The Hollyhock Blog

Yes, I have knit 2 more pair of mittens, another skein of acrylic yarn used up.

Maroon mittens

I may have told this before, but I thought you might like to know the reason behind my charity mittens.   Some time in the mid-90′s, a group from my home town of Braham decided to start a knitting group.  We called ourselves the Knit Wits.   One of the founding members said she had a stash of yarn from a friend who had recently passed away.  That friend’s wish was to have her stash used for making something for children in need.  So that stash of yarn was our starting point for knitting for others.  Since then, we’ve been given yarn by many others and have made hats, mittens, scarves, blankets, lap robes, chemo hats, premie hats and more.   It seems our stash has been blessed as it never seems to run out!   So, I keep knitting mittens!

I’m starting a new alpaca felting kit  design and have started dyeing roving in the new colors needed for this design.  I decided to try acid dyeing in aluminum pans heated over water in my big roaster. 

After soaking the roving in soapy water for about a half hour, I put it in the tins over a couple inches of water in the roaster.   I added the citric acid directly to the dye, which I mixed up in a little glass jar and sucked up in a big syringe.  I squirted the dye onto the roving and squished it around with chopsticks.  I added a little more water as needed to get better coverage.   Then I cranked up the heat and let it cook!

Cooking over the roaster pan

I have an ounce each of 2 shades of what I was hoping to be a rusty red roving.  In the smaller pan I have 1 ounce of roving divided into 2 shades of green.

Since the roving is not directly in contact with the hot roaster pan, I could use higher heat.   The roving got more steamed than boiled. 

This is the result.

New colors of roving

The purple was done in a dye pot on the stove.  The 2 reds are more red than the brick color I wanted and I didn’t get solid coverage of the color.   Neither of these really matter for the felting design.  That is why I chose this project for my experimentation.  The green also has some lighter areas that didn’t get much dye, but grass and leaves can be that way!   Now I know – I need a little more liquid to get the dye to reach all the roving in the tin pans.   The citric acid in the dye makes the dye stick to where it is squirted faster than when in a big pot of water.  Good lessons to learn.

I’ve a few more colors to dye before I can felt the new design, but I’m hoping to to get it done this week!

Yeah,  I’m kinda bored with them.  At the same time, I know they will be used and appreciated by the school kids next winter.   And I’ve made so many pair, I can make them quickly and feel like I accomplished something.

Dark green

So, I have another 2 pair to add to the stash.  The smaller pair has a cord that will connect the mittens and go through the sleeves. 

I’ve been spending a lot of time freshening up my website.  Take a look:  Hollyhock Farm Alpacas.   What do you think?   My very first newsletter went out this week.  If you are not signed up, just click the link in the right side bar.   You can read the archived newsletter on the Contact Us page of the website.   These were a couple of my ‘big winter projects’!  It is good to get them done!  

I think there’s a craft show in the works for May!  More details to come.

Look what was just delivered.

Cones of yarn

Eleven cones of sport weight / DK weight yarn and 5 cones of bulky yarn.  Over 30 pounds of yarn, soft, cuddly and just begging to be dyed!

New yarn

The bulky will make great scarves and shawls.   The sport weight is great for socks or lace work.   I will use it double for hats, mittens and most anything.   The dye-pot is calling me! 

There was a flock of about 9 wild turkeys under the bird feeder the other day.  I got off a couple shots.  Good thing the camera can shoot through the windows!

Flock of turkeys

Close-up

They hung around for quite a while.  Really perturbed Vagabond.  He could see them from his pasture.   He didn’t know what to make of them.

I have managed to knit another 2 pair of mittens for charity. 

Two of blue

It seems a little a odd to be making mittens when the temperatures are rising and the snow is melting quickly.   But my knitting group will stock pile them until next winter.  They are always needed and it is something that I can do.  These pairs finished off one more skein of worsted weight acrylic yarn that was donated to our group.  I’ve learned of a couple gals from the local food shelf  who gather the donated dolls, take them home for a beauty bath and make them a new set of clothes.  I’m hoping to knit a few things for their dolls soon – not that I’m tired of mittens……   Just saying….