The inspiration

On a blog somewhere (sorry, I don’t remember where exactly), I saw an “inspiration spot” and I liked the concept so much I stole thought I’d try it.

My inspiration was the top photo of an approaching storm.  I love those greys against that blue.  What developed from that inspiration was a skein of lace weight yarn (lower photo).  Not surprisingly, I’ve named the colourway “Storm Clouds”.

What inspired you to create something this week?

The creation

The beaded version

A few weeks ago I posted a request for test knitters for a sock pattern I am designing.  I was amazed at the response — so many people generously offered their time and effort.  Well, the other knitters and I have been working away at our socks, and I hope to offer the finished pattern next week.  There are a few final layout issues and photographs to take care of.

I’ve named the pattern “Aquitaine”, after Eleanor of Aquitaine.  She’s often portrayed in a gown with a diamond patterning, and I used that as inspiration for this sock pattern.  There will be two versions of the sock in the pattern, one plain with ribbing on the foot, and one beaded with the diamond pattern continuing down to the toe.

I’ll be posting some photos from the test knitters in the coming days, too.  It’s really interesting to me to see how the sock looks in different yarns.  And, speaking of different yarns….

Sock yarn

After taking a little time off from dyeing, I’m back into it.  These are all sock-weight yarn, and they’re all available to buy on eBay (along with a bunch of other things — I’m spring cleaning, lol).

Yesterday the weather was lovely enough that my painting class went outdoors to do some sketching at Britannia Beach.  This was my first outdoor sketching of the year, and I’m looking forward to lots more of it.  Cheryl has promised that we’ll be painting outside, too, and I’m happy about that.  I haven’t actually done any plein air painting before.  I hope we can get to it while the weather’s not too hot, and the bugs aren’t out in full force yet (mosquitoes and blackflies — I always wonder what made the pioneers decide to settle here!).  My friend Karen gave me an early birthday present (really early; my birthday’s in August!) of a little water-colour set suitable for packing along in my sketching kit.  I’ll be adding colour to some of my sketches, which should be fun.  I’ve never felt the urge to do full-blown water colour painting, but some of the things I sketch could definitely get some added interest from colour washes.

Today the temperature is supposed to hit 27C — time for ice cream!

Four skeins of llama/merino/nylon sock-weight, natural colour

Remember these?  They’re the skeins of sock yarn my friend Elisabeth gave me as a thank-you for helping her paint her living room last week.  I was thrilled to receive them (Elisabeth has very nice yarn), and was looking forward to dyeing them, as I had already  made myself a pair of socks in the natural colour and wanted something a little different.

Usually I do hand-painted sock yarns with a variety of colours in one skein, but I decided to go with kettle-dyeing for these.  That gives you single colours, slightly irregularly dyed, which results in a more dynamic end product than evenly-dyed yarn, I think.  I love the slight tonal variations kettle-dyeing can offer.

Because the yarn is a fawn colour, light colours wouldn’t show very well, so I went with some mid-value jewel tones — sapphire, emerald, amethyst and ruby.

After the transformation

The colours are slightly muted because of the fawn undercolour, and very lightly heathered.  I’m quite pleased with how they turned out.  Each skein will make one pair of socks, and I’m keeping them all for me.  They are so wonderfully warm, and I get cold feet in the winter!  I think I’ll use the blue yarn first for my next sock pattern.  I have an idea about some all-over cables that I’m going to try.  Or, since I like how the colours work together, maybe some colourwork socks.  Hmmmm…..

These yarns are actually not “dyed in the wool” — that refers to wool being dyed before it is spun.  Fibre that is dyed in the wool tends to have a more consistent colouring than that which is dyed in the yarn.  Once the weather warms up enough, though, I’ll take my little electric one-burner stove outside with my big stainless pot and dye some fleece for spinning.  That will be dyed in the wool!

Their Hideousnesses

I have had so many suggestions, requests and even pleas that I not overdye the Socks of Hideousness that I had to sit back and re-think my plan.  On the one hand, what level of spiritual negativity would I be drawing to myself if I went ahead and brazenly put my own desires for good-looking socks ahead of the opinion of people on the Internet that I don’t even know?  On the other hand, I really don’t like the colour of these socks and I wouldn’t wear them.  On the other other hand, my sock drawer doesn’t have room to store a pair of socks I’ll never wear.  So.

The Giveaway of Hideousness.  To counter any bad karmic effects of giving away something I don’t want anyway, I’m throwing in a skein of sock yarn dyed by moi. When it’s all over, one lucky person on the Internet I don’t even know will be the proud new owner of the original

Yarn of very little hideousness

Socks of Hideousness.  And some yarn.

The socks: sized for me (9.5 American shoe size), the foot measures 10″ (25 cm), and the yarn is 100% wool (not superwash).

The yarn: 460 yards (420 meters) of 80% wool, 20% nylon (not superwash) sock yarn that wears like iron and I wash in cold water in the machine without any problems (it’s the same yarn I sell on eBay — where *shameless plug* my seller id is Wildflowerhoney).

