He's Here!

Jackson Matthew arrived Thursday evening weighing 8 lbs. 2.6 oz., 21 inches long.



I got to see him for a few minutes right after he was born. Friday I went straight from work and got my hands on him! Doesn't he look enthralled with every word I said?



Here he is enjoying his first day home. I've got a portacrib set up and ready for him - I am so ready for this!

The Waiting Game

Justing hanging out waiting for the little one. Laura's water broke last night but no contractions yet. They went to the hospital this morning and now I just have to keep myself busy.

I really need some summer tops. If I wanted a baby doll top I'd be in business but after considerable hunting I came up with two patterns I like. Simplicity 3786 has several variations. I'm using the View B (the bottom left) in a medium weight sage green eyelet. I also like the one with the tucks and cap sleeves (upper right).



Simplicity 3790 is for stretch knits only. I'm going to make the large view in a bright teal with white inset. What I like is the inset goes from seam to seam so you can use a nice summer weight knit but have extra coverage for the front.

We had to reschedule the tie dyeing at school but finally got a chance to do it last week. The kids were great and we got some fantastic results, especially considering we used 50/50 tee shirts. I printed out the folding directions from ProChem and the electric bunching gave the best results. Unfortunately I returned them before taking any pictures. I did dye a few but they were squirt and dash as I was busy helping them.

I do have a problem though with the dye stocks that were left over. I showed the kids how to use the syringes to fill up cups and then use those to pour, squirt, etc. Naturally, kids being kids, I saw them using syringes to squirt on the presoaked fabric and then put them back in the dyestock. I know they must have touched the fabric occasionally. I have quite a bit left over. Is it all ruined?

Squeezing in a Little Time for Dyeing

We had off on Tuesday due to elections. We never used to but I think the parents of younger children aren't happy with the number of people coming in to vote while their children are there. In November we had a professional development day but Tuesday was ALL MINE! After spending a lazy morning doing a little spinning and a little knitting I decided to dye up some onesies from Dharma for "the kid" as he is affectionately known for now. After soaking in a soda ash solution I wrung them out and started to work.



Left: Using syringes I squirted bands of color diagonally.
Right: I twisted and rubber banded and then soaked both ends in dye and left it wick up for about 3 minutes.



Left: I squished the whole thing into the dye hoping for a mottled effect.
Right: This one was done with lots of twists, a more traditional tie-dye.



Left: I wanted to keep the bands intact so I put a big piece of plastic wrap over the onesie and wrapped it up like a jelly roll.
Right: I batched overnight in plastic bags. I kept it outside where the temps were in the low 80s until evening and then stuck them in the laundry room.



Ta da! I gave them to Dan and Laura last night. They loved them! Dan was laughing because Laura had bought some little sandals and he asked if she was going to dress him like a little hippie - no question about that now, is there?

The second from the left was the one that wicked. After a few minutes I realized that it wasn't going to completely wick and blend so I squirted in some blue. I think that there was less blending one these because the soda ash was already in the fabric and the dye struck quite fast. The solid blue is slightly mottled but not as much as I thought. I thought it was low immersion but because it's so tiny it sopped it right up.

Coincidentally when I was leaving school on Wednesday the advisor for the GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) asked if I was still interested in helping them tie dye, so we'll be doing that Wednesday afternoon.



Gratuitous glowing spinning picture I'm loving this Crown Mountain superwash! Each day I come home, make a decaf espresso and pull off about 2' of the thin roving. I attenuate into a soft nest and sit down to spin. What a nice way to relax.

Korean Tree Peonies Are Blooming

(Or Charleen Gets A New Camera)

It's that tiime of the year again. Time for my Korean Tree Peonies to strut their stuff!







Since I got a new camera I wasn't able to stop shooting pictures of flowers. My Christmas cactus hasn't stopped blooming, although I think it's on its last hurrah.



I bought a bunch of these Gerber daisies for container on the deck.



We finally got around to replacing the roof and soon we'll have new siding. To mark this momentous occasion I tried to get a picture of our new roof. Yikes! Once I saw my shadow I was forced to run inside.



Freaky, isn't it? Reminds me of these crazy guys I saw on my trip to Canada last summer!

Next!

The last month or so of school is always crazy. I get through it by starting lots of cool projects that I can finish up over the summer. At this point my attention span is about a nanosecond but I have to say this superwash from Crown Mountain Fibers has kept me interested. This colorway is The Beat Goes On. Love Me Tender jumped into the box on the way here! Makes you want to break out in song, doesn't it?



On Kim's advice, I've pulled off about two feet of roving and then predrafted. Doesn't it look like tropical fruit sherbet?



This is the first time I've spun superwash and it is a bit slick but after a few minutes I was able to fine tune the take up and things progressed smoothly. Did I mention that I have 23 days left?

Peacock

I finally got some time to sit down and finish spinning the Peacock (65% jet black alpaca, 25% dyed silk in royal blue and teal green, and 5% bronze angelina) from Anne's Wooly Wonka Fibers. It was so much fun to spin and the angelina adds just the right amount of sparkle. It's probably the finest yarn I've spun with the 3 ounce (85 gram) skein coming in at about 750 yards. I'll have to get the wpi when I wind it into a ball. Now, what to make with it!

Here's a close up:



On the color theory front, if you read Neki's blog you probably saw her link to the Color Harmonizer. Looks like a really interesting tool. You get to use it five times before registering and that's a very reasonable $20 through PayPal. I can't wait to play with it!

Photoshop and Color Choices

I belong to a study group which was started as a result of the Online Guild's Computer Design Workshop last January. One of the participants posted a link to Ruth Stewart's blog, Knitting on Impulse. One of the categories, Playing with Colour, explores how she uses digital imaging to inspire color choices. It seems like I'm not the only one ready to give it a try. Cara has been using this method for her mitered squares.

To try it out I took two rather nondescript images I found on my computer. While there aren't many bright colors in this photo I like it because it seemed lush, warm, and peaceful. It also reminds me that in 38 days I will be done for the summer!



I used the mosaic filter (pixelate submenu, size 45 cell) so that I could concentrate on colors and not be distracted by objects.



Then I cropped a small section so that I could isolate adjacent colors.



Richard Rosenman has freeware plug-ins for Photoshop. I used his Grid Generator and then using the eyedropper tool picked up colors that appealed to me and using the paint bucket poured the color into one grid.



Here's another example using a brighter, more colorful image.



And using the same mosaic settings.



So, you say you don't have any imagination? You don't know where to start when you want to dye roving or plan a new project? Try this method. Sure, I still like to pick up bottles of dye and go crazy, but you can't have too many tricks up your sleeve when your inspiration just isn't there.

Don't have Photoshop? The plugins work on many freeware programs like Irfanview, which I recommend to anyone looking for a good, basic image program. You can't beat the price either!