Urgent help for yarn pron required....

If you're reading this, you probably care about knitting. Please, take a minute to give me your ideas on how to fix the problem of kettle-dyed yarn which is bleeding fairly badly and losing colour. Please?
It's dyed using vinegar and fibre-reactive dyes, is the one in the picture below and needs to be in the post to the US by the end of next week. At the latest. Please, please, help????

Meet Samus

I can't believe it's finished- and blocked (badly) and just needs the zip applied. But, in truth, it is so. Thank Maude. I'm just hoping and praying that it fits my (absolutely minute) mother when she opens it on Christmas, because otherwise I'm going to cry.

Ideally, she'd like it as well. But as this is the woman who made me wear jumpers made from carpet wool as a child, and knitted me a stripy horse blanket not so many years ago, I'll live with the consequences if she doesn't. I know she'll appreciate the work and effort, even if she never wears it.

Oh, the sleeve does sit straight, I just accidentally bunched it up for the photograph.

Finished daisy cardigan

Knitted in parma violet DK alpaca merino from The Natural Dye Studio- unfortunately, it's not destined to live in our house. Instead, it's going on a long journey across the sea where it will be worn by another very lucky (and very warm) little girl. Isn't it beautiful? I just love the way that the stripes have balanced themselves out perfectly (which they have- I'm just absolutely crap at tying bows so it's not sitting straight on the coathanger. Given how random space-dyed yarn can be, I love, love, love, love, LOVE how the pattern has come out.

I have noticed the absence of daisies: I tried, and tried, but embroidery is just not one of my strong points. I can handle this , I really can. It's still a beautiful cardigan.

Demeter

I figure every good spinning wheel needs a name: and honestly, what better name for a wheel who lives in such a household as ours? She was rescued from a skip by the secretary of our local spinners guild, and came to live with me yesterday. Isn't she beautiful?

I have been knitting this week, honest. I have a cardigan for a trade that is blocking downstairs, and half a pair of the most beautifully masculine longies on the needles ready for Holiday Helpers. Pictures will follow- oh, and the neckband on Samus is finished. I just have to complete the applied i-cord round the arms, and then wash and block it.

Yarn pron!

I won an ebay auction for 500g of very cheap BFL aran, and it arrived yesterday (Saturday.) I love this stuff, I really do- I've been petting it and stroking it. And, of course, tipping large quantities of vinegar and dye over it to see what happens!


The end result is a kettle-dyed blue/green yarn, destined to be a pair of longies for the MDC holiday helper appeal. It's kind of sad to think that for the cost of these 200g, I wouldn't be able to get even one ball of Rowan or Jaeger or something like that.
The best thing? I checked on ebay tonight, and there's another 500g listed. This could get expensive.

The Skye at night

I love Bonfire night. I love the anarchy of it's history, I love the colours, the smells, the excitement, the opportunity to stay up late. I love it all.
This weekend, we've had lots of fireworks, and lots of bangs and oohs and ahs. Skye's new hat was finished on Friday night, just in time for me to make her wear it everywhere over the weekend (and I did. Oh yes, I truly did.) It's amazing- 27 people have told me how gorgeous it is over the last two days, and 26 of them told me how gorgeous my daughter was- NOBODY mistook her for a boy. Both the girl and the hat are very adorable though.
The socks are well underway- the short row heel is turned, the stripes jog less than Jordan in the run-up to a marathon, and they still feel fantastically soft. Back to Samus.

Knitting ADD

This is a very new and exciting experience for me, but I'm enjoying it. We went out to John Lewis at Cribbs Causeway today and I got some pretty new yarn to make Skye a winter hat. It's Soho, the replacement for Debbie Bliss maya and feels gorgeous- there was some lovely DK alpaca silk as well, but I resisted (desisted?) Samus is nearly there- one sleeve in, one sleeve on the needles, and I got a badful of goodies- leather and suede scraps and some gorgeous florals- from the local scrap store. Some of this will be a pointy kitty, some a pincushion, and the rest- who knows?
I've been working on a sock for Skye as well, striping pink RYC baby soft with the leftover fuschia alpaca from her cardigan. The sock is beautiful to feel, but ugly beyond belief to look at- the stripes are here, there and everywhere and the short-row heel looks more like fishnet stockings.So it will be frogged, and reknitted.

