Crafty Herbal Knitter

I have been so neglectful to this blog lately! I feel horrible as I keep meaning to get on here and write something. Today I finally log onto it and what do I find but a comment that has been waiting to be approved for 2 weeks now! Ack! Bad, bad, bad on me!

I may not be blogging much here (thanks to Brambleberries in the Rain!) but I have been knitting and dyeing up a storm. The other day I tried dyeing some wool yarn with mullein. I hope to get the results of that up here this week.

Earlier this month I dyed a HUGE skein of cotton yarn. All 400 yards of it! I am calling it Faded Demin. I like the results and it is destined to be turned into a nice stretchy market bag.

Filed under: Dyeing on September 22nd, 2008 | No Comments »

Even though I haven’t been posting and keeping this blog too up to date I have still been working on knitting and other various crafty projects.

The other night I sewed some diapers for Princess A and if I can grab some more spare minutes in the day I will post the instructions for how I did it.

Just a few nights ago I finished up one pair of self-striping socks. I was using up some yarn from my stash to make these. They turned out okay. I’m not completely in love with them though because they are from acrylic yarn and I really don’t care for acrylic. All in all they are not too bad. I am also about half way through another pair made out of self-striping yarn. Both yarns are by Moda Dea.

Yesterday I dyed some more superwash wool. This time around I opted out of the natural dyes and used Country Classics dye. This yarn is probably going to go through a lot of washings so I wanted to dye it with something that will withstand some abuse. I am going to make it into yet another diaper soaker. Not too much longer and I won’t be making these kinds of things anymore as Princess A will be 2 in September and is starting to show signs of being ready to move out of diapers. Sigh, my baby is growing up.

Filed under: Dyeing, Finished Objects on July 25th, 2008 | No Comments »

Oh my poor little knitting blog! I’m afraid I haven’t been the greatest at keeping this blog up to date these days. I have been neglecting it for my new blog that I have been having so much fun with and getting to know so many neat people through.

This new blog is all about my first love, gardening. I contemplated just combining the two interests, knitting and gardening, into one on this blog but decided it was better to devote each subject its own blog. I began Brambleberries in the Rain last month and it took off way faster than I could ever imagine it would. It has swept me up and I have been having so much fun with it.

I hope I haven’t lost too many of my readers here. I also hope you will stop by and take a look at my new place on the net. I am going to *try* to make more of an effort posting here and attempt to juggle my time between the now 3 (!)  blogs I am managing.

My knitting has been rather unproductive these past few weeks. It seems I haven’t been able to find much time for it. Not to mention we are in the middle of a heat wave and I don’t particularly like to knit in the heat! I am working on a pair of self-stripping socks that is coming along.

So, please check out my new site and continue to be patient with me as I may have been MIA these last few weeks but I am still here!

Filed under: Gardening, Knitting, Ramblings on July 1st, 2008 | No Comments »

I finished the crocheted sunhats for Princess A about 2 weeks ago. I am finally getting around to posting about them because I have been spending more time updating this site then actual blogging! 

The hats turned out so cute and she just loves them. It is really cute seeing her walking around the house showing them off. The purple one is way too big for her right now but she will grow into it. The blue one fits perfectly. I tried to get some pictures of her wearing it but it is so hard to get decent pictures of this little girl because she never holds still!

 I knocked both of them out really fast which was nice as I haven’t had too much time for knitting/crocheting/crafting these days. Been busy with family and getting my garden rolling….

Filed under: Crochet, Finished Objects on May 25th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

I have a confession to make; a knitting confession to be exact. It is something that I am rather embarrassed to admit. It actually has me so embarrassed that I never want to knit in public for fear that a fellow knitter may do a double take because I look rather strange. In fact, a few years back when I was a rather new knitter I attempted to take my knitting out into the public world. A family member was in surgery and I brought my knitting with me to the hospital to help the hours pass. I had been knitting away for just a little while when I felt someone’s eyes on me. I looked up to see another knitter staring at me before she continued on with her knitting.

I knew then and there that my knitting looked strange to others. I have suspected since I began knitting that I might look a little “backwards” to say the least. I just wasn’t sure if it would be noticeable to others until that day in the hospital. So, what exactly is this knitting confession that has given me a knitting in public phobia? Well, I knit left handed. There I said it. It is now out there.

Now, I don’t mean that I knit continental or anything like that. I really do knit left handed. I hold the working yarn in my left hand because I am a “thrower” and I work from the left to the right. Meaning I move stitches to my left needle as I work them off of my right needle. Completely backwards from how most people knit. In order to knit the way I do I have to knit the opposite of what the pattern says to do. And if a pattern has a chart I have to knit the mirror image of that chart. It is completely and utterly mind numbing and that is putting it lightly.

Why in the world would I knit this way? It has to do with the fact that I am indeed left handed and I (maybe stupidly) taught myself how to knit. Had I enlisted the help of a right handed knitter maybe I would not be in the boat I am now. After all, my grandma taught me how to crochet and she is right handed so I consequentially learned how to crochet right handed as a child.

