Needle Case

Here's my new needle case that I made.

Case closed:


Case open (flap down)


Case open (flap up)

Chickami Tank

Here's a tank top I made a while back from the www.chicknits.com Chickami pattern. I used some cheapo baby yarn from AC Moore and it is super duper soft.

Vest - Gjestral Naturgarn

I knit this vest using the vest pattern in the knitter's handy book of patterns by Ann Budd and Gjestal Naturgarn in Kelly Green #219 purchased from elann.com.

I used a pattern from knitty.com to guide my choices on the edging.

Here it is:

Felt Flock

I just love this - I used the Fiber Trends Felt Flock pattern and Lambs Pride Worsted in Brown Heather for the body and Onyx for the ears, face and tail.

Coasters

Here are some coasters I knit up a while back. To get the size right, I knit up a swatch larger than I wanted and felted it. Then I scaled back the numbers so I would end up with a 4x4 square. I can't remember the exact counts, but it was something like 30 sts by 17 rows - I worked the stitches in seed stitch. Yarn used: Lambs Pride
in Red Baron and Blue Magic.

Legwarmers

Here's my version of the "coming back into fashion" legwarmers. I used Filatura Di Crosa 127 Print in shade 23 - purchased at my favorite knitting store in Charleston, SC -Knit on Charlotte St (downtown). I used size 6 dpns - CO 52 stitches, worked 8 rows in 1x1 rib, then switched to stockinette stitch until I ran out of yarn (I used 3 balls total).

(and please - no comments on the lack of tan - it's only April for crying out loud. :-P)



Close up:

Lollipop Socks

Here's my third pair of socks (second pair for me). I used Opal Lollipop that came in a 100g ball. Surpringly I only used 50g - each sock is about 25g. I'm guessing this is because they're short socks and it's fingering weight. Anyway - I used a 3x1 rib pattern on the cuff and the top of the foot, otherwise following the Ann Norling #12 pattern (64 stitch).

Here's a picture of the pair:




And here's a close up of the stripes:

Stepping Out Coat

This is the Stepping Out Coat pattern from Hip To Knit. I rewrote the pattern based on my gauge using the "Gauging a Reaction" section of Stitch 'n Bitch Nation starting on page 13. I used Schoeller Stahl Volare Mouliné, which I purchased from Elann.com. My gauge was 10 1/2 stitches per 4 inches, where the pattern called for 7 stitches per four inches. It was relatively simple to rewrite the pattern, it just took some time and patience. I used some buttons that my good buddy, Larry, sent me a while back for my closures. I did not knit button holes - I just use the open stitches of the ribbed front to poke the buttons through. I'm very pleased with the results - I love the yarn!

Wool Dyeing Experiment

I've been really wanting to do more wool dyeing and everyone posts how great the colors come out. So I went to my local Kroger and picked up every color they have of Drink Aid, because I'm a cheap bastard and they were on sale 10 for $1.00 (but they only had 9 flavors, so I doubled one up for good measure). And because I have no idea what color "Tropical Punch" would be (amoung others) I decided to do a little experiment to see what kind of results I would get. Here are my very scientific results. Go ahead and laugh - I know I'm a huge dork.

Steps:
1. Soak 9 pieces of wool 12 inches long in warm water (with a couple of tablespoons of white vinegar)

2. Mix all 9 colors: Mix 1/4 teaspoon (or 1 ml) of Drink Aid to 2 Tablespoons ( or 30 ml) of water. So, that's a 1/30 Drink Aid mixture. All using the same containers (small drink glasses)

3. Add wool to each container

4. Begin microwaving to get wool to soak in color. Here's the tricky part. For larger batches, you can microwave your wool for longer, but because I have so little water, it began to boil very quickly. So, I microwaved each for 30 seconds, then 15 second intervals until done. You will know it's done when the water is milky white (with sugar I'm assuming). See photo (glass on right is done, glass on left is not)


WARNING: microwaves do produce explosive boiling water - this is not a hoax. (see link) however, with wool and all this color in it, it should not be a problem. Regardless - be very careful! The glasses and the water can get very hot, plus you don't want your wool to felt, so take your time.

5. Next, I rinsed each peice of wool with cool water (being careful not to agitate the wool) and blotted dry in a towel, then set out to air dry.

Here is a chart indicating the control number, Drink Aid Flavor, and Total Microwave time

#	Flavor	Time (seconds)
1	Lemon	60
2	Peach	90
3	Orange	135
4	Strawberry	150
5	Pink Lemon	45
6	Fruit Punch	135
7	Raspberry	150
8	Black Cherry	150
9	Tropical Punch	150
10	Raspberry Reaction (Kool-Aid)	90
11	Wild Watermelon Kiwi (Kool-Aid)	120
12	Berry Blue (Kool-Aid)	120
13	Grape	150

Here are the resulting colors:


And now with the sample crocheted up into tiny blocks (this seems to represent the color better):



** I did a second batch with some additional colors.

Techno Cozy

I wanted a small bag that I could carry my mp3 player, the phone, etc around the house without having to attach it to my belt, or carry it, so this is what I came up with. The yarn was given to me from my friend Ingrid (also the person who taught me to knit - thank you Ingrid!), I dyed the yarn using food coloring. Check out this link to see more information than you could ever need about dyeing yarn using Kool Aid - of course, I couldn't just follow the directions - I had to use food coloring.

Pattern was a smiple 6 stitch cable (one front / left leaning and one back / right leaning). I just sewed up the sides and made a strap using a Clover Wonder Knitter that I picked up from AC Moore.