And then there were two.
Lizard Ridge afghan, 2 panels of 4
Noro Kureyon colorway 116
(newest panel on the right)
The scope and size of this project is near to impossible to shoot. Every time I see a lizard ridge square (or panel like mine), they just don't visually give you that, "my goodness is that huge" vibe. They're about 10.5" across, and come up to my neck from the floor. Even still, I need to figure a better way of taking these progress shots :) I tried photographing them inside, but my son *loves* these panels... runs on them, plays with the ridges between his toes, has decided he no longer needs train tracks and these will do kindly for the Thomas collection thankyouverymuch, etc... Pray for me when I have to seam this sucker together.
New panel.
(1st complete panel pics *here*)
Another reason to love the "weaving in ends while you knit" thing I just posted about? I did lay these panels side to side and the older panel, which has stranded yarn along the edge for the color changes in the rows, puckers. As lightly and as loosely as I stranded that yarn along the edge (with an eye to keep it "non-floppy"), compared to the panel where I wove in each end as I went it is puckery... so much so that when I laid them together, I thought I'd overknit the new panel since it was a few inches longer than the older panel. It will work out when I block it and seam it (I hope!), but its another reason to rejoice that I don't have to worry about weaving in ends anymore.
Second verse, same as the first.
Some have commented that I'm going quickly thru this project... to me, not quickly enough. I still have several gifts to start (at least I pretty much have all of the yarn for all of them on hand, but will show it as the projects get started), and I'm feeling a bit nervous. I would also like to be able to finish a few "personal" projects... my red herrring socks, sherwood for my kid (which I realized I was knitting incorrectly! oy... more on that later), and a new design project as well-- ergh. Need more hours in the day! :)
At least I still know how to have fun, even if I don't have the time for it...
Trees. Not just for yarn anymore.
The culprits of my stained fingers (and toes! yes, really)... Henry's Attic Superwash Merino roving, of course. I love this stuff, I love dying it. I got a little crazy with the squirt bottles but that's okay :) (Any recommendations for able-to-purchase-locally squirt bottles? Mine stunk!)
I took my colorway inspiration not from nature like some, but from books on my (dusty) shelves... (I've had this idea ever since I dyed for Dye O Rama and named my pal's colorway from "even cowgirls get the blues," the book I was reading around the time I was dyeing that yarn...)
"Ender's Dragon" colorway
From "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card. I am on the last book of the entire Ender series (finished the Shadow series, finishing the Ender series with Children of the Mind as I type). I'd read them all before (except Shadow Puppets and Shadow of the Giant, both of which weren't released when I'd read the series before.) In the first book, Ender's child army was "Dragon"-- the colors? Grey orange grey.
I was playing with mottling the grey within the orange and it didn't stand out (obviously)... only tiny bits of grey stand on their own. Seeing it dry I was tempted to call it Dune, but I have another colorway in mind for that one (I've been devouring my scifi shelf lately!) I still love it, I really love this color. Later I will dye more roving using the same colors and try to allow the grey to stand on its own, but for now I love this quite a bit.
"Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" colorway
How could I resist? :) I'm curious to see how this will spin, a good chunk is black with all of those bright colors dyed in sections. Even though I think I prefer spinning from the fold, I may try and attempt long draw next time to keep the colors together and 2-ply them for some crazy color barberpoling action.
This one turned out a little differently than expected, too... I was dyeing outide at night (yeah, uh...) and when I went over the blue section, I'm pretty sure I grabbed the black instead-- so there's more black than I anticipated, and no blue. (One blip of blue at the lower left corner-- that's it! Too bad since I think the blue is beautiful, and I'm not usually a blue fan.)
Together.
None of the colors overlap between colorways, so this was a pretty intensive dye session... but fun!! I was going to dye some matching Kona superwash dk as well (I even skeined up long hanks again for self striping), but was exausted and just shelved that for now :)
Oh, you want to braid your roving too? Pop on over to loribird's blog and check out her DIY braiding roving tutorial :)
Phew. Back to ridging...
