Athena Dreams

Mostly Solid Morning

They describe it as "a heavy marine layer", we commonly call it "fog". We have been experiencing heavy marine layers just about every morning now for about a week. I like it. The sun comes out later, it is warm and lovely, it cools down at dark and I can sleep with my beloved down comforter, and then we start all over again.

Now, This, could easily be mistaken for a marine layer, but no, not waves, too blue for clouds... it could only be the wool/alpaca blend dyed periwinkle, with a Morning Glory Blue chaser, for the Morning Glory Wrap.

Kind of purple with a blue chaser . . . Morning Glory to commence this week!

We Name Babies. . . Can We Not Name Colours?

Subtitle: Sometime the Names Don't Come Immediately, but Naming Our Creations Are Important

Thus begins my post on the now finished Moderne Baby Blanket a là Ann and Kay of Mason Dixon fame.

Mason Dixon Knitting's Moderne Baby Blanket
Yarn: Cotton Classic byTahki in #3936 (Lilac) and #3610 (Sage) and Reynolds Gypsy in #408 (Eggplant) and #420 (Olivette)

What is it with yarn manufacturers that don't name their colours? It is one of the funnest things about creating the colours... even Jamieson's Shetland, which includes a line of a gazillion colours - and something like 37 of them are varieties of blue - has named all their colours. Tahki and Reynolds: where has the romance gone?

So I have named the colours of Cotton Classic and Gypsy used for the this terrifically fun baby blanket, which is winging it's way to Atlanta to live with baby Charlotte.

The blanket came out great, I love the colour mix, and it went faster than I thought it would. Loved the picking up stitches and starting a new block in a different direction, and I found myself looking forward to the next cast off/cast on and how the new colour block would change the whole vibe of the blanket.... Well, THEN I visited Cara this morning and her Random-Number-Generator-Brilliant-Madness-Blanket-Plan that will come to rule the world, and thought.... wow. I coulda maybe just kept on going... but the early arrival baby needed her blank-y, so I stopped, put the border on, and sent her on.

It's funny though, I noticed that my hands hurt after a few hours of knitting this one, more than they ever have, and I don't know if it was the speed knitting (to get to the next colour) or the weight of the cotton, or what, but breaks were key to finishing without damage to the most necessary of knitting tools, the hands.

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Daylily Socks Swatching

Which leads me to another hand bender: Socks. I am swatching the Daylily for my first pair of socks... looking like it will be #1s, yup, dpn #1s...

But with the loveliness of this particular sock yarn who could be bothered by the pointy madness of 5 #1 needles... and anyway, this sock yarn has a name, (thank you La) and thus must be created into something... soon.

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On the dyeing front, I finally got up the nerve to dye the 2 650 yard skeins of Silk and Ivory that I bought about 2 months ago. (50% Silk and 50% Merino)

I was nervous about felting happening, and nervous about it just plain turning out bad, and though the gold is seeming a little bright in the dried skeins, the pull ball is looking JUST how I imagined it would. I skipped the re-skeining as this will be knit right up into a shawl using the Handmaiden stitch pattern for the Storm Water Shawl from Ciobar Fibre Designs and Handmaiden.

OH, and the colour name... that would be Star Island Summer Sunset.

Dye-o-Rama Queen

I can honestly say that there are few things as lovely and gorgeous and perfectly divine as what arrived on my doorstep this fine and dye-o-rific day. As you can all see above, 2 HUGE Fatty Skeins, in a blend of all my favorite colours and tints wrapped around the softest and most luscious of wools.

Dye-o-Rama Pal, well she just flat out, full on rocks. She is none other than the famous (and sometimes infamous) La, yes of that oft read blog JenLa aka the Knotty Girls I could not believe she sent me 2 huge skeins (or as she would say skanks) of loveliness. Thanks La!

Yeah, and it didn't (doesn't) end there... above behold the stitch markers divine, and below, the whole she-bang.

She played me so good... leaving messages saying she had to up her game, and la la la, so La, thanks so much for the amazing package you put together for me... my mouth was open so wide, I coulda caught a fly.

Now, I can't decide which to go with first, the Eggplant or the Dayllily, or maybe . . . the Skittles. But I have to confess now (I have only made this confession to one other) I have never made a sock, nope, not even started one, never yet had my first heel turning experience... so here goes nothing, or everything. Queen La Rules!

Tourmaline : Jewel of the Yarn

My newest babies, which I am calling Tourmaline, after the beautiful watermelon-y pink and green stones.

Here are the real colours, which is what I was trying for, but the dye does mysterious things that one just can't control. I wanted there to be a bit more varied greens in that forest of pink and burgandys, but after it dried, the darker green was the only one left standing.

Now, that I have completed my third round of dyeing, and am having so much fun, I wanted to take a sentence or two to thank Laura over at Sugar Bunny Boulevard for all her incredibly generous help, information, tutorials and cyber hand holding, with my first dyeing attempt. I just so appreciate her generosity of spirit... so go over and have a visit and see her beautiful skeins of yarn and also, one of her precious little girls is turning 2!

Okay, had to take another...

Cinnamon Berries; or Wild Heather

I spent a bit of the long weekend, re-dyeing the skeins that were my first try, and ended up a bit faded looking due to too much liquid. Am quite happy with them now.

This dyeing thing is fun and wonderful, and a bit like a fun science experiement (read: my kind of science experiment), but I have to say, I have even more respect for those of you who are dyeing and selling your skeins of yarn, cuz damn, it's a lot of work.

