To Dye For

So I tried my hand at dyeing yarn today (instead of studying for my final, like I should be). I'm quite happy with how it turned out! I used Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool in Oak Tweed (I think), food coloring, and this article from Knitty. The first, smaller skein was dyed using the Hot Pour method, and the second, bigger skein was dyed using the Dip-Dye method. I'm much more pleased with the bigger skein than the smaller one, but now we don't have any red food coloring left, including the two bottles I ran out to the store to get today (the little McCormick bottles that come four in a pack-- on the plus side, we have an abundance of green, blue, and yellow now!). 

 

For the small skein, I poured red, blue, and purple food coloring into a simmering pot, along with some vinegar. The colors weren't absorbed as much as I thought they would be, but I still kind of like it. For the big one, it was just red, but lots of it.





Now I need to go get more natural colored yarn, so I can experiment some more. Ooo, I have cream roving in my stash. Hmm... Hand-spun and hand-dyed. That sounds lovely... *wanders off toward the stash*

Happy knitting! And spinning, and dyeing, and (after Christmas), weaving! :)

Buttoned Stethoscope Cozy

Hi all!

I recently came up with another stethoscope cozy pattern. Since the other cozy pattern I made required you to take off the... what is the name of it? The part that's not the earpieces, the part that you place on the patient's chest. Anyway, the other pattern requires that you take that off, put the cozy on, and then put that piece back on, since the diameter of the cozy isn't big enough to allow that mystery-name piece through. But with an afternoon and a bit of thinking last weekend, I came up with the solution. Voila! The Buttoned Stethoscope Cozy. To put it on, you pass the bottom mystery-named piece through the upper hole, and then button all the buttons! You can also pass the earpieces through the upper part, through the bottom, but that's a bit harder.

Buttoned Stethoscope Cozy

See all the buttons? I think it's really fun to pick a bunch of different buttons, but of course you can do all the same buttons if you want to.

Materials:

• Worsted weight yarn (I used TLC Essentials by Red Heart in Color 2958 Falling Leaves)
• yardage: not entirely sure, but if I've done my math right, it's about 75 yards (if you make this and find that it's drastically different, please let me know.)
• Size US 6 DPNs (or a set of straights and DPNs, or straights and a circular to Magic Loop)
• A note about needle size: I knit really, really tightly. I usually have to go up at least 2 needle sizes with anyone else's pattern that I use. Take this into account. 
• 11 small buttons (approx. 1/2 inch in diameter).

Gauge: I don't have the cozy with me (my mom took it with her to work) to confirm gauge, so I used a comparable project that used the same yarn and needle size, which is 5 sts X 7 rows per inch. I will check the gauge of the actual cozy and edit this if it differs.

Pattern:
CO 18 sts. K1, P1  rib for 4 rows.
Next row (RS): K2, yo, k2tog, k14.
Knit 11 rows of St st.

Rep these 12 rows until there are 10 buttonholes, ending with the 11 St st rows.
Knit across the row and join in the round, arranging ndls as follows: 9, 4, 5 sts.
Next rnd: Ndl 1: K1, M1, k to last, M1, K1   Ndl 2: K1, M1, k to end of ndl   Ndl 3: k to last, M1, K1
Knit 1 rnd.
(These incs are essentially the same idea as the toe on toe-up socks.)

Rep these last 2 rnds until you have 42 sts.
K1, P1 rib for 4 rnds.
BO 7 in rib, k7 in rib, BO rem sts in rib. Cut yarn.
Reattach yarn on RS, and K1, P1 rib for 1 1/2 in.
Next row (RS): P1, k1, p1, yo, p2tog, k1, p1.
Work K1, P1 rib for 3 rows. BO all sts.

Sew buttons opposite the buttonholes on the long portion of the cozy, and sew the last button just at the base of the ribbing at the top.

This has only been knit once, by me, so if there are any errors or anything that doesn't make sense, let me know!
Happy knitting! :)


Edit (11/22/12): I've knit this a few times now, so I think the pattern is all right. At least, my new red one turned out fine. 

See all the buttons? I love doing all different buttons. :)

I also wanted to share the mod that I made to my mom's cozy. She likes to keep a roll of medical tape and a few mini-Sharpies on her cozy, so she has easy access to them. So to accommodate that, I made the strap 2 1/2 in. long and moved the top button down, to about where the incs start. Like this:

See the tape? And the mini-Sharpies?

To attach the mini-Sharpies, she put the mini-keyring that they hang on over the first (closest to the earpieces) button on the strap and buttoned it, kind of sandwiching it between the layers of the cozy.
Happy Thanksgiving, and happy knitting!!

"Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?"

Since there are only two days left before Christmas, I thought I would post some of my thoughts from the past few days.

There have been several times in the past few weeks that I have yearned for things (tangible or otherwise) and I now realize that I have nothing that I truly need. I may want things, but I need nothing, and I should never overlook the things I have and the people in my life who love me. So now I encourage you, too, to take a moment and think about the things and people in your life that truly matter. The people you love and who love you back are the most important part of life. And that, Charlie Brown, is what Christmas is all about. :)

And so, I wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year.

And happy knitting until next time, of course. :)

Thankful

It is Thanksgiving. I'm going to take this moment to reflect on all the things I'm thankful for.

I am thankful for:

• my family
• my friends
• the fact that both my parents still have their jobs, despite the economy
• the fact that I only have half a sock and a cell phone case left to complete until my Christmas knitting is finished

Frankly, I'm surprised that I'm nearly done with my Christmas knitting before Thanksgiving. I don't want to spoil the surprise for anyone, so I'm not going to say what I've made, but trust me, it's a lot. At least, it's more than I've done for Christmas before. I've been working on things since the beginning of the summer, and I'm excited to be nearly done. :) I can't wait to give everyone their gifts! :D

Until next time, happy knitting! :)

Horses and Socks

It's been quite a while since I've posted anything. I've been pretty busy with school. But I have found some time to knit, as all resourceful knitters do. :)  Right now, I'm working on a Horse Scarf for my younger brother's best friend who practically lives at our house. The yarn is Red Heart Kids in Orange and Caron Simply Soft in Black.

He will be getting that for Christmas. In addition to that, I'm also working on a pair of socks (Silver's Sock Class again-it's simple and makes for very good on-the-go knitting) for one of my friends. I'm using some recycled yarn from an old, store-bought sweater (it was actually very fun frogging it).

I also have several other things waiting to be cast on (most of them will end up being Christmas presents), but you'll have to wait a bit to see those. :)

Until next time, happy knitting! :)