The Hot Pink Sweater

Once we knew that Monkey was a girl, I was excited to make her all sorts of clothes. Not that I wouldn't have been excited for a boy, but for some reason boy clothes are a lot harder to find good patterns for whether you are sewing or knitting.

I found some great, hot pink yarn from an indie dyer on Instagram. And I got it. Just enough for a wee little sweater and a matching hat (or two). My husband has a thing for neon so I was sure this hot pink yarn would be a winner all around.

It sort of is.

You see, I finished the sweater the other night and immediately put it on Monkey. We were having a Ladies Night with her Aunt Mabels (my sister). Monkey wore the sweater about two hours, maybe three.

It's important to note now, that Monkey is three months old and has entered the drooly stage of life. (Also the blurry stage.) So there was some minor drooling going on during the course of the night.

When we got home and took the sweater off, there was a pink crescent shaped stain on her white onesie where her drool had soaked through at the neck of the sweater.

Fortunately, I remembered that there is a way to re-set dye in yarn using citric acid. I happen to have a bottle of citric acid on hand thanks to a failed bath bomb experiment last year, so I set out to fix this cute little sweater that I was so excited about.

First I had to look up the exact instructions. The lovely Knitmore Girls had posted a tutorial several years ago that I used. I came upon it by googling 'citric acid soak', which took me to Knitting Daddy who linked directly to the instructions in the post on the Knitmore blog. Convenient for a new momma trying to fit this project in around naps, feeding, and general cuddles.


I'm not going to go into details here, but here are some pictures of the process:

Here it is in the soak, round one. 

After coming out of the microwave. It was super hot so be careful when you take yours out and unwrap it! 

If you look very closely, you can see the steam coming off the sweater. I had just taken the plastic wrap off of it.

So, if you actually read the captions you will notice that the first picture says "Round One". Yep. The water was still super pink after doing the entire process once. So I did it again. By the time I was through attempt number two, Monkey was ready for her dinner so I decided twice was good enough even if the water was still a little pink. It was much lighter pink the second round, so improvement was made!

After the whole treatment, I let the sweater block and dry. We had family in town and took Monkey along for our touristy excursion we take everyone on when they first visit. She of course wore the sweater so I didn't have to mess with a jacket and the car seat. She wore the sweater all day, through drool and spit ups galore. At the end of the day, the sweater came off and the onesie underneath.... was pink again. Just where she drooled around the neck and her wrists (she likes chewing her fingers, it's the stage she's at). I'm on the fence about doing another soak for it or not, though. I figure if I put a pink or gray or black onesie on underneath it won't be that big of a deal. Plus pink onesie number one came out of the wash all white again....


Now, I have some yarn that I made socks out of and am currently making leggings for Monkey with the rest of it. This particular yarn is notorious for bleeding and fading so I will be repeating this process with those when they are completed. If I remember to, I will do another picture along of the process for you all!

Why I Love Yarn

It’s night and I’m sitting here at my desk looking at these two skeins of yarn I wound earlier today.

I had the intention to at least cast on one of them, but didn’t get to it today. Usually I would be a bit disappointed in myself, and frustrated that I didn’t make my “goals” for the day. But today, I don’t feel that way.

I’m just sitting here, and enjoying them. As I was writing in my journal, overlooked by this yarn, I realized one of the reasons I love yarn (and fabric) is that it has potential. It’s a material that has infinite potential. These balls of yarn could become absolutely anything. There’s no telling what they may turn out to be.

And I love that. I really love that.

I will cast on tomorrow, or maybe the day after. I’m not sure yet, but until them I’m just going to enjoy this yarn on my desk and the potential that it holds.

Baby Sweater Fever

If you follow the blog, you will have noticed that there was a baby sweater in May's Finished projects. As well as one I started when I said I wouldn't start any new projects because I need to finish current WIPs. And there's another one in the works, undocumented on the blog or on Instagram.  I'm addicted.

At church we have 6, yes 6, babies arriving between now and December. Four of them are first time mommies, and one is a baby sister with only brothers. So there are a lot of baby showers happening in the coming months as well.

And, since I have a wonderful hobby and I have a goal to use up stash, I decided to make a sweater for every one of those little babies. Stashbusting and enjoying myself and being able to give the finished items a good home all at once? Sign me up!

I've also been using any small leftovers to knit up preemie hats, if I have enough I could make a pair of kid socks or even a baby size hat too. Basically, after the sweater I keep going with the yarn until I can go no more.

August Stashbusting

This month I've decided to take a new approach to my stashbusting.

I'm currently about 2 weeks into a 100 day no buy zone, known in one of my Ravelry groups as "Cold Sheeping".  Last time I excelled at the no buying thing. I really did. However, I did not use up very much stash in that time period, which is part of the whole point.

Old picture, most of this stuff is gone already. 

This time around I've decided to keep track of how many skeins of yarn 'move out' during this month. They can move out by being used up completely in a project, being sold, or being given away (I recently inherited a load of yarn from the preschool that isn't going to stay).

I currently have roughly 100 skeins of yarn in my possession, that doesn't include the partial balls. But when I count up the partial balls will count because, well, they take up space too.

I'm In Love- Three Irish Girls Yarn

Recently I received some yarn as part of a swap package. And I just love it so much, I had to share.

For those of you who are following along with the Curls Project, you may recognize this yarn. It's what I used to knit Caesious, the first Curls. 

It's Three Irish Girls Glenhaven CashMerino Sock. I'm hoping that all of their yarns are as great as this yarn, because once I have some hustling money saved up, I'm ordering some more. 

