Dyeing Again

I've been busy the last few days. I started a lot and didn't finish much - until today, that is. This weekend I went out to Bankhead to help Bill out with habitat plots, but I was able to do some dyeing - this time using oak leaves and curled dock. The oak leaves produced a gorgeous oaky-brown color and the dock leaves, a light sage green. The brown from the oak really does look like wood! They both turned out really great and will look good together - I think I will make a hat with them. I also collected roots from the dock plants for dyeing, but they had to soak for a few days. They are simmering on the stove as we speak - they are supposed to produce a dark brown color. I think next I am going to try to make some variagated sock yarn with these earth-toned colors. I haven't tried variagated yarn yet, and I'm not sure how to go about it, but I'm sure I'll figure something out.
This morning I finished up a few projects that had been lying around. First off, these adorable baby booties. There is a free pattern here. They are for a high-school friend who is expecting a boy in October. I used some yarn (Katia Mississippi 3) I found at the thrift store for 99 cents. And there is still enough yarn for about 5 more booties. Yea for thrift store yarn! The second thing I finished off this morning is this little top I sewed up. I found a shirt at that I really liked for $58, and decided that I could most definately make that myself, so I went directly to Hancock Fabrics and found a pattern and some fabric (that was nothing like the shirt in the store). I had troubles with the elastic at the top and had to rip it out, but I finally figured out how to do it (my way) this morning. You can sort of see my new hair cut in the picture, but I thought I'd add another one since there have been so many requests. Its really hard to take a picture of myself without making my nose look like Pinocchio, so this will have to do. The hair is cuter in real life, too.

All the Christmas yarn I ordered came last Friday. I think I have a lot of knitting to get to!

More tank tops and Christmas too

Another tank top... this one is the corded halter dress from Knit Simple spring/summer 2007. The pattern is for a dress, but I shortened it to make a top. I knit it from the top down instead of the bottom up, which was easier for me because I didn't know how long I wanted it. I basically just knit until I ran out of yarn - I used 2 skeins of Lion Brand Microspun. It is a pretty cute top and I plan to use it as a coverup at the beach, provided I ever go to the beach...

I brushed up on my crochet skills and made a couple of those cute little birdies this weekend. Adorable, no? They were super easy, even with my basic crochet skills, and I made the two of them within a couple hours. Right now they are hanging out on my windowsill waiting for more friends to join them. Very cute.

I have officially started on my Christmas knitting... I started a scarf for my aunt, I am using this pattern. So far, it looks really nice. As for other Christmas knitting, I have made my list and it is pretty extensive, but hopefully do-able! Among other things, I am going to knit Bill the sweater he has been asking for since last Christmas. I'm a little apprehensive since he is SO picky about his clothes, but he says he will wear it. He has approved the pattern and picked out the yarn - its color #9408, a reddish-brown. It was a big step for us, well, me anyway.

The transition from working all the time, to having lots of free time is going okay. I was incredibly bored this weekend, but now I am adjusting. I went to a friend's for a yummy dinner last night and tonight I think Bill & I are going to meet up for dinner (he's out at Bankhead all this week). Otherwise, I've been taking Frazier for walks, cleaning, shopping, eating, and generally lazing around. I'm trying to get motivated to start entering data. Soon, real soon, I'll get to that.

Tank Tops and Field Work

tank top
Originally uploaded by wickjill

I am finished with field work for the summer! Yeah! No more ticks, no more itching, no more thorns, no more sleeping in a sauna, no more stinky feet, no more stinky Matt, However, it also means no more days in the woods, no more life without TV and computer, no more knitting all afternoon because there isn't anything else to do, no more playing in the river, no more cooking only once a week but eating good the rest of the week (by far my favorite part of living in the field), no more listening to the coyotes as I fall asleep, no more waking up to the chuck-wills-widows. It also means time to enter data (yech), time to finish papers that are half-way done, time to start writing my thesis (scary). So I guess its a toss up. Being done has its good points and its bad points.

