Crafty Herbal Knitter

 Now that I finally got my posts about the red cabbage yarn and socks re-posted after I thought they were lost for good, I can post an update on them. In a previous post I explained how I was curious to see if they would fade after being washed since I have read that red cabbage used as a dye is really more of a stain then a dye.

They both went through their first washing together. I washed them on cold to help slow down any fading that might happen. When they came out of the wash I was shocked.  The pretty pale lilac color that I had achieved from the dye mixed with vinegar was now a muddy purple and the soft sage green that came from the baking soda mix turned a more yellowy green. I was not expecting those kinds of results at all! I was expecting some fading but instead I got total color changes. That tells me there is something up with my tap water since I had used rainwater to make the red cabbage dye. I am a little frustrated with that! Obviously my tap water ph is whacked or full of something that affected the yarn. If I dye something with rainwater how am I suppose to wash it when it gets dirty? Use rainwater?! I had previously checked my tap water’s ph by using those little test strips but I think they were no good because they wouldn’t change or show any kind of reading. Now I am wondering what exactly my tap water ph is for the yarn to change so dramatically.

A few years back I used to have a fresh water fish tank and I would test the water to make sure it was healthy for the fish. I had this little kit that would tell you how to read the results and what to do if your water was too high in ammonia or the ph wasn’t quite right. I’m thinking I might try one of those kits to test my tap water. They are easily found at any pet store and I know I’ll get decent results to tell me what might be making my yarn change color like it did.

The socks don’t look all that bad. Although I did like the colors better before they were washed. They are not as bright now. The pictures I am including in this post are before being washed and after. The pictures don’t show the color change in the green as well as but they do give the general impression of the change in the purple.

Filed under: Dyeing, Finished Objects, Knitting, Natural Dyes on February 19th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

 This may not be very original but it is something that I have been up to lately in attempts to get myself a little more organized in the knitting department. I am notorious for probing the internet looking for knitting patterns and then printing them out and leaving them in various locations such as favorite knitting books, magazines, or even with my yarn stashed away in a closet. I finally had enough with trying to remember where I had put a particular pattern when it came time to needing it. Or even worse, I would forget about the pattern entirely. So, about a month or so ago, I came up with a system to help me wrangle up all of these stray patterns.

I bought a pretty simple 3 ring binder, some dividers, and some page protectors. I them proceeded to categorize all the different patterns into groups such as lace, socks, sweaters, diaper soakers, etc. Each category got its own divider and all the patterns went into their own separate page protectors. I like having the patterns in their own page protector because it keeps them nice and it is great for when I use the pattern. I just take the pattern out page protector and all and it doesn’t get coffee spilt on it or crumbled up accidently, you get the idea.  A few patterns are ones that I had purchased online that are PDF files. These are pretty nice patterns and I am thinking of printing them out on cardstock and them putting them in a page protector. I think that would be a great way of keeping them nice.

Like I had said, probably not very original of me, but I am rather pleased with it!

And because it’s just not as much fun without a picture, here is a picture of a view from my house a couple days back.

Filed under: Knitting, Ramblings on February 11th, 2008 | No Comments »

I know in my last post I said it had been quite a week but it has actually been quite a month. 2008 is starting with a bang for us. It has been one thing after another in our house. Thankfully it seems everyone is starting to feel a little better.

My blog and knitting/yarn dyeing have been somewhat neglected while I was busy attending to everything else. But, I am happy to report that I finally finished knitting the second pair of toddler socks out of the Cabbage Yarn last night! I didn’t think I was ever going to get those darn socks finished! It was frustrating me to death, after all, they are only little baby socks. I should be able to knock those out super fast but, it has been quite a month and I was lucky if I could get one or two rounds completed on them a day. I kept thinking, Princess A is going to outgrow these before she even gets to try them on! At least I was able to finish them. Now I feel like I can move on to the other patterns and yarn I am itching to get my fingers on. Those socks were guilt tripping me all over the place. I would pick up one of my other works in progress and feel a wave of guilt and hear a little voice say, “you know what you should really be working on, those little socks, not this.” I kept feeling like I had to work on them because: a) I didn’t want her to outgrow them before they were even completed and b) I really want to get her wearing them so I can wash them a few times and see what happens to the color. Will it fade or not? I have read in more than one place that yarn dyed with red cabbage is not very colorfast. I want to see for myself and I needed to finish knitting those socks in order to find out.

They haven’t gone through any washings yet but once they do I will be sure to post the results here for those that might be interested.

