Shoes and Swifts...

Robert made me a swift for Christmas! Hooray!! No more tangled mess of yarn around my feet trying to wind it into balls!! I sanded it down and made the dowels a bit shorter, and now I'm waiting for the paint to dry so I can finally use it! I couldn't decide between paint or stain, so I let Nate choose... Shockingly enough, he chose *purple* paint! Though, that was only after I rejected his "Red Sox Colors" idea. Shame on me for only wanting to paint it ONE color! ;)

Here's a before pic:


And how it looks right now... lol

Before I forget... A HUGE rave for Pedipeds soft shoes!! Trish and I went to Lamey Welleham last week to find K some snow boots, since he's got fat feet and we were having a hard time finding something that would fit, and still be relatively easy to get on him. We finally found a pair that goes on well, though he does NOT like wearing them! Can't blame him though, with those big thick soles! At least he has something to wear so he can play outside now, though! A very good thing considering all the snow we have!

While we were there, I was looking for some new soft sole shoes for him, since he's outgrowing his Robeez. In addition to the Robeez, they had Pedipeds there, which I'd never seen in person before. They didn't have a large selection, and only had one style in K's size. Darn those big feet! I LOVE them though! They have a bit thicker sole than Robeez (or their comparative knock-offs), so they can be worn outside. Despite the thicker sole, they are still *VERY* flexible and good for the feet. I'm also really grooving that they look like "real" shoes, and thus go with everything. They are also really easy to get on and off, which is a major plus!

Best of all? Kaiden LOVES them as well! He keeps asking for them, even! This is the same kid whom we can't even keep socks on, so I am VERY pleased! I can't wait to get another pair! No action pics right now, but they are "Charlie" in brown. Next on the list are a pair of XL white/blue Liam's!

Open House at a local alpaca farm!

Yesterday afternoon we went to an open house at a local alpaca farm, Long Plains Alpacas. There were representatives from several other local farms (and some of their alpacas, of course) including Sunshine Alpacas, Foss Mountain Farm, White Barn Meadows, Abenaqui Alpacas, Maple Hill Farm, Pamelamas, and Bellemont Farm Alpacas. There was a shearing demonstration, spinning, and other information, kool-aid dyeing for the children, and a ton of yarns and fiber for sale, as well as ready made goods. Very tempting, but I was good and didn't buy any!

With the exception of Sunshine Alpacas, they were all huacaya being represented. Sunshine Alpacas brought 3 of their suri alpacas. They had already been shorn, and she didn't bring any fleece, so I missed out on the dreadlocks! Looks like they'd be gorgeous though! White Barn Meadows had a pair of gelded fiber males, they were beautiful! Cinnamon was especially sweet, and gave Kaiden kisses. He was beautiful, I just wanted to snuggle him!

Kaiden had fun, he was checking everything out, and kept trying to play with the yarn. All in all, a very fun day! I can't wait until the Fiber Frolic the 9th and 10th!

Here are a bunch of pics from yesterday!

Cinnamon, gelded male from Sunshine Alpacas


Some alpacas from Abenaqui Alpacas


Suri alpaca from Sunshine Alpacas


Sugar Ray, before shearing demo


Sugar Ray after shearing


A befuddled Kaiden


Comfy Kaiden!


Resident llama of Long Plains Alpacas

Dyeing for a Crock-Pot!

I finally dyed some "mini-skeins" of yarn to match my last dye project. I took a skein of Patons merino and split it in half so I'd have two smaller skeins (just under 2oz each). I decided to use the crock pot to dye them, since I wouldn't have to worry about checking on the yarn constantly while taking care of Kaiden.

My first step was to soak the yarn in water and vinegar for a while, about half an hour. While that was soaking, I prepared the pink dye. I put water and 1/2 c of vinegar in the crock pot, and set it to low. In a separate container, I mixed a little vinegar, two tablets of easter egg dye, and some hot water. After the tablets were dissolved, I dumped this in the crock pot and mixed it all together. Next step was to add the yarn to the crock pot, and turn it up to high. As the yarn "cooked", the color saturated the yarn, and after only an hour, the dye was exhausted, and it was done! The yarn will be saturated, while the water will now be clear.

