Remember that beautiful pinkish yarn I posted recently? Well, I found a project for it already. Because I only get one clue a week with the mystery shawl, I had to find another knitting project to do in between the clues. With the help of my friend Cindy, I found a wonderful lace shawl pattern to try. This is a triangular shawl named the Mohana Shawl and the designer is Monika Steinbauer. After knittng the first chart I got very confused being this was so new to me. I couldn't find anyone to ask ( none of my friends were home) so I wrote to Monika herself. She was so helpful. She couldn't believe I was taking this on as a new lace knitter. I have found that after she explained what I needed to do I was ok and the shawl is coming out just beautiful. Thank you Monika.

I found this free pattern on ravelry.com. If you haven't joined Ravelry and you love to knit or crochet please join. It is a wonderful place for patterns and to be in touch with others who love the craft. I will post another picture after I get a little more done. Anne

Check out my website at http://emeraldshandspunhandknit.weebly.com/emerald-hill-blog.html

The past couple of weeks have been so very busy here at home. I have been spending every free minute knitting. As you know from my last post I started my first lace shawl. I finished the second clue the beginning of this past week and am now on the third clue. I was finally able to get a picture of the second section(clue 2,chart C). I will post a picture each time I finish a clue. This is so much fun. Anne

Check out my website at http://emeraldshandspunhandknit.weebly.com/emerald-hill-blog.html

Finished the first shawl clue!

Wow, that was fast. When I decided to do this mystery shawl KAL, I was afraid I would get left behind because I have never done a KAL or even knit lace before. I got up early this morning and couldn't wait to get started. Starting was a little slow. I had to cast on 9 stitches and work them on 3 double pointed needles. Firs time the stitches got twisted and I had to pull them out. Second time I tried 2 circular needles but it just didn't feel right to me. Third and last time, I used 2 double pointed needles and nothing got twisted. I had to increase on the second row and by the third row I was able to add the third needle. I finished all the rows including the first chart. Now I must wait another week for the next clue.I have a funny feeling that it will take longer and longer to finish each section but I am going to try to keep up with everyone. I am posting pics of the yarn I am using which is my cormo/border leicester handspun wool, my swatches and my first section of the shawl. I will post more pics as the shawl grows. Enjoy your weekend! Anne

Check out my website at http://emeraldshandspunhandknit.weebly.com/emerald-hill-blog.html

Relief from the Heat

Finally after 4 days of 90 degree weather, it has cooled off. I certainly couldn't do much with wool during this heat wave. I did get a little spinning done in the air conditioning. I am spinning that fiber shown in the picture here at the blog. It is a romney fleece that I had dyed with red and black to see what would happen. I ended up with a dark pink and light lavender. I blended it with white and boy did it come out nice. there are more pictures at my website's blog
http://emeraldshandspunhandknit.weebly.com/emerald-hill-blog.html.
The fiber is spinning up very fine. I haven't decided what to do with it yet. I really like it so I may keep it. Here are the pics. Have a great day! Anne

Swatches are done!

Today I knit my swatches for the Mystery shawl I am going to knit starting the 14th of June. I used 3 different needle sizes to see which one I would like the best. I like the swatch done with size 7 needles the best. The 3 are now being blocked and I will take them to a friend's store and ask her opinion. Then I can buy the right sized circular needle while I am there.
This will be my first KAL (Knit-A-Long)and my first lace shawl. I am very excited about doing it. I just hope I can keep up. I am using some of my handspun cormo/border leicester yarn. I love this yarn and I knew I wanted to do something special with it. Now I am and this shawl is for me. I will add pics of the swatches after they finish being blocked and pics of the yarn I am using. Anne

Check out my website at http://emeraldshandspunhandknit.weebly.com/emerald-hill-blog.html

Dyeing Wool with Egg Color Dyes

The question of natural dyes had come up at one of the yahoo groups I belong to. I told the group that I sometimes use egg coloring dyes. This is a very safe way to dye wool especially if you are dyeing wool with your children. When I had my junior spinning group we would have dyeing days where the girls would bring their wool and I taught them how to dye. We used the egg colors and the wool came out beautiful. Today I had to custom dye some wool for a customer so I thought since all my dye stuff was already out why not do some egg color dyeing and take pictures of the process to share.

I usually use canning jars when I dye with these dyes but you can use your dye pot for larger quantities.

Step 1: Take a one gallon jug and fill it about 1/4 of the way with vinegar. Fill the remainder of the jug with water.

Step 2: Fill your canning jars about half way with this water/vinegar solution.

Step 3: Add 1 tablet of the color per 1 oz of wool to the jars. I used 4 tablets for 4 ozs of wool. (See picture 1)

Step 4: Add wet wool to the jar until it is full. Top off with the solution. (See picture 2)

Step 5: Place jars into a large pot, add water and bring to a boil. reduce heat and simmer about 20 mins. (See picture 3)

Step 6: Let the jars cool before taking out the wool Then rinse the wool in warm water to remove any left over dye.

Step 7: Place wool on a screen to dry. You will have a rainbow of color drying in the sun. (See Pictures 4 and 5)

One of the great things about this kind of dyeing is it is so easy and not messy at all. You can make different colors by ading different tablets. I dyed up some wool using 2 purple and 2 red and got a rasberry like color. I put a green, yellow, orange in a jar and got a khaki color. I used 2 yellow and a green and got a light green. There are so many combinations you can try.

You may wonder if the color will last. Well, I had made a jumper for my daughter back when I discovered all this and she wore it for a long time. The color may have faded a little but no more than any clothing you would buy in a store. I think it depends on how you clean it.

All these fibers will be availale for sale at my website below. Have a great day! Anne

Check out my website at http://emeraldshandspunhandknit.weebly.com/emerald-hill-blog.html