A little fall color

For September's Wee Tiny Sock Club kit, I knit up a little apple sock, with an inchworm buddy inside. The yarn I used was mini sock blanks from Mango's Fiber Fun, which I Kool-Aid dyed to work with the apple pattern. Here's a little tour of the process.

First, I soaked the blanks for about 20 minutes, just to get them good and wet before dying them.


While they were soaking, I mixed up my colors. I wanted a nice red for the apple. That's just Tropical Fruit Punch Kool-Aid, straight up. For each packet of Kool-Aid, I mixed in 4 tablespoons of water.

Next, I needed a soft yellow-green for the apple's rosy cheeks. To get this color I started with 1 packet of Lemonade Kool-Aid mixed into 2 tablespoons of water. In a separate dish, I mixed 1 packet of Lemon-Lime Kool-Aid in 4 tablespoons of water. Then I added it teaspoon by teaspoon until I was happy with the color. That was about 2 teaspoons of green.

The last color was for the leaf and the worm, a green, but not so bright as the Lemon-Lime all by itself. I started with 1 packet of Lemon-Lime in 4 tablespoons of water, and separately mixed up 1 packet of Orange Kool-Aid in 4 tablespoons of water. Then I added the orange a teaspoon at a time until I was happy with the color. I used about 4-5 teaspoons of orange.

I poured my final color mixes into squeeze bottles that you can get a beauty supply store for hair dye. Now we're ready to dye! I dyed them 2 at a time. First I squeezed out as much water as I could, then laid them out in a 9x13 baking dish (make sure you use one that fits in your microwave). I spread them out as well as I could, but the edges were a bit curly. Then I just squirted the dye on. For this particular project, I wanted to have a bit of color separation, so I did not over saturate the blanks with dye.


Next step is to microwave them for 30 seconds. Your microwave may vary, of course.You are just going for getting them nice and steaming hot. Just be careful you don't let them go so long they start to dry out, as I'm pretty sure you run the risk of burning your yarn if that happens. The house smells really fruity after this step. :) Most of the white spots fill in as the dye soaks through after the blanks are heated up.


After they come out of the microwave, let them cool completely. I used wire cooling racks. It only takes about 5-10 minutes for them to cool.


Then, rinse well until the water runs clear and lay them out to dry.


I couldn't resist making a little rainbow one. still have a couple undyed blamks left, waiting for inspiration to strike. I may add some food coloring into the mix next time. Last time I dyed yarn, we used vinegar for the acid with the food coloring, and that worked well.


Each blank is unique, so all the apples will turn out just a little different, like real ones. The club member who have knit them up have taken the cutest photos. Check out the gallery on Ravelry. I love them all. :)

Fall leaves

I've really enjoyed reading twist collective since the premiere issue a year ago. I like their photography and the overall aesthetic of the magazine, and how much it feels like a real magazine as you turn the pages. My favorites from the Fall 2009 issue are Lorelie, a pretty lacy girly Sunday brunch cardigan, Vaganova, a chunky pullover with a big lace panel up the front and a cozy floppy turtleneck, and the Vine Yoke Cardigan.

I even like the advertising in twist, full of good things to lust after. For example...the Isabella Hat/Scarf/Mittens set, designed by Through the Loops for Sandra Singh. I'd seen it on Ravelry - just fell in love with the color combo (pinky purple and chocolate brown) and I really like the stitches used (it has that stitch that looks like a butterfly). Darcy and Sandra are having a giveaway for the Isabella Mittens pattern along with the yarn to make them. Did I mention it's Malabrigo? Love that yarn. Enter the giveaway by tomorrow!

Back to the Vine Yoke, its construction intrigued me; you cast on at the button band and work sideways around the sweater, all in one piece, including the sleeves. Plus, by frogging my languishing Hourglass sweater, I had yarn (Malabrigo again :) ) that would work for it. So, the Vine Yoke pattern hopped into my cart one insomniac night at about 3AM, and I swatched and cast on before sunrise.



The pattern notes say that the sweater will stretch lengthwise in blocking and when worn, but after getting most of the right front done, I was really worried that I was knitting a cropped sweater that I would never wear. :P But, there is a point after the right front is done that all the live stitches are slipped to holders. I took the opportunity to get the WIP wet and block it out, and happily found it will be just right. :) I'm now on the the first sleeve, maybe 25% done with my new fall sweater. I hope the insanity of my fall school schedule doesn't prevent me from finishing it before fall is over.



