Thin Mint and Orange Crush

I've been trying out different shawl shapes in an effort to find my favorite. I'm also trying to solidify my own pattern design idea. This is a boomerang shape before blocking. This was the first yarn I dyed using food coloring. It was more a test of my process than anything else. Only 150 grams of fingering.

The pattern is Lina by Annett Cordes, available on Ravelry. I really like this shape and I can see how it lends itself to lace stitches and edge patterns. I found the 1884 Knitted Lace Sample Book blog and am so glad I did. Great knitted edging. I will have to design a shawl that uses some of the great edging. I'm calling this one Thin Mint because the black is more of a dark chocolate.

Then, I went back to the Dotted Rays by Stephen West. Partly because I love this pattern, partly because I have pretty much memorized it (it isn't hard to memorize), and because this hand dyed yarn needed to be a Dotted Rays shawl. Those stripes needed to be this shawl.

This is the yarn I dyed because I was no longer in love with the color.  After dyeing I love this yarn. So bright and vibrant! This was the first Dotted Rays that I blocked without points along the outer edge. I haven't decided if I like this as much as the points, but I had to try it at least once. A friend of mine said it looks like the rings of Saturn.

I really like how this design blocks differently based on the yarn This one seems much deeper at the bottom of the arc than the others I've made.

I'm calling this one Orange Crush because I do sort of have a crush on it.

Experimenting with Color

After my last experiment with dyeing yarn, I decided it was time to get to work and see what colors I could come up with. I started by creating 20 tiny hanks of yarn.

Each of these is 10 grams of yarn. Yes, I weighed every single one.

Then I dyed each of them in a different color.

The second lot I dyed I played a little bit with mixing.

Here is my rainbow. From the undyed at the top to the violet at the bottom.

I labeled each with the yarn information, the date they were dyed and the color used to get that result. My method is something I'm still figuring out, so some of these may not be consistent from batch to batch. I don't think that would be a terrible thing, by any means. I like options! I'm excited to use these as a tool to dye some yarn and see how it knits up.

Poolside Tote Swap

Now that the swap is over, I can share the bag I made and the bag I received for the Poolside Tote Swap.

I will admit that I had so much trouble picking out a pattern and fabric for this project. Ultimately I designed a bag I wanted to make. I did find some inspiration with this fun line of fabrics.

Each piece of the panel was quilted separately in a motif that compliments the fabric. I shared the quilting of each piece in a previous blog post.

The bag has a row of pockets on the inside.

Perfect for holding your cell phone or other small things.

I love these long zips on the top of a tote bag. I'm a accidental bag tipper so this has saved me and my stuff more than once.

There is also a big zippered pocket on the outside for those things you need to be able to grab in a hurry.

Even with the creative block, I think this was a great project. I'm also super happy that my partner loves the bag. This was a great swap!

What did I get in the swap? I'm so glad you asked! I received this super, awesome, amazing bag with a paper-pieced masterpiece on the front. That's right. My very own message in a bottle.

That striped binding is just so awesome, too! This was a great swap and I'm so glad I joined in. What will the next one be?

Have you had any fun swaps? I'd love to hear about them.

Charity Quilting Update

Before we went on our camping trip a friend dropped off three quilts for Annapolis Quilts for Kids.

I found some time to get the quilted up.

This one is super-snuggly flannel!

Each of these quilt tops was made by other members of Annapolis Quilts for Kids. They were handed over to another member for binding.

2016 Charity Quilt Count: 21