Monthly Archives: April 2019

Bold and Beautiful

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It’s a beautiful sunshiny morning in Houston, heading up to the upper 80s this afternoon, and grass pollen is high (still).

This next week I will be (finally) dealing with leftover cones of Phydlbitz Sock yarn.   They all have less than a full hank’s worth, ranging from one ounce to about 3.5 ounces — not enough to make a full hank, and I’ve come to dislike joining yarns to make a full hank.  Some of these I do use to make binding ties in preparation for dyeing, but (as you can see) the leftover cones do add up after a while.  I will put them up into hanks, joining as required to make 430 yard hanks.  They will have very obvious (i.e., easy-to-find) joins in them, and I will wash them, as some of them have been stored in the open.   Plus, washing them as I treat the dyed yarns, they will be fluffed up and will work as ‘white’ stripes or however you wish to use them in conjunction with dyed Phydlbitz Sock yarn.  Knowing they will have joins and will not be dyed, you will be able to have a hank for just $15.00. I hope to have these all done by next weekend.

Yesterday I dyed up the week’s regular supply of Phydlbitz Sock (75/25 Superwash Corriedale/Nylon, 430 yards each).  Because I’ve been going for softer dye jobs recently, I decided to go for bold and saturated this week on most of these.  They were all done with a dry-on-wet technique, and then ‘smooshed’ to mix and saturate the color where it landed.   They were all done as Twinsets, and the hanks are rotated so that the colors on both hanks of a set are visible.  There are some  ‘undyed’ (white) sections on some of them — these are deliberate and part of this particular dyeing technique.

I’m not disappointed in any of these, but I am particularly impressed with 360-361.   I had done a dip-dye in a pale green-aqua bath, and then applied random navy and purple on top.  🙂

Phydlbitz Sock is normally $27.00 but for Saturday and Sunday you can have preview pricing — $24.00 each.

Just send me an email with your requests.  These will be ready to ship on or before Wednesday, as soon as the entire batch is processed.  Processing includes reskeining, labeling, taking pictures, editing and posting the photos.   Those claimed during preview pricing means I don’t have to take, edit, and post presentation photos, so you get the discount for claiming early; your yarns will always be reskeined and properly presented, of course.

Still available:  359, 365, 374, 375

Already Claimed:  352, 353, 354, 355, 356, 357, 358, 360, 361, 362, 363, 364, 366, 367, 368, 369, 370, 371, 372, 373

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Loop Too Large??

Knitivity Posted on by

So, I’m working along on this blanket, worky-worky-worky, and then pause to look how far I’ve worked today.  And I see this:

Properly done, the front-facing row is:   Slip 1, Knit 18, slip the last stitch, pick up a stitch from the edge (the red edge), then pass the slipped stitch over.  That’s how you can join by picking up stitches and still keep the stitch count.   But that one stitch is OBviously not snugged down enough.

Part of me knows that once the blanket is finished, this spot won’t matter, and the other edges will even themselves out.  And you and I both know that this would easily pass the Flying Horse test — anyone flying by on a racing horse would not notice it at all.

I could either rip back to that point, or I could manipulate the slack to spread it out over the row.   I’m just going to leave it as it is for now and  just keep going.  Mostly I’m just annoyed that I lost some tension at that point causing the loop to be larger/looser than its neighbors.  And nobody likes loose neighbors, right?

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Blanket Progress – 23Apr19

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Okay, so I’ve not gotten a whole lot done in the last few days, but I did work on it today.   I can see little places I’m not happy with, but I suspect as I get further along it will all be just fine.   My biggest concern right now is that I don’t have enough of the gray ball to reach to where the gray started.   I do have plenty  more gray, but I was hoping one ball would go all the way around.  I also have plenty of red, as well as some other colors, so it’s not like I’ll run out.  I just might not be able to pursue the color scheme I had originally planned.

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Spotted Socks?

Knitivity Posted on by

Another week has gone by, and I was able to get the weekly supply of  Blog Reader Specials dyed yesterday.  Between the very strong winds blowing, and the neighbor burning stinky trash (with the smoking blowing straight from her burn barrel right onto where my yarns would have been hanging to dry), I didn’t get pictures last night.  Thankfully the skies are calm and clear this morning, and I’m actually glad for having waited until today for pictures.   The yarns  spent the night in the fan room, not outdoors at all, and went out this morning to show off their fluffy goodness.

Everything was dyed as Twinsets (two hanks in a single pouch, same dyes applied to both hanks to ensure color compatibility).  Nearly all of them were dyed the same way this time — splatter dye, wet-on-wet, with a few using the cloud-print method.   Even 344-345 were done that way, but with only one color (sky blue, in a half-strength solution).   At the end of the dye session yesterday, I only had enough dye leftover to make a ‘Dump Dye’ (348-349) and even that pair came out fairly nicely.  Sometimes the Dump Dye yarns aren’t always so nice.   Dump Dye, of course, is when I’m done for the day and don’t have enough dye worth saving for another session, and I just basically apply  all the leftover colors into the yarns.   I have rotated one of those hanks so you can see all the colors that appear on both skeins.

Any of these (except maybe 348-349) would work equally well for socks OR worked two balls together for a shawl or baby blanket.  As always, when working two balls together on a larger-than-socks project, I recommend alternating balls every couple of rows to minimize pooling and avoid the obnoxious “changed balls in the middle” appearance.

These will be ready to ship on or before Wednesday.  If you need a close-up of a particular pair this weekend (before I reskein and get individual presentation photos on Monday), let me know and I will take a shot of them for you.

To claim the ones you want, just send me an email with your numbered items.  Phydlbitz Sock is regularly $27.00, but for this Saturday and Sunday, you can have them at preview pricing — $24.30 (10% off).

Already Claimed:  328, 329, 336, 337, 338, 339, 340, 341, 342, 343, 344,  345, 346, 347

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20Stitch Progress-17Apr

Knitivity Posted on by

This is as far as I got when I put it away last night.   About halfway along the top gray edge is a small bobby pin (you can see it pointing up-and-right) that I inserted when I started yesterday.  So I managed to do several inches along that side.  I’m not thrilled with how the double corner at the right turned out, but i’m not going to go back and ‘fix’ it.  It is what it is.  I’m also not entirely thrilled with the joining method I’m using, but it still looks better than following the instructions in the pattern.

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