It's really feeling like fall here, in the 60's and lots of rainy days. The kids got their teacher assignments yesterday, by robo-call from the school. Russ went online to get their supply lists, and Rachel needs a thumb drive for 5th grade. (!) Ben's teacher is expecting a baby in November, and I'm more than a little disappointed that he will have the disruption of a substitute for a month in the middle of first grade. :/ All in all, I'm really excited for the start of school. Monday, September 14th is Sammy's first day of preschool and we will all head out together, Russ to the bus stop with Rae and Ben, me to drop Sammy off and then off to school myself. That is going to be awesome! :D

Wee Tiny Sock Club - Fall 2009

Mark your calendar!

21 new memberships in the Wee Tiny Sock Club will be available starting at 10AM Eastern time on August 15th at BraveLittleKnitter. :) I've got 3 fabulous fall kits planned, with something new to learn in each one. Summer club has been lots of fun - hope you can join us for the fall.

Best laid plans

My solstice shawl has been getting a lot of knitting time lately. The colorwork is ever so much more motivating than the acre of stockinette was. I've started modifying the pattern to fit my own whims, too. The progression in the pattern as written is: suns, roses, disks (or "blobzenges" as they are called by the KALers on Ravelry), vine with berries, and stars.



The shawl was intended by the designer to reflect the return of sunlight after the dark of winter. As I knit on this shawl and the seasons change (I started it December 21, 2008) I want to also incorporate elements that reflect the seasons. So, first, I have added a leaf motif just before the roses. I used the leaf from Chart 3 of the pattern, which was just a single leaf in red on either end of the roses. I put 2 leaves, mirrored, centered over each rose. To have enough room for the leaves and a stitch between them, I added one extra stitch between each of the roses. I was hesitant about adding green into the color scheme, but I like it. It's Mossay from BMFA.

So far, so good. The next change I have planned is to substitute a wave motif for the disks, possibly one I found in Knitting Over the Edge. This will represent water, which along with sunlight is essential for growth.

I'm also thinking of changing up the colors in the vine section. The pattern shows a red background with a blue vine, but I'm currently planning to use my bright gold for the ground, with a green vine and the berries in Thraven (dark blue) - this combo reminds me of the blackberry bushes along the side of my house, one of the sunniest spots in my yard.

Finally, the stars at the end will become acorns - for fall. I need to find a good acorn motif that's the right size, about 11-13 rows tall. I'll do this last section with a red background and use the Oregon Red Clover Honey for the acorns. The combination of red and gold feels right for autumn.

My new progression: sun, leaves, flowers, water, fruit, seeds. And so the cycle begins again. This is merely a record of my thoughts at the moment. It's a big project and many stitches lie between thinking and realizing those thoughts. And, there's a lot of time to keep on thinking, so I personally will be interested to see how this project continues to evolve as I knit. Right at the moment, I'm preparing for Fall Wee Tiny Sock Club (busy) and things are starting to get into back to school mode (even busier), so the shawl may have a little rest for a bit. That, and, at row 12/22 of the roses, it's feeling like bit a of a slog.

Shop Update

I've just updated the BraveLittleKnitter shop with some new items - plus restocks of blue dragonflies and blue birds. We added green dragonflies, red birds and yellow birds, too. I think the red birds are my favorite from this batch. :)


Here's a little peek at some holiday designs, just one of each available in the shop today. We'll have more of these closer to holiday time.


And here are our new beaded Hogwarts house blockers - blue with bronze beads, crimson with gold beads, yellow with black beads, and green with silver beads.

OMG, it's time for DRT!

DRT = Dish Rag Tag, or more precisely, Son of Dish Rag Tag, coming soon! This is the knitting relay race I joined last year, hostessed by Emily of Yarn Miracle. 22 teams of 10 knitters all around the US. You get a box in the mail with a ball of yarn and a dishcloth pattern, knit it up as fast as you can and pop it in the mail to the next knitter on your team. I had so much fun with this last time around, and can't wait to do it again. Sign ups open here on August first, and run until there are 220 knitters signed up, or August 7th, whichever comes first. More details on Emily's blog, and fund-raiser patterns for sale, too, to cover the cost of prizes. :) Are you going to play?

OMG = One Million Giraffes. I read about this in the Knitted Toys forum on Rav, and immediately my kids and I set to work on our first giraffe. This guy is trying to collect 1,000,000 giraffes by 2011. Whether he makes it to that goal or not, he hopes that a lot of people will take some time out from the electronic world to make a giraffe using their imagination and doing something creative with their own hands.

Here are our ice cream cone giraffes. Today we have plans for Lego giraffes. :)




Edited to add our afternoon giraffes:

And now for something completely different...

There will be no men with tape recorders up their noses on this blog.






That's 7 sts and 7.5 rows = 12".
Needles by Russ. Don't you just love a man who is supportive of his wife's hobby?

Get 'em while they're hot!

Fresh wee tiny sock blockers for sale!



Which one is your favorite?