'girl'... It's not covered in pink, pink, pink, but it's definitely a little girl's blanket! Love it! So glad we did the swap! Here's a look at some of the fabrics...

It will definitely be a Forever Quilt... so thank you so much FromTwelveToTwoFifteen! 

I've been getting on with new crochet projects since the completion of the big granny square blanket. It didn't take long at all to get inspired for new things, and with plenty of babies on the way again (not my own!) why not start with a baby project? Something not quite so big as the last project!

I'm not usually a fan of baby yarns. Don't get me wrong, I love the softness and squishiness, but it's the colour palette available that gets me. Pale pink. Pale blue. Yellow. White. That's it. I like bright and vibrant colours usually. But it just so happens that the idea I had for my latest yarny venture called for these colours. After looking at my own stash and realising I did not have the correct colour combination available, it seemed only natural to order more yarn. What else? After scouting about the internet for various colour combinations and yarn weights, I settled on Lion Brand Baby's First - a chunky weight cotton blend yarn in just the right colours for what I wanted. I do love cotton and cotton blends! 

So it is essentially pink, blue and yellow - traditional baby colours, but the blue is more 'teal-ish' and the pink is a bit stronger than many baby pinks. It's so lovely and squishy and nice to work with - it can split a bit but as long as you pay attention it's fine. Also being chunky weight, it works up really quickly, and I'm almost done! The only downside of this yarn is that it is only available in 9 colours - all quite pale and babyish. It would be awesome if it was available in a range of bright colours too, I would use it loads.

It's been a dull rainy week here in my part of the world. Except yesterday which was a scorcher. I've been papping in the garden again whilst Little P runs around playing. I soon know when she gets bored of me taking pictures as she tries to put her hand in every picture! Loads more daylilies out in the garden, but one of my fave plants, my Pineapple Lily (Eucomis bicolour) is in flower and looking great...

I have also had a stamp carving session but will show more of that when I finish the rest of it, but now I'm going to head off and try and squeeze in a bit of crochet before Little Lady returns, so until next time...

The Crafty Swap

You may remember that once upon a time I mentioned a craft swap I'm doing with Maddy of From Twelve to Two Fifteen... well the time is almost upon us to complete the task and swap creations. Tomorrow is the day, I'll venture over to see her whilst she is back in the UK and present her with what has been a mammoth project over the last few months... the giant granny square blanket.
Firstly I was building up piles and piles of brightly coloured granny squares made from lovely yarn - Mostly Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran with some RICO Essentials Soft Merino Aran thrown in to complete the colour palette.
This...

Became this...

which have eventually become this...

I have to admit I love it, and this picture doesn't really do it justice at all. There are 100 granny squares (made using Attic 24's Summer Garden Granny Square pattern) and they are all joined in one continuous motion using this method  by Babylove Brand which I found very easy to follow! It actually all joined together quicker than I thought, and I will definitely be joining future granny square blankets in this way. Revelation. I have really enjoyed this project, and will miss it somewhat. I've had endless evenings of crocheting random colour squares and then the privilege of combining them to make a blanket which I hope will be greatly received. I have already had a preview of the quilt made for Little P, as Maddy finished a while back and posted about it here... I have 'borrowed' a pic off her blog to show it off, but will no doubt take more photos when we receive it tomorrow!

Isn't it super lovely? Sewing is really not a craft I know a lot about, so I can't even imagine the work that went into this, but I know it will be huge amounts since it has been dubbed 'the forever quilt'! I know Little Lady will love it and spend many hours using it in her games and snuggling under it... as will I.

Here's a few more pics of the blanket, before I part with it... I think it deserved a montage...

and another full-body shot...

and a little look at it all packaged up...

and a close-up of that super little detail...

Yep, personalised wooden buttons bought for me by my trusty friend Curly Girl Coop... the perfect detailing to finish it off!

So there was an enormous cavern left where the blanket once filled my evenings... but not for long. It seems it's baby time again... it always seems to come in gluts, 3 babies due close together, then none for months! So I'll be back on baby crafting for a bit, and see what else takes my fancy. I also still have the 'As We Go Stripy Blanket' which I started work on months ago but it went on the back-burner when the BIG granny blanket came along. I did find time last weekend to figure out and type up a pattern for a square I created last year (or maybe actually the year before that) as I have been asked a couple of times recently for a pattern for it. I have titled it 'The Popcorn Flower Square' and it can be found from a link at the top of the page or by simply clicking here.

I've also been enjoying the glorious sunshine over the last week, and have had lots of lovely days with my Little P, including trips to the park and beach. We took a day trip to Southwold earlier this week, which was great fun. Always such a lovely place to visit. I particularly love the shot of Little Lady wandering along the pier...

I've had great fun also playing with my camera, and trying to snap some nice shots of the nature around me. There are plenty of flowers in the garden to practice on, since I went overboard on my daylily collection a few years back! They are great plants, the flowers may only last a day but there are so many of them, staggered throughout the summer months. Here are a few of my faves...

I also found myself a teeny weeny baby cactus from a local exotic plant nursey, and look forward to watching him grow!

My cacti and succulent collection is coming along nicely... Now I realise I do have a few collections going on... ooops.

I also made it out into the countryside again with the Little One and spotted a few more of those Six-Spotted Burnet moths I took a photo of before. I managed to get close up this time and I am pretty proud of the photo I got...

Look at him drinking! I love it!

Right, got to go, I'm continuing on a new project and having a well deserved cup of tea. I shall update you all on the craft swap in due course! So until next time...