Faux-Knit

Tunisian knit stitch in the round.


I'm pretty impressed that it fit.



Everett sure did like it :)

... but not as much as he loves sucking on his hand.

Melted Crayons

Two people told me the colors remind me of them of crayons. That wins. FYI, I know there are plenty of you viewing this blog. You can comment - it will make you less stalkerish ;)

I'm really happy with this yarn. It might be my favorite colorway to date! I'm in love with the baby blue and the green I created.

Here is how I got my colors:
Pink - fire red and aztec orange
Orange - Pumpkin orange and bright yellow (and maybe some ecru)
Green - Kelly Green and Turquoise
Blue - Turquoise, Sky Blue, and Ecru
Purple - Navy Blue and Crimison
Grey - black, red, green, and blue

I can't get a true black. Someone help me!

This was almost a disaster. I had it all saran wrapped when I realized I didn't spritz with vinegar. I don't know how I almost forgot. I seriously say over and over in my head "don't forget to spritz, don't forget to spritz..."

Do you love it? You can buy it here.

Name my yarn!

It needs a name and better pictures before I can officially blog about it!

Rustic Rainbow

I pretty much used every color of dye I own and the BFL was wonderful to dye. (This is the colorway from the tutorial.)

Here is how I got the colors.

Red - Fire Red and Crimson
Orange - Aztec Gold, Pumpkin Orange, Ecru
Yellow - Bright Yellow, Ecru
Green - Emerald, Chartreuse, Kelly Green (and I think a little Ecru)
Blue - Sky Blue, Turquoise, Navy Blue (mostly the navy blue)
Charcoal - Black and Silver

Do you love it? You can buy it here. I dyed some matching trim that you get for FREE!

Serger in the shop...

And these are never going to get done... I NEED diapers. I put Everett in diapers that leak just so I don't have to do laundry twice a day. Ugh. I'm tired of getting peed on when he has any PUL diaper on.
Hopefully, it really will be done in 7-10 days and not cost more than the $110 total tune up (totally out of control, but I'm not giving up my 1988 Baby Lock).

In the meantime I'm tunisianing this up:
Blackberry Ridge Merino sure is soft and I'm in LOVE with these colors.

You too can dye (part 4)

You need to wake up super excited because you have a present waiting for you! You should probably also feed the babies.
Rinse, rinse, and rinse some more. Your water needs to run clear. Then, I like to wash and lanolize the wool so it smells good, soft to work with, and ready to use!


Squeeze your yarn and roll it up in towel... you know get it as dry as you can. Hang your pretty yarn to dry. If it's nice put it outside if it's not nice the shower head works.


Once it's dry you can re-skein/ball it up. Enjoy your yarn. Admire your work.

AND finally, take pretty pictures. I'll be selling this yarn here as a guest vendor for August/September.

You too can dye (part 3)

Drain your yarn.


Put saran wrap underneath your yarn. Honestly, spring for the good stuff with the cutter. I make squares and overlap them as I go around. This is the longest step for me. I hate saran wrap. I'm working on a better solution so it's not so wasteful and such a pain.



Paint!! I like to use a sponge brush and dab the paint on. It keeps it under control and you can do small sections. I realize I could use the skein as is when it comes, but it might be to bulky and as a beginner I can see me leaving white spots where I don't want them.

Spritz with vinegar. I'm using an old perfume bottle. Use a ton and get all of your work. It's also a good time to check your work and make sure you didn't miss any spots.


Saran wrap your yarn up (not too tight). Start at the last piece you put down and work to the front. KEEP IT FLAT. If you have any questionable spots where you don't think it's really sealed add an extra piece. I fold it all up and then put it on a plate. For the trim, I just throw it in some plastic grocery bags, add the dye, squish it around, spray some vinegar, and done.

Next is heat setting. I use the microwave. 2 minutes on high, 3 minutes rest, 2.5 minutes on high, 3.5 minutes rest, 2 minutes high, 5 minutes rest, 1.5 minutes high. Yarn can burn so don't walk away from it. I haven't burnt yarn yet, but I would want to claw my eyes out if I ruined it.

Go to bed.

Just let your yarn sit over night. I know you want to see what it looks like, but just think of having a present to open up in the morning! Seriously, the yarn is hot and do you want to take any chances with felting? If you do go ahead and rinse on HOT and keep making the water cooler. I'm not that brave and I like having the yarn to open up in the morning.

You too can dye yarn (part 2)

Have someone heat up leftovers and keep an eye on the babies.
Or... keep an eye on the small one and let the big one be naughty.