At this point I turned off the crock pot and let the yarn cool. Once it's cooled down, I rinsed it with warm water, spun it out in the washer, and hung it to dry. After drying, I put it in a hank. I love all the subtle variations in the color, and it matches the original skein wonderfully!

Next up was the blue skein. While I really wanted the darker "crushed blueberry" color in the main skein, I didn't have enough tablets to experiment, and couldn't remember how I originally created it. Instead, I went with the other blue in the skein. I repeated the same process of soaking the yarn, mixing the dye, cooking the yarn, then letting it cool off, rinsing it, and hanging it to dry. Once it was dry, I wound it into a hank. It also has great variations in color, and matches well.

Here they are all together!

Sweet Tarts and Blueberries...

After Easter, I bought a bunch of egg dye with the intention of dyeing some wool yarn. Friday night I finally got around to dyeing my two skeins of natural Patons Merino. The intention was to make a pair of shorts out of each skein, but the end result of one skein is too girly for Kaiden. I think I have a plan for it though. ;)

This first skein is "Sweet Tarts". I asked my baby brother and sister what to name them, and they came up with "Pickle Pumpkin", Mom and Nate came up with the final names for these skeins.

The first step was to soak the yarn in water and vinegar. I soaked it for about an hour, then squeezed out the excess liquid, and laid it out on top of plastic wrap. After mixing the egg dye, I painted it on with a sponge brush, then wrapped it up in the plastic wrap. To set the color, I used the microwave. Cook for two minutes, let cool for a couple minutes, repeat for a total cooking time of 10 minutes. After it cooled down completely, I spun it out (on gentle, of course!) in the washer, and hung it to dry. Saturday afternoon, when it was all dry, I reskeined it.

Pretty, no? Unfortunately, way too girly for Kaiden to wear!

Here it is in a center pull ball, and a swatch I knit up to see how the colors blend.


Next up is Blueberry Fields. Nate said he wanted something blue and green, so here it is! The bright blue and neon green are original egg dye tablets. The darker shades are ones I mixed out of various colors.

For this one, I followed the same steps as above. Here it is after painting and hanging to dry. Saturday it was all dry, so I reskeined it as well, then put it into a center pull ball and knit a swatch as well. This will become a pair of cargo shorts for Kaiden, though I'm not sure what color I'll use for trim yet. I love how the colors came out though, and I can't wait to see a FO from this yarn! Here it is in the skein, before I rewound it into a CPB.

Finally, longies are done...

I finished my first pair of Picky Pants tonight! All I had left to do was kitchener stitch the crotch closed, bind off the second leg cuff, and create an I-cord for the drawstring waistband. It's now been finished, washed, and dried. I made them a size larger, so they've got a TON of growing room! The legs are way too long, but they're still cute rolled up. Considering it's my first pair, I don't think I did too bad! Now I just need to remember to work from two skeins at a time when I use Paton's again - talk about long color repeats!




For those wondering specifics, I knit these in Paton's Merino, using Forest for the body, and Leaf Green for the trim. For the pattern, I used LTK Picky Pants, size large with a 1x1 ribbed waistband, backside increases, and the ribbed leg cuff options. Now I finally have another pair of longies I can use!



Here's the crotch with the kitchener grafting. Look Ma, no holes!

It's a... Booga bag!

Another FO for you all! This time, it's a Booga Bag! It's made of Noro Kureyon, color #154. There's an area craft store going out of business, so I managed to get a whole slew of yarn on the cheap! I needed a new bag, so this was another late night creation. It still needs to be shaved, but it's otherwise complete. Perfect size too, room for my wallet, phone, keys, etc plus I can throw in a diaper or two if I'm out with K and don't want the whole diaper bag!