It gets worse

I visited Simply Socks Yarn Company yesterday, in search of contrasting yarn for the sock yarn I purchased at the estate sale. Hoping to find ONE color that would work with all the sock yarn, I came home with THREE skeins, plus some Cascade 220 Superwash in black. *sigh* It never ends.

Cascade Yarns Heritage, from top to bottom, colorways 5683, 5660, 5755

Knitting: I finished the mistake rib cowl; separate post to follow.

It was a rough week, as one of my dogs passed away, from cancer. It was rather sudden, so the shock hasn't worn off yet. I feel sorry for Clio, as I adopted her as a companion for Watson and now he is absent. I've been taking her on longer walks, showing her extra attention, plan to find her a doggy daycare so she has other mutts to play with. We're both still very sad, though.

Goodbye, good dog.

That didn't last long

A new guild member (at least, I *think* she actually joined one of my guilds) is handling the estate of a fiber person who has gone to the yarn bowl in the sky, leaving behind a LOT of fiber and equipment and tools. It was easy to pass up the wheels, etc., but the yarn was something else. I did put back some of what I had picked out, but this is what came home with me, thereby breaking my "no new fiber" resolution.

My SO needs some new socks, so I can justify purchasing sock yarn. The problem with sock yarn (and it's only *my* problem) is that I knit larger than "normal" socks, so to keep from running out of yarn, I knit the toes, heels, and cuffs in contrasting colors. That means a trip to Simply Socks to buy even *more* yarn. Gah.

Less Traveled Yarn, 'Picnic Plaid'

Opal Elemente 1079 (left) and unknown (center), Harry Potter Sock Collection 2352 (right)

I wove a shawl with some Kauni many moons ago. It's rather rough, but I like the colorways. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these, though.

Kauni EQ - unnamed colorways

Knitting: My consolation over buying yarn is to work somewhat religiously on the current cowl. I sewed the deer antler buttons onto the Lempi sweater - and hated how they look. I found an alternative at Joann.

Spinning: I finished spinning the SeaCell roving - time to ply.

The spinning guild did not meet last month because of inclement weather, so this month's meeting was basically meet-the-new-officers and show-and-tell. I took the Lozenge cowl and the Lempi sweater (buttonless). Both were a hit.

Lozenge cowl

Before the monthly spin-in at Little Shop of Spinning, several of us meet up for lunch. In January, one of us wore a Lozenge cowl she had knit, which led me to making one of my own. Since it calls for sport weight yarn, it seemed like a good candidate for some of the yarn from the natural dye workshop.

Pattern: Lozenge Cowl (free Ravelry download), by Raging Wool
Yarn: merino sport weight (about 100g), dyed with madder, black-eyed Susan, hibiscus, and hollyhock
Needles: US5
Modifications: Cast on using Old Norwegian cast on, bind off with Suspended bind off - both of these add some stretch

The pattern uses slip stitches to accomplish the colorwork - easy peasy! Blocking makes a difference, really opens the lozenges.

Trust the muck

The program at the latest weaving guild meeting was about ice dyeing. Natalie didn't say much about the process, but brought in about 40 samples. She works primarily with plant-based fibers - cotton, linen, tencel - so couldn't say much about protein fibers like wool. When I arrived home, I googled ice dyeing and learned a bit more. Interweave has a general tutorial that can be found here. Dharma Trading offers instructions on working with wool and silk that can be found here. And our own Natalie can awaken you to color combinations here.

One of my fiber resolutions is to dye the undyed roving I have. Now I'm wondering if ice dyeing would be a way to go?

Knitting: I started another cowl, using a mistake rib pattern from Purl Soho, using handspun yarn.

Spinning: Nearing the end of the BFL/SeaCell roving.

An unofficial fiber resolution is to get a quilt top I hand-pieced over 40 years ago quilted. A member of the weaving guild does just that. I delivered the quilt top and the backing to her at the last meeting, so it is in her queue. Huzzah!

She sells SeaCell

It's funny how everything seems to come to a stop when one is ill. My cold lay waste most of the previous week. But today I felt well enough to not only walk the dogs (they were abbreviated walks), but to also attend the monthly spin-in at Little Shop of Spinning. I needed some fiber to spin, so I grabbed a braid of something out of the closet and headed off.

What I grabbed was a combination of Blue Faced Leicester and SeaCell. What is SeaCell? According to Sport Casuals, "SeaCell is a biodegradable clothing fiber that comes from cellulose or tree fibers and organic seaweed. The material is in high demand among athletic apparel brands, since it inhibits bacterial growth, is soft and stretchy, hypoallergenic, and is derived from renewable resources." And it's very silky.

My braid came from Hearthside Fibers and I probably bought it at a fiber fest, although this fiber (and a whole lot more!) is available from their Etsy shop (undyed but much less expensive). It is 70% BFL and 30% SeaCell, and spins up rather nicely. I'll be curious to see how the final product turns out.

Knitting: I finished the Lozenge cowl; separate post to follow. I repaired the hole in the Lempi sweater, but not very well, so will probably redo.
Spinning: See above.

The current exhibition at the Chesterton Art Center is by Chicago weaver Bryana Bibbs, 200 pieces. I'm toying with the idea of going, as I feel like I need some weaving inspiration. I can't tell if I don't really like to weave or if I just don't like weaving the kinds of things I've been weaving.