While dinner is being heated up. Get your dyes ready. You need vinegar, dyes, hot water, cups, and something to stir with.
Per cup (not actual "cup" but those plastic cups I use) I use less than "just a pinch" of dye, 3/4 of the cup is hot water, and 1/4 vinegar. Look around the web you can probably find better measurements. It's not perfect, but so far I haven't had any total disasters. Oh, be creative with your dyes. Ecru works great for softening your colors. I've been using jacquard. You can get them on dhramatrading.com for $3.10 when you buy 10 or more and shipping is like $11.

Right now, I haven't made the perfect amount of dye. I keep making way too much and have no place to store it and it gets wasted. When I figure it out I'll update the blog.
Go eat dinner and put the babies to sleep. You used hot water to make your dyes so they need an hour or two to cool down. Felting would be bad.

Also, you should probably wear a mask while dealing with the dyes. I've been making my dyes outside so it doesn't bother me. The great dyers probably wear masks and wear gloves. But they also can do like 12 skeins at a time and a stock of dyes. I don't think my husband would be okay with me taking up cupboard space for stock dye solutions. We have limited space.

You too can paint yarn (part 1)

First things first. I'm new to this myself. It's a learning process. This is how it works for me and I'm sure there are better ways. I'm a busy mom, but dyeing wool takes several steps that can be split up during the day.

This first step works best during naptime. So, put the babies down for a nap. If they don't nap - find something they can do for 30 minutes that doesn't require them hanging on you.



Stretch your yarn out. I make a pretty big circle so it's not too thick. I also do 8oz at a time. This step goes much quicker when you don't have a baby at your leg - that's why I suggest nap time.
Once it's all wound you are going to want to figure eight some spots. Trust me - not doing doing this will make a big mess. I usually put it in 4 spots. I hate knots and will do anything to avoid them.
See that green tub? I put a small squirt of blue dish detergent and a cup of vinegar in and fill with warm water. I fill it so that all my yarn will be submerged.
Soak your yarn. Don't forget your trim. I let this sit for a few hours.

Seriously, go about your day.

I Dyed Again

So addicting. I'm not very artistic so I definitely believe this can be done by anyone who wants to do it. The worst part is dealing with the saran wrap. It's a good mommy hobby because you can work on little bits while babies are sleeping. Also, after I heat seat my dye in the microwave I don't rinse it till morning (I paint after babies are sleep). Let me just say... if you have a hard time getting out of bed having some wool to rinse will get you right out of bed and ready for the day.

Anyways, I think it's pretty.

I can't wait to dye more. I need to stock up for the winter since I do the painting in our carport on a sheet.

I'll take pictures of all my steps next time...

tjtunraveled longies

Run Benny!

Back

Close up of Tunisian


Front


Tjtunraveled on Etsy dyed Benny some awesome yarn. I have fabric to make a matching shirt and diaper. Once everything is done there will be more pictures... (of course).

Who is reading my blog?

I have no clue, but maybe someone can give me some advice about my pattern.

My tunisian crochet pattern is written. I could take some pictures and make a video so everything is clear, but now what do I do?

I can...
a. Keep it to myself and make cute longies for my children and friends
b. Keep it to myself and sell the longies (and still make for my children and friends)
c. Sell my pattern
d. Give my pattern away for free
e. Any combination of the above

If I sell my pattern I have learn and deal with copyrights and I don't know if I really want to do that. If I give my pattern away for free - I doubt I'll ever sell any that I actually make (why buy things you can do yourself).

Do I even care about a profit? Honestly, it would just be nice to buy craft supplies. I have no idea if I want to deal with the upkeep of a store on Hyena Cart or Etsy. I don't even know how much it costs to have a store monthly. I can do a pair a week, but I don't really want the pressure of getting one done a week.

What about taxes?

The thought of ALL the work and money needed to get started is a little overwhelming.

Another concern is who will really buy my longies. I'm not going to lie - they are pretty awesome, BUT everyone is hurting for money. So, this is where I think selling the pattern might be best. However, the cloth diapering community has been very helpful, we are all on a budget, and few people know about tunisian crochet in the round. A free pattern would mean I can give back to the cloth diapering community and spread the love for tunisian.

I just wish that if I gave it away for free I could enforce others to pay it forward. I wonder if it would be possible to STRONGLY threaten/suggest a donation to miracle diapers if someone planned on selling them. The online cloth diapering community is large, but not that large. I could find the seller and call them out on some public forum.

These are just my thoughts. I know they are random, but I'm sitting her nursing Everett and I'm not going to try and organize them.

