October Knits

My writing mojo only last for a month, then .... puffff.... like smoke in the wind.
But Thank God that i havent lost my knitting spirits. This past month, I made a strawberry/tomato hat for my DD (i hate making strawberry seeds, so its a seedless strawberry or a tomato maybe), a test knit pixie hat and i am making Dreambird, pattern by Nadita Swings, a simple but complicated pattern ....
I have to make a fingerless mitt for hubby, a hat for a gift, a crocheted shawl....

So many projects in mind, not enough time and just a pair of hand .... so stop procrastinating, lets get those hands moving!!!

Test knit Pixie Hat for Mbak Citra
Using King Cole's Bamboo cotton DK, 3,5mm kneedles
Cast on 74, fit for 2-3 yo
A very easy and simple pattern, hope it will be released soon :)

tset knit ribbed pixie hat

Strawberry/Tomato Hat
It was intended for the gift, but my daughter loves it, so its her :D
Using Unknown chinese yarn, 3,5mm kneedles
Pattern using basic hat plus knitted leaves sewed on .... no pic yet sorry


Scratchy Bird
Using Kauni effektgarn 8/2 W-eq + Ice K-Angora Black
just in 4th reps

Scratchy Bird (temporary name only :P)

Dyeing preparation

Yoosh...i had already prepared the noil for dyeing. Since i dont have any yardage'o'meter, i have to wind the skein into a cake, and then rewinding the cake into a weight divided cake  :D
Confuse ? me tooo...
just see the pics below  (they say that a pic equal to a thousand words)

Here the skein .... kinda cute isnt it???like an overwight caterpillar sleeping ... :D

Silk Noil 2/20, 100grm

Here the tools i use, balance from the kitchen + my dependable royal winder on to my working table. How do i divide the weight ??? Fibonacci rules of course!!! Why fibo ?? cause i plan to make it into a round shawl or a crescent one, then the outer rows of color must have a bigger radii, so it would need longer yarn ... :D

Since the original fibo is too small, i choose to start from the third to the ninth number,multiplied by two.

Tools : Yarn winder, balance,scrap yarns

How to do it?? put the scraps yarn,  rewind the cake to the desired weight, tie the scraps... and so on

Here the divided yarn cake

Fibonacci yarn cake 

 This is the individual cake, the smallest to the biggest is from the inside-out of the cake .

The donuts 

 Next : preparing the dyes....... and let the party begin!!!

Its 2013 ... and almost over

Wow, been 2 years without blogging, i even forget ever having this blog. Since the office works no longer hectic, well have to write again.

This time, i learn to make my own knitting design and doing my own dyeing. How about yarn hunting ?of course, that's my primary reason for breathing!

(Since i kinda forget how to write, i just write the conversation inside my head, between me,myself and i :P)

Ok first thing first,
Design?
Yes, i'd like to make a stole, for myself. What kind of stole? dunno, but must be something lacy of course, must be easy to remember pattern, and must be PRETTY!!!!
And then (of course) i crawl and crawl and crawl thru ravelry's database, but none caught my fancy.....
Then what else??open Mrs. Walker's  treasuries books, first book: mmMM none... second book : hmmmm this one is cute, that one too, woow, many beautiful lace pattern here. Then i think i found something that i like. So there we go, choose the pattern for the body part, then what kind of border???? how does it look ??? well... wait and see.. :P

I hope next month the pattern will be completed, and ready to be tested, if it comes out ok, before the new year it can be released (its a rookie one i know, but as my first, cant help but feel sooo excited)

Next :  Doing my own dyeing
After long stripes yarn which now is soooo common (you can find it easily, from Ice yarn to Alize to red heart, like everybody has their brand of long stripes), I'd love to have some gradient color change yarn, you know, like the one that start with a color then slowly changing to other color (mainly only 2 primary color, with its gradual changing in between, know what i mean???). In other hand there're a yarn retailer friend who ask for help and give me a sample skein of noil silk, so i have my first victim ready at hand :D

