Rhea updated

Having a lot of fun knitting this pattern and it's only written in chart form which has forced me to freshen up on my knit charts. Show me any crochet stitch chart and I am fine but knitting is a completely different animal. So far I have 9 repeats of the edging done only 32 more to go.

Meet Rhea

I couldn't help myself so at midnight last night I started a scarf
pattern I picked from Ravelry called "rhea".  It was a little
challenging at first I got to row 5 and had to rip it out twice, but
as they always say third time is the charm.  I love this merino I dyed
it is really nice to knit with and it doesn't split!

The pattern is available on Ravelry:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/rhea-3

Here is a picture of the finished scarf.  Mine will be prettier but this gives you an idea.

Tafilalet, the Morrocan Oasis

So after a very successful first run dyeing yarn, last night I made up some dyes and went to work.  I had seen this picture from a magazine and the vibrant coral red and blue really stuck with me.  Tafilalet is located in Morocco and is rated as one of the worlds largest oasis.  I was really happy with how the colors came out and I have picked a pattern from Ravelry that I am going to start knitting today.  I can't wait to see how it knits up.

Our first time dyeing yarn.

So.... after hours of research online and watching numerous YouTube videos we finally had the confidence to put dye on yarn.  We didn't really know what kind of dye to buy at first so we bought Rit Dye from our local Ralphs.  They didn't have a large selection but it was all we could get.  We ended up buying mostly powdered dye at first which I highly DO NOT recommend, if you can get liquid but it.  The one thing we noticed right away was we had only bought the darker hues of blue, red, yellow and green so getting light vibrant colors was nearly impossible.   We dyed 3 skeins of yarn, 2 natural blanks from Kraemer yarns and one light grey bulky merino wool.  I have to say actually painting the dye on the yarn was a lot of fun and very addictive.  Both Andy and I painted up a skein, I didn't like how the Kraemer came out but the bulky merino really took the color well.  We used the microwave method which I found really helps the vibrant reds adhere to the yarn.  Post comments and tell us what you think!

We finally did it!

After much deliberation and discussion we have finally decided to embark on dyeing our own yarn.  The process leading up to this has been challenging, but the rewards are far greater.  We hope that you follow us as we grown and introduce our latest fiber creations.

Welcome to Halcyon Knits, and don't worry knit happy!