10 Things #6: Debbie (Short for ....)

I chose to do the pattern, Deborah, from Hot Knits. On a yarn shopping trip with Faith, I picked up some Cascade Ecological Wool, from under the bulky weight section (as the pattern called for). I thought it looked a little worsted, but who I am to argue with shelf labels? I started knitting, but the gauge seemed completely off. The number of stitches didn't come close to making the measurement predicted, but I was a couple of rows in and it's a drop-shoulder pattern, so I figured I could rework on the fly.

The pattern was originally for a big baggy cardigan, but with all the gauge excitement, I decided to make it hip length, as I was concerned that it being more "form fitting" make make it bunch if I had made it longer. I had to alter the sleeve stitch count, but other than that it was mostly painless. It also flew off my awesome new Addi Click set needles (thanks Faith!).

I then decided to post-CO dye it. It sat in my knitting bureau for a few week, until got a bee in my bonnet one Saturday. Unfortunately, I already had plans which left me about 30 minutes free to get everything set up and do the actual dyeing! In case you were wondering, that is not enough time!

Okay, so it's a little patchy. I prefer to call it "kettle-dyed-esque". It's not quite as garish as it looks here. I took the picture in my lab under fluorescent lighting. I may re-dye it someday, but, for now I am happy with the way it looks!



And more importantly....

That's Six!

A Day in March

This weekend was a lot of fun. My boss's wife, Gretchen, and I went to Minneapolis on my second ever yarn crawl. We started off the day at the Three Kittens yarn store in Mendota Heights. The sales assistants were really friendly and extremely knowledgeable about a number of aspects of the yarns they carried. They had a great selection of yarns, and more importantly, a large selection of yarns that I had never seen or heard of before. My favourite was a yarn that was 50% milk! I initially assumed this just had to be a typo, and so I asked the sales assistant. Nope, it was milk! I never ceased to be amazed what can be spun. I didn't buy any because I was specifically looking for yarn to make a sweater than I plan to make and monochrome yarns to make lacy socks with. I picked up some Fresco by Classic Elite Yarns which I think will become a pair of Monkeys or another pair of Hederas. If or when I visit them again, I may take a less regimental approach to shopping and come home with some milk yarn!!


Our next stop was Borealis Yarns in St. Paul. They have a huge range of yarns spread throughout 3 different rooms, which make for a lovely atmosphere. They had a good mixture of the mainstays as well as more novel yarns. Again, the staff were really friendly. I picked up some Cascade 220 which I intend to use for a sweater and some Cascade sock yarn which I had never come across before.




Finally, we went to Depth of Field yarns, which is obviously very important to visit as a microscopist! This store had a much more laid-back feel. The selection was great and they also carried a wide range of acid dyes. I am definitely going to visit them again when I give dyeing another go. Unfortunately, we shopped through lunch and by the time we got to depth of field, the hypoglycaemia had taken hold! I was completely indecisive, but managed to select some Shirley by Kraemer Yarns which I converted into a pair of newborn size Sheepy Pants on the drive home.


I then dyed them with some acid dyes I picked up in Kansas. The yarn is half cotton and half wool. I love how the yarn stained the fibres in different ways!

Invent a Wireless Camera Already!!

I misplaced the cable for my camera about a month ago, but a few things happened in that time. I was looking for my TV remote and stumbled across the camera cable, so I was finally able to get the pictures off my camera.

1. I acid-dyed yarn

After conquering the world of Kool-Aid dying, Kristine and I pooled our 5th Avenue Superwash and some Fisherman's to try out some acid dying. She had some Jacquard acid dyes and we managed to mix them to create some other colours. Between what we saw at the Lorna's Laces tour and Krisine's online research, it actually ended up being fairly easy. Kristine bought a big turkey roaster and we did it in her basement. The dyes, the wet wool and the vinegar (surprisingly not the main culprit) make for quite a pungent smell, much to the dissatisfaction of Kristine's husband. Probably because I had enjoyed the yarn crawl in Chicago so much, I rather enjoyed the smell.

The dying table

"Not for food use"

My attempt at embodying Ireland as a colourway. We didn't have any dreary grey to represent the sky, so it's depicting one of those rare summery days in Ireland.

Yes, I am obsessed with the Neapolitan colorway. I don't even like the ice-cream all that much.

My finished colorways.

and Kristine's.