What do i know about noil silks ???
With help from Google-fu, i found that noil silk is silk yarn that spin from short silk filament, after the long unbroken filament is extracted to make the reel silk. This noil yarn might still have some substance called sericin that responsible for its bad odor (you know like something musty and moldy). Then how to eliminate the sericin ??? using enzyim trypsine (from pork?? dank, thanks but no thanks), or you can boil it with olive soap + baking soda...well i guess thats what i'll do. Then how to dye it? silk can be dye using acid dyes, so i think food colourants in my stash will suffice. What color ???? Blue in every shade of blue that i could make (i have this shawl in my head, that called for blue colors, i might be call it "I love the blue of Indonesia") :P

Next : Yarn Hunting
This time the object of my obsession is the Autumn Wind from Lotus China, made from cotton 90% + Cashmere 10%. I hope can receive it by the end of this week. I'll tell you how it is later

Berburu Benang

Beberapa minggu terakhir ini, selain kesibukan jadi "kuli panggilan", saya juga disibukkan dengan acara "berburu benang". Ceritanya, seorang teman menikah (beberapa minggu lalu!!!) dan saya bertekat untuk memberinya hadiah sesuatu yang "Handknitted by Nk".
Warna? sudah dipilih, biru toska!.
Merajut apa???? Si Mbak Manten, setuju untuk sebuah shawl,
Pattern???suka-suka si perajut dong (saat ini saya sedang suka tipe-tipe shawlette berbentuk semi bulan sabit dengan pinggiran lace dan badan stockinnete :D)
daaaaan..... Pakai benang apa???

Pilihan pertama, Colourmart merino- silk, 75-25, 6/80Nm, warna aegean blue....

si aegean blue

Cantik sekali bukan??,


 Sudah dirajut, menggunakan pola Annis, tapi.... lah kok hasilnya kekecilan (gara-gara si perajutnya malas bikin test swatch :D), sudah begitu, benang yang cantik itu tadi kena kuku pun mbrebet (ehh bukan kena kuku, tapi kena kulit tangannya si perajut yang lagi kasar karena saking sibuknya nguli jadi tidak sempat manicure dehh, gubraxxx!!!) ....ya elahhh... Jadi tidak tega memberikannya pada si Mbak Manten .... so....

Little Annis

Pilihan kedua, order benang katun panda yang katanya lebih lembut dan lentur daripada benang katun biasa, ada warna toska, yess!!!!

Tapi begitu benangnya datang..... yahhhhh, lha kok kelebihannya cuma sebelas-duabelas kalau dibandingkan dengan benang katun biasa. Maaf, no offence buat penggemar katun panda, benang ini mungkin lebih cocok untuk rajutan selain lace, tapi kalau untuk lace benang ini kurang "stretchy" dan kurang ringan.

Here it becomes, kekecilan juga wkwkwkwkwk

Hybrid Gaia Lace Shawl 

Pilihan ketiga, kebetulan saya punya benang rayon warna aqua, a.k.a tosca muda, kali ini bikin test swatch terlebih dahulu, tapi hasilnya kurang memuaskan. Jika saya memakai jarum yang (menurut saya) pas buat pola lacenya, hasilnya malah terlalu lemas. Jika ukuran jarumnya diperkecil, pola lacenya jadi tidak keliatan. Selain itu hasil rajutan benang rayon ini tidak "squishy", empuk seperti spongebob. Masuk stash lagi deh gulungan benang ini.... maaf yaaa benang......

Pilihan keempat, benang Athena, 30%wool, 70%acrylic, light dk, 250m/100gr, cantik, empuk dan squishy...

 Tapi  ternyata, dan pas dirajut untuk swatch lacenya juga kurang pas, dan kurang tahan frogging, karena benangnya gampang "berbulu" (pilling)....







Hadduuhhhhh benang apa lagi ya .......perburuan masih terus dilanjutkan.....

Heeellllloooo World

Pindah blog lagi deh ..... !!
Its one of my hobbies, all about Knitting, lace especially.

Welcome, and enjoy :)