Here's another, just because.

Also, want to thank all of you who have e-mailed me and given me tips, pointers and help and props with this whole dyeing process, you have been un-endingly helpful, and you know who you are.

I finished dyeing more skeins in a colour blend I am calling Tourmaline - like the stone - pictures to come.

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Now for some Memorial Day festivities. Most of our weekend was spent out near the beach. Saturday night in Bolinas (for those Bay Area people, the town at the end of the lagoon, where time stopped some time back) and then all day Sunday in Muir Beach at a huge annual event fundraiser for the Volunteer Fire Department, which is now just about the only Fire Department for West Marin after budget cuts. You know, Firemen, Teachers, all superfluous to our daily lives... but that's another rant...

You can barely see him, but my guy is up on stage with his bass (black t-shirt to right of photo)... and a great band. About 5000 people turned out for a great barbecue and some great music.

Ahhh the summer has begun.

Bright Skein : Reskeined

So a few more things I learned about this dyeing thing: 1. tie off the skeins carefully, tightly, and in several places before dyeing 2. Go a little easier on the vinegar, more than enough is just too much. 3. Breaking down and buying that over priced swift was the best thing I ever did.

So here is the "brighter" coloured skein, all re-skeined for your viewing commments. Now that it is reskeined the blue and yellow don't look quite so, you know, tie dye, Grateful Dead-ish, not that there is anything wrong with that of course... colour is a tiny bit off as I couldn't get the flash to "cut it out already."

I spent 2 hours last night unwinding the dyed skein into a ball, cuz I rushed the tie together in my rush to dye, and my hands and my hair (my hair?) still smell like vinegar even after copious washing and a shower. AND it would have taken me about 5 hours and lots and lots and lots of cursing if I hadn't bought that marvelously wonderful thing we call a swift (with good reason I now see).

Another Day of the Dye

So in the midst of my second try at this dyeing thing, I had a realisation (read, epiphany). I was putting TOO damn much dye on these poor little skeins, and thus the endless dripping and running together of the colours.

Exhibit One: slightly muddy, colours have run together a bit, not horrendous, but not Dye Pal worthy. Notes were taken (metaphorically) and adjustments were made: Less dye on those spongy brushes, and more blending with the gloved finger tip.

And Voilà, Exhibit Two: colours stay in tact, no mud, a little brighter than I expected, perhaps a touch too "Grateful Dead" tie dye, BUT for my second try at this, I feel successful. Now, will my dye pal who spoke of earthy colours, with a touch of bright be underwhelmed with this concoction?

Here, look at it up close. Too bright? Too much? Hmmm. I am going to wait till they dry a little more, re-skein and see what they look like all twisted up and tidy-like.

First Dye Try

Prepping, and organising and choosing colours, and oh man is this fun. My first try are these 2 skeins. I have already figured out a couple of things that I would do differently next time, but all in all a good start. I went with some Plums and Purples and a Bronze colour. It may end up that there will be too much bleeding, and in the first skein there is a definite potential for some muddy bits.

These are the 2 skeins of merino wool. NEXT: dyeing up some sock yarn for that pal o' mine.

Diamonds and Dyeing

So before I get all caught up - like I'm not already or something - in the dyeing craze sweeping the world, wanted to show progress on the Diamond Fantasy Scarf. I am just at the point where I have to do the short rows points. Short rows always makes my palms sweat. Don't know why, but it's true... I think that the variegated colour does interfere with the lace pattern a bit (as everyone told me) but, I am still liking it, and even in its unblocked state I can see the diamonds. Tell me you can, am I making it up?

I got the rest of my dyeing yarn from Wool2Dye4 (very fast and helpful service too) on Saturday - 1 lb of Kona Superwash Merino, and 1/2 lb of SuperSock for my Dye-O-Rama pal.

Am still doing my colour studies for colour blends and changes. It is more fun than, well, just about anything.

And to further my edu-macation in the subtle art of colour blending, I leave you with a skein of ArtYarns Regal Silk, in colour #114. The beauty of these colours is amazing. Purple, mauve pale gold is the description - the beauty of shimmering jewels is what it is.

A Still-Life in Dyeing

In an attempt to prepare myself for this weekend's dyeing extravaganza. . .

I pulled out all of my "hand painted" yarns to do a brief little study.

I mean with most of these, the 3 little Lorna's Laces in a row at top, and the Cherry Tree, you can see immediately what they are doing. The skein was laid out and the dye painted across both sides. Then it is wound into a skein and looks ever so cool.

It was when I got to these

that my brain began to wonder, just how do they do this... do they do same as above, and just "rearrange" the skein. Huh.

I mean that just looks so much cooler than the obvious stripey skeins. I want to do that. Hmmm how to do "that".

Anybody know? Anybody care to share? I mean look again at the Koigu, look agan at the Zen Yarn Garden skein ... that is so big kid cool... know what I'm saying?!?

OK, so then moving along here, we have the Noro Kureyon. We are familiar with the Noro, it makes kind of wide stripes when you knit with it.

I've never taken apart a Noro pie. I have just knit from the nicely arranged pull end.

So, when you take one of them little guys apart, doesn't it have a whole different vibe? Pretty cool.

But seriously, I want to do what the Koigu and the Zen Yarn Garden does, I mean I used to think that Lorna was the coolest, and I still love her colours and all, but who knew, you could mix it all up like a big plate of coloured spaghetti. Anyone know how that happens?