2. I had a bachelorette party.

Or a hen night as we call it across the puddle. Kristine and Chris very kindly organized my night for me. We started out with high tea at the Chocolate Café, dinner at Carrabas and off to do some chatting and dancing at Oyster bar and the Linebacker. It was a lovely way to spend the evening with my friends before I had to leave for Minnesota.

Yes there's some pixelation going on here. Let's just say we had some glow in the dark objects that we were recharging and leave it at that!

3. I moved to Minnesota

My lab moved thus bring my tenure at Notre Dame to a close. I am now working at the Hormel Institute for a few months until I get married and hopefully get a job on the East Coast somewhere. I made it up in time for a record low for the area but the place is wonderful, my lab is great and I am enjoying the area enough that a little -40C weather isn't going to sour my impression of the place.

My favourite thing so far is the house that I am renting. I was desperate to get accommodation so I accepted it sight unseen, but somehow hit the jackpot. It's so cute and I am yet to come across anything problematic.


Other than the volume of snow!

My car is back there somewhere!

4. I spent Christmas in Kansas.

Between the late December conference in San Francisco and the move to Minnesota, I decided that it wasn't feasible to make it home for Christmas. That proved a wise idea, as without leaving the country, I was exhausted from the amount of travelling I did over that month. I'd been to Emporia several times before, but this was the first time I spent any real time in El Dorado (el duh-ray-duh), Kansas. Nick tried to convince me that the city was tiny. But as we approached El Dorado at night, the skyline was so striking that I was convinced that he was lying, and that it was in fact a reasonably large city.


Nope. That was an oil refinery!


And on the other side of the freeway?


The maximum-security prison.

Environmental hazards and BTK-killers notwithstanding, I had a wonderful Christmas. Nick's Grandmother was so welcoming and took such good care of us that I had a minimal amount of homesickness.

5. I got the best coffee mug ever!

The Fisher rep came to visit us in our new lab. She brought a coffee mug to give to Ted, who in turn gave it to me.

How cool is this?

I won!!!

I spotted this auction about a week ago. The buy it now price was $50 (plus $10 shipping), which was barely a deal given the low price at Erica's. The reserve was $10, so I decided to practice that virtue and wait until it closed, which was to happen at 10pm on Friday. I checked in every so often, relieved to see that there were zero bids. I guess knitting isn't as hip as I think it is, but that works out well for me in situations like this. But then.... shock and horror.... the day it was due to close, someone placed a bid at the reserve price. I convinced myself to calm down and reasoned that I could be at my laptop at the point the auction closed. Then, I got two phones calls; one friend had successfully defended a Ph.D. thesis and another had gotten the biggest personal injury verdict for a client in St. Joe County history!!!! Obviously, I am not such an awful friend that I would let yarn trump helping my friends' celebrations so I placed a bid and left to go to a local bar. A few hours, and a little tipsiness, later, I came home and was bowled over to find that, not only had I won, the auto-bid function on Ebay had only driven me to $2 over the reserve! I have to say that my over-empathizing is so bad that I feel very guilty about taking the yarn away from that other user. But hey, I haven't been paid in over a month and I am completely broke and dyeing wool is about the only thing that's entertaining in my personal economic climate! (That means that I will very selfishly not be sharing or reselling my spoils of bidding-war.... sorry!)
I can't wait for it to arrive. I have packets and packets of generic-brand Kool Aid waiting for it (again with the broke!). Good times, the way a lot of things have been going recently, I needed this.

A Series of Serendipitous Mishaps

Jess and I went to Erica's today (during work.... shhhh!), and spurred by her wonderful hand-dyed yarn that she used to make a skirtie, I bought two skeins of Fisherman's yarn. I ran to Walmart, and despite being told by Jessica that knitty has a guide to the results you can obtain using Kool Aid, I randomly grabbed a variety of 20 cent sachets with no forward planning.
True to form, I half-read the instructions and then launched into microwaving my yarn in vinegar and kool aid concoctions. Whilst meaning to do only one color scheme this evening, I used both skeins and made three different color schemes with matching trims. The upstairs reeks of vinegar and Kool Aid, my kitchen table has a weird green hue to it now and my left hand looks like that animate pitcher got sick on it.... totally worth it!!!
It turns out that I didn't quite use enough Kool Aid, but I am in love with how the white adds something to the color-schemes. I also love how my grab-bag combos all came out; I am particularly proud of the one on the left.
I am going to let them dry and then picture them individually. I am planning to come up with pompous names for the colorways that have nothing to do with the colors or, indeed, knitting itself. I can't wait for them to be ready to knit up!!!