Roaringly cute tiger ears September 23, 2008

Or is that growingly cute bear ears?

Let’s go with tiger…they’re black and orange! Although I don’t have the photo yet, these tiger ears have been made to match a medium sized soaker in the same colourway.

I dyed the wool myself using Landscape Dyes and I’m really happy with the outcome.

I’m sure any confident knitter could work the pattern out themselves but I thought I’d do a quick write up on my free patterns page.

Tiger ears on Thom

Cool cotton crochet dress. September 15, 2008

Thomas: ” ‘ear you doing Mummy?”

Me: “Hmm not sure Thom. I’m crocheting a dress. Mummy’s not sure if it’s working”

Thomas: “Mummy making Thom jumpie?”

Me: “not unless you want it to look like a crocheted dress!”

So I’m crocheting a dress and making the pattern as I go. I think I’m happy with it. I think. I’m not sure. I hope it works out though because I think it will look quite sweet. I have a definite design in mind and so far it’s looking roughly what I intend it to look like. Once it’s finished and had a cool iron it’ll probably look a bit better.

The photos don’t look too crash hot but it’s basically a little cotton dress with a pink yoke and the tan coloured cotton will extend into a skirt (that started with a single crochet “waist band”. I have some ideas for a finished hem but I haven’t made up my mind. I think because the yoke is probably the focus, I don’t want a hemline that’s too fussy.

I really do like crocheted things for baby and children but I always worry they look too fussy, old fashioned or daggy. I hope this one turns out nicely!!!

Front view – without buttons

Side view showing arm holes

Single crocheted “waist band”

Back view

 

Updated 14/9/08

Ok, I LOVE it I’ll be listing it on Wahmania soon.

Awaiting some woolly mail… September 10, 2008

For Thom and I

I’ve been eyeing off two jumpers I’ve been wanting to knit for myself for AGES (and I missed the boat with this winter) and since Thom is going to be growing for a lot of years to come, he’ll need a new jumper next year.

I’m going to be knitting the February Lady Sweater  for myself and I’ve chosen Bendigo Woollen Mills Rustic 12ply in Green Tweed. For Thom, I’ve chosen a jumper from “Adorable Knits for Tots” by Zoe Mellor. It’s a gorgeous chunky cabled and hooded jumper. He asked for a blue one so I’ve chosen Mariner in Rustic 12 ply for him. I found a photo of it here! yay!

I’m also waiting on a Niddy Noddy to wind skeins and I’m eyeing off a set of Knit Picks Interchangeable Harmony Wood Needles. Mmmm.

I hate waiting!!!

 

Updated 19th Sept – the wool arrived and I’m winding some cotton onto my NN ready for dyeing

Isn’t she lovely?! September 2, 2008

Dyeing cotton September 2, 2008

For a little while I’ve been researching online how I can dye some cotton that I have grand plans for. The cotton itself is SO gorgeously soft (from Bendigo Woollen Mills in 4 and 8ply so that I can combine them to make a 12ply/worsted weight yarn) but it’s snowy white and since BWM didn’t stock the colours I was after I knew I’d have to dye some.

I’d remembered reading that dyeing cotton is different to dyeing wool insofar as you need to use “Reactive Dyes” for the cotton. In my searching I read that there are all sorts of dyes you can use for dyeing cotton – Procion for example. I found out that Dylon dyes also work so I chose them because they’re available at my local Spotlight.

So here are the steps I took (hopefully I’ll have success and will be able to post some photos soon!! ) [I used Dylon COLD - no heat needed]

• Skein the cotton and divide it into at least 4 sections with small ties (I just used scraps of the same cotton) – I’m dyeing 400g total. The tin does recommend 250g of FABRIC but I can tell that it’s going to dye 400g plus of yarn no problems.
• Place the skeins in a laundry bag and give it a wash to remove anything that may have been added during production
• Fill a large tub/pot/sink (as long as it’s stainless steel and won’t stain) with enough COLD water to cover the cotton and allow movement while it’s soaking
• Add 375ml white vinegar to the water. Now I deviated from the instructions here, so hopefully the vinegar will work. The vinegar works to make the dye “stick” and since I didn’t have the ingredients listed in the instructions (salt and Dylon Colour Stay) I had to resort to vinegar which I use when I dye wool.
• Dissolve the contents of the Dylon tin in 500ml of the hottest tap water that you can get and stir into the liquid in the pot.
• Put the cotton in the pot and stir it with a large plastic or stainless steel spoon to allow the dye to flow between the yarn strands.
• Dye for at least one hour, stirring occasionally.

 

My first lot just had it’s timer beep but it has to wait while I skein up some more. There’s SO much left over liquid that I don’t want to waste it.

Oh one last thing….wear gloves!!!!