Knitting Dragonflies

I have lots of handspun in small amounts, (less than 200-300 yards).  The question is; what to do with it? So I have been on a search of patterns, free if possible, from indie designers! (there are so many fellow bloggers that have wonderful patterns!) Some that have made my cue: Pattern/amount of yarn/type/blog - the Slouched Tuva Hat DK weight, ~120-130 yards (110 meter, 50 gram), from Give me a Purl; - Lace headband , 80-100 yards of leftover worsted weight wool, Blue Peninsula blog And while searching for patterns I found this great post from Simple Knits, 653 patterns to knit with 285 yards of yarn ! It is fabulous! She has found a wealth of wonderful patterns from inspiring bloggers. So I’m off to read some blogs and look at some patterns. From One Stitch after Another, her post quick texture patterns for last minute , all less than 300 yds of yarn. Take a look around on her blog, she has other posts with similar topics. Enjoy creating!

While going through my stash in my stash busting mode, I came across my first hand dyed, hand spun. Three bulky bright orange skeins of merino yarn (12 oz). It is still in there despite my many attempts to incorporate this yarn into, well, anything. I was reading Claudia’s blog; The Knitting Blog by Mr. Puffy the Dog ,  and she had an idea to make a shawl for visitors in her home. Our house is always on the chilly side, and I thought that was a excellent idea. Adding a bright wrap for visitors would be a welcome item indeed! Before dye                                       After dye post, see post here I finally decided that a big pop of color in the Baktus scarf would be pretty, whether under a coat, or over a summer top to keep the chill off, a super bright touch of orange would be perfect. I choose the Lacy Baktus version from  Strikkelise on Flickr . This was a quick and fun project. I forgot how wonderful it is to knit with hand spun yarn. Since the yarn is bulky,

Kool aid dyeing looked so fun. And me with three skeins of handspun. This is the first attempt at spinning and plying on my first wheel, a Lendrum. This was some merino that I purchased at a fiber festival. I bought about 16 oz. my plan was to use this to practice with on my first wheel.  I had no live person to teach me, but many online people , in addition to You Tube. Usually when I have a day off from work I have a long to-do list. Well I still have that list, but decided that today was going to be a fibery day!  After reading some on the internet and asking for some advice, I was off to buy some Kool Aid. I thought I wanted yellow but decided on orange. Right now, I am cooling the water, but I am anxiously waiting to see how it looks! Technorati Tags: Kool Aid Dyeing , Handspun yarn , knit , spin