Hello to you my friends. I hope you had a wonderful mid July weekend. (It’s hard to believe it is indeed mid July already!–WOW!) We are enjoying lots of heat and sunshine here in northern Illinois. It truly feels like summertime here. I am enjoying it even though it is super hot.
First I’d like to talk about Magnolia; it occurred to me last week that I never introduced the new addition to my Warm Heart Bears collection. She arrived about a month ago, and is a panda bear named Magnolia. I had a panda bear when I was a baby and I loved her so much. Below is a screenshot from a photo book I made that shows me with my panda (and grandpa).
When I saw that Warm Heart Bears had a panda bear (which was still available 🙂 ) I knew she had to come and join my duo. And now that I have three of Carolyn’s creations I have a collection. (I once read that 3 makes a ‘collection’. 😮 ) If you’d like can read about Claudette the giraffe and Ivy’s arrival. I love my little animal collection! These three bring a smile to my face every day. Aren’t they adorable together?… and they all get along swimmingly.
Carolyn’s packaging and goodies are so much fun to open.
Now for the socks part of this post…
A while back I got it into my head to try dyeing a skein of self striping yarn. It sounded so nice and simple–not having to weave in ends every time I changed colors. I wanted 6 stripes–each stripe being 8 rows. It involved figuring out the yardage for one row (28″) then multiplying that number times the total rows in the repeat (48 rows). Forty-eight rows times 28″ came to 112 feet or just over 37 yards.
Now I had to turn the original skein into a 37 yard loop! To make a loop this large I had to head outside. I had 4 stools arranged on the driveway at points to make a 37 yard loop and walked around and around with the yarn… ’til it was all wound into a GIANT loop. As I was doing this the yarn blew and stretched between the chairs. It was crazy. I wasn’t sure it would work, but I already had time invested in this project, so I kept on. After winding the yarn, I put figure eight ties on the gigantic skein every yard or so–lots and lots of figure eights to tie.
The dyeing involved dividing the loop into six equal sections and dyeing each one singly. When that was done I thought I was home free. Nope! This mess, and it looked like a mess, needed to be wound into a ball. I think I spent 3 hours untangling and winding, maybe it even took longer… I should have brought the stools outside again instead of draping the loop up and down over a bunch of hangers.
The end result is beautiful though, and it was fun knitting with yarn that kept changing color, but… NEVER AGAIN, ugh. I wish I took photos of the process just to show you the craziness, but I was not in a photo taking state-of-mind, sorry.
Now on to the fun… and calm part of my story. Below is one sock in progress. I used an old quilt I made my daughter as inspiration for the colors. As always (and the only way I know how to knit socks) I used Susan B. Anderson’s Blueprint (Craftsy) class, “My First Toe-Up Socks”. I love how they turned out.
For the next pair of socks I plan to knit, I purchased someone else’s hand dyed yarn. I think I deserve to let someone else do the ‘work’ this time, don’t you? We found this skein of Spun Right Round at our local yarn store, Fiddlehead Yarns. Doesn’t it look fun? It’s called “Rumble in Brighton”.
By the way, am I the only one who winds their yarn by hand into balls? I have yet to purchase a yarn swift and ball winder.
I hope you have a beautiful week! Thank you so much for visiting with me today. ❤
Cindy Rice Designs 
Well, I still have my Pandy! Rather thread bear, but loved. Probably all of that combing contributed to the look. From the early 1950’s. You were certainly a cutie. What a wonderful photo of you and your grandfather. And the one of your adjusting the tv is precious. 🙂 Hard to believe that we actually had to get up to change the channel.
I was trying to picture how you did the dyeing and then the winding and then seeing the finished product. Wow. Such lovely yarn and the finished socks. Amazing. The colors are so fun. Much better than the smart wool socks I buy at Costco every year. 🙂
Hi, Joy. Aww, you had a panda too. Carolyn, who made Magnolia also had one. Mine is long gone, I’m afraid. Having two younger sisters–well, everything got passed down and used up. The photos are fun to look at though. That television is a dinosaur, isn’t it? Oh, I feel sooo old! I wish I had taken photos of the self striping yarn process–it was so crazy and tangly–pushed my patience to the limit. At least the end result was a success. I used to wonder why people would take the time to knit socks when they can easily be purchased. My girls (dolls) have been wondering that currently. The poor things would love something new to wear, perhaps soon. I hope you’re having a nice morning, Joy. Thanks for writing. ❤
It was a nice , but hot mid July weekend here Cindy! We had softball Saturday and Sunday so were scrambling for shade! I am glad you are enjoying the sunshine. Nice to meet you Magnolia. She looks great alongside Claudette and Ivy. That is a nice collection of photos of you as a little girl Cindy with your Grandpa. You have such a commitment to knitting that you persevered in getting the yarn just right so you could finalize those lovely striped socks , they look so comfy ! And yes you deserve a break , I am glad you found that yarn at your local store . Have a lovely week going forward, best wishes, Terri xo.
Hi, Terri. Today it is finally cooler and cloudy. I think I will finally be able to get out for a mid day walk without burning up. Now you know I am quite a bit older than you–that television gives my age away. Actually my grandparents were getting the new model soon, but still… I love that the striped socks worked out after so much work. Wouldn’t that have been terrible if they hadn’t? I hope your week is proving to be a beautiful one, Terri. ❤ Thanks for writing.
I hope you were able to get your mid day walk in in comfort Cindy! There might be a few years difference, we still had a black and white set for a number of years when I was growing up. Every time you wear the striped socks you will know the effort that went into them. The week is going well here, Have a nice day, Terri xo.
Yes, I was able to get my walk in–even though it was cloudy and cooler, still very warm (sweaty!). The socks are for my daughter; she loves them. I’m trying to knit her a whole sock wardrobe. It’s getting HOT HOT HOT here. You too? Have a beautiful summer day, Terri.
Oh gosh it’s cloudy and very humid here today Cindy!! Sweaty too. Your daughter will always treasure those socks!
Pingback: From the Past Month | Cindy Rice Designs
That panda is so adorable, I just love it’s little face. I wrap my yarn by hand too. I can’t knit but I use yarn for a lot of my little fuzzy critters I like to make. I have always loved toys so now I made yarn critters. I would leave a link to a photo of one of my teddy bears but I have heard that is taboo in blogging and I don’t want to offend…so happy I found this site and another collector of adorable things.
I’d love to see your hand made teddy bears! I love them! ❤