Kool Aid Dyeing!

This week, I tried my had at dyeing yarn with Kool Aid. Unfortunately, I did not keep an accurate account of the process like I did with my Jell-O Dyeing Process. Basically, it went something like this:

1) Soak your yarn for 30 minutes in room temperature water mixed with a little Dawn. I used just enough to make the water a little bubbly.

2) Mix your Kool Aid in a bowl or glass jar with some water, just enough to dissolve the powder. I used one pack of Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade for this one per skein. After the mix dissolved, I added about another cup of water.

3) Add yarn to the bowl. I then added more water until it covered the yarn.

Note: Next I did something I hadn’t seen in any instructions. I added a lid to my bowl/jar and shook it up. I don’t know, it seemed like a good idea at the time… lol

4) I put the bowl and jar in the microwaved and covered them with plastic wrap with a tiny vent on one side. I zapped them for 2 minutes, let them rest for 5 minutes, then zapped another 2 minutes… repeat until the water looks clear or somewhat milky.

Optional: Let the yarn soak in another Dawn bath, but this time at the same temperature as the water you just took it out of. I only did this to one skein and honestly, I don’t see a difference between the two.

5) Hang to dry overnight outside in warm weather. In my case, I had to hang it up inside and away from the cats, so it took like two days to completely dry.

Here are the before and after pictures!

Before: A recycled sweater made of angora and lambs wool. To date, I have only harvested 220 yards from the sweater. I still have a lot more to go.

After: Pale blue yarn worthy of my wedding shawl! *squee!*

Now to ball it up and put it to work!

One Last Post for 2009

It’s been a long time, hasn’t it? Now that the busy season at the studio has ended, I finally have time to sit down, relax, and refocus on my hobbies. I do miss the little pastimes that once filled my days. Hopefully, I can find time once again for my little pleasures.

In case you haven’t heard, I became engaged on December 27th to my best friend of 7 years (my boyfriend of 4 years). While we don’t have a set date, we’ve decided on “late spring, early summer.” I’ve decided that I simply MUST have a wedding shawl. This will take up much of my free time, as I am a horribly slow yarn crafter.

As fate would have it, I was in the process of recycling a white angora/lambs wool sweater before my job took over my life. It’s the perfect weight for my shawl pattern. Even better, a kind lady on Ravelry had already sent me the color Kool-Aid I needed to dye the yarn the perfect shade of pale blue. And to make the job even easier, I received a yarn swift and ball winder for Christmas.

Fortuitous, no?

I might also make a few small decorations for the wedding. Since we’re essentially eloping, it’s no big deal if I don’t. A few small things might be nice, though… We’ll see. Maybe Dollar Store Crafts can help me out with some simple ideas.

Also in 2010, my pygmy doe, Zoe, is due to kid. Her official due date is February 27th, but goats usually kid anywhere from 7-10 days prior to their due date. I’m really hoping for multiples this year after her single birth last year (one big bouncing baby buckling!). Perhaps this will be the year I take up milking, and dare I dream… soap making? Hmmmm…

While 2009 was mostly a craptastic year, I’m glad it’s ending on a positive note. It gives me hope that 2010 will be a much better year. Big plans, big dreams, and lots of potential for happy times. I’m feeling very optimistic.

An Overdue Update

My life since my last post has been very hectic. I got the job. I didn’t get the job. Then I got it again. It was an emotional roller coaster with a happy ending. I’m now learning the first steps in professional photography. It’s not a glamorous job, but it’s the first steps into a world I’ve always admired.

Yesterday, I was set loose with the camera (Cannon Rebel XTI), the props, lighting, everything the studio has to offer for an entire 30 minutes… and it was only my second day! I’m learning new things every single day, especially about working with really small children.

While I can’t post pictures from work, I will say this… Portrait studios have come a long way since I was young. They may not be the quality of an independent studio you might find elsewhere, but for what we have and what we can do, it’s not too shabby. I’m really excited about going to work and learning more. The work isn’t without its hair-pulling aspects, but I get to take pictures all day! I get to talk about pictures all day! I’m learning every single day about photography! Yay!

The Christmas picture season is about to kick off, so I expect to have little time for my hobbies between now and New Years. I will, however, post whenever I can and whatever I’m up to. In the meantime, go check out my friend Justin’s photography blog. He’s an awesome photographer with a good eye for what I like to think of as “overlooked beauty.” Even the disgruntled clown pictures have an aspect of unexpected beauty to them.

With that, I must leave for work.

A Job in Photography?