Avebury

The boys have been a little, erm, hyper recently, so we took them out for a nice long Sunday ramble yesterday- at least, that was the plan. Instead, they dragged me up a steep, muddy and grassy bank, and down a steep, muddy grassy bank until I fell in a panting, breathless heap at the front wheel of the buggy and begged for mercy. Pretty much a typical day, then.
The banks were surrounding the largest stone circle, Avebury which is as breathtakingly beautiful and spiritual as I remember it. It's still one of my favourite places, and there's a beech grove just inside the circle where the boys could have stayed for hours, just sitting, under the trees, enjoying the crisp autumn day. Truly magickal.

And in knitting news, Samus is going well and now has one arm. Pictures will follow, eventually.

Dum de dum, dum de dum

As you know, Doctor Who is a BIG deal in my house. Having formerly been married to an obsessive fan, I have two small boys with an avid interest in the programme and a recreational hobby for the grownups is taking the michael out of it.
So, on the wettest morning of half term, we packed the children (and my mother) on a train to Cardiff- a whole different country- to go and look at Daleks. And it was absolutely fantastic. The boys loved the exhibition, daleks, cybermen and all, and the grownups loved Cardiff bay. And Skye, bless her, just sat and watched the world go by with big blue eyes.
If you're ever in Cardiff bay, I heartily recommend a little place called Kemi's (which is in the craft at the bay centre) for lunch. We had paninis, which were huge, or soup- tomato and butterbean- which was spicy, hearty, filling, and probably the best thing I've eaten all year. Absolute bliss, and a truly fantastic day out.

And so the end comes... with candy.

Well, my sock wars socks came today- or to be precise, they came on Tuesday. And I love them. They're soft and comfortable, and bless her, came with a packet of candy for the boys and some stitch markers. Absolutely fantastic.
I've actually really enjoyed doing this, and am totally up for another one, should I ever get the chance.

A couple of FO's

So, first of all I managed to prise the knitting needles out of Skye's grubby little firsts and finish the socks. No kidding, I know now why Yarn Monkey calls them socks of doom. I love the colourway, regardless of what anybody else thinks. And THEN I whipped up a little hat for myself (a chunky lace cap, apparently) from a pattern someone linked to on MDC many years ago) out of the magic ball of yarn, trimmed with a little of my handspun.
And then I discovered that the faeries have eaten all of my stitchmarkers, and I need them for my next project.
BTW, my mothers birthday was Thursday, and Samus was not finished. It is her Xmas present instead, but this means that I'm short of knitting time for the next few days, seeing as I have to knit something else (less secret) instead.

An enemy in the ranks...

Well, sock wars socks mark 2 are here- and I have to say, I love this yarn. It's german, Schoeller and Statt (sorry for the spelling, the ball band is downstairs and I'm not) in very warm autumnal colours.
What I don't love is the honking great big mess that my adorable (hah) daughter made when she decided to pull the needles out of sock 2 and then crawl around the living room eating it. Bah, humbugs. It's taken me three days of perfectly good knitting time trying to get gauge on this blasted thing (its original knitter was a bit random with her gauge) and then this happens.
I really need a sulk smiley on here. Oh, and my socks are currently somewhere over the Atlantic- though where, I couldn't tell you. I reckon they'll be here by the end of the week.

The magic ball of yarn turned into...

a very pretty midnight garden peacock type of thing. I love it. It took a LOT of work (and some very purple cuticles) but the colours are exactly what I was hoping for- maybe slightly darker than I'd planned, but dark is always good. It's going to be a hat, and a cuff for a matching pair of mittens. Bonfire night is coming up, and that means that I need something to protect my hands from the sparklers. Hee, hee, I can't wait.
I hadn't realised, but autumn comes earlier to the west side of the country. I was looking for some interesting berries to dye some roving with, and almost everything has blown over already- there's only haws, hips and crab apples left, and a very few sloes. It feels very very autumnal today too- windy and blowy.

Magic ball of yarn

Isn't it bonny? I wish I could spin like this- it may be thick and thin, but it's thick and thin with consistent wpi along the length (I checked) and really rather nice to touch and to play with.
It's a present from the Magic Ball of Yarn swop (wrap goodies inside the yarn, as you knit, presents fall out) on MDC from laprettygurl, aka Pauline, who spun it herself. I've used all of my Christmas present opening skills to remove everything possible from it- and eventually reskeined it, to find that the only thing I missed was three stitchmarkers. I NEED a ballwinder so badly.
The body of Samus is finished, and I'm on to the arms. I don't know if I'm going to finish on time, though- it may have to be an Xmas pressie.

