*with apologies to Deb… More on that if you make it through the linky madness below.
Megan’s having a raffle to raise money to attend a missionary training course in Mexico. For each $10 you donate, you get a chance to win some pretty amazing prizes. Donate by August 13, 12 pm EDT to be included in the raffle.
None of us are free until all of us are free – check out the Free Tibet contest details at PoMo Golightly.
Hmm… T-shirt or sign or mug?! 😉
Oh, Itty Bitty Kitty Committee has a ScratchScroll, too! (If you like looking at great pictures of adorable kittens, you need to be reading IBKC.)
Lisa found this tutorial on making your very own cardboard cat furniture…
And Dotty found the bag version of my water bottle… although we can’t tell if it’s risque or not.
So, as Deb mentioned, she and Jeanne and I got together last Saturday to dye some yarn. Deb picked up some KnitPicks sock blanks (to make self-striping sock yarn) for us to try. Isn’t she just the sweetest?! Group hug for Deb!
Here’s Dr. Deb at work on her very cool watermelon yarn. I think she might be about to add the seeds!
You may be shocked to discover that I dyed this Tequila Sunrise yarn, inspired by the first photo in Jane Brocket’s Twist Collective article.
Jeanne came up with the brilliant idea of using the Yarn Harlot’s Laurie’s Socks #1 and Laurie’s Socks #2 for color inspiration – here she is working on her interpretation of Laurie’s Socks #1.
Can you believe that the purple and black yarn in this picture was not mine?! 🙂 Truth.
Now, KnitPicks claims you can just knit two socks at the same time from your sock blank and not have a thing to worry about, but I’m doubtful. That’s some darned kinky yarn! I plan to soak it, weight it, and hope it hangs straight.
In order below, my Tequila Sunrise, Jeanne’s Laurie’s Socks #1, and my Laurie’s Socks #2.
And, of course, all the kinky self-striping yarn that Jeanne and I dyed – her skeins on the left and mine on the right.
My thoughts? KnitPicks, you need to knit the sock blanks more loosely, so that dye can reach all of the yarn. We all ended up with white spots that were not visible until we unwound the yarn. Also, I can’t imagine trying to knit this straight off the sock blank. I recommend that two people with niddy-noddies wind the yarn from the blank (one of you will will need to stand on the blank – beware if your feet are ticklish) into hanks so you can soak and straighten the yarn.
“Mmmm… doesn’t all that yarn look scrumptious?! I hope Mom is inattentive for a few minutes, so I can add some extra ends to the process.” -Mayhem
Very pretty! I especially like the Tequila Sunrise and Watermelon <– I see a stranded project in those colours in my future 😉
I knit straight from the blanks with my Flat Feet yarn and the kinks were no prob, but it was not double-stranded. I really wish the KnitPicks blanks were singles… You guys make some pretty yarn, though.
I don’t know if I could actually drink out of the mug… but I’m definitely in need of one of the caution signs.
And, I totally want that backpack :o)
Chris! LOVE your yarns and it looks like you all had so much fun. I’m not speaking to you, Mayhem!
I LOVE the kitty fainting couch. That is TEH AWESOME.
And the yarn is lovely – such bright colours!
I am seriously having trouble believing the purple and black yarn wasn’t yours 😉 I do like yours though; it is nice to occasionally experiment with colors that we don’t usually use, isn’t it?
OK. I would have commented sooner, only I was distracted with the OMG ITTY BITTY KITTY COMMITTEE!!!!
Love Tequila Sunrise!
Maybe cat drool will turn out to be a super-penetrating agent, thus solving the white spots problem!
Love the tequila sunrise yarn! Thanks for the links to Jane Brockett’s article(had missed that one) and the IBKC. So darn cute…
Thanks for the promotion lady!!
Your yarn turned out gorgeous! 🙂
I don’t know how you managed to use colors other than purple & black….are you sure you didn’t send an impostor?
Looking forward to seeing the knit up versions of this & seeing if the white spots are a problem or not.
