Dyeing

Words clouded with dye

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Saturday evening Jeanne and I did a bit more dyeing. Here’s our setup in Jeanne’s backyard:

Of course wine is critical to the process! Make sure to keep your wine out of the active dyeing area to minimize accidents (putting dye in wine, dyeing yarn with wine, etc).

Here I’m dyeing some yarn that will turn out to be shockingly purple – so shocking that I overdyed it with black Sunday night to tone it down a little! I have to remember to draft out color ideas before sitting down to dye yarn, because if I don’t – I can only remember that I like purple and black.

Yarn pictures later this week, after drying and detangling.

But the very best thing about the evening? Jeanne surprised me with a Stumbling Over Chaos word cloud t-shirt! I cannot even tell you how excited I was. I might even have bounced a bit (ok, ok, maybe more than a bit). Thank you, Jeanne – that was so sweet and unexpected!

Reading this is like reading really fun fridge magnet poetry. Some favorites include “thought time tongue totally tuna,” “SRM story stumbling text think,” “chaotic chris claws color,” and “favorite flamingos free fun.” I could go on – but I’ll spare you!

“Shh… Don’t distract me – I’m playing ‘dead kitty on the floor’ so Mom will leave the air on.”

Or maybe he’s dreaming of the lovely Halley as she dreams of him… Hmm…
Project Spectrum, Tales of the Neighborhood

Walking around the neighborhood and a possible scandal

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Whew, it’s been hot here in Minneapolis – 97F yesterday! When you consider we had highs of 45F only 10 or 12 days ago, I’m sure you’ll understand why we’re a bit stunned.

Anyway, here are an assortment of images from my neighborhood, taken over the past week. Most are Project Spectrum greens, but there are a few that just intrigued me.

A verdent mansion along East Lake of the Isles Parkway

Thomas Lowry Park, which is very small indeed.

Feet on a light post in the park

Mannequins – it freaked me out a little to get home from taking this picture and discover that Jeanne had just posted a picture of a mannequin from her neighborhood…

A control box for stoplights (pretend it’s April, since I missed taking this picture last month!).

Green, green Gulf

Van parked outside the local hip hop shop

And the possible scandal – pictures of a black cat… but not Chaos. Meet Richard, who was out for a walk when I was:

He was really too busy to stop for pictures or witty commentary.

I’m off to enjoy a lovely (albeit warm) day off from work. Chaos is enjoying the air conditioning, which I finally turned on late yesterday, having had enough of his dead kitty on the tile floor impersonation. Have a wonderful Memorial Day for those in the US (and I think it’s a bank holiday in the UK?)!

Project Spectrum, Those Cats

Project Spectrum craftiness (with even less knitting than ever!)

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The Craft Modster posted a very inspiring entry about t-shirt stenciling a few days ago and got me all excited to try stenciling some onesies for my friends’ baby. (You remember the fate of the onesies, right?) I definitely need to try something else for the lettering, but I’m pretty pleased with my first effort, made with emerald green Jacquard fabric paint. The owl is a stamp that my dad sells (it’s on the Rango Zoo 3 sheet).

I also tie-dyed several onesies, since the parents are tie-dye fanatics. I used dark green Rit dye. The onesie on the left (slightly obscured in this picture) had rubber bands around it in three places. The onesie on the right (also slightly obscured in this picture) was simply tied in a big knot. I like the big knot effect much better!

“If I sit on them, she won’t be tempted to put them on me, right?”


“Oh, well that sort of ‘putting on’ isn’t so bad, I guess.”


“Duuuuuuuude, I could sure use a hit of catnip and some tuna. Must be the tie dyes.”

Randonymity, Those Cats

If you could see what I see

25 Comments

Anmiryam has posted some great insights into successful knitblogging. Definitely worth a read, if you haven’t already.

Kelly of Minneapolis is celebrating her six-month blogiversary with a contest, too! Stop by and wish her well (and offer lunch suggestions, eh?). Discovering a Minneapolis Kelly made me realize how many Kell(y)(ie)(ee) people are in my bloglines. Y’all should start a ring or something… Besides Minneapolis Kelly, there’s Celtic Kelly, Just a Knit Wit Kelly, Peevish Kellie, and Obsessive Kellee. (If I’ve missed other Kellies, you’ll have to let me know!)
Added from comments: Giggling Kelle.

Jen asked for pictures from out of our windows and wouldn’t take “but my windows are so dirty!” as an excuse.* So here you go.

East window with cat butt

East window without cat butt

North window looking up and out

North window looking ou… let’s try that one again.

North window looking out – the people who used to live across the way had an orange tabby who would crawl out the window and sit on their air conditioner, which always worried me – we’re on the third floor here… He and Chaos would sit and stare at each other before that boxelder got so bushy.

