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July 14, 2010

Experimentation

How often is crafting an experiment? Often you don’t know quite how a project will turn out, because it’s always a new combination of variables. If it’s something you’re knitting/crocheting, there’s always a unique combination of needle/hook, yarn, and pattern. Even if those three are constants from another project, there’s always the intangible amount of tension – how is the humidity affecting the movement of yarn through your fingers? How is the rough day at work making you knit tighter than before? Or the really good day making the yarn loose and quick around the needles? It’s always an adventure, and hopefully a fun one.

Then you get into the completely new projects, and it all becomes an experiment. My task this time, if I chose to accept it, was to turn these perfectly lovely but very purple sandals (worn for the wedding in Texas, and quite spotted by the rain we had) into perfectly lovely black sandals.

Anyone who’s had to get dyeable shoes knows they’re crazy expensive for what you’re getting - often oddly stiff, uncomfortable, one-time wear shoes. In order to beat the system I wanted to make these a bit more color friendly, so I could use them again for another wedding and possibly more regularly after that. So the next challenge – how to make them black.

Helpful fact – fabric covers all parts of these sandals but the soles. Any kind of fabric dye, or something that permanently stains fabric should work. I contemplated using Rit dye and some sort of applicator – a small brush, cotton ball, something like that. Problems? Messy, and no great way to set the dye. Next thought, at the suggestion of my mom, was shoe polish. She had some liquid shoe polish, in a bottle with a dauber-like applicator, which just might do the trick. And did it ever.

The dauber helped control the mess, although I still wish I had a glove for the hand holding the shoe. Wrapping my hand in a plastic bag just wasn’t quite as easy.

I still had to keep paper towels handy to wipe off the inner soles of the sandals, and the inside of the straps. A couple of q-tips helped get the inside of the bows, and around the fiddly bits of the straps. I can still tell where there are purple spots peeking through the black (which, pre-second coat still looks a bit on the navy side).

Overall, though, a success! Even my supervisor approves . . .


July 08, 2010

Yarn yearning

Yarn yearning – I’ve got a bad case of it. I ended up taking a bit of a break with knitting, right around the time it started getting hot. Yet now that we’ve been in the 90s for what seems like way too long, all of a sudden I just want to do nothing more than play with yarn.

Projects on the needles right now:
Rainbow socks – about 85% done. I pretty much just need to figure out how tall they need to be, do the cuff, and these puppies are done. I cannot wait to wear them.
Wrap sweater – about 25% done (I think). This is almost to the armpits, and I got stalled out. Too hot, the concept of an adult-sized sweater is still a bit daunting, and other projects distracted me.Like this finished project! Turkish bed socks (Sorry, this post is Ravelry-link heavy, and picture light). Yarn: Mini Solid from Crystal Palace Yarns in a brilliant, bright purple. Needle size: 3. Alterations to pattern: Added an extra 5 rows on the foot (so had 29 instead of 24, and in the end I think I could have added at least 3 more) to account for my big, size 11 feet.

Other than a big problem with this yarn laddering (I had problems adjusting my tension properly to avoid that), I love these and think they will come in very handy this fall. I think I’ve even got a solution to the laddering, but it needs a bit of testing – I’m going to try and weave through a contrasting color of yarn to add a bit of a stripe. We’ll see how it goes. Plus, I have quite a bit of yarn left, which I know just what to do with . . . that’ll be some future post.

Projects I want to do:
Yoda hat
Viking baby hat
Mug jacket
and one (or more) of these stoles:
Tudor stole
Autumn Arbor
Juno Regina
Tibetan Clouds

Whichever stole wins out – and each has parts that I like and other parts that I don’t – I’d like to try to mix in a bit of beading. Coming up this fall I’ll have three weddings to attend in four weeks, and I’ll be a bridesmaid in one of those. So I’m looking for something that can be a bit dressier, but can also go with a variety of dresses/outfits. Color will probably be something in the cream/oatmeal/brown range, with maybe a bit of metallic, depending on what yarn grabs my attention.

I see a happy, fibery future in store!