The aftermath of the hat knitting frenzy

After I finished my sister's hat, I immediately cast on for another, this time for my friend Linda. She had commented on Facebook that she wanted one, and I informed her that hers would be in blue...

Of course her patterns were different, in keeping with my knowledge of her, and when it was done (in record time), I took some more pictures of both and sent them off.

I decided to do some mindless knitting, which to me is knitting someone else's pattern - my mind doesn't have do do anything. I had purchased Romi Hill's newest compilation, "Home is where the Heart is," and with three shawls released, hadn't knit any of them. I liked the idea of the one called Zephyr Cove, knowing where that actually is, so I started in.

I used some Merino/Silk that I had gotten from Knit Picks several years ago and dyed, and some yarn that I had spun shortly after I moved to Oregon from a Romeldale/CVM ram that I had, which was then dyed purple with logwood. Between the two, I knew I had enough yarn. The silk blend was a challenge, as I had salvaged it from a project that had been forgotten, and then something chewed on it (probably the dreaded M word). There were lots of splice points. But it was a beautiful yarn, and reminded me of how I used to paint dye on skeins as opposed to how I've been doing it lately. I'm going to revisit my former technique...

Here are a couple of pictures of the completed shawl, unblocked. I'll be blocking it tomorrow, because it's sheet laundry day, and I can use the bed (with all doors closed to the bedroom so that my "helpers" don't, well, help...).

By the time I got to the end, it had changed it from mindless to mind-numbing... I don't think I'll be doing any more garter stitch anytime soon. The pattern is lovely, but there are some things about it that I didn't like, mainly all of the K2tog through the back loop in the lace section. It interrupted my knitting flow... But that's what you get when you knit someone else's pattern - it probably makes perfect sense to them with their knitting style. Mine is different. So it's not that the pattern is bad, or boring or hard to knit - it's not. It's just not my favorite style of knitting.

This is good to know.

I'm now working on the basic pattern for the Stovepipe hats. I may make a trip over to Michelle's to get her assistance with photos of the tricky part - knitting the casing together - so that I can include that in the pattern. I can explain it, but a picture is worth a thousand words, sometimes.

I'm also cogitating on the future of Fiber Voodoo as a business. As I told someone today, it's time for me to s**t or get off the pot, and I need to find the toilet paper. There are lots of ideas floating around, and it's too early to say any of them out loud in public, but there will be future updates pro or con. Among the stumbling blocks is the fact that if I want to expand it, I need to be gone from home more, which I'm not good at. I start to get twitchy after 3 days away from my nest!!

So, off to continue ruminating...

Mott Canyon Stovepipe, or a hat for Sister Mary

Years ago, I knit a hat for my brother-in-law on the knitting machine. It was kind of unique (I did not make up the pattern), having a top that could be opened or closed, depending on your winter activity level.

He and my sister, Mary, are ardent skiers, having season passes to the local resort. They like nothing better than to head up on a weekday morning after a good dumping, and to be the first ones down the chutes in Mott Canyon.

Mary had mentioned in passing that she would like a hat like her husband's, if that was possible...

Of course it's possible!!

The construction is basically a tube, with a casing at the top, through which an I-cord is passed, enabling the wearer to open/close the top of the hat at will. The construction challenge, however, was how to do the casing... On the knitting machine, it's very easy. Hand-knit, from the bottom up, is a little different. I ended up knitting the casing and top border separately, and grafting 128 stitches to the hat... I'm now really good at Kitchner stitch!

As with my hat, I tried to find patterns that were meaningful and fit my image of my sis. In addition to her Celtic heritage, my sister is a consumate gardener - super green thumb!! She also preserves most of her garden's produce...

It started with  a two-color cast-on, then the Celtic braid that was too tall for my hat, then flowers (or snowflakes, if you want), and ending with leaves. I used what I call "beaded rib" as the unifying element.

 Here is a detail of the casing and the i-cord with the tassel.

 And here's a look at it closed up.

The next one (if there is one...) will start from the top down, which will make the casing WAY easier to execute!

The yarn is one that I designed and had custom spun; 47.2% gray wool (romeldale/montedale/rambouillet cross), 35.3% white alpaca, 10% iron gray kid mohair, and 7.5% white bombyx silk.

This is the first "real" project that I've done with this yarn (I have around 7 lbs. of it), and I really like the fabric. It was knit on size 3 needles, with a gauge of appx. 6.5 sts/inch.

This has the added perk of matching a vest that I knit for Mary out of hand-spun Icelandic, which is also gray and red!!

I still need to block it, but it will be on its way to her soon!

This is so not ok...

This is a picture of some superwash Merino yarn that was dyed with the Dharma dyes. The socks made from this yarn have been washed twice.

The colors are true in this picture.

WTH? All of the turquoise has mostly washed out. The green was made with turquoise mixed with Golden Ochre (a Jaquard Dye), the purple was Dharma Fuschia and Turquoise. The remaining stripes of dusky turquoise was a mixture of Jaquard Turqoise and black (and maybe something else, I forget). I hate to think what they'll look like after wash #3.

I have emailed Dharma, asking them to email me so that I can send them this picture. When I emailed earlier, asking if I could return the blue dyes because of rinsing problems, they contacted me, and because I had used some, I was unable to return them. Now, I'm really P.O'd, and I want them to take them back. I've also posted this picture on their Facebook page.

The real issue is that I have sold all the yarn in this colorway, along with most of the fiber in the same color mix. The other colorways that I've dyed have also mostly sold, and they also contain the turquoise dye and mixtures.

I know from my own experience (I am not proud of this...), that if something is wrong, most times people will not contact the supplier, but will bad-mouth the supplier to all their friends. This is my biggest fear - that people will think that Fiber Voodoo doesn't know how to dye stuff, and the dye doesn't stick.

I have been dyeing for over 20 years. Because of the issues I had in October, I checked the pH of my vinegar water - it was pH 4. I steamed the yarn for over 30 minutes (I got distracted and when the timer went off, I was in the middle of something else). There is no reason for this dye not to have struck the fiber, particularly since it's superwash, which is a dye magnet.

I will let you know what happens. I'm now reluctant to keep any of the Dharma Dyes, and think I would like them to take them back and give me a refund. I'm going to continue to use my not-so-old Jaquard dyes, which are now stored in the house...

So, in the future, I'll stick with the more expensive but tried and true dyes that I'm used to. This has been a very expensive lesson.