I am hoping that this means there is hope for me as I am considering trying to learn how to knit right handed. I am so done with trying to read patterns backwards. I just want to be able to knit “normal”! I want to be able to just pick up a pattern, read it, and get knitting instead of having to flip everything around in order for me to knit it up correctly.

My husband, SET, thinks it is pretty cool that I taught myself to knit left handed but then again he is right handed.

I have had enough of the mind warping left handed knitting so here soon I am going to attempt to learn how to knit right handed. I am a little worried about the ole “old habits die hard” thing but am hoping that since I am a thrower and I throw with my left hand I might adapt alright. I’m at least going to try!

I have done many searches over the years for left handed knitting on the internet and there are a few interesting and helpful sites but not enough if you ask me. Knitty has a great article on left handed knitting found: here.

This link kind of cracks me up. It has great pictures for learning to knit and if you scroll down there are instructions for left handed knitting that state to hold the pictures up to a mirror and substitute the word right for left and vice versa. This is exactly why knitting left handed gives me such a headache! Your brain starts to flip flop after a while of that!

This site has some good general instructions for knitting left handed.

Then there is this great You Tube video that really shows exactly what left handed knitting looks like. It is exactly how I knit except I throw the yarn with my left hand.

So, in the meantime I will still knit happily away even if it is backwards. Once I attempt to give it a go with right handed knitting I will post my progress. I want to try it out here soon but keep putting it off….after all, I still can knit even if it is backwards.

Happy Knitting!

Filed under: Knitting, Ramblings on May 1st, 2008 | 3 Comments »

Isn’t that how the saying goes? “March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb?” Are they sure they didn’t mean April?

Well, I would say that the whole month of April has been a lion for us over here in our little neck of the woods. Rain, hail, and snow have been the weather for the month which is really taking it’s toll on my spirits. Where is Spring???

We have also had several ups and downs in our personal life that have kept me away from my blog and computer. I am hoping May is a little nicer to us.

I am currently working on a new blog post that I think promises to be interesting so be on the look out here in the next few days. I am also trying to start up some new knitting projects as my knitting has been on the back burner all of this month. And if the rain would ever let up so I could get out and do some serious gardening I would be a very happy lady.

Until my next post……

Filed under: Ramblings on April 29th, 2008 | No Comments »

I was experimenting with natural dyes again this week. This time I used brazilwood and I absolutely love the color I achieved. I am really pleased this time around.I kept everything at a very low simmer, really not even a simmer, and I think that is why I managed to get such clear colors. I added a small amount of baking soda to the dyebath to make it more alkaline which would help me in getting the pinkish purple colors I was after. The pictures I took really do not give the yarn any justice. They are so pretty and the camera just sort of muted them.

I ended up using the dyebath 3 times. Brazilwood is so strong that you can use one dyebath several times. Also you can remove the chips from the pot once you have your dyebath and allow them to dry out. Then the chips (or sawdust as it is sometimes sold) can be used a few more times. The first skein in my dyebath turned out a beautiful magenta. The second skein was considerably lighter, a sort of pink with a very light magenta to it. The third skein was definitely lighter. It turned out a very soft pink.

The first two skeins are a blend of merino wool and silk in a fingering weight and I just love how the silk gives them a little bit of a shine. The light catches them and it is very pretty. The third skein I am rather disappointed with. Not because of the color which is nice, but because of the yarn itself. It is a yarn I have never dyed with before and thought I would try out. I bought a whole pound of it and am very unsatisfied with how it performed while being dyed. As I previously mentioned, I never really brought the dyebath to a simmer and yet this yarn wanted to start felting! Take that aside and the third skein is also a very nice color.

I can not wait to get these wound into balls and cast-on something with them! I already know what I plan on doing with skein #2. It is destined to be turned into a pair of lace socks.

Oh, and in case anyone is interested here is a picure of the brazilwood chips themselves. Looks kinda like something you might mulch your flower bed with right?!

Filed under: Dyeing, Natural Dyes on March 31st, 2008 | 2 Comments »

The other day I finished up yet another batch of hand-dyed yarn. This time I used onion skins. I had been collecting them forever in order to get enough to dye some yarn with! Two ounces of onion skins is an insane amount as you can tell from the picture. I only used yellow onion skins, no red onions. Thankfully my husband and I cook a lot so there is always an abundance of onions in our house. Although, that still was a lot of onions! I would highly recommend recruiting friends and family in the onion skin saving endeavor if you decide to try this one yourself. Or you could ask the produce manager of your local grocer if you can have their discards. I never got around to doing that.

For the 2 ounces of onion skins I ended up using 3 ½ ounces (the whole skein) of Patons Classic wool yarn. Because I was feeling lazy and just wanted to jump right into dyeing I didn’t bother with mordanting the yarn. If I had I would have used alum which is my mordant of choice. I soaked the yarn overnight in cool water to thoroughly saturate it.