I think the socks themselves turned out pretty cute. I just love the colors I got from the red cabbage. The green is a very soft color and looks really good up against the lavender. I am very interested to see how the colors hold up after being washed a few times.

Now that those are done I can finally move on to some new projects! Well, I still have to finish the striped cardigan and the striped pullover for Princess A. Now those are probably going to start guilt tripping me next. After all, I have got to finish them before the weather decides to warm up and she will no longer need sweaters.

Filed under: Dyeing, Finished Objects, Natural Dyes on January 25th, 2008 | No Comments »

This post has been moved and can now be found here. Thanks for visiting!

Filed under: Dyeing, Natural Dyes on January 4th, 2008 | No Comments »

I recently requested some knitting books from my local library. I just love the library but I will save those ramblings for another post…..

One of the books that I just picked up is amazing. I am not surprised though because I have another book by the same author that is equally as good as this one. I am talking about Knitting Never Felt Better by Nicky Epstein. I own the book Knitting on the Edge that is a great reference book for knitters. This library book, Knitting Never Felt Better, would be a great reference book on felting. It has great information on getting started with felting and shows excellent pictures of various yarns felted. What I really love though is it shows all sorts of stitch patterns and what they look like before and after felting. Things like felted cables are shown, something I never would have thought to try felting. Unless of course by accident! Equally intriguing are the before and after pictures of something called dimensional felting. This is where you take various objects like marbles and attach them around your knitting with rubber bands prior to felting. When you remove the marbles after felting you are left with the imprint of the marble. It sort of looks like the felted piece has bubbles. The pictures really inspired me. So much so that I think after Christmas I might give the dimensional felting a try.

I would love to give it a shot right now but I foolishly piled more work on myself by deciding this weekend that I want to give two people in my family a pair of knitted socks for Christmas. What was I thinking?! They live in another state so I have about a week to knock out two pairs of socks and get them in the mail so they can make it to their destination in time for Christmas. Sometimes I think I must like working under pressure since I always seem to do this to myself…..

Now if you will excuse me I really need to go get some socks knitted!

Filed under: Felting, Knitting, Recommended Books on December 11th, 2007 | No Comments »

It is Friday, so it is time for my next holiday recipe. It is now less than 3 weeks till Christmas and I am in complete disbelief by how quickly it is approaching. At least I have gotten a lot of the shopping done that I need to do….

I have made this recipe for roasted nuts on and off for Christmas for about 10 years now. Some recipes I make every single year. Some family members would be in an uproar if I did not make them one year for some reason or another. This particular recipe however, gets made when the need or urge to have them on hand strikes me. They are so easy and really good. I like to have them out on Christmas Eve and Christmas day for everyone to snack on. They would also make a nice gift for the nut lover. I happen to have several of them in the family!

The recipe is pretty adaptable. You can change the herb used in it to something that suits your taste or you can leave out the cayenne all together if you do not like hot and spicy foods. Or you may love spicy foods so much that you can double the amount of cayenne called for and serve them with a warning label!

In the above picture, I used only pecans (mostly because that is what I had on hand) but you could do a mixture of whatever you like such as pecans, cashews, walnuts, etc.

Now for the recipe:

Spicy-Herb Roasted Nuts

    *  3 cups nuts of your choice

    *  2 tablespoons butter, melted

    *  1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

    *  1/2 teaspoon ground thyme

    *  1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more or less depending on your taste)

    *  1 teaspoon salt

    *  Freshly ground black pepper, optional (sometimes I use it sometimes I don’t)

Toss all ingredients together until well coated. Spread out in a single layer on an ungreased cookie sheet. Place in oven and bake at 350° F for about 10- 15 minutes or until fragrant. Stir every 5 minutes. It is important to keep an eye on them because they can suddenly burn if you are not careful.

Happy Holidays!

Filed under: Herbs, Holidays, Recipes on December 8th, 2007 | No Comments »

Yesterday I finished knitting this pair of mittens for my youngest son, L-man. He likes bright and crazy colors so these fit his personality perfectly. And I am hoping that considering how bright they are they will be hard to loose! Both yarns I hand dyed. The orange is dyed with annatto seeds. The yellow and green is the yarn that I dyed with marigolds that I posted about: here.

I struggled with finding a pattern I liked for these particular mittens. I ended up using the pattern from One-Skein Wonders titled Easy Mittens. The pattern does not have a ribbed cuff but I added a 2×2 ribbing because I happen to like that look and felt they would stay on an active nine year old a little better. I also modified the pattern a little bit more when it came to sizing because the pattern was designed for a woman’s hand not a child’s. Unfortunately, I had to measure his hand a couple of times and have him try on the mitten half way through to make sure it was fitting right. I say unfortunately because now he knows all about it and I really can not give them as a gift like I had originally wanted! He is excited about them none the less which is cute. Last spring he planted the marigolds from seed so the yarn that was dyed with them has a special meaning to him. I find that to be really cool! He witnessed the whole transformation from start to finish. Pretty darn cool I would say.

