Fiber Babble: A Dicey Experience

A Dicey Experience

March 22, 2013

Anne Corely had been gone from my life for a long time, Mel Soames wasn't. "Long Time Gone" by J.A. Jance ♦♦♦♦◊

So, I know this cool dude. His name is Ray and he dyes yarn. I've purchased some of his yarn and if I didn't already think he was a-okay, the yarn would have swayed me. In addition to "just" dyeing yarn, he also does custom dyes. (Oh, yes, you need to click the link and then try not to drool on your keyboard) The colors are yum-alicious. But you know what's even more amazing? He'll do a "Truly Custom" dye for you. Scroll down on his custom dye page and see the picture of someone's furry loved one and how Ray came up with yarn to match. I've seen this picture a dozen times and I'm still totally tickled when I see it!

Now, I know what you're thinking: She's going to tell us that she got MoonPie yarn. Uh, no. Though I admit I considered it. But seriously? I have enough of the real fur floating around my house and wrapped into my knitting and crocheting as it is, thankyouverymuch.

Nope, I'm here to tell you about Dicey Knitting.

Ray has a clever thing (See? Cool and clever!) - dice with knitting instructions on them!

You roll the off-white die. Depending on what it says, you roll one of the the other color dies - green for increases, red for decreases, yellow for cables, etc.

Then you follow his very clearly written instructions and commence ta' knitting a scarf. Or something.

This is Day Four.

I'm using Patons Classic Wool (worsted weight) in 'Royale' (purple) and a US8 wooden circular needle.

What you get it really, uh,organic, I guess. If you come across a stitch combination you like, you just go ahead and do it a few times. If what you get is kinda boring, well you only need to do that for 8 rows.

I liked this one, so I repeated it.

There's a Google+ Community called Dicey Knitting. We have been attempting to roll - and knit! - one pattern a day during this month of March. You caught that word, 'attempting', right?

Many of us just rocked it for the first five days. Then life (and swaps and work and school and -alongs) got in the way. There are a few of us intrepid souls who are trying to keep up/catch up. This is day 14, which I finished on the 20th. :-)

So, I'm on Day 16 now and am just yards away from finishing the skein of yarn. I wanted to make this a long-enough-to-be-functional scarf (because I have a couple that are pretty, but pretty useless), so I'm perfectly happy with using all or most of 2 skeins of yarn on it.

This picture is after Day 14, and it's 27 or 29" long. If this is 'about' halfway, it will turn out to be the perfect length!

I am playing with fabric, too. I have been meeting deadlines left and right. There are THREE fabric-related deadlines occurring before bell practice on Monday evening. When I meet them I'll be sure to take pictures and share all the sordid (or sewdid) details with you.

Labels: knitting

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2 Comments:

At 3/22/2013 11:22 AM,

Unknown Babbled Back:

Dicey Knitting sounds cool. Maybe one day, when I get the hang of knitting, I can try dicey knitting.

Those colors on Ray's site are beautiful. I see what you mean about the custom colors too.

At 3/23/2013 11:43 AM,

Crispy Babbled Back:

Whoa, that is really cool!! Good thing I don't use pay pay or I would be ordering some of his yarn. Really Really pretty!!

Crispy