Spring is here!

It really is! If you don't believe me, just look at this picture I took on my balcony:

Ok, the flowers didn't just appear (or, I believe it is usually referred to as growing) I bought them and put them there. But anyways, doesn't it look fabulous? If it wasn't still so fricking cold I'd just sit there all day... :)

I also finished some very spring-colored socks, these were indeed for the April SKA sockdown challenge. The pattern is Margaritaville by Adrienne Fong is case you want to knit your own. I haven't knit socks from sport weight in a while, I have fallen totally in love with fingering weight. Regardless, these socks turned out quite nice, kind of whimsical but only in a good way. I do wish I had enough yarn to knit both socks identical, but I didn't. Still, they are quite cute.

I also finished Birch Point Hoodie by Amanda Scheuzger. It's a great pattern from Interweave Knits pring 2012, and I knit it now juts in time for spring 2013. I used Novita Miami to knit mine with, it's 50% cotton and 50% acrylic so it's not as heavy as pure cotton. We went on the beach to take some nautical photos:

And yes, I was freezing the whole time without my coat but sometimes you have to suffer for art's sake... Anyway, happy, happy spring to everyone!

More dyed yarn, mittens and socks

I have been dyeing some more yarn yesterday and the day before and am writing now to show you what I made. First we have 400 meters of fingering weight, formerly white, now a semi-solid yellow, called daffodils.

Daffodils

This one I dyed not using Kool-aid but just regular yellow food coloring in different concentrations. To get a darker tone, I should have kept it on the stove for a longer time, but I am actually quite pleased with the beautiful light yellow I got. It's very springlike, now that we are finally in a season you can actually call spring.

I also embellished an older dye job with the same yellow food coloring. Here are the before and after pictures of summer sorbet:

Summer sorbet

So what I did was basically just dip the light, almost white parts in warm water in which I'd added yellow food coloring and citric acid. I'm glad I did, I really love the yarn now.

I also dyed another sport weight skein, this one with Kool-aid. I mixed orange and grape in different concentrations to get the browns and the orange, and ice blue raspberry lemonade and orange to get the dark yellow. The brighter yellow is peach mango. I am so in love with this skein, it is called ripe wheat.

Ripe wheat

I also finished a pair of mittens for my boyfriend's aunt's 50th birthday. I am quite pleased how they turned out, I hope she will like them, too.

Of course I have also starter a new pair of socks. You may have noticed that I have not yet participated in the April sockdown, so this pair is for that. These socks are going to be quite warm, as I am knitting sport weight with 2.25 needles. The pattern is Margaritaville by Adrienne Fong. Below is a picture of the beginning of the first sock.

Pythagoras Socks

My newest finished object is another pair of socks, the Pythagoras socks by verybusymonkey. I knit them with yarn I had kool-aid dyed myself, and they are the first finished object I have knit from any of my self-dyed yarns. I wasn't overly happy with this yarn first when I had dyed it, I had hoped it to be a little darker with more contrast. But now seeing it knit up, I am very pleased. I think the yarn and the pattern truly compliment each other, and I don't think I could be happier with these socks. Here are some pictures:

Knitting socks really is a bliss, luckily I have many more pairs lined up. Right now, I've continued to knit Bette, the 50's top with the keyhole neckline. I have finished both of the sleeves and I'm almost finished with the front as well. Knitting with cotton yarn has grown on me a little, though I still do prefer wool.

Kai-mei and Veronica Mars

Hi there!

I have finished the Kai-mei socks I wrote about last time, and they are simply gorgeous! I am so happy with them and they fit very nicely, rib as they mostly are. As I'm sure you'll want to see some pictures, here you go:

In other news, we just finished watching Veronica Mars. It took us four weeks to watch three years worth of that sassy, young detective and all her escapades. And what four weeks it was! We had of course heard of the show before, as supposedly it is one of Joss Whedon's favorite shows and as he is one of our favorite directors as far as TV-series go (heck, the favorite to tell you the truth), we were intrigued. But now with the kickstarter project and all, we just had to see what the fuss was about. And did we ever :) Both of us were blown away by how good the show was - much better than we had anticipated, and thoroughly entertaining. My boyfriend did think that Veronica was a little cruel at times, when talking to some of the men in her life, but I couldn't have enjoyed her cynicism more! She is beautiful, funny, resourceful and has a way with words. What more could you ask for in a fictional character? Of course I had to pledge to the kickstarter project and now I have a t-shirt coming my way - well, in next February... I just hope it comes in time for the premier of the movie, the movie that I am now awaiting eagerly!

Oh, and I almost forgot. I did also dye some more yarn, some sport weight this time, though it's probably gonna end up as socks as well. I used three sachets of pink lemonade kool-aid, one grape and ½ ice blue raspberry lemonade. Plus I threw in some peach mango when I was getting exasperated with the color as it didn't seem to be turning the way I wanted. But I am very happy with the result, now, and I think it will knit up beautifully.

Picture post!

This post is going to be heavy with picture and not so heavy on text as I should be studying for an exam... I have been knitting quite a bit, I'm working on two pairs of socks: Kai-mei by Cookie A. and Pythagoras socks by verybusymonkey. I love them both, I'm knitting Kai-mei in a beautiful dark blue by a Finnish indie dyer, Tuulia of KnitLob's Lair. And Pythagoras, well you could say that yarn is also dyed my a indie dyer - me! I've also been further working on my 50's lacy cotton blouse, Bette, and a pair of traditional Finnish stranded mittens for my boyfriend's aunt's 50th birthday. And if that wasn't enough, I've also dyed some new yarn. And now for the pictures:

Kai-mei, they look much nicer on, but I didn't want to take a one-legged picture

Coming along nicely in my self-dyed squishy red

I'm calling this yarn "sphagnum" because of the colors, you know?

Dyed with left-overs from the dye above. Pretty good, huh?