Whee, I Dyed Some Yarn with Friends!

Finished KoolAid Dyed Yarn
Originally uploaded by sunasak

I know, I know, two posts in one day, but I start working full time tomorrow (I hope--still haven't been told when and where to report), and I don't know how much blog time I will have the rest of the week.

Saturday I had lots and lots of fun with a group of friends who met at the LYS. Most of us are also on an email list of female Texas knitters (though I can't keep up with its volume very well). We all went to the lovely new home of Jen, in Liberty Hill. First we covered every inch of her new kitchen with plastic, because her husband was really worried we'd damage the tile or marble, and I sure don't blame him!!

The poor husband was also quickly sent away to buy up ALL the Kool-Aid at the nearest grocery store. What a sport! Meanwhile, we mixed up dye, soaked yarn, ate delicious potluck food (which I didn't bring anything to because I had to leave early), and enjoyed all the kids who were there. It was fun to meet all the kids and grandkids.

I dyed the yarn in the photo, which is KnitPicks silk/wool blend fingering weight. I DO need to repay Jen for the yarn. I wanted to make a frosty blue yarn with blueberry highlights, and I think I managed to do it. It may have more white in it than I wanted, but we ran out of that flavor of Kool-Aid. I dripped the purply-blue on the yarn with an eye dropper. The second bunch I laid out straight on plastic wrap and painted in long stripes. The red is black cherry, with a customized bluish color and mostly lime green. I left a little white in there on purpose, because my goal is to make something that resembles tie-died shirts. (Both of these look pretty cool wound up, but I haven't taken a photo of the yarn cakes yet.) My plan is to make a shawl with the blue yarn and lovely socks out of the tie-dye.

Some of the other women at the party dyed some of those sock blanks. They made some really creative patterns, full of dots and swirls, which will be really interesting to see! My friend Joyce dyed some of the KnitPicks yarn with the slubs in it, and that came out really cute, too. I would have loved to stay and watch the whole event, but Lee and I had to leave to go look at property around the Highland Lakes, and it was our only chance to spend a night out of town for a while, since the kids' dad was in town and he and the boys watched the house for us.

I enjoyed having another day with knitting friends, though, and the dye party really got me in the mood for a great weekend.

Now, I am off to work on my newest socks, which are Ripples and Waves, by the Yarnarian. I am using shades of denim blue Panda Silk yarn--bamboo and silk blend--just perfect for summer. I am doing them both at the same time on two circulars, so we'll see how that goes. Lee just doesn't understand why anyone would want to do that, so I told him about Second Sock Syndrome. Having never seen me get that, I think he still wonders why I am dealing with all those poky needles. Maybe I'll go buy a long size 0 and switch--all those needles are a little fussy.