Tuesday, March 27, 2007

The new Crock Pot.

It's actually a roaster. It's got a temperature gauge on the front you can set, like an oven. Very handy for knowing the dye is setting. (Uh, Coffeelady, that bleeding yarn you got? The cause has been identified and thrown out. Oy.) So to get the feel of it, I started off yesterday morning to dye a skein of yarn experimentally. Then I did another. Then I dyed most of the yarn left in the house, giggling with glee as yarns would come out of the pot leaving crystal-clear (well, almost) water behind and washing clear in the sink in no time.



From the left, the original experiment done with egg dye (I threw the yarn and the little pellets in and waited to see what would happen - looks like confetti), an experiment to see how dark I could get the dye to take with a teal (the answer, not that dark), and the other two are a custom order.

Then I thought, hey, this is the ideal time to fool around with the purple, and see if I can get something even with it.


On the left is some lace weight, used to see how dark the purple would get (pretty damn dark). On the right, I finally - almost - got the dye to take up evenly AND THE YARN IS ACTUALLY AN EVEN PURPLE. There are still some blue flecks and it wavers between blue-purple and red-purple, but I'm almost there.

I'll post this batch to Etsy sometime soon, probably tonight. Then I've got a double batch of Purple Trainwreck and a double batch of Easter Egg Rainbow left to do.

Then I'm out of yarn. Hm. I should do something about that.



Anyway. Over the weekend, The Baby decided maybe she's walk, after all.


Of course now she wants me to stand up with her and walk next to her all the time so that if she wobbles, I'm there to hang on to. I suppose I should think that's cute, that she wants me for security, but really it's damned annoying. I wish the little shit would just walk.

13 comments:

debsnm said...

Soon she'll be running, and you'll wonder why, oh, WHY did I want her to walk?? The purple looks loverly!!!!!

Unknown said...

I love that shirt--so perfect for a new walker. And she's off!

Anonymous said...

Out of yarn??! That can't be - I need more!! Congrats on the roaster! The purple yarn looks yummy - on my way to Etsy!

Sandy said...

btw my kid wears that same shirt...beware you spend the 1st 2 years getting her to walk and talk, you will spend the rest of your parenting years trying to get her to sit down and shut up!

Bells said...

oh you're making gorgeous stuff. Good work on the purple. You know how I longed for that shade myself!

Go Baby Go!!!

Anonymous said...

gee, if you came up with a shawl that was easy to do, I'd take some of that purple lace weight off your hands! My Nana is a purple freak. I bet she'd love a shawl.

Yay on the walking! I told you she wouldn't crawl to the wedding march, didn't I? I do know all. HE HE HE!

Trish

Sheepish Annie said...

The yarn is looking great!!! Nice work.

The baby looks like she's at the starting line. Any second now she'll just take off!!! And you'll be running to keep up.

I hear it's great cardio...

NeedleTart said...

Elder Son learned to walk by spending two weeks walking around his uncle's coffee table. We didn't have one at home. Congratulations on having a free ranger.

Rae said...

I saw the new yarns and my brain had a cacophany of "AHHHHHHSSSSS!!!!" like teenage girls swooning over some new heartthrob. I *love* *adore* *drool over* the new yarn. Don't tell DH if I buy them. He'll clobber me (not literally).

Amy Lane said...

Get used to that 'not walking' thing...when she's a teenager, you won't be able to get her to walk to the hamper to do her own darn laundry... (Irma Bombeck once did an article on 'My son's lost his feet'. I didn't think it was that funny when I was 16--now, I know what a genius she was...)

The yarn looks lovely as always...

B said...

Does the roaster work better than the crock pot?

Bells said...

how purple is that purple? Is it close to aubergine? If it is, I want it. I have a deep yearning for aubergine at the moment.

Rani said...

I'm so excited to dye some yarn w/ kids (from your article in knitty on dyeing with food colors). I have a roaster - if you get the time, could you tell me how hot I should set it? Otherwise, I'll figure it out . . . trial and error, right!? Thanks for the great article!