OK, this is quite picture heavy but I just had to share my adventure!

3/1 3pm

Well, here I am with my 10 skeins of Bare Superwash Worsted from KP’s, 5 jars of Jacquard Dye, also from KP’s. (Yes, its the same pic from yesterday)

I dug around and found the pot that I was searching for on campus and unfortunatly, it is too small. 10 skeins just dont fit well enough to be able to “swim freely” like every page of instructions has told me. These pics make me think of spaghetti You can see how full the pot is and I think that I would have been scared to play around with almost boiling water and that little bit of room. The up side to this is that I DO have a washing machine that is available during the day and the insrtuctions on how to dye that way make the amount of dye that I bought make much more sense. On this website it says to use “up to 3oz” of dye per pound of fabric to get the deepest colour saturation. I hope that I have enough dye to get a rich colour because, though it would be easy to do again, I dont want to have to wait for shipping if I have to order more.

3/2
I was so excited to get started and last night, I barely slept and then when I did, I dreamt about dyeing! I was rudely awakened this morning by my mobile ringing and it just happened to be the school…needing a last moment sub. I knew from past refusals that if I didnt take the job P would have to do it on his day off and without pay. I, on the other hand, would get paid and I know that the money would be quite helpful in the bank. So the yarn had to wait, darn it.

4pm: Picture me wading though 2 feet of snow with that huge pot. I, of course, drained most of it but highly soggy yarn is so flippin’ heavy. I got into the laundry room and got started! I set the washer to extra-small, Hot/Cold and emptied 3 of the 5 jars of dye into the filling washer. I wrung out each of the skeins and fluffed them and hung them on my arm. Every picture that I have seen regarding dyeing show people putting the skeins in all at the same time. So thats what I did The colour in the washer was so deep red it was like wine. The yarn soaked up so much of the colour, I was really amazed. Within 2 minutes, this is what I had: Ok, now here is where it gets dumb. Rather, this is where I get dumb. ALL the instructions that I read about washing machine dyeing said to agitate and then add the vineger then agitate again. ALL of them. No one gave me any other instructions. I didnt think and stupid me follows the instructions to the “T”. This is what I got: Foolish me. Because I was thinking so clearly, this is what my room looked like: I have to re-skein everything. 10 skeins at 220 yds each equals 2,200 yards…and 2 full days of standing, trying to untangle my huge mistake.

3/3
I started the day with 5 skeins looking like like: and greatfully, I finished at 9pm. P called to see if I wanted to get a drink and I was totally in the mood to celebrate my 2,200 yards. Its all dry now and looks so beautiful and the colour is perfectly red. I couldnt have asked for a better saturation or even tone. Of course, as I want to show it off, I cant really get the “perfect” picture. This one, though it is only the tie-it-together strand is the best picture of the ‘trueness’ of the red.

3/4
In hindsight, I thinkthat I wouldnt turn the agitate on. *sigh* Oh well, live and learn, eh? I am going to spend the next few, erm, days, winding this 2,200 yards into balls. I have wound one ball, knit a swatch and already have gotten 2″ into the sleeve. There would be pictures but those celebration beers have had an impact on my head and I dont really want to more enough to grab the camera and I had to put down the sleeve…to blog of course! I couldnt be happier with the colour and the yarn is so soft and bouncy. It has held up well over the dyeing and rinsing and squeezing etc. and is knitting up beautifully. My test swatch was nice and even and I got gauge with my KPO’s #7’s so again, that makes me happy. I cant wait to keep going on this and I just know that Mariah is going to be a fun knit. I love cables!!

ITS HERE!!!! How the heck am I going to wait until tomorrow?!?!? The very, very full box is 10 Skeins of Bare Worsted Superwash, 5 bottles of Jaquard Dye in Fire Red (which really is probably overkill cause the jar says 1 jar will do 2 pounds of fibre…and 900 grams is almost 2 lbs), KP’s options tips in size 7 and 32″ cables. I have size 6’s that I had bought for the PNW shawl so hopefully, if my gauge is off I will have to go down to 6’s not up to 8’s! I am going to dye tomorrow but I am getting the huge pot out and will start soaking tonight….OHHHH, I can’t wait! I’m going to take pictures all along the way.

Can you tell that I am excited?

