Yarn Parade

Sorry to keep my fellow crafters, crocheters, and other fiber-loving friends in the lurch for so long.  Life has been hectic!  The house went under contract last Thursday, and we close on the 31st.  It’s chaotic, but we’re excited.

However, chaos has not kept me from the yarn.  It’s just kept me from blogging about it.

My birthday yarn, picked up at The Lamb Shoppe in Denver, is scruuuuuumptious!  Queensland Collection’s Kathmandu Aran Tweed, in Moss Green.  Oh, Yum.

I bought three balls of this, and I’ve used less than two to make my new hat (to be posted later).

I’ve been frogging sweaters in the evenings since I got back in town, and my yarn collection is growing.  Most of it has a specific purpose, but I’m not at liberty to share just yet…in a couple of months, definitely!

100% wool, definitely the softest yarn I’ve ever felt.  I already used some of this to make my winter hat a couple of months ago.  The rest, I dyed green:

As you can see, some of it has already made it onto the ball winder.  It’s sort of a pain, because the sweater I reclaimed for this yarn was knit using three strands held together, and I’m going to need it in individual strands for my project.  Worth the effort, tho’!

This orange is 100% virgin wool.  Either laceweight or light fingering, I haven’t really checked it yet:

Photographed on clover in honor of St. Patrick’s Day this week.  (Sorry for the overexposure; it was really bright out that day.)

Next, an Abercrombie sweater, 80% lambswool, 20% nylon.  Very soft and – of course – my favorite color:

This goldenrod is 100% cotton.  It’s the first cotton sweater I’ve reclaimed, I think, and I like it a lot:

…and last but not least, (surprise!) another green sweater frogged for your viewing pleasure.  (And my crocheting pleasure – yippee!)

And so ends the parade for today.  Wow, my feet hurt…

Kool Yarn Update

As Jason suggested, I used my Kool New Yarn to make myself a hat.

Unfortunately, out of the thirty or so hooks I own, I can find every single one except my only “I” hook.  Seriously.  I have 3 “N” hooks, 2 “J” hooks, and multiples of several others, but I only have one “I,” and it’s nowhere to be found.

So, I used the hand-carved hook I bought for my Grandma at Fisherman’s Wharf when I was in high school.  It felt like it might be a little bigger than my “H” hooks (yep, I have two of those, too).  Apparently not.  The hat is approximately the right size for a seven-year-old girl (gamely tested by one of our friends at karate class).  I do not have the head of a seven year old girl.

I briefly considered simply giving the hat to said seven-year-old, before remembering my pledge to do make things for myself after months and months of gift making.  Plus, I love that yarn, so I frogged it halfway and am adjusting as I go.  It really is pretty.

In dyeing news, I was so thrilled with the end result of this yarn, I decided to use the last two packets of Kool-Aid (orange) in the pantry.  But on what?  Ah-ha!  The ugly yarn I dyed last summer!  And we’ll add a bunch of yellow food coloring in for good measure.

Before, a greyed-out pile of pink and blue yarn.  Blah:

During – I tried in vain to get a photo that didn’t look like overcooked pasta:

After – much better:

This is going straight into my stash.  It’s not a soft yarn, so I’m loathe to make a wearable out of it.  We shall see what it becomes!