CraftyME: Kool I'm Dyeing....

Hello SBSM readers.
 Seeing as I'm always talking about this person they call CraftyME, I guess I'd better show some reasons why she got that name. So, I joined this group on OCS called Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup challenge otherwise known as HPKCHC or just HPKC or..well whatever I feel like typing at the time. Every participant/student gets sorted into one of 4 houses a la Harry Potter, Gryfinndor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and the most awestacular house of all HUFFLEPUFF. Can you tell which one I'm in?)

Every month for the 3 month term, you are assigned 8 different class homework assignments. You are only required to complete one. But you know me, overachiever that I am, I went for all 8 in both Jan & Feb. I don't know if I'm gonna make all 8 for March, I'm sure I'll try to find some way. So needless to say, CraftyME has been SUPER extra busy. I'll do a semester summary at a later unspecified date and time, because I really want to talk about one assignment in particular for March.

Our assignment in Defense Against the Dark Arts (DADA) class for March is to turn theory into practice and try a new technique. Um hello paging WannaME?!?! Where to even start right? But I narrowed it down and decided to try my hand at yarn dyeing. Did you know that you can dye yarn using Kool-Aid? And apparently back in the day people used to use it even dye their hair. Yet again OCS has roped me into some new method of obsession/coveting. So I joined yet another group on OCS, What a Kool way to Dye ordered up some Knit Picks Bare superwash fingering yarn, grabbed some Kool-Aid from the market and got started.

I began by re-skeining my yarn. I wanted really long color repeats, so I stretched it around a couple of chairs. (Knot untangling experience #1 of like 5).  Make sure you tie the hank in several places to help prevent tangling once yarn is wet.

 Speaking of wet, next you have to soak the yarn in lukewarm water for like 30 minutes.

This gave me time to decide which flavors/colorways I was gonna go with, grape, pink lemonade, and black cherry. I mixed up 2 1/2 packets of each using enough water to fill the jars like 3/4 full.

Set the jars in a large pot with some water. Add your yarn and then bring the large pot of water to a boil.

Once it starts to boil turn off the heat and just let the yarn cool down while resting in the water. . You will be so tempted to just stand there and ohh and ahh. Trust me on this, go away.

Then come back and see the magic.

Those once murky jars of colored water will now be completely clear once again.

Rinse the newly dyed yarn in luke warm water and set to dry.

Enjoy your fruity pretty new yarn. And begin searching for even more colors, I mean flavors.

 Side bar: Now I'm irked remember back in the day there used to be like fiftyeleven flavors of Kool-aid on the shelf. Now it's just like cherry, grape, orange, and tropical punch. I never even like the red and the purple. If you find some lime or blue-raspberry or anything exotic hook ya girl up. Please and Thank You. Happy Crafting
ME

CraftyME: Prepping for Stitches East....

CraftyME decided to prep for Stitches by actually using some of the fiber-y goodness I acquired on my visit to Maryland Sheep & Wool Fest back in May. I mean I did kinda splurge a bit, so I should at least know if those were good purchases or not, right? They all pass the pretty test, but how are they to work with and will they make a pretty FO as well.

 Let's start with the biggest splurge, shall we?

Tess Designer Yarns MicroFiber Ribbon

Had I not purchased this yarn, I would have probably stayed pretty close to my MDS&W budget. It was a bit pricey. But I had I not purchased this yarn, I would not have been able to make the awesome-ness known as my RockStar Coachella. I loved working with this yarn. If $ were no object, I would def add this to the SE list.

Tess Designer Yarns Superwash Merino Lace

Um yeah, no. I can't say that I care for this yarn. But it has nothing to do with the quality of the yarn. I just came to a realization after trying to make the famed Citron. Me and lace weight yarn do not equal a match. It is entirely to light for my tastes. I felt like I was gonna break it the whole time. I considered adding beads to try to weigh it down a bit. But yeah, I tossed this project in the "Sure I'll finish this....one day..." basket with the quickness.

Miss Babs Yummy Superwash Sock & Baby Yarn

I like this yarn. I like the way it feels to work with it. I like the color. I don't love the color. That's the only thing. I'm not a fan of variegated yarn. I wasn't sure how this was gonna knit up, but it was so pretty in the skein. Luckily, it's not uber-pool-y like some variegates. So it gets a like. Maybe in another color-way it could get a love. Now as for this project, it's in time out. You know how I posted about life lines? Yeah, well some how one of my life lines didn't stay put like it was supposed. And it just happened to be discovered as I was finishing up the last row in a chart.  The row that as soon as I finished it, I would have been adding a lifeline into the next one. Yeah that one.  So instead of a FO we've got a TO until I feel like frogging back to the previous lifeline.