To prepare the onion skins I placed them in my dye pot and filled it with tap water. I then slowly brought the water to a simmer and held it there for one hour. After that I contemplated straining the dye bath but then decided to let the onion skins sit in it over night and cool.

For day two I was going to strain out the onion skins before adding the yarn to the now cooled dye bath but at the last minute decided to leave them in and see what would happen. I did take a picture of the cooled dye bath and it shows what a deep golden color I ended up with.

To the cooled dye I added my soaked yarn and slowly brought the bath up to a simmer. I keep it at a simmer for one hour. Once it was done simmering I let the yarn cool completely in the bath before I removed it and washed it out.

After I removed the yarn I noted that there was still a significant amount of color left in the dye bath so I decided for the heck of it to see if I could get a little bit more out of it. So, I prepared 1 ½ ounces of wool yarn by soaking it for several hours. I used less yarn this time only because I was unsure of the outcome and didn’t want to waste too much yarn if I didn’t like the results.  No mordant again. I then added this yarn to the pot and simmered for once again another hour.

So to conclude, the first batch of yarn came out a very deep rusty gold color, sort of like a burnt orange and the second batch was very noticeably lighter. It is more of a light red orange. I was actually very surprised by these two batches. I was not expecting such orange colors. But that is the fun part of using natural dyes! You never really know what is going to come out of the dye pot until you are done!

Filed under: Dyeing, Dyeing with Herbs, Natural Dyes on March 25th, 2008 | 3 Comments »

I stumbled upon this blog today as I was feeling very quilty and down for sort of neglecting my blog this month. I couldn’t have stumbled upon it at a better time! I don’t feel quite so bad now. And the more I think about it the more and more I like it.

I found this post about blogging without obligation. Why I never thought about it like the way this post puts it I really don’t know. I mean really, what a novel idea, not feeling quilty about random posts. The more I think about it the more I agree on how to post for the sake of frequent posting really does effect the content of what I may blog about. I would much rather have really interesting infrequent postings than dull and rather pointless regular postings. Not to say that I plan on going months on end without a post but now I feel a little better about going a week or two (or gasp, three) weeks without writing anything.

I take what I write about seriously and want to have strong content in each and every post. So, from this day forward I plan on B.W.O. Thanks so much for understanding.

Now, on a side note: my poor knitting has slooooowed down. I am almost embarrassed to admit how many projects are just sitting right now. In fact the striped sweater and the striped cardigan for Princess A are both finished knitting, have been for weeks now, and just need to have their seams sewn. Ditto for the halter top. I can’t seem to get my butt around to blocking them and sewing them up (I never have liked sewing up seams in the first place which might be part of the problem). And this might sound a little nuts but this is how my brain works, I have several other patterns I am wanting to begin but I keep not letting myself because I tell myself I can’t until I finish the seams on those previously stated three! Oh, and the green garter lace shawl I am in the middle of is just sitting right now cause I am bored with it….

I am working on a new dyeing experiment that I plan on completeing this week and hopefully I can get some good pictures and will blog about it.

One last thing: I am so happy this week marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring! I am sick of rain! :-} 

Filed under: Knitting, Ramblings on March 19th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

Recently I was searching for some more unusual types of yarn and came across Cornucopia by Kollage. It really got my attention because it is made from corn. Never would I have thought to make yarn from corn! I just couldn’t imagine what that might look like let alone feel like. I imagined it to be rough.I ended up researching that particular yarn a bit and read a pretty good review about it at Knitter’s Review that can be found here. The review got me even more intrigued so I ended up ordering 3 skeins of it from Paradise Fibers. I thought it was a bit pricey being $7.99 a skein and one skein being only 100 yards. That is why I ordered only 3 of it. Plus I found the perfect pattern to try it out on that would only require about 300 yards.

This particular pattern comes from yet another library book I checked out (I swear one day I need to write a post titled “Ode to my public library”). This book is called Easy Knits for Kids by Family Circle. The pattern I found out of it is for a really cute little halter top that I wanted to make for Princess A. The pattern calls for a cotton acrylic blend so I figured I could probably easily substitute the corn yarn for the yarn the pattern called for. I took a picture of the pattern that is in the book so I can still see what the finished results are suppose to look like once the book has been turned in. (A picture of a picture, how crazy is that :-) ?!)

I just cast on the back of the halter last night. So far I really like the yarn. I have not had any problems with my needle poking through like the article at Knitter’s Review mentions. Although I am also using my circular bamboo needles that are rather blunt so maybe that has something to do with it?  The yarn is surprisingly very soft; it’s going to feel really nice in the summer which is what I am making it for. I am curious to see how it feels after several washings since it is both machine washable and dryable. I wonder if it will get softer after use. It really does feel nice. I actually wish I had ordered another skein or two because I think it would make some nice washcloths for the bath as well.

I will be sure to post more updates on this interesting yarn…..

Filed under: Knitting, Recommended Books, Yarns on February 21st, 2008 | No Comments »