Knitting projects

Here is a little bit of what I have been working on. First a pair of slipper socks to be felted. I decided to be brave and go with a pattern that called for the dreaded "turning of the heel". I am using a pattern from the book, Knit One Felt Too. I have gotten a few more stripes done since the picture was taken but not much more progress.

Next up is some yarn I dyed with coffee. If you do it on purpose it is a dye, on accident, a stain. I put 1.5 cups of cheap coffee in my largest pot and filled it with water, then brought it to a boil and simmered about 15 min. The most noticeable result was that the house has a definite aura of burnt coffee. Then I let it sit for a couple hours, then strained it. As I brought the coffee up to a boil again I put the yarn, "Ultra Alpaca Light", into a pot and covered it with water, it floated. So then I gently pressed down into the water and got all the bubbles out. I drained off the water and poured in the boiling coffee. Then you simmer for an hour or so, let soak over night and voila! A light amber brown yarn. My plan for this yarn is to make a shawlette using this pattern.

And finally a picture of one of the toy balls I made for Clara. I knit up two of these and felted them and they were amazingly quick. Layden had fun watching me felt them and felted his own scraps of yarn with me. Then later that evening I caught him "felting" one in the toilet. Luckily it came out of its bleach bath unharmed.

This weekend and friend and I made a trip up to Spokane and stopped by Paradise Fibers. It isn't a fancy sort of yarn store being in a warehouse type building, tucked behind an adult bookstore, but the selection is amazing. I think it is a good thing I don't live closer to. The have a huge selection of colors in the staple yarn brands and a good number of "nicer" yarns to drool over. Lisa picked out this yarn (in blue and eggplant) to make the same shawl with. I was horribly tempted by some yarn called "Smooshy" to make my shawl from but I was strong and resisted. I have decided not to buy any yarn until I use what I have, I may make an exception for a gift but only if I don't have anything that will work in my stash.