What I usually see when looking out the north window:

“Shhhh…. I have my eye on that bird. I’m sure I’ll get him, if he just comes a little closer…”

*The windows are totally filthy. My excuse? They’re being replaced in two weeks, so what’s the point in washing them now?! You’ll notice very little glass appears in these photos.

Randonymity

Simply boggled at the horror

56 Comments

Thanks for all the fun name ideas for my new stuffed black kitty – right now I’m leaning toward Loki the Imp. For the curious, he was purchased at the Bibelot Shop in the Minneapolis neighborhood of Linden Hills, as was the black cat mug. The onesies are for a tie dye and stenciling experiment.

Moving right along, I must ask you all to brace yourselves… I found a knitting magazine at the thrift store that was so horrific I was compelled to buy it and share the horror with all of you. (Aw, Chris, you shouldn’t have – really.)

With no further ado… the bikini issue! (You can click on the pictures to view larger versions if you really want to…) We’ll start with the cover, featuring the lovely Christmas red and green bikini.

Inside, more bikinis on the right – but check out the picture on the left, of a reader’s cat wearing a twee little bonnet. Chaos might occasionally wear a strawberry hat, but he would so not put up with that bonnet action.

More swimming suit action, including one for the boys, if y’all were feeling left out (Hi, Dave!).

“You better not be thinking about knitting me any swimwear is all I’m saying.”

Moving right along, look at the fabulous sweaters you can knit for Barbie and Ken for their trips in the Barbie Camper. (I had one of those Barbie Campers, along with the obligatory Malibu Barbie. I didn’t have a Ken, but I did have Wild West action figures who were the same height as Barbie. So Barbie ran off with Geronimo in the Barbie Camper, with his horse tied to the back bumper.)

Finally, some clothes for the kids. Check out the crazy stenciled cat – I think he would’ve given me nightmares at that age!

Now, I actually thought the little blue jumper in the lower right corner was cute… until I looked at the pattern and realized the gauge was 17 stitches per inch. That’s right, it’s knit with cotton thread. Eeeeeeeeek! It’s not that cute. I’m not sure anything is that cute.

Randonymity, Those Cats

Tales of Chaotic naughtiness

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Rebekah is asking for people to knit toys and blankets for cats and dogs in the shelters in her area. It’s the chance to do some community knitting and possibly win prizes – I know that Amy Boogie and Wendy/Lucy have contributed prizes for those who donate items (they say Wendy wrote that book, but Chaos insists Lucy was the mastermind behind it all), among others. For cats, Wendy has a great catnip mouse pattern available. For dogs, I’ve made this tug toy and found it held up very well.

Meet the newest member of our family… I was helpless to do anything other than purchase him after I saw those eyes (which are more green than they appear in the picture).

Any name suggestions?

When I got home last night, this is what I found on my kitchen table. Formerly, it was a sealed five-pack of onesies that I’m planning to use for a craft project.

Hmm, only four… Where could the other one be? Oh, there it is on the floor.

Maybe Chaos was afraid I was going to make him wear the onesies?! After all, Jeanne’s Bugsy did have to wear one for a while (to keep him from scratching an injury). And Margene’s dog Moxie is wearing a t-shirt right now. This might have been a preemptive strike.

In the interest of further naughtiness disclosure, here’s the perp with Exhibit A, my formerly favorite mug that he knocked into the sink and broke last week.

“Must be careful – that looks sharp!”

So I picked up a new mug yesterday…

“What are you up to, Mom?! Should I be worried?!”

Randonymity, Tales of the Neighborhood, Those Cats

A winner, flamingos, and a very odd billboard

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Congrats to Heide, who was lucky random number 68! Her caption was “Fibery, mousey goodness. Yum!” Heide, drop me an email with your address if you haven’t already. Thanks to everyone for playing and for the kind words on my blogiversary! You so know that there will be other contests in the future…

Yesterday was lovely here in Minneapolis – sunny, not windy, and warm but not too warm (too warm is coming this weekend). I took my camera along as I walked around Lake of the Isles after work and quickly realized that it’s pretty easy to take Project Spectrum May pictures right now, since everything’s very green.

This heron is my favorite statue near the lake.

I’m quite fond of little Peavey Fountain.

Curious about what the sign says? It’s worth a read – not every fountain is a memorial to horses who died in World War I.

This house on the southwest side of Lake of the Isles has a flamboyance of plastic flamingos in its front yard every year. The flamingos “migrate” around the yard during the summer, clustering in fanciful arrangements.

