what is on my stix? a progress update

beaded cami
I got off to a slow start on this one, but once I got my stitch markers in place...

and Nora cheering me on...

I am on the second repeat of the pattern on the hem

the ethics of consumerism

activism: noun
the policy or action of using vigorous campaigning to bring about political or social change

In this consumer driven society, am I a minority who is not comfortable purchasing consumer goods manufactured under unethical and unfair labour practices? I have made a commitment and a conscience effort to purchase products that are manufactured in countries that follow and respect the ILO standards.

As a shopaholic, I was very impressed to see this soccer ball at Heatons a few weeks ago..

a day to dye for...

The Eastern Group of the Irish Guild of Weavers, Spinners & Dyers held a Dying Day at Kathleen's lovely home in Co. Kildare. Holly demonstrated chemical dying techniques using and Kool Aid (scary thought... Kool Aid as a chemical dye???). In Kathleen showed us some natural dying techniques using bark and onion skins.

My enthusiasm of this new experience is chronicled in photos, as you can see from the length of this post. I was "little bit" snap happy with the camera...

Here Holly demonstrates dying some of her homespun using powered dyes:











Wow...

I assumed that mixing dyes was an exact science, however, Holly proved me wrong when she mixed in the left over dyes into the pot...



and cooked up a lovely hue of magenta...

I am amazed with what you can do with Kool Aid...

Holly started to using the grape flavoured Kool Aid to over dye some yarn...



however, the brown in the yarn over powered the purple of the Kool Aid, so she switched over to the lime...


then, into the microwave it goes...


and viola... no it is not a veggie...

Now for handpainted roving or fleece tops as it is called on this side of the pond...
Using, a medicine dropper Holly paints the dye onto the roving...watch how it absorbs the colours





wrap in "cling wrap" and steam...



hand painted roving....

Kathleen also showed us some natural dying tecniques using natural dyes...

Here Kathleen demonstrates dying with the bark of logwood







Moving on to veggie peelings...Kathleen boils up some onion skins, strains off the liquid to dye the yarn

30 minutes later...

I was overwelmed with the wealth of knowledge of Holly and Kathleen's dying experience, I begged Kate to take notes for me too...

While, the yarns were "cooking"...I took the oppportunity to take more photos...

as a certified "city slicker", I had no idea what this was....gigantic rabbit pellets, maybe???


no...peat...I'm used to going out to the local garden centre and picking up a bag of peat

willow "twigs"... just waiting to be weaved into a basket...

or


how about this awesome fence...

a part-time yarn snob??

Over time, I developed a passionate obsession for the luxury fibres, never to go back to acrylic. I always thought I was a yarn/fibre snob until I found this yarn...
I couldn't resist the earthy and warm tones of this yarn, the price point was just right for my yarn stash budget but ***gasp***, it is... 50% acrylic and not eco friendly!

I tried my hand at knitting up a baby hat...

blog of the week goes to....

I have been catching up on some magazine reading lately...
While reading the May issue of Food and Wine, I came across a short story on "What to pour on your ice cream"...

Check out Kieran's blog for some great recipe treats.

legwarmers

The Sibling sent me a photo of the Niece wearing the legwarmers I sent for her birthday. Apparently, the Niece loves wearing them with her skirts and dresses...

is it summer yet?

At one of the SnB nights, I was sitting next to Heidi and mentioned I was looking for a summer top pattern. Soon after, she sent me this link. I perused through the extensive links looking for a pattern that would call out to me, "knit me, knit me..."

It was 1:30am on a Saturday night, when I found the beaded cami. This was it...my summer cami.
The following Thursday, off I went to This is Knit with the pattern in hand. In consultation with Lisa, I choose this yarn:

The next step was to knit my swatch... After swatching and checking my gauge, I dropped to a 3.5mm size needle instead of the 4.0mm.

After many false starts and an email to Nora, the designer of the beaded cami. I finally cast on 242 stitches on circular needles.