Every now and then I get an idea in my head, and it possesses me until I do something about it. These ideas can be about anything. Cleaning out the wardrobe, rearranging the CD collection, obtaining a particular item from eBay, or a whole set of books by a particular author, anything is possible.
Last week I got an idea in my head about dyeing. It had been in my head for a few days, but was brought to the forefront by the gift of Knit Picks dyeable yarn I received from Tammy.
Being the sock yarn whore that I am, I’ve been reading posts on various blogs about dyeing self striping yarn. Then I started dreaming about it. That’s when I decided that it was time to actually dye some striping sock yarn of my own. Because you know, I don’t have enough difficulty now deciding which sock yarn to knit up next!
I decided that I wanted to make yarn with graduated stripes, similar to Trekking XXL. I only had dye on hand in pink, blue and purple, and all are vivid colours. I just figured that I could use less dye for paler shades. I wanted to have three shades of one colour, striping first in a pale shade, to a mid shade to a bright shade.
First of all, I worked out roughly how long I wanted each repeat, then tried to work out how big a skein I needed. Then I wound the skein. This was a rather amusing part. Our house is tiny, and to get the length I needed involved various chairs and an obstacle course to wind the skein. I think if I ever do this again, I need to find or make a warping board.
Anyway, the skein was wound (I forgot to take pictures at that stage), and I let it soak overnight.
The dyes I use are Landscapes dyes, and the colour I used is “Galah”, a bright pink. First off, I decided the dye the whole skein the palest colour.
Landscapes recommends that for each 100g of yarn, you should use 10g of dye. So, for the whole 100g skein, I used 1g of dye, figuring I’d get a nice light shade of pink.

Maybe not! 1/10th of the recommended amount of dye, and it still came out this colour!
At this stage, I decided that getting three shades of pink would be near on impossiblethis time, and decided just to have two stripes. So I dyed half of the yarn (50g) with 5g of colour, as recommended.
I don’t know if I’m totally happy with the result.

I had hoped for a better contrast. No way was I going to get three shades of pink! So next time (if there is a next time), I think I’ll have to start with 0.1g of colour.
I had fun with the dyeing, although making huge skeins is a little tedious. For that matter, so is reskeining.
When wet, I wasn’t happy with the colours, although now that it’s dry and I’ve turned it into two wound skeins, I think it looks pretty cool.

The contrast seems to look better here, so I’m hoping I’ll get some pretty funky stripes happening.
I haven’t balled it up or started to knit with it yet, becuase I’m quite enjoying just looking at the skeins. And if I start to knit these socks, DH may get a bit stroppy, seeing as the socks i started for him back in December are still only half done.
And, speaking of DH’s socks, progress has been made.

I’ve given up on the 2 circs method, and they’re back on the trusty old DPNS!

There is light at the end of the sleeve!

The sleeves are done. One pinned, one rolling. You know what this means?
The knitting on the lacy cardi is complete. Now I just have to block the pieces, seam it up, and then learn to crochet.
Considering how much I detest crochet, this may be a drama waiting to happen. Every edge has a crochet trim.
Hmmm.
I also now have to consider what’s next. All I have on the needles is DH’s Trekking socks. I guess I have no reason to avoid them any longer.
I’ve been thinking about next year’s Easter Show, and I think I’m going to try the Shetland Shawl from A Gathering of Lace. But I’m not in the mood for cobweb lace right now.
Some of my indecision is possibly being influenced by the fact that school is out for Easter holidays this afternoon. I have just 2 hours of peace and quiet left until May 1. Definitely not the time to start complicated lace.
Twinkie decided she needed some colour.

So she rolled in the dirt.
I have been busy playing with sock yarn and dye – pictures next time. Right now, I’m off to watch some TV while I still can!

So we went to the Sydney Royal Easter Show yesterday. Be warned, it’s a big, picture heavy post ahead, without much knitting involved.
First things first.

A Highly Commended! I’m pretty happy with that – the shawl that won was gorgeous. It’s the creamy coloured one you can see a bit of. I forgot all about taking pictures of the winning shawls and the other knitting entries.As usual, some were gorgeous, some not gorgeous, but a lot of work put into them all.
Although some one had knitted an entire baked dinner, which was on display!

That ends the knitting content, unless you want to look at alpacas and sheep!
The Easter Show has been running for around 75 years (I think), and is a pretty big deal in Sydney. It runs for two weeks, and for the next two weeks, if anyone says “I went to the show”, everyone knows exactly what they are talking about. The whole thing is supposed to be about bringing the country to the city, and there are all sorts of competitions from art and craft, food, baking, produce and animals. It’s become a lot more commercialised over the years, and there is a lot of junk type stalls, and food stalls, and the prices are exorbitant.
It’s now held in Olympic Park, where some of the events from the 2000 Olympics were held. When you get off the train, one of the first things you see as you enter the park is the Olympic Cauldron, which is now a water fountain.