Miss Babs Windsor Handpainted Sock Yarn

I LOVE this yarn!! The color is beautiful and working with it is a dream. It's slightly heavier than the other sock yarns that I have used to knit sox. And that makes the sox just fly off my needles. Had I not taken the time to work on some other projects, I would have been finished with my Iris Ivys. I'm definitely buying some more of this stuff.

Tess Designer Yarns Super Socks & Baby

The color of this yarn is so pretty. And I have 2 skeins. I just don't know what to make with it. But in the efforts to sample, I did go ahead and wind it up. I'm torn between making the Revontuli wrap or just casting on some sox. I don't really know if this yarn is gonna be stripey, variegated, or some where in between. Hmm what to do, what to do? We'll come back to this one.

Creatively Dyed Yarn Beaches

Ugh this yarn is the bain of my existence right now!! I love the colorway. Such a pretty green. So much yardage. And I even have the project picked out for it. Well 2 projects that I can't decide between, Fizzi or Multnomah . But IDK what happened. After I wound up the Tess SuperSocks, I put this one on my swift. Very quickly it became apparent that something was amiss within the skein.

 And now I'm left with this. I spent a whole night trying to detangle and wind by hand. Dude if I didn't spend damn near $30 on this yarn, I would so be throwing it in the trash right about now. So it too is on TO until I feel like diving back into the detangling process.

As it stands right now, I will be adding Miss Babs Windsor to my must purchase list. And Tess MicroFiber ribbon will go on the splurge list. Next up we'll see what vendor list stalking will turn up. Stay tuned.

WannaME: Gearing up for Stitches East.....

Good Morning YOUs,
 What a beautiful, crisp, sunny October Saturday. I say this as I lounge in bed, with absolutely no plans to venture out there. Today will be filled with laundry, knitting, blogging, and prepping for Stitiches East 2010. I think WannaME and TouristyME may be just a tad bit over-excited about Stitches. This will be my first time attending and I can't wait. It will also be the first time in years that I will be traveling all by myself. No MOH. No MiniME. Just ME. Calgon has finally responded to my pleas and will be here in 2 weeks to take me away on a mini-vacation to be filled with yarny, fibery, goodness. Ahhhhhhhh.

 Luckily, Stitches is taking place in Hartford,CT. Have I mentioned that I am FROM CT?!?  And that all of my family is in various parts of CT?!? So yeah I get to go visit my Mommy and Sis, and cousins etc. This also means that I don't have to worry about lodging. Although Mom  & Sis live about 45 mins to an hr away, I have tons of cousins who still live right in HTFD. So if I don't feel like driving I can crash somewhere.
 
So how exactly does one prep for an event like this? Well if you are crazy like ME, that means making lists and lists and lists. Lists of where to go. Lists of what to bring. Lists of what to make. Lists of lists to make. lol. See, crazy right? No,I'm just trying to keep WannaME in check. Cause I know as soon as I get there one of two things is gonna happen. I'm either gonna want to buy like everything I see. Or I am going to get soooo overwhelmed at the amount and variety of stuff and then not know what to buy or not want to buy anything. So I am researching and researching some more.

I've been all over OCS trying to find patterns that I'm really interested in making. Reading forums, looking at O.P.P. (Other People's Projects) seeing what yarns are getting good reviews. I've stalked the Stitches website for months waiting for the vendor list to be posted. Then I'm on the vendor sites, checking out pricing and yardage. Seeing if I can just order from them online.

 Dude, I'm so hyped about this trip. By the time it gets here I am gonna be missioned out. I'm going into that convention center with a plan, man. Armed with a budget and a shopping list. And I will stick to it! WannaME will not lose her frickin mind like she did at MDS&W, where I may or may not have spent double what I brought with me to spend. No sirree Bob. Not this time!  I'm gonna put my plan out there for you all to see. And when I get back I'll compare what I got to what I said I would get. I'm issuing the challenge to WannaME...control yourself. Will she be able to?.......Stay tuned.

CraftyME: Oh Baby I'm a RockStar....

Yeah so I may have Rihanna "Rockstar 101" playing on repeat right now. "To be what you is you gotta be what you are. The only thing I'm missing is a black guitar. I'm a RockStar!"  Why? you may wonder....I'll tell ya...

So like I have said or maybe not (don't know if I really posted about it) But I have been feeling very WoeIsME as of late. Without going into a bunch of whiny specifics WorkME(shh) had a couple of setbacks and the rest of life has been trying to drive me crazy as well.  That's mostly why I've been SlackerME and not posting. Hell I hadn't even really been on OCS believe it or not.

Now after feeling this way for a couple of weeks, CraftyME was like "Yo, so what if other people are being craptacular right now. Show 'em how awesome you are. You have talents you are CRAFTY." So CraftyME picked up hooks and needles and got to crafting. So here's a little sampling of what I've done in the past 2 wks.

