Owie...

Double Owie!

I managed to run the sewing machine needle right through my finger two nights ago, top to bottom. Right through the finger nail. Not my idea of fun, let me tell you! Lucky for me, the doctor was home to hold me while I cried like a baby and help prevent me from going into shock. (Hey, let's see YOU run YOUR finger through with a needle and see if you don't cry!) Anyway, all is well now and I'm glad it didn't go all the way through! The doctor says the worse that could happen is that I'll lose my fingernail for awhile, though I'm hoping to avoid that. We'll see how it goes! At any rate, that's now 33 quilts down, 117 to go! (Still 200 total, my generous mom volunteered for 50 - yay!)

Till next time,
Sarah

The Frog Pond, Revisited

So I'm sitting here this morning, swatching my blue cotton yarn for the dishtowels I want to do to go with my Absorba bathmat, and I figure, heck, maybe I should try these with three strands, too! So off I go with my gorgeous Lantern Moon 10.5's, and the piece is knitting up nice and thick and sturdy, and I start thinking, "Boy...this sure would've made a nice rug at this gauge, not all loose & wobbly like mine turned out", which of course makes me decide to whip out the measuring tape and sure enough, I'm knitting up at the exact gauge actually called for in the pattern for the bathmat! Oopsy. No wonder I had so much yarn left over! I knew something had to be wrong. . . Nevermind that the pattern called for size 15 needles! Apparently I'm a loose knitter. Which I Can. Not. figure out, because my stitches are always snug at the bottom of the needle, yet loose enough to slide freely. Anyone have any ideas as to what's causing this anomaly?

Anyhoo. It's off to the frog pond with this piece, but here it is in all it's wobbly glory:

Absorba, in all its deceitfulness

Here's how it looks after I walked across it a few times:

Thy shame cannot be hidden!

Will post photos of the re-knit so we can all compare the difference!

In other knitting news, I'm in the process of designing a Chinese-inspired felted knitting bag. This is going to be gorgeous, dahlings! So stay tuned.

That's it on the knitting front for now!

Till next time,
Sarah

14 Packs of Kool-Aid in One Night...

...and zero calories, to boot!

My Knit Picks yarn arrived on March 1st and I was so excited I just had to dye it right away! Of course I'd already gone out and bought my supplies so I was rarin' to go! Here's how it all went down:

All set and ready to go!

I was happy to see that the skeins from Knit Picks were actually just folded flat, instead of wound into traditional skeins. They were also quite long, so I decided not to rewind them before I started. If I ever decide to do self-striping yarn, I'll have to rewind it. For my purposes, I was happy that I was ready to dye right out of the box!

Mmmm...grapey!

I invited a friend over to help, since I was dying two skeins. After settling on what colors to use, (Grape, Cherry and Black Cherry for the man's colorway, and Pink Lemonade, Lemonade and Lemon-Lime for the woman's) we prepared our "dye." We used one packet of Kool-Aid powder per one cup of water. My friend decided to hand paint the yarn using a basting brush, and I used the turkey baster. I'd read somewhere that you can expect to use one packet of Kool-Aid per ounce of yarn, but we used a little over twice that amount. Perhaps it was because we were dying superwash? At any rate, next time I would probably use more Kool-Aid; even though our colors turned out beautifully, I wouldn't have complained had they been a little brighter. Also, the yarn seemed to more readily absorb the dye that was applied with the brush.

This one was my attempt

We decided that one of us would dye the yarn in thirds lengthwise, and the other would dye in thirds widthwise. I think the one that was dyed widthwise will be a bit more variegated, perhaps self-striping in very small sections, and the one above, dyed lengthwise, will have a stronger self-striping effect.

Hanging out to dry

After we set the yarn in the microwave, I reaffixed my shower curtain rod to hang in the middle of the shower, so that any excess water would run down into the tub. However, there wasn't any, as I had blotted the yarn with a towel first to speed the drying time. Twenty-four hours later, my yarn was dry and ready to wind! I just couldn't resist winding them into skeins to get that store-bought effect:

My "swift"

Lucky for me, my patio chairs have a large circumference around the legs, and a smooth finish at the bottom. This is important because you need to be able to remove your yarn after you've finished winding it! (I had a bad experience with my piano bench a couple of weeks ago...I'll leave that one to your imagination...)

Here's the finished product:

Bee-yoo-tee-ful, yes?

That's "Prairie Fire" on the top and "Rainbow Sherbet" on the bottom. We were both SO happy with how this yarn turned out! I will definitely be doing this again in the future. Funny thing is, I was more excited about dying the yarn than I was about knitting the socks! : ) And speaking of socks, here's the pattern I decided to use for these. Wish me luck!

Till next time,
Sarah

Valentine's Surprise!

I know you've all been waiting on pins and needles (HA!) to find out what my Valentine's Day surprise was. Well, here you go:

Puppies!!!!

Yes, friends, the doctor and I are officially dog owners! And not just one dog, either, but TWO!!!! How fabulous is that? These dogs are soooooooooooooo sweet and good (most of the time) and we are really enjoying them. Needless to say, they are a bit of a distraction for getting other things done when at home. It's hard to do anything but play with the puppies! Unfortunately when we first brought them home I appeared to be violently allergic to them, as I got sick the very next day. Since then, we've moved their crate outside and purchased some AllerPet/D, which seems to be helping.

Now for a more formal introduction:

This one's "mine"

This is Jax, a 2 1/2 month old Chihuaua/Yorkie mix. I love his pink nose and green eyes! He is completely dedicated to me; he follows me wherever I go, and when I sit down, wants to curl up in my lap for snuggles! He also has the most adorable little yelp when I leave him all by himself. I never thought I'd like a "little, yippy dog" as I used to call them, but guess what? I'm sold.

This is "the doctor's"

This is Jewels, a 4 1/2 month old beagle. She has huge, brown, soulful eyes and the silkiest ears any dog has ever had. She also has really beautiful coloring of white, black and brown, including some zebra-like stripes on her haunches and a tiny white streak on her neck. So cute! She is really devoted to the doctor and has hardly any interest in me whatsoever, even if he is not around. She's having a lot of trouble getting potty-trained. (Jax, however, knows his stuff!)

Here's a shot to show how cute they are playing together:

Jax, look at the camera!

Okay, I think the doggies are tired now, so we'd better let them go to sleep:

Awwww!

Till next time,
Sarah

PS - We adopted these puppies from the Abandoned Pet Rescue on February 11th. I drove all the way to Fort Lauderdale because I'd seen a photo of Jax online and knew he was exactly what I wanted!

Random Blogthing Monday!

You Are a Frappuccino

At your best, you are: fun loving, sweet, and modern At your worst, you are: childish and over indulgent You drink coffee when: you're craving something sweet Your caffeine addiction level: low

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

This is perfect for me because all I ever drink at Starbucks are Frappuccinos! : )