Dhanavanthri

Toasting 2010 with Grapes!

With just a few weeks more of class to go, Mr Lee is teaching us some fun, easy techniques!

 

 

 

 

and a beautiful bouquet of roses!

An Xmas Bouquet

Roses again!

 

A diversion -

And this from Mr Lee!

Plume Beret

Here's the topper i crocheted with my first handpainted cotton tape..

Pattern: Phannie
Designer: Phoebe Gaughan
Available at: Berrocco
Ravelry project page: Plume Beret

A Red, Red Rose - Or a Few

Another crazy blur of activities that have left me behind...

First - yes, we did get to the roses!

Here are Mr Lee's -

And here is mine -

All those doodlings in physics class have not been in vain - this one flew of the brushes!!

Cotton Cabalism

more fun with cotton and colors!

first - this is  some cotton yarn i found at my wick supplier, it comes on reels. i skeined it and handpainted, setting it in the microwave. Dyeing cotton is definitely easier on your senses - practically no fumes.

i first soaked the hanks in warm water with a tsp of slurry and one of soda ash. For the dye stock, i mixed up 2 tsps of each color with about 2 cups of hot water, 2 tsps soda ash, and 2 tbsp salt. Squeezed most of the water out of the skeins, laid them across my drainboard [great tip from ravelry] and spooned the dye on the sections. squeezed the sections a bit to evenly distribute the dye, wrapped each separately in plastic wrap. placed in microwave safe dish. microwaved on hi for 5 minutes, thrice, with 5 mins between each zap. let sit for about 15 mins, rinsed.

the green dye was waaay more than what i needed, so i quickly soaked up some cotton tape, mixed up some blue, and painted that as well. here it is -

After rinsing out the initial color, i ran each lot separately thru one cycle in the washing machine. This washed out all the excess dye. Check out the wool i had used to tie down the hanks [YES! not tangles!] - it hasnt taken up any of the dye....

learnings for the next time -

• i could probably dye three skeins with the dye i mixed up
• have some extra yarn ready to use up excess dye if any
• remember to put on the gloves earlier
  

A Flower Garden

I returned after my second missed class to find Mr Lee demonstrating the most ethereal groupings of peonies.

Am afraid i am seriously behind :(

 these are the roses Mr Lee worked on while the rest of us were stressing over the peonies - maybe we will get to this lesson next?

and finally - the lovely spray Sunitha found on her walk. can anyone help identifying it?