What you need to do to enter the draw for the socks and yarn is to leave me a comment letting me know what you will do with the Socks of Hideousness (wear them yourself?  where?  when? give them to someone?  who?  why? or?), and pick a number between 1 and 250 (and put that number in your comment, natch).  On Tuesday, February 24th, when I have had my first cup of coffee and am reasonably alert (usually around 6:00 am Eastern time), I will use a random number generator to pick the winning number.  In case of duplication, the entry with the earliest time-stamp will win.  If no one picks the actual number, the closest lower number will win.  I will then contact the winner and make arrangements to send him/her the prize.

They look so innocent....

Late-breaking update! The most generous Jami, from over at Life at the Stone Jug has put together a Kit of Hideousness, and is offering it as a consolation prize in this giveaway!  As well as a print-out of the pattern, the kit contains a stash-sister to the yarn I used to make the socks. Yarn Treehouse Melody color 101 is described as “mintish-purple instead of mintish-orange; I still think it’s ugly”.  Yes, two balls of the same great yarn I used for Their Hideousnesses in a fresh new colourway. (Actually, it is rather nice yarn except for the colour.) Even if you don’t knit socks, this is enough yarn to make hideous mittens, a hideous hat or a hideous scarf.  A lovely consolation prize, indeed!  It will go to the runner-up (either the second entrant with the same number as the winner, or failing that, the next closest lower number to the winning number).

So?  Leave a comment and number, already!

The view from the kitchen window

This is how it looks from the kitchen today, and we’re expecting up to 25 or 30 cm (about 10 or 12 inches) by late tonight.

I did my grocery shopping yesterday and don’t have to drive anywhere today, so I’m quite pleased with the weather.  It’s pretty to look at, and makes me feel cozy because I’m inside looking out at it.  There are plenty of people who complain about the snow, but I’m quite happy that I live in a place that has four distinct seasons.  Snow-coming-down-sideways is a delightful (yes, I mean that!) change from crisp fall days, warm and languid summer days, and muddy, dreary, why-isn’t-it-summer-yet spring days.  (Can you tell I’m not a big fan of spring?)

So today I’m spending the day inside, roasting a garlic- and herb-crusted pork tenderloin to have with mashed potatoes and peas, doing the laundry, dyeing yarn, thinking about a painting, contemplating my knitting….

Half a scarf

This is the Monteverde Scarf, a free pattern from Kelly over at her Knit! blog (I think I came across it on Ravelry). Actually, it’s half of the scarf, which is worked in two pieces that are then grafted together at the centre. I am about a third of the way through the second half.  It’s made of 50/50 mohair/acrylic, so it has just the right amount of fuzz. I think it will look pretty sharp once it’s blocked (take a look at the scarf link above to see Kelly’s lovely, blocked version). I’ll be knitting some more on this project this evening, perhaps while listening to Vinyl Cafe Stories by Stuart McLean (if you’re not familiar with the Vinyl Cafe radio show, check this out).

It's fun to see them all together like this

I love playing with the colour combinations, and imagining how they’ll look once knit up.  I keep a few for myself, so I know how those particular ones look as socks, but most of these get sold on eBay (I’m wildflowerhoney on eBay, if you’d like to take a look at what’s currently on offer).  I kind of like the idea that some of my creations are out in the world, living lives of their own, now.

Start of a new painting

This is the first step of a new painting, the roughing in of the shapes and colours with a knife.  I did this last Friday in painting class (where, disappointingly, we did not do the promised portrait work, but we’ll do that this week).  It’s from a photo of the Mississippi River in Carleton Place (bet a lot of you didn’t know that we have a Mississippi in Canada, eh?), and it’s a couple of downed trees in the river, with bushes and trees all along the shore.  I have this painting sitting where I can see it from my desk, and I’m planning, planning what to do next to it.

There are two really fun parts of painting, as far as I’m concerned — this first part, where there’s all sorts of vitality and potential in the painting, and the bit near the end when it looks like the vision and the paint have coalesced into a meaningful result.  The in-between bits are often just slogging through vast tracts of indecision.  Very rarely does the whole thing just flow along from beginning to end.  So, a lot of contemplation of this particular canvas is currently going on in my head.  A snowy day is perfect for painting….

Thanks to whomever arranged for today’s snow!

Some of my work

These are some of the yarns I’ve been dyeing lately (all sock yarn except for the middle bottom one, which is lace-weight mohair).  I really enjoy the blending and mixing and combining of colours, and then seeing (if I keep the yarn for myself) how they look when knit up.  Each of these skeins is unique as a snowflake, which is part of their appeal to me.  Of course, I just love the colours, too!  I’ve done a fair bit of dyeing over the years, but every now and again I’m surprised all over again at the magic that happens in the dyepot.

Most of my yarn I sell on eBay, which keeps me in enough money to feed my yarn and fibre habit.  It’s a good thing when a hobby supports itself!

Right now I have two main projects on the needles: a pair of socks for a dear friend who gifted me with about 11 pounds of yarn (that automatically qualifies her as a “dear” friend), and The Gothic Night Shawl (this is a link to the German instructions, but I think Marlies has an English translation available on Ravelry) which I am doing in some hand-dyed (not by me) half merino/half silk laceweight in purples, blues and blue-greens.

I’ll post a picture of the socks soon (they’re in pretty lively colours, as requested), and the shawl will be photographed when I feel like pinning it out for its close-up.  Both of these knits are the soothing, relaxing kind, just right for an evening in front of the tv while the snowflakes drift past the windows and make a Christmas card of the view.