One sock finished, and the match on it's way! I promise to take a good, well lit picture once both socks are finished. The flash really washed out the colors this morning, but that's what you get when you take a picture at 6:30 am.
This is review week for Socktoberfest, and I already started a thread on the Flickr Group about favorite sock books, but I figured I'd offer a little yarn review on the Socks that Rock yarn I'm currently using. When I first balled up my yarn, I fell in love with the squishyness and the wonderful super-saturated colors. I've never been a fan of pastels, and almost all the socks that rock colorways have turned me on (as Vincent would say LOL-- pardon me if you don't watch Project Runway). Once I began to knit with it, the love only grew stronger, until... the second night I was working on these socks, my fingers turned blue-ish purple. Eeek! My love was definitely questioned. However, I haven't noticed any dye transfer since. I don't know if there was just something particularly sweaty about my hands that night or what, but I'll make sure and soak them well after I bind off. In fact, I love the yarn so much that I just purchased another skein of Socks that Rock in the Farmhouse colorway.
In other fiber related news, Brenda Dayne's adventures in natural dying as of late, as well as Lime n Violet's recent mention of it had me intrigued, so I decided I needed to dabble in it as well. I've had a hank of Knitpicks Dye Your Own sock yarn hanging around, and a yard full of black walnuts, so I put two and two together and decided to try dyeing with black walnuts. I found this great resource online, so I stuffed a dozen black walnuts (in their green husks) into the legs of an old pair of nylons, and then put them in a big pot with water to soak. I also added a handful of old rusty nails, as I read that iron makes the color deeper, even though black walnuts are so acidic they don't really need a mordant. Our water is a tad rusty as well, since our water softener is currently low on salt. I'm going to let them soak for a few days and then I'll boil the whole mixture, strain it, and then attempt the actual dyeing.
I leave you with a very creepy picture of a seed pod on our magnolia tree. It scares Jason and I to death-- we envision it sneaking into our house at night to attack us.
This is review week for Socktoberfest, and I already started a thread on the Flickr Group about favorite sock books, but I figured I'd offer a little yarn review on the Socks that Rock yarn I'm currently using. When I first balled up my yarn, I fell in love with the squishyness and the wonderful super-saturated colors. I've never been a fan of pastels, and almost all the socks that rock colorways have turned me on (as Vincent would say LOL-- pardon me if you don't watch Project Runway). Once I began to knit with it, the love only grew stronger, until... the second night I was working on these socks, my fingers turned blue-ish purple. Eeek! My love was definitely questioned. However, I haven't noticed any dye transfer since. I don't know if there was just something particularly sweaty about my hands that night or what, but I'll make sure and soak them well after I bind off. In fact, I love the yarn so much that I just purchased another skein of Socks that Rock in the Farmhouse colorway.
In other fiber related news, Brenda Dayne's adventures in natural dying as of late, as well as Lime n Violet's recent mention of it had me intrigued, so I decided I needed to dabble in it as well. I've had a hank of Knitpicks Dye Your Own sock yarn hanging around, and a yard full of black walnuts, so I put two and two together and decided to try dyeing with black walnuts. I found this great resource online, so I stuffed a dozen black walnuts (in their green husks) into the legs of an old pair of nylons, and then put them in a big pot with water to soak. I also added a handful of old rusty nails, as I read that iron makes the color deeper, even though black walnuts are so acidic they don't really need a mordant. Our water is a tad rusty as well, since our water softener is currently low on salt. I'm going to let them soak for a few days and then I'll boil the whole mixture, strain it, and then attempt the actual dyeing.
I leave you with a very creepy picture of a seed pod on our magnolia tree. It scares Jason and I to death-- we envision it sneaking into our house at night to attack us.
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