This picture wasn’t taken around Lake of the Isles – it’s a billboard near work that amuses me no end. See those cats? They’re statues! When the billboard went up, there were only a few cats. Each week, more cats are added. Very clever advertising strategy.

“Give me a break, Mom. Why would cats be that interested in a fishing lure that’s obviously not for catching tuna?”

Knitting, Randonymity, Those Cats

Unpaw that Addi!

26 Comments

Last chance to participate in my 6-month blogiversary contest – follow the link before 6 pm CDT today (May 22) and leave a caption comment to play. I can’t believe I’ve already been blogging for six months – my, how time flies. To everyone who stops by to visit Chaos and I, and to everyone whose blogs I visit – you have all enriched my life immeasurably! Thank you.

The Knit Wit has been writing a ghost story about me, but things aren’t looking so good at the end of Part 2… If I suddenly stop posting, it’s her fault for finishing me off in the graveyard!

Jane posted about a nifty blogging event happening on Wednesday, June 7 – A Day in the Life, inspired by the book This Day in the Life: Diaries from Women Across America.

In addition to the Lace from the Black Lagoon socks I’m working on (in the homestretch – doing the cuff on the second sock!), I’m also working on a pair of plain socks from Meilenweit Cotton. Inspired by JennyRaye, these will be biking socks for me. I had two singleton balls of this yarn, so I’m doing toes, gussets, and cuffs from one color and foot and heel from the other color. There’s a bit of green in them, so they’re nominally Project Spectrum, too. (Please note that the red blobule you will see in the following pictures is simply a red fur ball, not SRM!)

“Socks, socks, I love socks! Let me just slip this sock off your foot – you won’t miss it at all.”
“Oh, wait, I love these pointy things – so handy for cleaning between my fangs, where all that tuna gets stuck.”


“What’s your problem?! You don’t use these things to clean your teeth? Your loss.”

Alongs

J is for…

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June, my paternal grandmother, who died when I was 17 and too young to appreciate her. She was a seamstress, making both gorgeous quilts and much of my kindergarten wardrobe (plaid polyester bellbottom pantsuits were so in). I am sure that her being a “maker” was passed on to my dad and then to my brother and I, and if she were still here, I would give her a hug and tell her “thank you.”

Randonymity

Bountiful randomnymity

36 Comments

I keep forgetting to mention the yarn I picked up at Shepherd’s Harvest… I bought a ball of Trekking 144 (further complicating my decision for Trek Along with Me) and 992 yards of black laceweight alpaca (further complicating my decision for The Amazing Lace). I also picked up some Country Classics one-shot acid dyes for Jeanne and I and some Cotton Fleece that I had ordered from Earthsong Fibers – the Cotton Fleece is going to be a log cabin baby blanket (from Mason-Dixon Knitting), but I’m still waiting for two of my colors.

Last night my friend Lisa and I went to a play. We saw a great production of Little Shop of Horrors, put on by the homeschool theater company Theatrix. You can still go see it tonight or Saturday night! Neither Lisa nor I had seen the movies, so we were surprised at the twists and turns of the storyline. The tickets were a gift from the wonderful Eileen (thanks, Eileen!!) and after the show, we got to meet her very talented son, the Vampire, who was the Voice of Audrey II. The Vampire surprised me with a bag of goodies from his mom (who I will hopefully meet someday), which leads me to this:

Sorry about the crap photo – it was late… On the far left is a great book called Cameo Cats, which was a surprise gift from Mama Tulip! (More on that book in a minute.) In the center are the treats from Eileen – some kitty treats for Chaos (which he actually liked, shockingly – he’s a chowkitty who doesn’t usually like cat treats – go figure),

*sniff sniff* “Hmm, could this be… tuna? Sort of?”

gluten-free cookies, mix cds, and organic dark chocolate espresso beans for me. Thanks, Eileen! On the right, Project Spectrumy goodness from Kelly and Sockies of Celtic Cast On.(Detail picture below.) Kelly made me the cutest bracelet with a clasp that’s a cat playing with a ball of yarn (hmm, wonder where she got the idea for that?!) and matching earrings. For Chaos, a crinkly fluffy ball and a very fancy featherbutt mouse – exotic Canadian cat toys! All of this arrived in a green envelope with a cute green and pink card – Kelly is great with the Project Spectrum fun touches. Thanks, Kelly and Sockies!

A bit more about Cameo Cats from Mama Tulip – it’s a gorgeously illustrated book with poems and quotations about cats. Chaos found it interesting:

“Hmm… Smells like… Canada!”
“Definitely Canada.”

I wonder why this book reminded Mama Tulip of us?! Thanks, Mama Tulip!

Art journaling, reading, knitting, and cat parenting. It's a wild life.