As you may have guessed, all my hobbies have recently come to a grinding halt. A photographer’s position opened up locally, so I decided to apply. I spent a long time researching the position and how to present myself at the interview. I had to pretty much relearn everything I thought I knew about job interviews. Okay, it wasn’t that drastic, but I did have to step out of my comfort level a little.

The hardest part of preparing for the interview was compiling a small portfolio. Since it wasn’t a professional position, I didn’t need a terribly expensive portfolio or 8×10 copies of my work. Many photographers I spoke with insisted I didn’t need to even bother compiling a portfolio. I decided it was best to be overly prepared than to be unprepared. I selected 20 of my best works and placed them in the portfolio.

At the open interview, of the four ladies I saw, I was the only one with a resume, let alone a portfolio. The interviewer was impressed with my work. Today I heard back from her. Pending pay negotiations, I may be their new photographer. Yay!

“Lonely”

I should hear back in a couple of days about the job. The lady really seemed as though she wanted to hire me on, and I’m hoping everything works out.  I’d really like to work there, so wish me lots of luck!

Tune in next time when I talk about my knitting and yarn recycling adventures.

Love My Nostepinne

Winding my yarn with a nostepinne has been quite an adventure. I’ve spent several hours on the couch in front of the TV (usually watching Aliens or Firefly), winding my yarn. My first few attempts weren’t so great, but with each finished cake, I get a little better.

These are my first three cakes. From left to right, they are my Jell-O yarn (Lion Brand Wool), Sugar n’ Creme cotton (yikes, what a mess!), and I Love This Yarn (acrylic). You’ll have to forgive the last one. I dropped it on my way to take pictures and one of my cats thought it would be fun to see how many times he could bat it around before I caught him.

These two are my latest ones. From left to right, they are Patton’s Merino Wool and Squoosh Superwas Sock Yarn.

I was especially pleased with my Squoosh yarn because the way the yarn laid down so beautifully. Unfortunately, getting it off the nostepinne was a challenge, resulting in the core falling out on me. I rolled it up by hand so it can easily be removed from the center when I use it later on. It’s still lovely outside, but the inside… oh well.

Ta-da! I am pleased. I’m still not great at it, but I’m off to a good start, I think. At least now I know I can wind my recycled yarn without a ball winder. Or perhaps I should say “until I get a ball winder.” Using a nostepinne is great and all, but boy does it take forever!

I anticipate that next week’s hobby blog will be about knitting. I’ve been knitting from my first (slightly modified) knitting pattern, so you can look forward to seeing how that goes. Or maybe I’ll blog about reading. I’m working on my reading goals on my 101 Goals  in 1001 Days. Oh well, we’ll just wait and see! I’ll be just as surprised as you are!

Winding My Own Yarn Attempt #2

Last night, I tried yet again to wind my yarn up into a yarn cake. It’s not professional looking, but by golly, it’s holding up!

I like how the yarn sticks out of the top, lol. It makes it look like a little yarn bomb.

Better shot of the top… I left a lot of yarn sticking out of the top. I was afraid I’d lose it.

I love how the bottom turned out when I collapsed the inside!

I guess I’m getting the hang of this nostepinne business. Like I said, it’s not perfect, but it’s holding together and it doesn’t look half bad. I can’t complain, really. Next, I will practice some more on some partial skeins of yarn that were given to me and some partials I’ve got lying around of my own. After that, I’ll move on to my recycled yarn, starting with my urban camo yarn and my ungodly amount of white acrylic yarn.

Maybe by the time I get through all this, I’ll have a winder and won’t have to worry about using this on my precious angora/silk, lol.

Winding My Own Yarn Attempt #1

Well… attempt #1 was almost a success. That’s been the story of my day, it seems.

My bf’s mom has a beautiful wooden paper towel holder in our closet. How it got in there is neither here nor there (aside from the fact she knows it’s there and is okay with my using it), but the roll holder looked very much like nostepinne from the tutorial mentioned in my last blog.

It was a bit nerve wracking to work with, but once I got the hang of wrapping the yarn around, it wasn’t so bad. I was constantly aggravated by two cats and three kittens fighting for my attention and batting at my yarn, however. That contributed to my partial failure.

Here is my yarn before it fell apart.

Side view… It’s not very impressive, but I was pleased I did it at all. It took about half an hour to do 300-odd yards of yarn. The fact it was brightly colored helped greatly since the roller was so dark.

Here’s the view from the top. Can you see trouble starting? In my glee, I failed to notice the yarn slipping at the top. Note to self… figure out what a 45 degree angle is and don’t just guess.

This big gaping hole left by the roller may or may not have contributed. I’m guessing not… since a ball winder is every bit as big. Isn’t it? I wouldn’t know, I’ve never seen one in real life, lol.

