Dyeing Day

Hello:

Haven't posted for a few days as I frantically finished up my last few HPKCHC class projects, and got ready for the Eastside Stitchers Babies x 4 Shower.

Our Eastern-most member, Redbird1, is in town for the Babies x 4 shower.  One of the fun things we did was a yarn dying day at VanesaPolo's house.  Wajio provided a lot of the stuff and all of the knowledge.


We bought natural yarn and sock blanks from Knit Pick.

My photos of the event are a bit scattered, as I mostly photographed my own dying process, since I planed to turn in my skeins for HPKCHC classes, and you have to show how you dyed the yarn.

I do have some (rather bad) photos of what some of the group was doing:

Redbird1 ripped out some yarn for overdyeing. 

She did not like the original color.  Wireknitting actually did the dyeing, but I didn't get a photo of the finished product.

Skeinherder dyed yarn in a jar.

She got a very pretty lavender color.

VanesaPolo dyed a skein by squirting red dye made of Kool-Aid.

VanesaPolo also dyed a sock blank in rainbow colors.

I dyed one skein of yarn in a Jar:

I used blue dye on one side and red on the other.

 

My other dyeing project was a sock blank.  I basically made splotches of color.

I love how it came out:

I love my new yarn colors!

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the world with hand dyed yard.

Fiber Friday

Quick post for Fiber Friday.  Just Skeinherder and me.  She worked on a shhhh! project; I finished kitchenering my Tour de Sock Stage 4, and turned the heel on the Stage 3 first sock.  No photos, though.  When I got home, I had to do all this paperwork stuff in my office, and thus never got to the photos.  Also, I had hoped to cut out 2 project bags I need to make.  I did have time to finish up the Snake (all but the tongue), and the blanket square I was hooking for a Gryffindor Swap.  I promise photos tomorrow.

Skeinherder and I had fun at Crossroads.  I love how big our group has gotten, but sometimes it is fun to spend time with just one member.  Last Friday, Constance49 was the only other person stitching with me, and we had a great time getting to know each other better.  So, these quieter mornings are nice.  But, I do love when everyone can make it.

Next week will be full of all kinds of crazy fiber fun.  Redbird1 will be back in town for ... the Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby Shower.  We have yarn dyeing planned, stitching at Crossroads, and high tea in addition to the shower.  It will be a wonderful week.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with a good buddy.

more from the Mt. Rainier National Park

Stitch 'N' Pitch

Hello!

Tonight was the annual Mariners Stitch 'n' Pitch night.  It was a perfect night for baseball, warm and clear.  Safeco Field (where the Mariners play) is a beautiful stadium.

Our seats were in level 3 almost right behind home plate.  The game started at 7:05 (why?  I have no idea why games don't start on the hour).  Pop was my guest, and we were lucky to have WinterPromise31 ride over with us.  We got to our seats about 15 minutes before the game started.  Tara1682, VanesaPolo, Skeinherder,

Ellyol, Chatzy, and Ellyol's mom

were already in their seats.  When we sat down, our row was full of knitters (and hookers), and one grandpa who wanted to watch the game.
GwenS and some friends from her Malabrigo Junkies Group sat a few rows behind us.

Directly behind us were Schrike and ErickaRS.

Ha ha.  There was this photographer, with a giant camera taking still shots of the knitters, and of course he focused on Schrike.  I guess he thought guys don't knit.  I saw him trying to get a candid shot of Schrike and Ericka and, being me, casually leaned back to photo bomb the shot.  But, he didn't take the picture, instead, he moved to a new location, and tried again.  Ericka was making some Tunisian crochet, and people in our row kept asking questions, so she kept leaning forward to answer, and I guess blocking the great photo of Schrike, a man, knitting.  Finally the photographer asked if the "guy in the black shirt" could lean forward and hold up his "needles, or what ever you call those things," so he could get a photo.  O, boo, I had to lean out of the photo.

Although I often joke about winning prizes, I want to say that I know it is really about the knitting.  It is really about the yarn.  It is really about the friends.  It is really about the relaxation and enjoyment found in the motions.  It is really about the process and also the final product.

IT IS ABOUT THE PRIZES!

At the game, one row of seats won goody bags with gifts from the various vendors at the event.  OUR ROW WON!  I am not kidding. 

They passed out bags with yarn, needles (I got 2 Addi Turbo Sock Rockets size 1 with 32" cables), and pattern books.  O! my.  What a lovely surprise.  We figure that we won because we filled the row, and we were all (except Pop) knitting.  They kept passing down the goody bags, so Schrike got one, also, even though he was the row behind.

