Thursday, April 29, 2010

It's Been Such A Long Time........



It's been such a long time since I have blogged. I can't believe how fast the time has flown by. I've noticed several things since I've been away from blog world. First and foremost, blogging challenged me to finish what I start. I miss that. Reading blogs inspired me to broaden my skills. I miss that too. So here I go with a new commitment to myself to get back on the blogging train.



I have been creating lots of different things over the past 7 months. One thing I have been occupied with is hand painting yarns. I have graduated from Kool Aid dyeing to professional dyes. What a colorful world I have been exploring. The picture above is a sample of playing with different colors of dyes. I'll tell you this, the finished yarn is not what I planned. I sure like it though.



I knitted up a swatch to see how the colors would meld together. The yarn base is a Merino 100% wool bulky weight. The feel is soft and smooth. I knew whatever pattern I chose for this yarn would have to mix up the variegation of color in the yarn.



I came across the Chickadee cowl pattern with the help of the search tools in Ravelry. The stitch pattern is pretty simple. The pattern is a linen stitch. It's perfect for variegated yarns. I love the results!



Another experiment in dyeing. I don't know how I did this one, but I adore it!
I have a lot more to share with you all in the future. Please stop back again!

10 comments:

magnoliasntea said...

Welcome back! You were surely missed in the bloggin' world.
Oh my, your handpaints are really gorgeous! I've been dabblin' a bit with Kool-Aid, too. What fun.
Love the cowl. The colors are workin'!

Grace said...

so good to see you back the yarns you have dyed are simply gorgeous!!

Renna said...

Hi, Barbara, it's great to see you again! I've also fallen off the blogging bandwagon, and am finding it so hard to get myself geared up for it again. Like you, I also find myself more committed to completing things when blogging, and truly inspired by others whose blogs I read.

I love your hand-dyed yarn. I've not yet tried it myself. My knit group had a dying session last week, and I wasn't able to attend, much to my consternation! ;-Þ

I have you in my Google Reader, so I'll be here everytime you write a new post, as yours is a particular favorite blog of mine (and you're a particular favorite blogGER of mine!). :-)

Sally said...

I'm so glad to see you back to the blogging world! Your handpaints are lovely! I've always wanted to try dying my own yarn but never had the courage. Good on you!

susan said...

I am so happy to hear from you again. Did you get the card I sent you?
I want to dye some yarn, alpaca, but not alot of info out there. Would you email me your phone # so we can talk about this.
Again, I am so pleased to see you are back. I really missed you.
xo Susan

stitching under oaks said...

welcome back...you've been quite busy creating those wonderfully dyed yarns. They are both just beautiful. I'm very impressed!

Debra said...

Hey there! Missed ya! Such a lovely post to come back to...I love that linen stitch-it's perfect for the colorful yarn. Maybe you will try dying with plants this summer? So glad to have you back!
~Debra

Susan said...

very pretty colors of yarn 1

Tracy Batchelder said...

Welcome back! It's good to hear from you again. The yarns you've been dying are gorgeous.

LeAnn said...

Gorgeous cowl. I love that stitch pattern and the colors. The pattern really showcases the colors.