After a fantastic conference in Calgary, Alberta (NWACUHO) I am glad to be back in Sitka. Calgary was COLD! I had such a great time at the conference and learned so much more. I love coming back from events/training/conferences feeling like it was incrediblu benificial and that, not only am I raring to go but that I have fantabulous ideas for the coming year and rest of the semester. Granted, I came back to so not so good news about the status of my employment for next year (my grant runs out and the end of this one and the state legislature is unsure that I and my 3 co-workers are really worth hiring and making state employees). P made a good comment last night about the legislature looking at the “dollers and cents of the situation” to which I commented that it was “all about the dollers and no sense”. Quite a good reply if I do say so myself. Blame my mum for the pun-ny nature…its all from her Anyway, I got to talk to some really good friends that I see only once a year and made some excellent contacts for the future. I did learn about an excellent job oppertunity that I am stoked about applying for and since I know the guy, school, situation and type of students that I would be working with/for, I think that I would have an excellent chance of getting the post, even my supervisor agrees!! I am all about the editing of my resume in the next few days. In short, the conference was wonderful, I met new friends, chatted with old and renewed my love of Student Affairs and am feeling the pull back to Uni. So many less legal issues than dealing with/in high schoolers.

I am back to my knitting too. I had a bit of a scare in the Calgary airport where the screener dude asked ME if my knitting needles were OK to take on the plane. Makes me scared about what else could slip though. I thought that I would be knitting through the conference but during the sessions I was so busy taking notes, I didnt have time! I was glad not to though because that meant I was getting more out of it I took my mums CTH ankle socks, turned the heel and began the gusset on those and I took J’s Euro waffle socks and managed to fudge those up by switching mid row to K2 P2 and then switching back sometime else. Now, I love my J but I know that he is less than aware of his foot wear and that, because of the patterning and striping, it is totally not noticable. So I am leaving it as is. But it will have a Kitchenered toe so I figure that makes things even. I left the PNW Shawl here in Sitka due to its fiddley nature so it is still in its left stage. I will post pics when I move to another panel of lace.

I am TOTALLY excited that my Mariah yarn should be here today. My weekend is Friday and Saturday so I will be dyeing and I am dying to start. I chose Fire Red Jaquard dye from KP’s and ordered 10 skeins of Bare Superwash and 5 pots of dye. Now, I know that this may be excessive, but I did so for two major reasons. A) I havent any experiance with Jaquard dyes and I most certainly didnt want a washed out red colour. I would have it a very dark red rather than a washy red any day and B) Superwash, I have heard, sucks up the dye and no one could tell me if there was a saturation point (where no more colour would be absorbed) for any yarn. This totally relates to A. I dont think that I will need all 10 to make Mariah but I want to make it a bit longer in the body than it is listed and extra yarn is never a really bad thing. 22″ justhits the top band of my jeans when they are sitting where I love to wear them and I really hate it when sweaters ride up when you sit down. I am going to make it a bit longer and see what happens. Also, I am futzing with the pattern so I can make the body in one piece to avoid seaming as much as possible. In reading the pattern, I am thinking that this will be an easy task but I am still sending it to my Mum to double check for me. Good thing I have her!

On semi-non-knitting note, I am so happy that I got to make a trip to Lush in Calgary. The stores are always really small and it is truely a heady experiance to be in one. I had been wavering between trying some new things and being in there and getting to smell them made it all worth-while. The only new thing that I bought was Silky Underwear dusting powder and it is fantastic. I wore some the night I bought it and got compliments right away on how good I smelled…from guys!

Here is a shot of my new Lush stash: It is, left to right, 3 Sweet Japanese Girls ( fantastic!), A sample of Prince (for J), Buffy the Backside Slayer (on top of SU and one I cant live w/o), Silky Underwear (which smells divine, not too sweet or powerfully perfumy), a sample of Ocean Salt (which I thought was blue but I think the sample ad lost its colour), Tricomania (a solid shampoo that is coconutty and slightly vanilla and sandalwoody and awesome for my hair since I dont need conditioner. I had them cut the large block into two), Soft (in the tin. Its another solid shampoo) and Seanick (another SS).

Can you tell I like solid shampoos? They last so long for me, almost 3 months for my last bar of Seanick and bar of Tricho, EACH. The trick is making darn sure that they are out of the water after use and lathering them between your hands instead of rubbing them on your head. Admittedly, Lush is expensive but this stash should last me a year on the shampoos, 2 on the SJG and at least 2 on the Buffy (cause I have half a one left from Christmas 05!). I believe in using stuff that you love and that works for you and this stuff really does for me. SJG revolutionised my face care and made my normally very oily skin relax and not give out so much because it itself is oil (cocoa butter). I was shocked to have it “clean” my face and not completely break me out like lotion does. As for the shampoos, solid makes so much sense to me. They are a heck of a lot easier to travel with and take up so much less space in my shower, backpack and on the boat. They can be used like regular soap and are fantastic for washing small clothes like socks and undies in the sink of hotels/hostels/boat. Talk about my most loved item. I dont think that I could travel well without them, especially since they, unlike liquids, can be easily packed in carry-ons.
They are good for handmade socks too (see how this relates to knitting?)