FO - Mandrake

Pattern: Mandrake Plant by Phoenix Knits

Yarn:  Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, and Hemp for Knitting AllHemp3

Needles:  HiYa HiYa Bamboo US 2.5

My kids are finally interested in Harry Potter.  Finally!  You have no idea how excited I am about this.  I am a huge Harry Potter fan, and I have been trying to get them interested in Harry since they emerged from the womb, but the books were boring (not enough pictures) and the movies were scary.  Eventually I found the Harry Potter "gateway drug," Legos.  

Harry Potter Legos, lead to the Lego Harry Potter video games (that do a surprisingly good job story telling without words), which lead to the Harry Potter books books (finally!).

For the pot, I made doughnuts of foam covered in strips of brown cloth, and glued them inside pot to act as the "dirt".  In the video game mandrakes scream and break glass until you put them in their pots.  The kids have been enjoying pretending that he is screaming and then shoving him back in the pot.

Dying Wool Yarn with Rit

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Rit is an inexpensive dye that can be found in the laundry section of grocery stores across America. If you are an average American that wants to dye a piece of cotton clothing Rit is probably the dye you will turn to. I myself have turned to Rit on multiple occasion to dye clothes, and on multiple occasions I have been disappointed with the results.

What I had not realized is that Rit is an acid dye, and despite the proclamation on the box that it is suitable for dying cotton, Rit, like all acid dyes, is terrible at dying cotton. To dye plant fibers, like cotton or linen, you would use a fiber reactive dye. To dye an animal fiber like wool or silk,you would use an acid dye, like Rit.

How to Dye Wool Yarn with Rit - Uniform Color

I started with some yarn I had previously dyed with a food safe acid dye. I had not been happy with the washed out red, and decided to over dye it with Rit's dark red wine color.

Since I wanted uniform color, I started with a dye pot large enough for my yarn to move freely. I filled it with water, my dye, a cup of vinegar, and my yarn (already wet). Then I turned up the heat.

Slowly heat the water to almost boiling, and occasionally move the yarn within the pot very gently. As the dye is absorbed, the water will become lighter in color.

When the water is as light as it is going to get (clear if you added just the right amount of dye), and you yarn is the color you want, turn off the heat, and let the water slowly cool.

When the yarn has cooled, fill a container with water the SAME temperature as the water in the dye pot, then rinse your yarn. If all of your dye was incorporated you should see little to no color run off.

Now it's your turn! ~Gerwerken

Note: When dying your yarn take care to change temperatures slowly and move the yarn gently. Abrupt temperature changes and agitation of the yarn will turn it into a large felted lump. Also, don't use kitchen implements that will later be used to cook food!

0 Calorie Ice Cream

A surprising amount of knitting was accomplished this weekend, almost all of it done on knitted food. Here is a pic of my newest culinary delights.
The ice cream is Scooped by i like lemons.
The Peach is Georgia by Peachcake Knits.
Finally, the pretzel is my own design. I just made a 3 stitch i-cord long enough to fold into a pretzel, tacked down the intersecting points, and stitched some white blobs on it to look like salt.I think they are a hit.

High Fiber Diet

I would like to introduce the latest in high fiber foods. The eggplant.
I am so happy about the way this turned out.

The original pattern is Baby Fruit and Veggie Rattle Patterns by Allison Judge; however, the pattern makes the leaves look like they are growing directly out of the top of the eggplant. Since I have never seen an eggplant that looks like the pattern, I picked up the stitches at the cast on edge, and knitted up, decreasing between the leaves every other row (give or take a row), until there were 4 stitches left, then i-corded the stem. The leaves tended to roll up, so I tacked them down on either side with some thread.

I used Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool, that I hand dyed the appropriate colors, and US6 double pointed needles.

I love, love, love the finished product!

If I knit it again I will probably knit it from the top down, rather than the bottom up, and avoid picking up quite as many stitches.

The Holidays

It is only a few days after Halloween, but already stores are full of every Christmas gift and decoration imaginable. As a general rule I try to make as many Christmas gifts as possible, rather than buying them, but this year will be different. I have two kids, the oldest just turned two, and as a result, I have almost no time to make thoughtful Christmas presents. This year I have only two Christmas presents on the needles. I think I have a good chance of finishing both before Christmas without pulling my hair out.

I am making Debbie Bliss's "Baby Shrug" from Simply Baby and a bag for my sister that shall go unnamed on the off chance that she is reading this blog. So far I am enjoying the process of making both at a leisurely (for Christmas time) pace.

Why would I suddenly forgo attempting to make hand knits for everyone on my Christmas list? The reasons are as follows;
1) I don't have time, 2) I would like to enjoy Christmas this year, rather than feeling the weight of unfinished knits bearing down on my shoulders guilting me into knitting every spare second of the day instead of relaxing by the fire and drinking hot cocoa while reading a good book, and 3) Very few people understand the time and effort that goes into hand knits, and therefore do not fully appreciate the gift. Hand knits require weeks, sometimes months of planning and work. Store bought knits require a last minute dash to TJ Maxx. Those that give the same respect to hand knits as store bought knits do not deserve hand knits.

The look on the person's face when they open the box with my FO in it can make it or break it for me. I have at that point spent hours picking/designing a pattern, picking a yarn, and knitting the piece. Will all my work be worth it? Will they love it as much as I think they will? Perhaps not. But someone who appreciates hand knits will know that I would not have put that much time and effort into the gift if I didn't love them, and will love the effort I put into it, even if they don't love the color or pattern, or even my knitting ability. On the other hand, a person who does not appreciate hand knits will not understand the amount of effort put into the gift. They may even say the dreaded, "You didn't have to make me something. I would have liked something you bought just as much."

No more will I waste my time on the unenlightened! I will knit only for those that appreciate my craft! And those that I gave birth to, even if they will drag their hand knit sweater through the mud, or spit up on their hand knit teddy bear.