Must Keep Knitting

I’m looking to add new blogs to my blogroll.  I absolutely love reading the blogs that are already there.  However, once I finish reading the last one I yearn for more.  I want to see more yarn, laugh at more situations, listen to stories about knitting.  Please send me a link to your blog and I will gladly add it to the sidebar!

Not only do I want to see your blog, but I would like to know what colors you would like to see in my cotton.  I plan on ordering dyes soon, but I want your opinion.  I love blues and browns, so I usually buy that color of dye.  Not everyone likes those colors though, so tell me, what do you want?

Happy Knitting,

Kate

and I did it wrong.  Last weekend, around 9pm, I started gathering all of my materials for a night of dyeing.  I had my 8 skeins of cotton and 1 skein of wool, some kool aid, some easter egg dye, some jacquard dyes and some vinegar.  My boyfriend even helped my wind all of the yarn.  Yup, this was going to be a fun night; I even had a new dyeing book to help me out.

I stayed out in the lobby for three hours, handpainting four each hanks to perfection then microwaving them to set the dye.  However, when I went to rinse the hanks the dye ran!  I let them dry a little more and the dye still ran!  Frustrated and tired, I gave up and went to bed, only to try again the next day.

So, the next morning I woke and decided to just use the jacquard dyes and the stove top.  I again set everything up, wrote out all of the color schemes I wanted and began working.  Everything was turning out beautifully - gorgeous blues, greens, and browns - so I let the yarn dry over night. 

Well, to my surprise, the dye still didn’t stick to the cotton!  I started posting in help forums as to what is causing this horrible problem.  The answer I got was not what I was looking for.  None of the dyes I used will stick to cotton!  Hmmph.  So, now I have 8 skeins of cotton hanging in my closet, no money to buy any dye, and one gorgeous hank of wool that I added to the store.

Happy Knitting,

Kate

I’m done, and not just with this hat!  I bought this pattern a week before I left for Florida, determined to have the hat finished before I made it back home.  I asked Ysolda what she suggest to substitute for cashmere, since I am on a college budget.  She suggested Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton, but I am nowhere near a yarn store that sales that and couldn’t wait for it to ship here.  Instead, I decided to use Elizabeth Lavold’s Cable Cotton.  I fell in love with this yarn right away, the colors are so vibrant.  I wanted to buy one each in green, pink, blue, and cream to make a spring dishcloth set, but decided to just buy 3 balls for Verity.  It turned out beautiful, not as slouchy as Ysolda’s, but beautiful, nevertheless.

However, I am not a hat person; more specifically, I am not a beret person, which is why I am not showing you my face with it on.  As soon as I put it on, I screamed “eww.”  Everyone else insists that it looks good on me, but I gave it to my mom anyway.  It does look good on her.

Anyways, this brings me to being done.  I am done with knitting for others; it is killing the enjoyment I once got out of knitting.  I still have 4 1/2 more socks to knit from Christmastime, and the hat I’m making the boyfriend for Valentine’s day.  After those, I’m done.  I even told the boyfriend, “whatever bull I give you about how I’ll finish Christmas presents in time this year, don’t let me knit anything for anyone!  My knitting is for me!”  Yeah, it might be stingy, but I have too many things in my queue. 

My family came up to visit me today for Easter.  After I gave the hat to my mom, my dad said I should make him something - like a sock monkey (which I have already made him!).  About 5 hours later, after my parents had left, I got a call from my grandmother.  “Oh, Katie!  You need to make me a hat just like your mother’s (Verity), but in red!”

Sigh…

Happy Knitting,

Kate

PS:  I added a new item to the store, along with some more destash books!