A Tale of Two Socks

Last post, I told you about my making list and the projects on it. Here's to my first FO from that list, the Saturday Matinee Socks!

I started these last summer and was about halfway through the first sock...so while it obviously took me a long time to get BACK to this project, once I buckled down I was able to crank them out pretty quickly. I don't consider myself a huge sock knitter, though I like all the pairs I've made so far. Mostly I have other things I want to make more! But I'm totally a convert to shortie ankle-style socks now, getting rid of the leg made such a difference in being able to finish these before I got bored.

I was still in the sock groove once I finished these, so I picked up the other pair of socks on my making list, Leyburn. Spoiler alert: They are no longer Leyburns!

I really love how the slipped stitch design on the Leyburns works with yarns like this--which, by the way, I dyed myself during a dying session with the Kangaroo Dyer once! I just could. not. stand. the Leyburn stitch pattern, and as pretty as it looks, I'm no longer interested in making things when the process is unbearable. Partly for practical reasons (if I hate making it, I'm not going to make it and it will never get finished) and partly because I'm learning more and more that I need to enjoy the act of making as much as I enjoy the having of the finished object. 

Instead of continuing with a sock I didn't enjoy making, I ripped back to the toe and did a simple, toe-up vanilla stockinette sock. The pooling is kind of meh (I wasn't interested in playing around with my gauge a whole bunch to fix that) but they're cheerful and I'm happy to have settled on a pattern I can actually finish. Hopefully I can do something fun with the leftovers, like stripe it with white in a different pair to avoid the pooling. KNIT ALL THE SOCKS!

Revisiting the Kangaroo Dyer

I am extraordinarily lucky to have contact with fantastic creative people every day, whether it's my coworkers at the store on a work day there, the myriad of knitters and designers I'm in contact with online, my pole dancing/circus family, or my friends. Getting out of my creative niche to explore someone else's is fun AND mentally refreshing! I've dyed with Gail (the Kangaroo Dyer) once before, four years ago--my one and only time dyeing until recently, when she invited me back in her studio for take two. Now I'm older, wiser (lol right)....well at the very least, I was more confident in my dyeing skills this time since it wasn't completely foreign! One of the more awe striking sights in Gail's dye studio is her large collection of orange juice containers, testament to her lifelong love affair with Vitamin C...In all seriousness, friends and students donate the containers to her so she doesn't overdo it on the OJ! Those shelves house her ready-to-go dye mixtures and the dye powders themselves are conveniently lined up behind each solution when the time comes to make a new batch.

First agenda was to dye some superwash merino worsted yarn. With the help of handy dye color cards, I picked out three colors that sparked my interest and tested them on coffee filters until deciding on the right level of saturation for each.

Then...dyeing time! I handpainted the hanks in sections and tried to blend each color into the next to avoid any harshness.

I can't wait to use my gorgeous yarn and see how it looks knit up!

Next, Gail offered something new--a chance to dye silk fabric! I have extensive summer camp tie-dye experience but that's about it. Since I decided I wanted to pleat the silk before dyeing it, this part was somewhat familiar thanks to my tie-dye days! Gail helped me fold the 2 yards of silk and then roll it up like a jelly roll. I submerged each side of the roll in a different dye color before opening up the fabric and overdying in stripes. I then scrunched up the fabric before adding the final layer to create the dimension I was looking for.

I plan to sew with it and I've got my eye on La Sylphide (the blouse version), once I have some fun money to snag the pattern with. I love it....it's like yummy chartreusey endivey goodness!

Gail's studio is so cute. Her whole house in general is overflowing with her love of color and her work--there is yarn draping over furniture, drying on her front porch if the weather is nice, scraps of silk and other dyed fabrics on her kitchen table. I couldn't help but take a few shots of of her workspace to try and share that Kangaroo Dyer essence.

My creative mojo is now working overtime!