Lizard Ridge afghan, 2 panels of 4
Noro Kureyon colorway 116
(newest panel on the right)
The scope and size of this project is near to impossible to shoot. Every time I see a lizard ridge square (or panel like mine), they just don't visually give you that, "my goodness is that huge" vibe. They're about 10.5" across, and come up to my neck from the floor. Even still, I need to figure a better way of taking these progress shots :) I tried photographing them inside, but my son *loves* these panels... runs on them, plays with the ridges between his toes, has decided he no longer needs train tracks and these will do kindly for the Thomas collection thankyouverymuch, etc... Pray for me when I have to seam this sucker together.
New panel.
(1st complete panel pics *here*)
Another reason to love the "weaving in ends while you knit" thing I just posted about? I did lay these panels side to side and the older panel, which has stranded yarn along the edge for the color changes in the rows, puckers. As lightly and as loosely as I stranded that yarn along the edge (with an eye to keep it "non-floppy"), compared to the panel where I wove in each end as I went it is puckery... so much so that when I laid them together, I thought I'd overknit the new panel since it was a few inches longer than the older panel. It will work out when I block it and seam it (I hope!), but its another reason to rejoice that I don't have to worry about weaving in ends anymore.
Second verse, same as the first.
Some have commented that I'm going quickly thru this project... to me, not quickly enough. I still have several gifts to start (at least I pretty much have all of the yarn for all of them on hand, but will show it as the projects get started), and I'm feeling a bit nervous. I would also like to be able to finish a few "personal" projects... my red herrring socks, sherwood for my kid (which I realized I was knitting incorrectly! oy... more on that later), and a new design project as well-- ergh. Need more hours in the day! :)
At least I still know how to have fun, even if I don't have the time for it...
Trees. Not just for yarn anymore.
The culprits of my stained fingers (and toes! yes, really)... Henry's Attic Superwash Merino roving, of course. I love this stuff, I love dying it. I got a little crazy with the squirt bottles but that's okay :) (Any recommendations for able-to-purchase-locally squirt bottles? Mine stunk!)
I took my colorway inspiration not from nature like some, but from books on my (dusty) shelves... (I've had this idea ever since I dyed for Dye O Rama and named my pal's colorway from "even cowgirls get the blues," the book I was reading around the time I was dyeing that yarn...)
"Ender's Dragon" colorway
From "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card. I am on the last book of the entire Ender series (finished the Shadow series, finishing the Ender series with Children of the Mind as I type). I'd read them all before (except Shadow Puppets and Shadow of the Giant, both of which weren't released when I'd read the series before.) In the first book, Ender's child army was "Dragon"-- the colors? Grey orange grey.
I was playing with mottling the grey within the orange and it didn't stand out (obviously)... only tiny bits of grey stand on their own. Seeing it dry I was tempted to call it Dune, but I have another colorway in mind for that one (I've been devouring my scifi shelf lately!) I still love it, I really love this color. Later I will dye more roving using the same colors and try to allow the grey to stand on its own, but for now I love this quite a bit.
"Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" colorway
How could I resist? :) I'm curious to see how this will spin, a good chunk is black with all of those bright colors dyed in sections. Even though I think I prefer spinning from the fold, I may try and attempt long draw next time to keep the colors together and 2-ply them for some crazy color barberpoling action.
This one turned out a little differently than expected, too... I was dyeing outide at night (yeah, uh...) and when I went over the blue section, I'm pretty sure I grabbed the black instead-- so there's more black than I anticipated, and no blue. (One blip of blue at the lower left corner-- that's it! Too bad since I think the blue is beautiful, and I'm not usually a blue fan.)
Together.
None of the colors overlap between colorways, so this was a pretty intensive dye session... but fun!! I was going to dye some matching Kona superwash dk as well (I even skeined up long hanks again for self striping), but was exausted and just shelved that for now :)
Oh, you want to braid your roving too? Pop on over to loribird's blog and check out her DIY braiding roving tutorial :)
Phew. Back to ridging...
28 comments:
Wow! the blanket is looking so beautiful! It will be one to cherish for a long time. I'm drooling over that roving and I don't even spin!
Looooooooove that roving you dyed. Love it. Definitely go barber pole-y! At least with the hitchhiker's. Are you using acid dyes? I've never tried spinning from the fold, but I might do it with some of the blended stuff I picked up last weekend.
