Feeling Blue-ish

Posted on February 15, 2011 by Heather

I know that those of you who do needlework are familiar with over-dyed and hand-dyed threads. There is a whole set of people out there trying their hand at dying various fibres in a multiplicity of colours (with varying degrees of success, I might add). And, I’m sure it comes as no surprise, that this is a huge trend in the knitting/crochet yarn world as well.

I’m lucky enough to have a few lovely skeins of hand-dyed yarn. There aren’t many dyers out there that do non-wooly. And, unfortunately, a lot of the dye kits that are available don’t work well with cotton or bamboo fibres, so, I hadn’t bothered to give dyeing a try.

That is, until I got this yarn:

That’s one of two skeins of Panda Cotton in colour 0406 Caribbean Blue. Definitely not my colour. And, to make them even better, both had tea stains on them.

So, I broke out a package of dark grey Rit Dye, boiled up some water, crossed my fingers, and in the end I got this:

Fabulous and much more my sort of colour.The yarn has an almost ragg effect too it, since the elastic in the yarn took the dye differently and is now black.

I don’t know that I will try dyeing yarn again. But, then again, if I end up with more yarn that I don’t really like, at least I know I can do something interesting with it.

3 Comments | Posted in Crafts |

Happy Valentine’s Day

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Heather

May your life be full of love today and every day. Happy Valentine’s Day.

Comments Off on Happy Valentine’s Day | Posted in Site News |

15 Choices for 15-Sided

Posted on February 13, 2011 by Heather

Bead, beads, beads. I had the worst time picking out beads for the 15-sided biscornu. I must have tired at least 15 different colours.

Here’s what I ended up with:

The beads are Mill Hill Magnifica colour 10020 (Royal Amethyst). The DMC colours are 208 and 209, the over-dyed is Needle Necessities 1481 Mystique, and fabric is Enchanting Lair’s Ametrine.

I love the beads. They give the piece so much life. The silver beads I tried just looks flat and lifeless. Weird how that worked out. I thought that purple beads would be too much purple, but that isn’t the case at all.

If you’d like to stitch this 15-sided biscornu too, head over to Kathrin’s blog and download the charts. We are up to square eight so far.

1 Comment | Posted in Cross Stitch | Tagged

February Socks

Posted on February 12, 2011 by Heather

I cheated a little with my February socks. My original plan was to make Pirate Danger (Raverly link, membership required). But, I didn’t have the yarn caked, and well, I was too lazy to get out the swift and ball winder. You know how it is.

So, instead of letting good old Random.org pick my February socks, I picked out the pair I most wanted to make.

Kai-Mei by Cookie A.

Kai-Mei from Cookie A.’s book Sock Innovation. You may remember that I made a pair of these in October last year, using a dark, bright purple yarn called Maizy. Those went to live with a lovely lady in Texas. These lovely socks (knit in my favourite Panda Cotton, in colour 9800 Painted Iris) will be staying right here and adorning my feet.

They were very quick to make. I cast on 8pm on the 3rd, and they were all done before 6pm on the 10th. My notes from the October pair were very helpful, keeping me on track.

I’m not sure if I will ever knit these for a third time, but I sure do like them.

4 Comments | Posted in Knitting | Tagged , ,

12 Days Torture

Posted on February 11, 2011 by Heather

One of my goals this year is to stitch Joan Elliott’s 12 Days of Christmas for my mom. It is a big piece, and I do have a lot on my plate this year (and I would absolutely love to add more,  like Chatelaine’s new Chinese Mandala Garden), but I was pretty confident I could manage it.

And then I opened up the kit. (I bought the kit because the chart is $12+$5US shipping, and the kit was $24CAN. I changed out the aida for linen.)

The chart is tiny! The symbols are cramped in their little grid squares, so much so that some of them look like they run into the grid lines. And, just to make things fabulous, the printing isn’t particularly dark. And that means blowing it up with my scanner/computer makes it just look like a photocopy of a photocopy. Blech.

I have, however, made a little bit  of progress.

12 Days of Christmas (Day 1 WIP) by Joan Elliott

There is a good ending (or middle) to this story. I contacted Design Works, and they are sending me an enlarged chart. Hopefully that will make stitching this design the pleasure it should be.

2 Comments | Posted in Cross Stitch | Tagged , ,

Head and Foot Finishes

Posted on February 6, 2011 by Heather

More knitting! You all know how much I love to cross stitch, but there is no denying that knitting is much faster.

Saturday Socks from Knit Picks

The foot finish is one sock: Saturday Socks from the discontinued Knit Picks Fancy Feet Anklets kit. The yarn is Comfy Fingering in colour Lilac (although it is much darker than I what I think of as lilac). I think I’ve said this before, but if not, for the record, I don’t really recommend Comfy Fingering for socks. It is an okay sock yarn, but far from ideal. I think it would be great for something like mittens or shawls, but I worry that it won’t hold up to all the wear that socks get. So, why am I making another pair of socks with it? Well, what else can I do with one skein of it?

Lotus Hat from UptownPurl

The head finish is this lovely Lotus Hat knit with Takhi Yarns Nova, a lovely soft cotton with a gold metallic thread. I love this hat, but it looks awful on me. 🙁 Anyone want to make me an offer for it? 🙂

I hope all of your recent finishes have been more successful than some of mine.

2 Comments | Posted in Knitting | Tagged , ,

February 2011 Stitching Blogger Question

Posted on February 5, 2011 by Heather

I completely forgot about the Stitching Blogger Questions that Lee over at Lakeside Stitcher posts. (Thanks to Anna at Stitch Bitch for the reminder.)

This month’s prompt is:
We like to stitch things for people we love.  Show us and tell us about one (or more) of your favorite needlework projects that expresses your love for someone.

As sappy as it sounds, I only stitch for someone else if I love the. (Okay, exchanges are different, but you know what I mean.) And I have stitched a lot of things for a lot of people. I’ve stitched ships for my dad, Santas for my mom, I even stitched a Spitfire for the boy I thought I love (and I did get it back after he cheated on me).

It is difficult for me to say what is my favourite out of all of these projects. Perhaps it is The Wedding, which I’ve stitched twice. The first time (and no picture, sadly) was when my best friend from middle school got married back in 2000 (I think). And I stitched it again in 2005 when my husband (a boy who really did love me, and who I love with all of my heart) and I got married.

The Wedding from Lavender and Lace

There is one other piece that I feel expresses my love for someone:

You Were Hatched by Teresa Wentzler

This is now framed and hanging in the little man’s room. I love him fiercely, and I hope he will always know that.

4 Comments | Posted in Cross Stitch | Tagged ,