I need someone to tell me what to do.

Dyed Wool - First Attempt

Drying out.

My oops spot...

All balled up and ready to be tunisianed up.

It was quite a learning experience, but I'm eager to do it again and not make the same mistakes.

Tunisian in the round longies... perfect pattern

There is the tunisian up close. I love it.
Benny showing them off.
A little short, but what an awesome fit.

And I have 2 more skeins so I can make another pair... with matching trim.

And sometimes you get crafty presents

First, Everett is a smiley baby when he isn't crying. It's like either he is mad or happy - no in between.


Everett giving his new blanket from his Great Aunt Betty a snuggle.

Benny waiting for his chance to bounce. I didn't know that belly time was an invitation for Benny to try and sit on his brother.

You can see Brandon's knee. I'm not joking that whenever Everett is on his tummy Benny tries to sit on him! In a few months I'll let him, but for now we will stick to just letting Benny poke at Everett and give him kisses <3

Dyeing Yarn

My yarn is getting here Tuesday, but while all three boys are napping I figured instead of doing something productive I'll plan next weekend.

Before Friday: Prep yarn and write out detailed steps
Friday evening: Soak yarn in water, vinegar, and dawn dishsoap
Saturday Morning: Prepare workspace
-probably the kitchen counter... i need to lay down a tarp/garbage bags/old towels and sheets
Saturday an hour before I paint: prepare dye
-1/2 tsp dye to 3/8 cup of hot water, plus 1 tbsp vinegar... something like this
Saturday afternoon: paint and heat set my dye
-I still need to decide if I'm going to use steam or the microwave
Sunday morning: rinse my yarn and hang to dry
-I have no clue where I'm going to hang to dry. Hopefully, it will be nice out and I can put it on our porch - if not maybe the laundry room so it doesn't get in Brandon's way.

Next Project (s)...

I don't know at what point I became old and started to prefer "grandmother" hobbies, but I guess you need to start sometime. I'm not totally old. I don't like to cook or bake and I know little about gardening (however, I will someday when we have a yard). Maybe it's all out of rebellion. My mother isn't crafty at all. Actually, I feel confident in saying my mother will never make anything but food for her grandchildren. Which is fine - I know I'll forever hear "this doesn't taste like Grammy's" or "Grammy's are SOOO much better. Why can't you cook/bake like her?" It will be awesome... At least I have boys. They eat anything.

I need to get to diaper making. Pockets aren't working for Everett and the newborn diapers are too small. I have all this awesome fabric. However, my serger is going to need to be serviced. I'm totally pushing the thing into overdrive. It needs a good cleaning and the tensions to be fixed. I know I could always do turn and topstitch, but they take longer to dry.

Longies. There is always a crochet project started. I have two custom dyed yarns. One is here and the other is on the way. They are so pretty and I can't wait to tunisian them up.

I also have plain white yarn and dye on the way. Brandon is probably going to kill me. I might wait till we go home to PA to do it, but then my mother will want to kill me. There is just so much more room in PA and I can use the garage instead of our kitchen. I can't wait. There is such pretty painted yarn out there - I can only hope I can make some pretty yarn too.

So, for the record. It has taken me an hour and a half to write this blog. I've changed 3 diapers, fed Everett twice, read Benny a couple of books, and started a load of diapers. Everything just takes a couple of hours these days...

Nursing Pads

Nursing pads are a super quick and easy project. I personally HATE disposable nursing pads - that plasticy/paper feeling is gross and the price of them adds up.

I know some breastfeeding moms never need nursing pads, but I'm definitely not one of those moms. This is probably more than you would like to know, but I have super let down and am super leaky. It's nice that I don't have a supply issue, but I'm slightly over the wasted milk.

Anyways, if I were to use disposable nursing pads. I would be spending about $10 a week on pads, that $40 a month, and if I were to breastfed for a year $480. Is it worth $20 bucks in fabric for some good quality nursing pads - I'd say so! I haven't tried anything that you can buy in the store, but I hear they don't hold up at all.

I have 6 pairs floating around and since I'm washing diapers everyday it's not a big deal. They are made of zorb and bamboo fleece. They aren't itchy, they aren't too big or too small, and I don't feel like I'm being wasteful when I use a fresh clean pair.

You can find nursing pads on Etsy or Hyena Cart. The great thing about those two sites is the fact that alot of the moms making the products are open to customs. So, I higly recommend to my pregnant/ already breastfeeding/ someday parents to find someone to make you nursing pads that will fit you comfortably and made of absorbent materials!