August 20, 2003
Barbecued Face
(Note: No posting on Friday or Monday. My "photo wrangler," K, will be away on vacation and, since having a blog with no photos bores me stupid, Mossy Cottage will be on a very temporary, very short hiatus.)
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Because I am an amazingly talented human being, I managed to sunburn the right side—and only the right side—of my face. I have a half-red forehead, one inverse raccoon eye (thanks to my sunglasses), one red cheekbone, one red jawbone, and half of a red neck (no comments). If I concentrate on the left side of my face, I feel cool, fresh, dewy, and pleasant; if I concentrate on the right side of my face, I feel hot, swollen, sweaty, and bitchy. I wouldn’t come near me today if I were you; there’s no telling what’s waiting for you behind Door Number Three. (This is all thanks to a weekend ride in the convertible with the top down. One-hour drive to the outlet mall—lovely, fresh morning sun, filtered by tall pine trees; one-hour drive home—broiling, diabolical afternoon sun, filtered by bupkus. K told me to put my SPF 30,000 on but did I? Nooooooooo.)
Knitting Knews
Rather than raining pennies from heaven, lately it has been raining free yarn.
K's neighbor arrived at her house this weekend with a small bin of unwanted yarn that she dumped in my lap (with certainly no protest from me). Some of the yarn is genyoowine beige aran yarn from Ireland, which is extra-fortuitous because I've used up all of the Henry's Attic and was waffling between not dyeing anymore or buying a whole 'nother 560-yard skein of undyed yarn. Now I have at least two more 1/2-ounce skeins of yarn to experiment with.
Below, a picture of some of my loot. I don't know what the composition of the large skein of yarn on the left is. It doesn't feel as genyoowine as the yarn on the right. Does anyone know any way to figure out if a yarn is 100% wool or not?
Wait, I lied. There is a small price to pay for this yarn. In exchange, I told K's neighbor that I would weave in all the ends in this sweater that she knit ten years ago and then threw in The Closet of No Return. (But now I see that the sweater is crying out for some silver buttons, which, knowing me, I'll pick up at my LYS this afternoon, so my free yarn is becoming less so by the minute. Humph.)
Then, at the soiree, Sheila hauled out the party favor to end all party favors, her "Bag of Balls," a huge bag of yarn that she wanted to adopt out to good homes. Despite the fact that I don't need any more yarn, I don't want any more yarn, and I have no use for any more yarn, I dove right in. Sigh.
Here, my booty, including some Lamb's Pride worsted, a lovely skein of midnight blue aran wool, some Pingouin wool, some Kitchen Cotton, and an alpaca entrelac sock kit (which I puzzled over for many hours later that evening until I had completely and thoroughly scrambled my brain. What evil genius came up with this stuff?).
Dye Garden Dyegest
For anyone who didn't see this picture on Pink Tea, here are all of my swatches and balls of dyed yarn en masse.
Top to bottom, left to right:
The two balls at the very top: marigold, and failed black walnut
First row: Failed bracken, black walnut, alder cone
Second row: Bracken, foxglove, purple plum tree leaves with lemon ammonia afterbath
Third row: Dandelion with vinegar afterbath, coreopsis with lemon ammonia afterbath, purple plum tree leaves
Next project: Wash and mordant the freebie aran yarn, and then on to hollyhock dye!
Posted by Ryan at August 20, 2003 09:08 AM