Fabulous roving!
The blanket looks great! Unfortunately I don't have many creative photgraphy suggestions for you - perhaps cascading the pieces down the steps?
Your roving looks wonderful - I love the vibrant colors!
the lizard is coming a long beautifully! I love those colors. I can totally see Thomas and his friends on the "lizard tracks" :-)
can't wait to see all these great colors after they have been spun! wow.
Love the roving, and love O. Scott Card to pieces, too! The Ender books are some of my all time favorites. You go girl!
Your Lizard Ridge is gorgeous, and I love the rovings you dyed. I ADORE the names you used - two of my fave series ever!
Both the roving and the blanket are looking good! I expecially like the reds and purples together, yum!
That Lizard Ridge is bee-oot-ee-ful! Love your roving, too. Such vibrant colors. Can't wait to see how it spins up.
Everything looks so good! The afghan, the roving, the dye job is spectacular. And I even read the tutorial on how to braid roving even though I'm not a spinner. It almost makes me want to go out and braid roving.
Oh my.
Oh MY, oh MY, oh MY!
That roving is delish! GREAT job!
The afghan continues to look great, and it's progressing at an alarming pace. I continue to insist that you are at least three knitters.
...I think the puckering thing will clear up fine with some aggressive blocking. You may want to block that section, seam it, and then block the whole thing again - that'd do it for sure.
I just bought a batch of these bottles
http://www.aftosa.com/peb.html
They're only 2oz, but they don't leak. And cheap!!
The roving is beautiful! I love it all, but my favorite is the hitchhiker's. I can't wait until you spin it up!
Ugh - I don't envy you when it comes to seaming! but, it will be incredibly fabulous when it's done!
Nice job on the roving - the enders is my fav - love the orangey pinks and grey. The hitchhiker will make fab barberpole yarn!!!!
OMG those panels are HUMUNGOUS!!! So pretty, I can't wait till your done and I bet you can't either LOL. Looks like your having fun dying too, looks great, can't wait to see it spun up!
Seriously cool afghan! And really nice dyeing. I really like Ender's Dragon.
Your lizard ridge is looking fantastic! It will be a georgous blanket. And all of your roving - wow! A colour feast for the eyes.
Thanks for your fantastic tutorial on weaving in ends. I found it very useful.
And thanks for your kind words about my Lara...
Wow - roving pony tails on trees! Wish our trees grew roving here.
It's all your fault. I tried to resist but ended up buying the yarn for my owm Lizard Ridge. At the rate I'm going, I won't get to it for quite some time. Now if I end up dying roving or spinning any time soon, that will also be your fault and I'll never finish the 16 odd things I'm working on. You just make it all look easy/fun/beautiful/wondeful.
The mention of Thomas and his friends took me back about 8 years, I think I actually miss tripping over those things!
Lizard Ridge is looking awesome so far, I love how you are photographing it! Those braids are amazing... Makes me want to braid some too! :)
Fabulous shots of the Lizard Ridge! I think the scale of the thing is starting to come across!
The roving is glorious! I love your color names! They are favorite books in this house, one and all!
Oh, BTW, for squirt bottles I have used empty Poland Spring sport bottles, as well as the squit bottles sold in Michaels next to the Wiltons food coloring. I guess they are used for some sort of baking/icing. I wouldn't know, I'm too busy knitting to bake! :)
Love, love, love the roving!!! The colors are just stunning.
Orson Scott Card is becoming one of my new favorite authors. I finished he Alvin Maker series this past summer. Very addicting! What a great inspiration for color.
Wow, what a project. Very arty photos on the railings. It' s going to be awesome!
Hey, what beautiful trees you have in your backyard! I want one of those, hehe.
I love the ridge blanket ... and you'll finish in due time. Just keep in mind, who you're knitting it for. It'll be done soon. I picture it cascading down the steps when you finish.
what a great job and your braids toO!
I love what you're doing with the Lizard Ridge pattern. It's going to be an unforgettable gift. And thinks for tutorial showing how to knit in the ends. It's enormously useful. I'm totally addicted to knitting these squares. I will probably have enough for two blankets.
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