That Tequila Sunrise is perfect – and purple-ish in spirit, I think. I love the curly yarn photos.
The Tequila Sunrise is gorgeous! And I agree — I think knitting that kinked up yarn would really be annoying!
you know, i don’t know crap about yarn, but those colors really are nice
I love the “ramen” pictures of the yarn. I’m still not that far yet. No one here wants to help – except Sammy and we know where that will go. I was too lazy to link to the inspirations too – plus you’d have had nothing to blog about if I had!
Those sock blanks might be more trouble than they’re worth.
i think the urpin’ cat graphic should be blazoned across just about everything i own. not that they throw up a lot. just, you know, sometimes.
that’s funny you posted the cardboard cat furniture — i just did a big search for exactly such a thing! what i really want to make is the kind that has all the pieces flat and then stuck together Cheeky Chaise lounger-style. i just have to figure out what adhesive to use, i think.
i meant a search for DIY cardboard cat scratchers.
the DIY toys at http://www.marmaladepets.com/owners/download_mouse.html are cute, but not what i was looking for.
I love the results!
I asked KnitPicks if they plan to ever to blanks in other weights of yarn and the answer was nope. I have a cardboard artist coming home tomorrow that I’ll put to task make a kitty chaise! And I think I’ll order about three of those caution signs!! Could have used one this morning. (la la la TMI)
Thanks for joining the Free Tibet Awareness contest!
Kinky yarn! Kinky yarn! You could knit handcuffs!
I love the yarn! I’ve thought about doing a sock-blank thing, but I am avoiding dyeing like the plague. I have way too many interests right now to keep up, I do not need one more. Eep! Though it does look like so much fun!
Random note – I actually kinda like white spots in my yarn. Though if I was dyeing it myself, I would like to know I should expect it…
That bag is so cute! And I finally found the rated X part of your cup!
What great colors! It does look pretty krinkly though. I hope a bath does it a world of good.
Mayhem, tuna is for eating, not yarn!
Have a great weekend!
The yarns are so pretty! I can’t believe yours wasn’t the purple/black. Are you sure? lol.
Uh, neither cup nor T-shirt. I have sympathetic impulses.
1. Jane Brocket is a color inspiration, even to those of us not fond of pinks and oranges.
2. I sent the urping cat link to everyone in the family; we have all cleaned up a fair amount of that substance in our lives.
3. I just bought two skeins of the Free Tibet yarn. Yay! (Yarn fast? What yarn fast?)
4. I thought of you and your kittehs when I saw that IBKC photo yesterday.
5. Jeanne’s Laurie Socks remind me of the rainbow Kauni yarn. I love yours; that is one of my favorite color combinations.
I am going to be spending a lot of time at IBKC…thanks, I think….
What a clever idea. I may have to get some sock blanks and use up the rest of my Kool-Aid.
Oh nice yarn! They’re all gorgeous. Are you sure that black and purple yarn isn’t yours though? 🙂 If it were me, I would wet the kinky skeins before I knit with them, just because the kinky yarn would annoy me.
I love these! I might have to get some sock blanks now 🙂
Huh, I had NO idea they made pre-knit yarn to dye and unravel… great concept!
Those look great 🙂
PRETTY yarn! Can’t wait to see how it knits up – I have been wanting to try one of those.
I could have used one of those signs yesterday afternoon in my hallway.
I’ve been wondering about those sock blanks; I’ll be interested to hear what you think once you’ve knit with it.
Those yarns look great!! What did you use to dye it? I’m going to try kool-aid and easter egg dye to color some sock yarn….keeping my fingers crossed that it works! 🙂
how cool–and I’m so lame–I thought they were different color yarns–doh!
This is interesting stuff. I use my own sock machine to make sock blanks that are closer to the size they’ll be when I’m done dyeing. But, really, once you dye, steam set the colors, you’ve also pretty much set the kink into the yarn. But, hey, if you tell people it’s textured yarn, it could work. 🙂
I like the colors you dyed for your sock yarn. It look great. And it does seem like fun to knit socks straight from the blank.