Eastside Stitchers Rule!

 O, yes, the Mariners won, also, 8 - 1, though that isn't as important as our Victory.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet as a winner!

My Sister-in-Law, K, visits Eastside Stitchers

Hello:

I'm still posting some of my Mt. Rainier photos.

Eastside Stitchers met at Crossroads Mall for our usual stitching night.  My sister-in-law, K, came with me for the evening.  Ha ha ha!  I made her knit, but then forgot to take a photo of her work.

Since she was with me (don't you love how I am blaming her for my failings?) I took no notes.  This will probably be a horrible post without the names of anything anyone is working on.  But at least we get to ooo and ahhh over bad photos of their WIP's.

This is a huge OOOOOOO.  ellyol brought her almost finished Hitchhiker in the beautiful Apple Blossom Colorway from Huckleberry Knits.

Hrvdmnky was working on a baby sweater.  This is her Mira Sweater (the second one - remember... twins).

GwenS was knitting a Fish.  She is making a mobile for the baby's crib.

Skeinherder was just starting a new pair of Footies.  I think these are for a swap.  Some one is going to be very lucky.

Wireknitter brought 2 beautiful shawls that she is test knitting.

Norwegian Memories,

Welsh Blanket Boomerang, both by Susan Ashcroft.

Colleen brought her pink practice sweater.

and Tara1682 brought her purple blob,

Shhhh!  can't say what she is making.

Lots of fun and laughs, as usual.

Time for bed.  See you at the Mariners Stitch and Pitch.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with a great knit/stitch group.

Mt. Rainier National Park

Hello:

I had an amazing day driving around Mt. Rainier National Park with Doc, Pop, and K.  By the way, I'm bringing K to Crossroads tomorrow night, so any Eastside Stitchers reading this, you will get to meet her, and Pop is coming to the Mariners Stitch and Pitch on Thursday.

Anyway, back to Mt. Rainier.

We drove about 2 hours to the south entrance to the national park,

then followed the road up the mountain and about half way around to the north side, where we then drove home.  We left at about 10 am and got home at about 5 pm.  We did not stop that often, and we didn't hike at all, as Pop wasn't up to it.

We saw lots of trees.

We ate lunch with friends.

We saw lots of waterfalls.

There was snow on the summit of course, as Mt. Rainier has permanent glaciers.

But, there was also snow on the side of the road and where we ate lunch.

The weather was just about perfect.

Doc drove, so I was able to work on my Tour de Sock stage 4 socks.  I am almost at the toe decreases.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet from the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous United States.

Pike Place Market

Hello:

Yesterday, my father-in-law (Pop), sister-in-law (K), Doc and I went to the Pike Place Market in Seattle.  We are having a really nice visit.  K has been here before, but never in the summer.  Pop has visited many times, but not for at least 5 years.  Our weather is cooperating beautifully in that it has been cool with a bit of cloud cover in the mornings burning off around noon with sunny but not too hot afternoons.

Yesterday was the same.  The temperature stayed in the 70's and was just lovely in Seattle.  We got to the Market around 11 am.  Wow it was crowded.

The top floor, which is street level on the west side, was absolutely packed.  This floor has the fish markets,

produce markets,

flower stands,

etc.

The next level has a book store that sells my book, Salt and Pepper at the Pike Place Market (shameless plug - but buy one, it's a really cute book - also available at Amazon), as well as the Giant Shoe Museum, one of my favorite stops in the Market.

Actually the 2nd and 3rd levels are full of all kinds of fun shops from magic to art.  We continued down then took the elevator to the waterfront level.  I have never seen that elevator actually working.  You cross the street on a sky bridge to the Pike Place Hill Climb, a pubic stair that takes you down to the street level right across from the Seattle Aquarium.  Pop was not excited at the idea of all those stairs, and as we saw someone come out of the elevator, we were happy to take it down.  But, ha!  the down button didn't work (not kidding).  So Doc ran down the stairs while we waited in the elevator.  He pushed the button to get the elevator down and so we went.  OMG, fix that elevator.  I wrote that book more than 10 years ago and the elevator was broken then.

We crossed the street to the waterfront

and walked along watching the boats on Puget Sound

until we came to Anthony's Pier 66 Restaurant where we had a great lunch.

Today, we are headed out to Mt. Rainier.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet while driving around Washington.