Steady does it

Samus is going slowly. Very slowly. It's the acres of stockingette that are dragging on me, plus the fact that now my daughter is mobile, I can no longer go to the park, sit her in the buggy and get a couple of hours knitting time in whilst my boys play. That, plus the fact that there's 160 stitches in a row, and I knit more slowly on circulars: I don't know when I got into the habit of tucking my needle under my armpit, but I notice when I can't do it.
Life continues on here. My father-in-law is conscious now, but terribly confused and in a certain amount of pain- and the blood tests are still not showing better results, so we have no idea what to expect any more. The waiting is pretty hard on Steve- if you're reading, please keep us in your prayers.
We took the kids to Cotswold Wildlife Park last weekend, which was very very cool in a kitsch and camp kind of way. Imagine, if you will, a traditional English stately home, with impeccably kept front lawn. Then, if you will, imagine half a dozen zebra and a few rhino roaming around on the front lawn. Incongruous? You could say that. Despite that- and the weather- we had a wonderful time. Skye now has an infatuation with monkeys and penguins, Isaac was crying over the otters calling to their keepers, and we all got very very wet.
Other than that, it's a very quiet week. Oh- one other thing. My victim in Sock Wars is organising a knit-in the weekend after next. So check out her blog- lots of cool ideas for charity knitting- and if you're in the area, go along. That way, I won't feel so guilty about having sent her socks in the mail.

It's the middle of the night

and I just finished the socks for Sock Wars.

So here they are. It's been a busy day (dad ain't so good) and now I'm off to bed.

Two amazing things happened whilst I last posted.

More or less simultaneously, my FIL sat up in bed and started eating (or at least, opened his eyes and ate with help. He's talking too) and yarnmonkey sent me the sock wars pattern, two days before I'd expected it. For some reason I was convinced it started on Monday, aka today.
As you can see, I have finished a sock- and I'm loving the colourway. This is not a recent picture, but that's all I'm giving away. The goal is to have both of them on the way to Colorado by the end of today.
Oh- and for the record, I didn't swatch, but gauge is spot on.

On cabling, knitting and life and death

The bottom band of Samus is almost finished.
For some reason, I'm actually really uncomfortable working on this now. It's intended as a gift for my mother's birthday (19 October) but I'm working on it with the phone permanently next to me, waiting on news of my father in law. Dad is in hospital with suspected septicaemia, malnutrition, pneumonia, probable liver failure and an awful lot more besides. Because nobody knows exactly what's wrong with him, apart from the very nasty varicose ulcers on both legs, they have no idea where to start treatment, so they're trying to address the symptoms. And because we don't know what's wrong with him, nobody knows what the prognosis actually is.
And in the midst of this, I'm working cables, woven in and out of another like a tightly knitted family. Somehow, I don't know how, it doesn't seem respectful: it feels like I should either be working on something for dad, or for the kids or myself, but not a gift for another. Does this seem weird to anyone? In a lot of ways, I'm going to be relieved when the Sock Wars pattern is posted on Monday, as it'll provide me with a distraction: well, at least for a while (n.b. must swatch.)
His 70th birthday is October the thirtieth. I have no idea whether he'll see it or not.

Assembling the arsenal

Am I ready for Sock Wars? Heck, no. My goal is to finish the first pair of socks, if possible.
I have decided not to go faffing about with socks on two circulars, or magic loop, but to stick to the technique that I know: the biggest advantage of which is that it will slow my killer down slightly if they prefer magic-looping. I'm loving the teddy-bear needle holders that came with me dpns.
And in happier news, I'm on repeat 6 of the band for Samus, and only need to do 7, not 9. So I'm very happy.

Out of the knitting funk...

and cracking away on the band at the bottom of Samus. I'm kind of cheating somewhat: I may be a bit plus-sized, but my first venture into knitting full garments for grownups is for my mother, who is literally only half the woman I am: and also, really feels the cold. So this is a hug-in-a-box for her birthday (or Christmas, depending on how long it takes.)I'm now 3.5 repeats in, and I need 9, so it's going well. I really want to have the band finished by the time Sock Wars starts on Monday though.