As John and I drove to a wedding in Florida and back, I worked on the shawl. I just kept falling more and more in love with the yarn. I told John that it was really... squishy. And I made him feel it, he described it as "springy".  I'm not sure what else to use to describe the hand of it, it just was squishy as the fabric began to really take form

It's also quite soft, even before blocking. I always get a little nervous about blocking yarn that I really like since blocking can sometimes change the feel of a yarn. However, with this yarn I had wasted my worrying. It's just as soft and springy and squishy as it was before blocking. Bonus- it really holds blocking well. What used to be a scrunched up looking shawl is now a beautiful open shawl. 

Before Blocking

After Blocking

Now, I can highly recommend this yarn. That is, the Glenhave CashMerino Sock. 5 Stars. Once I have a chance to try out some more of their yarns I will update you all on them! 

100 Days

I made it. Guys, I really did it. 

100 Days of no yarn buying. 

As I wrote before, the stash doesn't appear any smaller, but at least I know I can do it. And yes, I will keep going, except for one treat this weekend. You see, I've got a fiber arts festival that I'm going to, and I want to have the option to buy a skein. AFTER I take my lovely dye class. 

I'm excited for the class, not so sure about buying yarn though. It's an option, not a requirement. I'll see if I can make it 200 days? 

Stash Explosion

I've been desperately attempting to move some of my stash out of my stash since the New Year. I have gone Cold Sheep (96 days and counting!). I have projects galore, in my head at least.

But somehow, my stash has exploded beyond the tupperware in it is supposed to be confined to. I could pretend I don't know what happened. I really could. But alas, I can't. There are two reasons:

Reason One: I have several friends who have attempted to knit or crochet, or currently are knitters and crocheters, who give me yarn. I've received more yarn in the past 3 months for free (or for cookies in one case) than I have ever before.

I admittedly sold some of it on Craigslist. It was quite the achievement for me. But it didn't do much for my stash. Perhaps I should try listing some more on there to see if I can move a couple more skeins out?

I uploaded the entire stash to my Ravelry page, listing the majority of it on the "Will Trade or Sell" page. I got one inquiry, but no go. Maybe Craigslist is the way to go on that? Or Ebay?

I've used up some for Project Linus blankets. One is already completed, one is in progress, and one is in my head screaming to get out. I might let it out, it should go pretty fast and use up quite a bit of yarn...  I also have the good intention to make some baby hats for the NICU  too.

But alas, those do nothing for the Second Reason my stash is not going away;

I'm not knitting fast enough.

There are not enough hours in the day currently for me to get the knitting in that I would like to get in. I'm in the throes of thesis writing and trying to get all the loose ends of grad school gathered up and woven in. Sadly, that leaves little to no time for crafting. (As I type this I should be writing my thesis or at least reading some more research papers for it.)

And don't get me started on my fabric stash.

Fiber Friday! The Beginning of... well...

 I made a shawl. I'd been wondering for a long time what the big deal about shawls was anyway. Like, do people really wear them? And look good in them? Why not just toss on a sweater or use a scarf?

I didn't get it. But then, I moved here and at the LYS, there is an abundance of shawl knitters. I started to wonder what exactly it was that I was missing out on. And so, for the Winter Challenge, I found myself some beautiful, blue yarn. (Juniper Moon Farm's Moonshine) and a pattern that wasn't too "old lady" (The Lonely Tree Shawl by Silvia Bo Bilvia [side note, not sure if that's her real name or if she's just playing the name game there...])

I cast on during the opening ceremonies. A feat in itself, since I was visiting the fiance and he wasn't too thrilled to have knitting take precedence over him. (It's going to happen, honey. It will continue to happen.)

After wearing it to church,  I turned it in on the deadline day. I now understand what the big deal is about shawls. I really liked it. It can keep you warm like a sweater, but if you want to, you can leave your arms uncovered without fussing with rolling or scrunching up the sleeves. Plus, it's pretty. ;0

 One week later, I returned to the shop to find it on display with a medal. Not just any medal, the GOLD.

What the heck?!

I'm already plotting the next two shawls. Knitting store, watch out! I might clean you out of yarn in the next few weeks!

February Update (in March)

So here's a couple of pictures of items that have been added to the over all count. The first is a market bag made from one of the skeins of yarn I bought in Copenhagen almost three years ago. The second picture are items made for Swaps on Ravelry. So I had to wait to post the pictures. (There will be several of these types of items this year, I want to take part in 13 Swaps). It's a pair of legwarmers and a Ballband dishcloth, as found in Mason Dixon Knitting.

I also have several projects on the needles right now. I've completed two squares for my big blanket project, am halfway done with Little Sister's Dress, and have some socks and a hat that are sitting in the corner gathering dust. But I'm making progress. I really am.

Another Blanket

Now, with my goal of knitting 13 miles of yarn this year, I have my eye and brain looking out for 'big' projects. Last night, as I was watching Psych and trying to finish up a sweater (it's not going to happen, at least not this weekend), I thought of a blanket pattern I stumbled upon a while ago.

Op Art Blanket

 

Now this pattern led me to rant about something, something research related, but after letting it sit I think I'll leave it for now. I have come to accept that the person who wrote this pattern and the explanation for their inspiration for it is a knitter. Not a child development specialist with a degree in those kinds of things.

But here is my dilemma. I was going to make this in hot pink and black. But, I'm making the Great North American Afghan in pink and black and gray blue. I CAN'T make two pink and black blankets! So, those of you who actually read this blog, what colors should I go for in this Op Art Blanket? (No option on changing the GNAA, I started on it last night, there is no going back.) 

Let me know what you think so I can be on the lookout for the right colors of yarn :)

p.s. I decided to go to the local museum for my birthday. Uh, they're not open on Mondays, what? So maybe Franklin is where I'll end up...