I finished this tank top about a week ago - the pattern is from the book One Skein by Leigh Radford. It was very quick and easy, and I used yarn I found at a thrift store. It was really weird yarn - each skein came in its own little bag and it turned out that it was actually two fingering-weight strands wound together. They weren't plied together, just wound in the skein together. Kind of peciular. But interesting.

I am actually just finishing up another top I knit - it will be a beach cover-up type thing. That is, if ever get to a beach again. Also a very fast knit. I'll show it to you soon, but I'm out to enjoy my weekend off!

Go With the Flow

Go With the Flow
Originally uploaded by wickjill

The finished pair of socks for my Sock Pal. I really liked how they turned out, but I'm afraid they will be too small. The pattern says to stretch the material as you measure because the socks stretch so much... so I did that. They fit me perfectly, but my Sock Pal has bigger feet than me. So I am thinking I might have to rip out the toes and make them a little bit longer, which I don't want to do. I feel like these took me forever to make them, mostly because I did other stuff inbetween. Anyhow, I just don't feel like re-doing them! I guess I will see how I feel in a week or so. They don't have to go out until August 2nd.

Rachel, my field assistant, is leaving at the end of July to pursue a Phd at the University of Massachussetts. She is a crocheter-turned-knitter. She knits a lot, but never makes anything for herself... so as a thank you for all of her help over the past two years, I am making her a pair of socks. They are the Cabled Footies from the book One Skein. The first one went super fast (about 3 hours of knitting) because they are made with worsted weight yarn on size 9's. I am using Paton's Classic Merino. I love how the first one turned out - they will be super warm, which will be good because she will be a southern gal in New England and I think she will be COLD in the winter! They will be great as slipper - socks.

Hello from Nevada!

A picture from our hike to Mt. Ellis on the West shore of Lake Tahoe. The picture is of the South Shore with Heavenly peak in the background.
We've been trying to enjoy all of the outdoor splendor that this area has to offer. We've done several road bike rides, one mountain bike ride (which did not go well for me, over the handlebars....on a part of the ride that was VERY easy....I'm just really bad). We've gone on one hike and been to the beach at the Lake:

The funny thing is the beach looks just like the ocean, at first. Then you look up in front of you at the mountains and the evergreens. AND THEN....you get in the freezing cold water (I prefer the term refreshing).

And finally, a pathetic knitting picture....I tried several without the kittens, but no luck. I've started the second half of the skirt, but here's the front (it's been finished for a while now, but I haven't had time to post).

Hope you both are doing well. I'm excited for your visit, Jill. Molly, you are welcome anytime. Hugs, Jamie

Swallowtail Shawl

I finished the shawl at midnight on the night before the wedding, blocked it over night and I got to wear it to the wedding! I think it looks nice and although there are a few mistakes, they aren't that noticable.... It is definately the most challenging piece that I have done so far, but it really wasn't that tough. The main lace pattern was very repetative and once I did a few repeats of it, I had it memorized. I still messed up a couple times in the beginning, but once I started using a lifeline I didn't make anymore mistakes. The lily part on the border was more challenging. Those little balls are made by purling 5 together - not easy. Thats the part I had to do in the car and by the time I was finished, my hands hurt so bad! On the outer border I skipped the last two rows so that I could finish it before the wedding. It looks fine, though. It was actually really fun to knit.

The wedding was really nice and I finally got to meet some of Bill's friends! I had a really good time. Columbus was a lot bigger than I thought it was - its a very nice town, though. The wedding wasn't until 4:30 on Saturday so we had the whole morning to relax. We walked to the North Market, an indoor food market that has been open since 1876. There was vendors selling ethnic food, pasteries, produce, flowers, crafts, homemade salsa and jellies, coffees, and teas. We bought some loose leaf tea to try and ate Vietnamese for lunch. Otherwise, we pretty much sat out in the courtyard, hung out with Bill's friends and relaxed.