Filed under: Dyeing with Herbs, Finished Objects, Herbs, Knitting, Natural Dyes on December 1st, 2007 | No Comments »

It is so hard to believe that this weekend is going to be the first of December. Why is it creeping up on me this year? Normally I am so prepared for Christmas by now. I have got to get on top of it here soon!

Filed under: Holidays, Recipes on November 30th, 2007 | No Comments »

Eucalyptus is another herb I really like to have around the house, especially this time of year. It is so good for colds and stuffy noses. I am prone to sinus infections so I like to keep a bottle of eucalyptus essential oil on hand. When my nose is stuffy due to allergies or a cold I will steam my face with a few drops of the oil placed in the steaming water.

A simple salve can be made to which the oil is added and this can be rubbed on the chest to help with congestion. It is like a homemade Vicks vapor rub.  

Another thing I like to do with eucalyptus is to take some dried leaves and simmer them on the stove in some water during periods when everyone is sick. It helps to clear the air as well as make it smell good. You would not want to do this in one of your best pots though as eucalyptus is high in resin as well as it’s essential oil. I like to have a pot that is just for simmering herbs in.

One last thing about eucalyptus, it also makes an excellent dye. A little over a week ago I wanted to experiment and see what color I would get if I used dried leaves purchased from my local health food store to make a dye. The color you get from eucalyptus will depend on the type of tree, growing conditions, etc. You can achieve anything from browns to reds. Unfortunately I do not know what type of eucalyptus makes what color of dye.

 It is a very long process extracting the dye from the leaves of eucalyptus. I simmered the leaves in the dye pot for 2 hours and then let them sit over night. The next day I simmered them again for another 2 hours. Then I was ready to add my wool yarn. I used equal amounts of dried eucalyptus leaves and yarn. And I did not mordant the yarn this time as it is not necessary to do so with this dye. I simmered the yarn in the dye for 2 hours as well. Once it was done simmering I let it sit in the dye bath overnight. A very long dye process!

My end result is a shade of brown that I can’t quite explain. It has a reddish tint to it. Sort of like a rusty brown. It is nice. Although it would have been neat to see it turn out a little more red than brown.

Filed under: Dyeing, Dyeing with Herbs, Essential Oils, Herbs, Knitting on November 28th, 2007 | 2 Comments »

Warning: this post is very off topic from knitting and herbs…..

I spent the last two days going through and re-organizing my three bookshelves and a few boxes of books I have in my closet. I have been meaning to do this forever now but never get around to doing it. I finally found the time and boy am I in disbelieve. I have way too many books! I never thought that would be possible as I absolutely love books. But after today I have come to that conclusion.

 Over the last few years I have accumulated a ridiculous amount of fiction books. I hate to blame it on the library I used to live by after all it is my lack of self control that got me in this situation but my former library does have something to do with it. The library I once lived by had the nicest little used bookstore tucked into the corner of its first floor. Whenever I went to the library to check out books or take my boys to the story hour I would stroll over to the used bookstore to see what was available. It never failed that I would find at least one book I was interested in. Sometimes I would find more than one and even a few for SET. And how could I pass them up when they would be only a dollar for a hardcover in near perfect condition? Well, unfortunately I never did pass those books up and now I find myself in the situation I am now; drowning in a sea of books I have not read.

I counted them out and if I were to read one book a month it would take me 63 months to go through all the books that I have not yet read. That is crazy! I do not remember accumulating that many. The craziest thing of all is I can not seem to part with them. I actually do want to read each and every one of them. Maybe not necessarily keep all of them, but at least read them all.

Because of this, I have decided to make a vow with myself. I am going to attempt to read at least one book a month from this moment forward. As I finish a book I will pass it on to someone else unless I absolutely love it and know for certain that I will read it again. I am going to try to be disciplined with this because I feel holding on to all those books when they have not even been read is rather silly.

So, in the next few months do not be surprised to occasionally see me writing about a book or two (or more considering how many I have to read) that I am reading. I just started one of those books and it has already pulled me in. I hope to get through it before the Christmas rush is upon me.

What am I reading? It is called Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald. It is too early for me to tell if it is a keeper or not.     

Filed under: Reads on November 25th, 2007 | No Comments »