First up is one that I can't really go into a whole lot of specifics about yet. Let's just say I'm helping an artist out on a project that involved me making a 6 ft long by 9 inches wide ruffle. Once He gives me the okay I'll post more pics. But for right now just know that yes on a day when temps were 107 degrees, in a house with no air conditioning, I did my part. lol.

Next my WorkME (shh) wonder twin commissioned a Walk of Fame inspired star blanket for a "star is born" baby shower. Not bad for a weeks worth of work.

I'm gonna skip to yesterday's rainy Saturday project. A couple of dishcloths and a scrubbie. Yeah so what I was supposed to be actually washing the dishes....It was more fun to lay on the couch and watch trashy movies & knit.

"I told ya, I told ya" Back to the reason I'm a Rockstar......



I made my first knit garment. My RockStar Coachella!!!

This is another Knitty pattern, Coachella. One that I had sitting in my queue forevah. Just before MDSW I heard an older episode of The Knitmore Girls and Jasmin mentioned she had made it in some kind of ribbon yarn. Well at MDSW I was browsing at the Tess's yarn booth while waiting for the podcastor meet&greet. I saw some pretty ribbon yarn and was like oh I've gotta ask Jasmin if this was the kind she used. Of course I got all fangirly and forgot to ask her. But after the M&G I went back to the booth to buy some sox yarn. So I get to the front of the line finally to check out and the girl working the register has on this beautiful gray top. So I'm admiring it when I had a light bulb moment. ME:" OMG is that the coachella?" Her: "why yes it is" ME: " is that made out of the ribbon yarn?" Her: "yep." I looked at the long ass line behind me and then back at her shirt and back at the line.... Her: " if you want to run and grab it I won't make you stand in the line again." ME: " thank you thank you!" Total impulse splurge. Totally worth it.

Fast forward to July4th weekend. WoeIsME running rampant. CraftyME feeling the crafting urge. I got up on whim and said I need something to make me feel better.  I'm gonna make that Coachella this week for my birthday. This yarn and this project were the perfect antidote. I so F'LUV em both. They flowed together seamlessly.

 And now I feel like such a RockStar because yeah...I'm kinda awesome. Rock on my friends, rock on!

TouristyME: Maryland Sheep & Wool Fesitival 2010

Once again OnlineCrackSpot has ME into something I would have never known about it. Now I'm sure my non crafty friends are thinking the same thing I was...Seriously a sheep and wool festival?!? You're gonna walk around a farm looking at sheep all day? Yeah there will be a couple of vendors selling food and handspun/ handdyed yarns. But, Really?!?

 I waffled back and forth all week on whether I should go, especially with the chance of a rainy week. Then 2 things happened to make me change my mind. First the forecast changed from showers all week to a super sunny 87 degrees. Second, a couple of my fav podcasters (see InterestME: Podcasts for links) were organizing a meet & greet. Now I don't know if you read my last posts (which you should by the way;) ) but I have been listening to podcasts pretty much nonstop lately. So there was really no good reason to miss a chance to let my inner FanGirl miss an opportunity to meet KIPing it Real's Jackie and The Knitmore Girls themselves, Jasmin & Gigi.
 So I lurked the boards on Rav and found that a LYS Rosie's Yarn Cellar was running a bus down to Maryland. TouristyME was gonna venture out on her own on another touristy adventure. Little did I know what I was getting myself into.

 This little farm turned out to be a hugemongus amount of acreage. And that couple of vendors...try over 250! Oh the food! Oh the yarn!  Oh the heat! Did I mention the 87 degrees & super sunniness? Poor TouristyME was so busy trying to shuffle water bottles, maps, note-taking, and sweat wiping, that I didn't get to take as many pictures as I would have liked. But I did get to meet Jackie, Jasmin and Gigi.

I even managed to control my Fangirl-ness long enough to give Jasmin my hastily thrown together card, asking her to pleasepleaseplease check out this here little blog. I told her about my entry on them inspiring me to blog and maybe one day trying to podcast. Get this Jasmin said if I do it, to send her a promo and she'd play it on their show. How cool is that?

 Both WannaME and CraftyME were in heaven. There were so many different types and colors of yarn that I didn't really know where to begin. But trust, WannaME found a way to lose her mind and tried to put us in the poor house. I went with vendors whose names I've heard mentioned before, such as Tess' Designer Yarns, Miss Babs and Creatively Dyed Yarn.  Look at all the pretty:

I'm happy to report that I was able to calm WannaME down a bit. I just knew early in the day that I was gonna leave MDSW with a drop spindle & some roving and call myself a new spinner.

Yeah after sitting in on a mass spinning demo.... 

...eh not so much. Maybe next year.
   All in all, it was a wonderful Touristy experience. I met some awesome people, learned some new stuff, and ate some great food. It was just the perfect starter course for the fiber festival world.  Next stop Stitches East 2010, in my hometown of Hartford CT! I'm saving up now.....