Yet another round of Kool-Aid dyeing. Used three shades of blue... Ice Blue Raspberry, Blue Moon Berry and some new-fangled
color-shifting Kool-Aid that was supposed to change from green to blue and taste like cherry. All three were different colors by the
way, I'm happy to report. I think the yarn needs more color now that it's dry, so I'm going to rubber band it and toss it into some of
whatever blue I have left.

Bonne Marie was breaking out the Kool-Aid too this weekend. And like her, I had
difficulty getting my hands on the goods. Neither of the two stores I've looked at had Lemon-Lime, and one had no Grape. That's why I
ended up getting the color-shifting Kool-Aid... It made a nice dark teal, by the way, though I'm still waiting for it to change color!
There are just so many "new" flavors, they can't keep stocking the old standbys.

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Now that the Parrot is done, I am dreaming of another Colinette sweater. I have the teal Zanziba, and I am thinking about the
Charcoal Graffiti. Can't decide if it's as subtle as I want, though. Plus, it won't be a sweater for me. Maybe for my Mom... It'll
have to wait, though her birthday IS coming up...

Incidentally, here's what the sweater looked like in the book, Simply Beautiful Sweaters by Beryl ¬? ¬?Hiatt and Linden ¬? ¬?Phelps. Looks a little different than the Parrot! I think I'd make a few subtle changes if I do knit this up.

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As I picked up my new Kool-Aid yarn to knit last night, I started thinking about some posts I'd read over the last couple of days on Knitblogs, regarding patterns and sweater design... I also started casting on... as I did that, I was looking at the yarn and wanted to make something for Ella, but didn't want a hat and there's not too too much yarn, so maybe a vest, since she wears the one she has more than I would have thought... so I grabbed her little vest and held it up to a piece of paper... it seemed about 1" longer than 11", but to be on the safe side, I cast on 66 stitches... (I think I'm getting about 5 st/inch)... didn't want to hunt too long for the tape measure. Besides, she's growing, and it's a vest. Knit 4 rows of ribbing... decided that I wanted a garter rib because maybe I would make some garter stitch stripes to break it up, so started over. Knit a couple of rows... decided to alternate every two rows between a lighter skein and a darker skein of the Kool-Aid yarn for a little more uniformity (or difference... can't decide yet). So there it is. Haven't really thought concretely about armhole decreases or neck shape or anything. I figure after I do the back, I'll take stock of how much yarn I've used and dye more if I need it. Won't be exactly the same, but if I don't switch mid-piece, it'll be fine... or it can be colorblock. Ahh, knitting for children who can't really express their fashion sense! (This is not actually true of Ella, she loves shoes -- particularly her red patent leather ones -- and her silky vest [the one she's wearing below]...).

So this is how I work. If it's a bigger project, then I do spend some time looking at yarns and pictures of sweaters, and use patterns as starting points, and make some pattern notes, which I invariably change as I go. Usually I use some sort of finished garment to check where things (like sleeves) ought to go. I guess I knit like I cook... I love to read recipes and look at food magazines, but when it comes to dinner time, it's usually pretty free-hand -- based on what's around the house and things I remember seeing that sounded good. I've always knit this way... I think my Mom does too, so it seemed the way to go. Lo and behold, I start reading what others are doing and there's all this talk of patterns!

Now that I am wanting to learn some more complicated techniques (cables, intarsia) maybe I'll change... I suspect, however, that I will use patterns to gain understanding of the techniques and then put them aside. Using a bit of this pattern here and a bit of that there. Of course things go awry with this method, but since I'm not following a pattern, there's no worry about ripping it out and doing it a different way.

I marvel at people who can and do follow intricate patterns, they get lovely results... I'm just not that sort of person.

So here's my question: Do you usually knit from a written pattern?

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Well here's the second kool-aid attempt... I was going to re-dye it, but after I broke the big skein down, I decided that it looked
pretty good and the variations were consistent enough to leave it. I feel like I'm somewhere between Red Heart and Colinette now, at
least.

Here are some inspirational dyeing sites:

Motomo Gallery

Tierra Wools

and, of course, Colinette.

