Magic...

Fearlessly I started with magic looping. For hats, like this Ganome it is a welcome techinique, since you do not have to switch to dpn. Instead, you just pull the string out between a pair of stitches somewhere in your work and voila, Magic Loop.




Socks are possibly also made by Magic Looping. I started them but alas! this is not for me. The troubles with avoiding gaps and the tension in the circular needle became to much for me. I guess it is easier with a smooth cable between the needles, but I do not have a smooth circular. So I gave that up. I considered switching to doing one sock at a time on two circulars, but then I figured I just could insert one of those (short) circulars on each sock and thus knit two socks at one time on three circular needles. Hence the spaghetti on the picture. I know what I am doing, though.


Hat: handspun (not by me) found in a thrift shop, handdyed with food colouring, Elizabeth Zimmerman Knitting Almanac: Ganome hat. needle 5.5.
Socks: Overdyed inherited sock yarn, overall anatomy of sock: Yarnissimas Firestarter, twisted stitch pattern by me, inspired by Bäuerliches Stricken, needles: 2,5

Weekend in Sweden

Sweden, Öckerö, a small island at the coast of Göteborg.
A weekend spend with a bit of very interesting work, but otherwise just relaxing with very good friends and fantastic weather.


Some people asked me what I did with the yarn. Basically I followed Knittys directions for dying wool with Kool-Aid in the microwave. Only I didn't use Kool Aid, but Dr. Oetkers food colouring. I guess, basically, that the dye in the food colouring is the same as in Kool Aid, the difference is: no taste (not necessary) and no acid (necessary). To make up for that last ingredient I added citric acid (in Denmark, you buy this at the supermarket - it's used for making home-made lemonade and other such things). About two teaspoons per bottle of food colouring - I have no idea whether it is the right amount. Actually I was a bit worried, because a lot of colour came out of the wool after I did the procedure. But enough to make a very deep rich colour was left, so I am happy.

Transformation

This fairly boring and not very expensive sock yarn that at some time was bought at the supermarket has been transformed into this:
The picture does not do it justice at all, and I cannot seem to get it to look like the yarn itself. It is deep greyish green en turkoise, and I love the way something boring can be turned into something yummy by a little work, two bottles of food colouring and citric acid. What a difference. If I can get over my sock fear, maybe they'll turn into yarnissima's firestarter.