Yarn cake from the bottom… “Well I smell t-r-o-u-b-l-e,” as Travis Tritt would say.

Finally, the cake and the roller! (And my messy desk)

The good news is that I learned a lot from this first attempt. I know where I screwed up (like trying to rush and work in the same room with cats), I know how to fix it, and I will do just that later this evening when I’m not so busy. At least I know I can do it and not screw up too badly. I’ll keep practicing. It seems like this is something that takes proper technique and finesse of many tries.

I’ll keep you posted!

Ball Winding

So I was thinking… before there were ball winders, there had to be other ways of balling up yarn without a $20 winder from Knit Picks. It couldn’t be too complicated of a process. After all, a ball winder is a pretty simple machine. I wondered if maybe there was a way to do it myself using only materials laying around the house.

Bless you, Google and YouTube. My dreams have come true.

After finding this tutorial, I now have reason to buy more sweaters from the Salvation Army (especially what Shetland wool sweater I was drooling over last week). I can finally take apart my angora/silk sweaters without worrying about hand balling them into literal balls. I can now–in theory, at least–make my own yarn cakes while saving up for the ball winder I’ve been wanting.

Expect pictures in the coming week or so. This week will probably be too busy for yarn… probably.

Mission Accomplished

I finished harvesting my yarn from the first sweater. How did it go? Let me put it this way… I wish I had a nickle for every time I became frustrated and shouted, “This thing was knitted by a crackhead!!!” I could have bought my own yarn factory.

Getting the sweater apart wasn’t too big of a deal. One snip and I was ready to take the sleeves off.

See? No big deal. I had some concerns with the seams between the arms and chest, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

I started unraveling the first sleeve. Stupid me thought, “Hey, let’s do this from the top of the sleeve!” Yeah, that worked all of like two minutes. This sleeve was done in the round–heck, all sweater sleeves might be for all I know–and this concept didn’t dawn on me for several hours. Nope, I parked my butt in front of the TV, pulling a pile of yarn carefully through a tiny loop every couple of rows.

When I got to the end of the sleeve to the cuff, it dawned on me (after about four hours of working on one sleeve) that the knitter probably started at the cuff and worked up. Boy, I felt kind of dumb…

The next sleeve was a bit easier, but let me tell you, I think the sleeves were done by different knitters. One was carefully attached to the chest part.  The other looked like my six year old niece attached it. So that was fun. At least this time, I found where the sleeve was started in the cuff and had it unraveled in mere minures. Yay!

Next came the chest. Let me show you WHY my phrase of choice was “This thing was knitted by a crackhead!!!”

Now, I don’t pretend to know much about knitting sweaters, but I’ve NEVER seen one like this. This was taken before I took the sleeves off. Who would wear a sweater with the stiff in the armpits?

Worse yet, when I was done unraveling the turtleneck and got to this part of the sweater, each strand came off in 8 yard strands. I about chucked the entire remaining sweater into the trash, but I plowed on.

See all this? That’s all 8-yard strands of yarn. Yikes. No idea what I’m going to do with this just yet. I’ll most likely offer it up on a Ravelry group, maybey Random Acts of Kindness or Yarncycle. Maybe a teacher can use it for Halloween or something.

After I got below the armpits, the yarn came easily. I harvested 522 yards from the chest alone.

Finally, I reached the corded bottom. I don’t know how on earth this thing was put together, but I finally gave up on it. It’s now two braided cat toys.

Ta-da! A total of 848 yards of yarn! Though honestly… I’m not sure if it’s cotton yarn. It kinda feels like the stuff basketball goal nets are made of… nylon, maybe? Oh well, whatever it is, it’s going to make an awesome blanket for my nephew.

One sweater down, four more to go. Boy, I wish I had a ball winder.

Yarn Recycling: Day 1

I was up until nearly 4 a.m. unraveling the cotton urban camo sweater’s first sleeve. I have a few pictures, but none are uploaded yet.

Last night, I successfully removed both sleeves from the body and started unraveling Sleeve #1. It was a learning experience, to say the least. Several hours later, I realized I’d started from the wrong end. Since this is a hand-knitted sweater, I could have started from the wrist instead of the shoulder. Whoops… too bad I didn’t figure that out until about 2 a.m., huh?

Once the yarn was unknotted, I measured it. I have 114 yards of yarn from one sleeve. Unfortunately, when I took it off the board to ball it up, the yarn became tangled again. Poop… I tried untangling it, but somewhere around 3:30 a.m., I gave up and called it a night.

Hopefully, I will have pictures uploaded soon.