Incidentally, if you crave Colinette like I do, check out the "Millshop" section of their site. Great deals on some of their yarns! Shipping runs about $25 to the States from Wales, but you'll still come out way ahead of retail. I haven't done it yet, but I'm tempted. I still have some stray Zanziba that I thought was going to be part of the Parrot sweater. It was way too teal, but I'm thinking it would look great with the Charcoal Graffiti yarn. Now I just have to find a patrona for this dreamy creation.

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The parrot sweater is finally done! Many of my fears were groundless in that it fits just fine. It's a very cuddly sweater; bulky
without being heavy, warm but not hot... The combination of a pure wool thick-n-thin and a pure cotton chenille seemed a bit unorthodox,
but it seems to work. Now I'm hoping for some more chilly weather so I can trot it out!

What I didn't like: The pattern! Go figure! It was easy to follow and had some helpful bits of advice, but I thought the sizing was a bit off, the sleeves would have been too short had I not lengthened them. Plus, the pattern as written called for sleeve increases every 4 rows. I ended up with every 8 rows because I didn't want such pendulous forearms. Then after painstakingly blocking the front and back to specs, I had an awful time getting the sleeve caps to sit in right, even ended up stretching one so far in the heat of the moment (it was late, I was tired) that the Fandango snapped! I managed to tie a little knot and put it away for the night! Anyway, it all came together in the morning and it's groovy. Almost hugged the savvy checker at the store who was the first to comment on it.

What I liked about this project: Can't beat the gauge, and the yarns were top notch. I love the boldness of the color, and I am pleased that it fits the way I wanted it too. Oh, and I like my buttons!

If you want details about how this sweater came together, check out the archives.

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Well, it's all over now. I've started dyeing my own wool. It's so fun. Now I dream of better yarns, ordering up some real dyes from
Dharma Trading Co.... But for now, it's Kool-Aid.

After scouting around various websites, (I found this one quite helpful), I decided I was ready. Was all set to go to a yarn store, but they were all closed because it was Monday! So I went to the local craft emporium and bought some Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool, probably good that I am using cheap yarn, because this is definitely the experimental stage.

Because I wanted to variegate the yarn and don't have a microwave, I ended up mixing the Kool-Aid with a few spoonsful of water, then squirting them onto the pre-wetted wool skein with a big syringe. Then I put it in a steamer basket and steamed it for 30-45 minutes. It worked fine. The first attempt is this very bright blue & orange (I used yellow too, but it's so pale you can't tell). Zoe's choice. It's on it's way to becoming matching hats for her and her doll.

My second attempt was a little more subtle. I dyed the whole skein Orange in a pot, then tied it with some string and over-dyed it with Strawberry. After that, I re-tied the whole thing and put it into some Black Cherry. I am generally pleased with it, but if I had thought it out a bit more, I would have made it into several smaller skeins rather than one big one. The outside is mostly dark red, the inside of the skein has a lot of orange. Now that it's dry, I may break it down into smaller skeins, rubber band them, and put it back into some Black Cherry to even it out a little.

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I'm nearly done with the Parrot -- could be done today. Post game rap-up soon. Anyway, in that project's-nearly-done euphoria, it
hits me... I've been such a vigilante about not having UFO's lying around, that I have no new project lined up!

I was intrigued by the Cancun scarf over at Moving Hands. I think I may try to make something similar for a dear friend who just had her 40th birthday. I couldn't think of anything to buy for her, so I didn't, but she might like this... and I'm happy to make something for her.

This means going to the LYS... probably with only enough dinero for the scarf though!

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Perhaps this is why my knitting goes so slowly. Fortunately, this skein was a clever decoy of cheap yarn to keep the baby and cat
away from the real stuff... The cat was more actively involved before I got the picture...

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I was checking out the other knitblogs this morning and came across a post about homemade knitting needles for sale on ebay over at href="http://yivich.tripod.com/blog.htm">Ivete's Knitting. One pair of sticks went for $30! These are nice needles, to be sure, but
holy cow!

Check them out!

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So I did actually get some knitting done on the Parrot. After ripping out the first sleeve about four times, it is nearly done.
Indeed, if I had followed the pattern, I would be done! It called for 17" long sleeves -- these are set-in, not drop-shoulder!
That's about 4 inches too short. Good thing I checked too, because these yarns are very different skein to skein... if I had knit both
sleeves and then figured out they were too small, it would have been a mess! Grr. That'll teach me to knit from a pattern!