Earth Day and Designing - a belated post

If the rains and lack of snow and flowers and buds are any indication, it must be spring time.  And let's not forget the ducks in pairs and the birds building nests and and warm weather.  Yes, it is mostly definitely Spring. Even if snow or ice should come crashing down right now at my window I would still declare it is Spring and the cold stuff can "Foxtrot Oscar", as my dad would say.

Seeing as how we celebrated Ostara/Easter while Corey and Ed were in town a few weeks ago, we didn't do much last weekend.  For Earth Day (aka Good Friday this year), Abi and I dyed pencil roving given to us by a local woman trying to get rid of it.  Abi and I experimented with the cakes. We dyed one in the form it comes in and the other I unrolled into a skein.

 Here's Abi trying to get colour into the entire cake.  We started with the microwave method of heat setting the (food colouring, as usual) dye, but it wasn't setting all  the dye. So we switched to the slower oven method to let the yarn soak for longer.  I flipped it over part way through so both top and bottom would be immersed in the oven.  The result is quite nice.  The purple absorbed fastest at the outer edges, but as the dye was slowly absorbed by the roving in the oven, the blue was set inside.

After that fairly simple dye job we tried our hand at rainbow dyeing.

 Unfortunately, the results were not nearly as dramatic as the bath. I suspect more time and dye would have helped.

Regardless, I think it will knit up nicely.

I was also working on a new shawl design to show off my first full skein of handspun yarn.  I was aiming for an Earth Day finish, but apparently I was expecting too much of myself to spin, ply, design AND knit the project in a week. So I finished it Saturday. (In part because my friend 'expected' me too. As a joke. So I proved I could.)  The second half of the spinning and plying happened on Friday... one day... yes, I'm apparently as fast at spinning (with a drop spindle) as I am at knitting.  You see, I had to spin it up quickly because I ran out of yarn half through the project that day.

The photo at the top of the posting was the first ball of singles.  Above is what I had after plying the first two balls of singles and starting the knitting. You can see all the stages of fiber, singles, two plies, and knit. And my spindle. (I want a better one...)
Alas, I had to frog the entire thing after binding off. My design was... off... I shan't speak of what a silly mistake I made.  But I did learn several things from working the design, not least of which is how GORGEOUS my first handspun yarn is!! (not including all the little skeins I played with before having the courage to spin the "special" fiber I had bought).
I'm currently testing a redux of the design on not-handspun yarn.
In the meantime, I had time to actually skein the yarn, wash it, let it rest... all things one should do before knitting it.  It's not advisable to spin, ply, then knit from the ball in the same day... unless you want to work with "energized" yarn. (I won't delve more into spinning talk here...)

Once the design is knit and tested,  I can sell it. And then I can buy a better spindle on Etsy. And some fiber.

Yes, I already have two lovely designs for sale on Ravelry. People are actually buying them too.  Ah, my first day of sales was so exciting.  Tomorrow my designs will also be featured for sale at the DKC Frolic in Toronto.  Both designs use yarn by Waterloo Wools. And I was surprised to find one of my designs featured on another blog - with a design by Jared Flood.  Technically, my design was "above" his. ;) And for the non-knitters, you should know that's illustrious company.
I'm waiting for all the people who have bought the pattern to start knitting it so I can see pictures! And for my test knitter to restart (she didn't like her first yarn) so she can share it too.

Both are dragon-inspired designs.
First came the Dragon Hatchling Shawl.

 It's a quick project (I knit it in 2 days to get it blocked and mailed on time). My sister received this one for her birthday.
And then I finished the much bigger project. The Battle-Weary Dragon Shawl.

This one is knit in a cobweb weight lace yarn. My favourite. It's Montague Yarn from Waterloo Wools - a blend of merino and silk.  When I saw this skein of Silver Fox for sale I had to get it.
I'm also donating some of the sales from the Battle-Weary to local animal rescue.

For the record, I really don't spend all my time knitting. I swear.  But there are plenty of opportunities while I'm playing with / watching Abi, nursing, long car rides when I'm not the driver, having coffee with friends (many/most of whom are also knitters), making Abi finish her meal, walking to the park with Abi (this way I can walk at her speed without going crazy!)... lol And then I discovered that spinning actually helps me drink my coffee/tea BEFORE it's cold. Spin, drop, sip, draft. Repeat.

Last Weekend

Last weekend was full of excitement. Corey and Ed came out to visit, we celebrated the beginning of spring with the Ostara Bunny leaving treats, AND it was my birthday.  I'm finally getting around to sharing some photos for you. (click to enlarge)

 Saturday we went out to St. Jacobs and after shopping at the market took a long walk in the town up to the local dam.
 There were many lovely photo opportunities on that beautiful day.

Of course, Robin as usual neglected to inform us (or at least me) of his intent to take a long walk. If I'd known I would have brought the Ergo carrier...  Instead there was a lot of this

And this

And just general trailing-behind of Abi and I

Fortunately, she could sometimes be convinced to walk more on her own with the allure of a walking stick

We saw a lot of great things. Fish in the water. Birds. "Helicopter" seeds to toss. And a couple of garter snakes playing chase and "hard to get".

The next morning the Ostara Bunny came to visit. Abi was slow to get into the hunt, but by the end she was eagerly seeking out more eggs. And she adores the purple lamb puppet.

We were having so much fun that I almost forgot it was also my birthday. My sweet daughter prepared a basket of her eggs for me and wished me a happy birthday.
Robin baked a rich chocolate cake.

We also went out for sushi for lunch.
That same day we also went to the park and took Abi roller skating (with Uncle Ed).  Once again she made me proud - picking up newspaper flyers blowing around.
 Litter offends her sense of what is proper.

 Of course, as usual, she and I were tagging along behind...

(Here we are also modelling our summer knit hats)

Dangling Bits

I made myself some pretty dangling bits.
Yes, I jumped on the pretty-stitch-markers bandwagon.
I used to be satisfied with plain white circles around my needles when I needed stitch markers. I was satisfied because that is what I inherited from my MIL and they work.
Then I wanted some colour, so I bought a small package of rainbow coloured rubber ring stitch markers at the Knitters Fair last year.  Different colours and different sizes (particularly the small one for socks) is great, but I do find the rubber markers to be a bit sticky. I wouldn't want to use more than a couple on a project.

Still, I've been admiring the pretties dangling from my friends' projects on the needles.
Thus, today for crafts I made my own pretty stitch markers.  It's been a long time since I delved into my bead collection.

 The moonstone markers are my favourites of course. I also made two more that are clip-on style to attach to a stitch rather than on the needle. They're already in use.

 I call these ones the Bees and the others are the Ocean markers. I think they'll need new homes.  The Bees can also function to count things.

 The Pretty in Pink markers used up leftover heart pieces from Abi's baby blessing votive gifts and beads from an anklet my friend made years ago that's been sitting unused. (I trust you're not offended Aileen. You're probably rather surprised I still have it.)  The purple-blue set is my second favourite and the clip-on marker features a fluorite stone. I made many of these, you know, for projects that need a lot of markers.

We also prepared a basket of yarn bits for the birds and nested it in the tree outside. Hopefully the birds will help themselves to some nest-building materials... rather than try to nest in it... I'm intending to bring it inside every evening. (Emphasis on intentions.)

There's much more yarn to refill it as necessary!

 Not these yarn bits of course. This is my special mini basket of mini (teeny-tiny) skeins from my favourite yarns.

Lest you  think I would leave you without a cute-kiddo picture after all this time, I give you "walking the animals on a cloudy day".