And, It Was All Yellow

Saffron, fiber, & water simmering 

 This weekend has been consumed with dyeing in the fiber.  I took some tips from Skeevy, a fellow Ktogger (see previous post), in dyeing with saffron.  What have I learned from this jaunt into hand dyeing  fiber?  Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world to harvest, a handcarder is a must, and my husband is employee of the month.  This picture doesn't really do justice to the beautiful yellow that the saffron produced.  I would recommend saffron for a natural dye in the future, although it isn't entirely economical to large amounts of fiber.  I ended up with a beautiful bright color that I spun and eventually plied with a natural dark shetland fiber.  It took about a day and a half before the skein was dyed, spun, plied, and washed before I finally finished.  I have decided to enter this skein in a sheep and wool competition.  I think this has opened up a whole new world for me with regards to dyeing fiber.  I like the way that it has depth and dimension in color when it is spun before the dyeing.  This fiber, on the other hand,

Finished skein drying

was actually pretty even in color.  Skeevy, the aforementioned Ktogger, has good recommendations for dying in Kool-Aid.  That is my very next project.  I feel like using natural dyes is so low maintenance that it is a no brainer.  I think Mr. Cutthroat is very happy to have this project wrapped up.  He was stressed on trying to help me wind my yarn and keep the yellow dye from penetrating everything in our kitchen.  He thinks the dyeing is done.  And, it is-until next weekend!

Girl Talk About the Knitting Too

I learned to knit a very short time ago by a small group of yarn savvy ladies at the end of 2008.  Before they took me under their wing at their Ktog meetings, I was totally clueless.  Although I am grateful they have passed on their knowledge, I feel like I should be upset that they have turned me on to a hobby that has taken over my life.  Now that I have moved, I have taken the Ktog spirit with me to my new home.  Every week, we get together to drink some wine, talk about relationships, then eventually knit.  East Coast Ktog has seen a number of breakups.  No relationship is safe under our mighty microscope.  Because of this, the men-folk are all up in arms about a ladies only group where they are often the topic of conversation.  They attempt to limit conversation with arbitrary restrictions on what we can discuss.  Mr. Cutthroat is seemingly immune to the topics of conversation because he figures everyone already knows everything anyway.  But, I always get the "What do you guys talk about?" and  "Did anyone mention me?"  from other significant others and crushes.  My lips are sealed.  Maybe fears would be quelled with a men's only party to discuss our relationships?  Actually, scratch that.  That makes me worry.

I'll Keep Yarn My Dirty Little Secret. Who Has to Know?

America seems to be totally into hoarders these days.  Every other channel has some kind of hoarding program or special.  And, I, like the rest of America, am oddly fascinated.  The best one, by far, is the Animal Planet's take on the hoarding situation with Confessions in Animal Hoarding.  I pull up my wheel to the couch and tune in.  Every other minute, I'm rewinding to do a double take.  How do you not notice the situation going on in your house when every thing you own is covered in cat urine?  I have a hard enough time trying to keep my cats out of my yarn.  If they peed on it, oh hell no.  These shows have put out the call for hoarding freaks and it has been answered 10 fold.  It's almost like a competition to see which hoarder can have the most desperate situation.  Mr. Cutthroat has accused me on an occasion or two of being a yarn hoarder.  And, that is the main reason I record them and force the recordings on him.  I want him to have a healthy sense that it could always be worse.  Watching that has made me anxious- I need to go declutter.

Don't Stop Til You Knit Enough

I am considering buying a rabbit.  Getting an angora rabbit will take this yarn business to the next level.  And, I am kind of using that as an excuse because angora rabbits are ridiculously adorable.  If I was in the country, I'd quit my job and buy a sheep.  But, being practical in the big city, I have to stick to a rabbit.  Everything I own could be made of angora.  Oh, the possibilities!  If I go this route, the animals will outnumber the humans in my household.  This is a scary prospect considering one of my cats would jump at the chance to eat my face if I took a long nap.  Rabbits seem less vicious, all except for Bunnicula. 

I've Got My Toes in the Water, Knitting in the Sand

This weekend, I took a break from Cutthroat and the world.  With family in town, we celebrated Labor Day like everyone else within driving distance to water--at the beach.  I brought knitting along, but I am always worried the sand will permanently invade my project, in this case socks, and I will forever be finding sand in my toes.  I didn't pull it out once I was parked under my umbrella.  I did get a great idea for a pattern though, sort of like a swim suit cover up, and I will be taking some time to write the pattern this week. Maybe a knitted bikini would be hot-literally and figuratively.  It would likely be see-through and it would most certainly need to be as light weight as possible.  A knitted bikini could serve a niche in the polar bear plunge community where you would need a warm suit.  And really, what's warmer than wool?  What an itchy concept for an article of clothing!  That does not sound lady part friendly.  I'll knit up one and have Mr. Cutthroat model it.  Yikes!

Let's Have Some Fun, My Husband's Sick, I'd Like A Pattern For Disco Knits

The plague!  The Cutthroat household has been having some health issues as of late.  I was deathly ill earlier this week and now Mr. Cutthroat is catching the same illness that is recycling through our central air ducts.  When I was laying on what I was convinced was my death bed, I didn't even have it in me to spin or knit.  That's the true sign of a sick knitter.  I had two days free of work that I could have easily spent making yarn, and it just went to waste.  I hope that this weekend makes a strong recovery so that the Mr. and I can have a solid Labor Day Weekend.  Ideally, I'd like to take my knitting beach-side while enjoying several cat naps and playing "who's probably peeing in the ocean" with members of my group.  If Pukey Mcsleepsitoff doesn't quickly get better, this is going to be a downer of a weekend.  Although, this may be an incident that I can extort in the future for cash and prizes. I will have to keep that in mind.

It's Like The More Roving We Come Across, The More Problems We See

Sometimes I have these projects that just wear on for what seems like decades.  Right now, I am (and have been) spinning 2 pounds of merino wool that seem to be reproducing at a rate that I cannot spin fast enough to stave off.  I can feel the downward slide coming as we start to approach the holidays as the other non-yarn aspects of my life start hitting me.  Like a shark, I need to keep moving, stay productive.  In a couple weeks, we'll be moving ourselves and the furrier members of our family into a new place.  The thought of all the tasks that come with moving is overwhelming.  But, on the upside, I have convinced Mr. Cutthroat to make the new loft space into my spinning, knitting emporium.  And, when I say convinced, I mean left my yarn all over the house until it became such an annoyance that he was forced into making the loft space all mine, kitty free.  Hopefully, this new loft will give me just the solitude I need to finish off the merino roving.  Or, maybe this venture will end up like when I played guitar in middle/high school.  I would sit in my room thinking about boys and then when I heard any authority figures headed up the stairs, I quickly strummed a note to make it sound like I was practicing.  60% of the time, it worked every time.