Susan the Blue Lake Knitter's Blog (130)
Wonderful Dyeing Experiences
I started experimenting with dyeing my own wool last fall, and thought it was a great experience. At Christmas time I got several KP gift cards, so I invested a bit of money in various Jacquard Dyes. I did not get to actually use these until spring... My first experiment was to dye some llama/mohair (llamo) that I got for Mother's Day.
Here is how it turned out.
… ContinueAdded by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on August 17, 2010 at 11:05am — 64 Comments
Crock Pot Dyeing - Plus Gratuitious Baby Pictures
I will be over dyeing my golden llama/mohair next week, and I purchased a good used crock pot at a thrift store to use for this purpose. Not knowing what shape the pot was it… if it would actually heat high enough, etc. was a concern, so I decided to do a little experiment to make sure all was OK.
… ContinueAdded by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on August 8, 2010 at 2:58pm — 90 Comments
Tour de Fleece Completed Successfully
This has been an exciting 23 days of spinning! It all began July 3, with a marathon day of spinning and I finished my biggest batch of yarn for this event… 2 skeins in one day, 2-plied.
… ContinueAdded by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on July 25, 2010 at 12:38pm — 54 Comments
Spinning Fools On the Tour de Fleece
As Peggy Stuart mentioned in her blog today, many of us have signed up for the Tour de Fleece (TdF) over on Ravelry, and are making steady progress toward our spinning goals. The rules are pretty simple, join the group and spin from July 3 - July 25, with two days of rest.
Most of us started on July 3... I planned to start early, but things around here got in the way, and it was nearly noon before I actually began my journey for the day. I obviously bit off way more than I coul
… ContinueAdded by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on July 9, 2010 at 11:45am — 123 Comments
Magic Loopin'
My last blog was about a new knitting technique that I had learned and used – Russian Join. Very successful technique! Love it.
… ContinueAdded by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on June 10, 2010 at 8:27am — 131 Comments
Russian Join Revisited
A while ago, my dear friend Cheryl did a blog and featured the Russian Join as a technique an
… ContinueAdded by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on June 4, 2010 at 1:44pm — 13 Comments
Spinning Straw into Gold… or my first Jacquard Dye Experience
As I spun up my first 4 oz. of my golden llama/mohair fleece, I was very surprised at how the light would hit the yarn as it was spinning, and how all of the different shades would shine. Then I thought of the fairy tale
… ContinueAdded by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on May 28, 2010 at 3:06pm — 19 Comments
Fiber Day Trip
This month for our guild meeting, we had a tour of a local fiber farm and the yarn shop associated with it.
Our guild is relatively small – we only have twelve members. So our resources are limited; but only limited by the friends that we make on this wonde
… ContinueAdded by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on May 16, 2010 at 7:34pm — 20 Comments
Happy Mother’s Day and How Does My Garden Grow
OK, I know Mother’s Day is tomorrow, but when there are two sets of grandparents, the holiday must be shared in the best manner possible. I arranged to have a nice Mother’s Day Dinner today for myself and my DDIL, and for my DH, DS and Sam to share it with us. I had planned on doing this outside, but the temps dropped overnight, so
… ContinueAdded by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on May 8, 2010 at 3:15pm — 33 Comments
Long Overdue Blog
This is probably the longest I have gone without posting a blog… in a long, long time. I try to stay busy knitting or spinning, and am always finishing projects, so I usually have plenty to write about. But lately things have slowed down on the knitting front, as other things have taken precedence. What you ask could possibly be more important than knitting? Well,
… ContinueAdded by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on April 28, 2010 at 10:34am — 78 Comments
Working with Homespun Yarns
Since last spring I have been spinning my own yarn. And this isn't something that you just do - it takes practice - lots of practice. Your first attempts are usually pretty sad, but you have to keep trying or you will not learn to spin. I practiced all last year, and right before Christmas I started spinning with the Border Leicester x Bluefaced Leicester wool handblended with red silk. As you may remember, I finished that 20 oz batch of yarn at the middle of March. On March 25 I cast on the
… ContinueAdded by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on April 5, 2010 at 12:50pm — 20 Comments
Whew! I love knitting
As you all know, I love to knit... love, love, love it! Can't say enough good about knitting! But! Sometimes to finish a project you have to do more than just knit. Right? If you make a garmet in pieces, you have to be able to hand sew the pieces together. If there is any construction to do (like a toy), that is necessary. And if you make a bag you really need to line it. In the recent past I have knit several bags: a diaper bag and
… ContinueAdded by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on March 24, 2010 at 7:11pm — 27 Comments
Spring is in the Air!
Added by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on March 20, 2010 at 2:55pm — 17 Comments
Before I was a knitter… and a few new things
As most of you know I started knitting four years ago this past Christmas. I’ve learned a lot in four years, and knit a lot of things. Now I am trying to learn new skills and techniques. On my list of things to improve/learn are: cables (I have already knit the Karin Tote) and lace (so far I’ve finished the Hanae Hat, and one of my Offering Mitts).
… ContinueAdded by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on March 15, 2010 at 5:28pm — 34 Comments
Sam Meets His Auntie - or Auntie Learns to Knit - some
Added by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on March 7, 2010 at 3:24pm — 39 Comments
And a Very Fiber Birthday to Me!
It is a wonderful thing when your family understands your fiber obsession. My DH, while he would never try to purchase yarn for me, does everything he can to assist me... helping to wind yarn, creating new gadgets to assist in my knitting and spinning, taking care of lots of house work so that I can knit and spin, and finally bragging about each item I create. I couldn't ask for a better man.
Then there are my children! For Christmas, my DS filled a KP order full of items from
… ContinueAdded by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on February 19, 2010 at 10:19am — 17 Comments
Karin Tote Success Story - Don't Be Afraid of Cables and Other Knitting Tales
Hello all you knitters out there! It's been a few days since I did a blog, but it was only because I have been busy... very busy. I want to tell you about my Karin Tote. We left her in this state:
All of the actual knitting was completed, but none of the lining had been started. I
… ContinueAdded by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on February 17, 2010 at 12:58pm — 21 Comments
Is Cast-on-itis a Disease? If so, I have a bad case!
The last week has been very busy, what with welcoming my new grandson, Sam, into the world, and I had two days were I accomplished very little knitting. Finally on Thursday and Friday I got to knit a lot. My DH asked if I had gone through fiber withdrawal... I think that is exactly what happened to me.
I finished all the knitting on the Karin Tote, blocked it on Friday, and mattress stitched it together on Saturday. Then I whip stitched the strap, and inserted the inte
… ContinueAdded by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on February 7, 2010 at 6:45pm — 27 Comments
Baby Sam Born This Afternoon
Added by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on February 2, 2010 at 1:23pm — 41 Comments
Karin Tote Progress
Added by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on January 27, 2010 at 12:23pm — 30 Comments
Latest Blog Posts
Most Popular Blog Posts
Blog Topics by Tags
© 2010 Created by Knit Picks Admin.