Animals are a huge part of the show, and you can walk through all the pavilions where the animals are kept. There are horses, cows, pigs, sheep and goats. Most of the animals on display are farm animals, apart from each day there are different breeds of dogs, cats, bunnies and caged birds for competition.
We got a bit carried away with the alpacas. They are so cute, and they make the funniest noises – entertainment plus.



These two were cute, they were having a little kiss.
There’s a farmyard nursery, where they have all the baby animals. You can see chickend hatching, and all sorts of baby animals. For many of the kids in Sydney, this is the only chance they get to get up close to pigs, ducks, goats and the like.


We saw some sheep.


Sheep. Sorry, I love wool, but the alpacas were cuter and more entertaining. 😉
For Jessie, chickens.


I love the fluffy one!
Not a farm animal, but there was a koala on display from a wildlife group.

It’s a hard life!
In the food pavilion, every year there are displays, made by different areas. Each of these displays is made of food, grains and other agricultural products.




Here’s a hint of what the crowds are like.

Traditionally, the first weekend is the quiet one. Next weekend (Easter weekend) is the busy one. Yeah, it gets busier!
There are carnival rides.


We didn’t go on any this year. Prohibitively expensive, and I’m not sure that I’m up to it anymore. Although both DH and I had a hankering for a ride on this.

The Slingshot. It’s a steel cage on a bungee cord. Two people at a time, locked into the cage and flung hundreds of feet into the air. However, it’s $30 each to go on it, so we decided not to this year. Mind you, there was a long line of people waiting for a turn.
Finally, the showbag pavilion. Years ago, the showbags were called sample bags, and were bags of samples put together by companies and given away for free. Not any more.

There are hundreds of them, and 99% of them are a ripoff. There are chocolate bags, and toy bags, and its all nothing more than rampant consumerism. And the kids go mad for them. Em got a few cheap ones, I got a Darrell Lea one. (Aussies know exactly what that is, for the international crowd, it’s chocolate. Yummy chocolate.
At the end of the day, there is some great entertainment in the main arena. Last night there was a rodeo (Australia v USA, Australia won), precision cars – I love the precision cars!, Lady Cannonball, and fireworks.
Then it’s time to go home, with aching feet and empty wallets.
And assorted junk, like lei’s, cowboy hats and cupie dolls.

Premiering the Trellis Lace Scarf!
(All pics are clickable for bigger)

I totally enjoyed knitting this scarf, and I’m really happy with the finished item.
I think it’s a great way to use a single skein of Knit Picks lace weight, or in my case, Cherry Tree Hill Possum Lace.
The pattern calls for Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud, which comes in a 440yd, 50g skein. The Possum Lace is 480yds per 50g skein, so I managed to get in 25 pattern repeats, instead of 23.
The finished scarf measures 24cm x 160cm (9.5″ x 62″).
The colour of the Possum Lace is “Moody Blues”, and was given to me by the lovely Danielle.
Here’s a close up of the stitch pattern.

I wouldn’t say the pattern is the easist lace pattern I’ve done, but it’s not really overly difficult, either. One thing that might bother some people is that the beginning and the end don’t match exactly.
The beginning.

The end.

In the beginning, there are decreases in the triangle, in the end, the decrease are in the lace pattern. It doesn’t bother me, I think you’d have to be looking pretty closely to notice.
Final Specs.
Pattern: Trellis Lace Scarf by Evelyn Clark, from Interweave Knits Spring 2006.
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Possum Lace (40% Merino/40% Possum/20% Silk), 1 x 50g skein.
It’s a pattern I’d definitely do again, and I think it’d make a lovely gift, too.

So yesterday I mentioned that I got good mail. Have I mentioned how much I love to get mail?
Around two weeks ago by pure coincidence, two separate ladies from the US each contacted me asking if I could assist them in obtaining the pattern book that the lacy cardi is from. (This one)
So, swaps were organised, and again by coincidence, both of my parcels arrived yesterday.
First, from Tammy I received this lovely parcel.

Knit Picks Wool of The Andes, ready to jump into my dyepot, some lovely stitch markers, girl scout cookies (yum!) and a lovely little scarf in gorgeous blue and black. Em hasn’t seen this yet, becuase I’m sure it will magically vanish if she does. Much the same way the girl scout cookies vanished.
And Traci sent this.

Koigu! Yummy koigu in shades of pink and brown.
What a droolworthy day! I’m sure you can see why I was happy with the mail yesterday.
The Trellis Lace Scarf is blocked. Stay tuned.