Sneak Peek at my latest hand dyed yarn

So without revealing the givaway yarn, which is in these pics somewhere ;-) here is my latest batch of dyeing.

I tend to dye as and when the mood hits and of course I have to have the time to do it, which is why it is often sporadic. I have to dye once the kids are in bed or occasionally at a weekend by getting my husband to take them out. It's easiest when they're in bed though because my husband helps out by washing things up as I go along so it gets done much quicker.

Sometimes I choose the colours as I'm dyeing. I often think about what colours will go well together but sometimes when I get the dyes out to start making them up something else whooshes into my head and I go down a totally different route. That yarn above for example was going to be a black and yellow combination when I first got my dyes out.

The two yarns below were dyed in the slow cooker.

The yarn above is made using a splattering technique that gives a huge random mix of colours. I really like using this technique on sock yarn but decided to give it a try on something else this time.

I experimented a little on the next one

This one was dyed at the same time as the purple one above, in the slow cooker.

Something a little brighter

Another slow cooker one

 

Giveaway! Get yer free yarn here ;-)

Ok, so I'm a couple of days late but never mind. It's been lovely and sunny this weekend. I spent Saturday browsing in the shops with my birthday money. I didn't find anything though...the only top that I think I'd have bought was sold out in my size.

Sunday was mainly spent playing in the sun. I'd got the kids some bubbles on Saturday and they played with them for ages on Sunday morning!

Later on we went to play with one of Erin's friends before going out for a meal to Red Hot World Buffet. We came home rather full (their mini desserts are rather tempting!).

Anyway, onto the Giveaway.

Ok, not very informative but I've got the undyed yarn soaking ready for dyeing later. I will be giving away one skein to a lucky winner. The colour will be a surprise for now but I might show sneak previews through the week.

All you have to do is follow my blog and leave a comment answering this simple question:

My quilted placemat was made from a pattern from which book?

You can get additional entries by posting on Twitter, Facebook and your own blog. Leave me an extra comment for each one so I know!

Competition will close next Monday evening (UK time!) and I'll announce the winner asap.

 

Mmmm Cake!

It's my birthday tomorrow and, unusually for me, I'm going out! It's not really a birthday night out but my friend was going out with her friend and has invited me and a joint friend out too.

It also means winning a prize from the Lucy 'In The Sky' blog was great timing! In the spirit of passing on the good fortune I'll start a giveaway tomorrow to celebrate. I think I can find some hand-dyed yarn that needs a home ;-)

Of course, it can't be a proper birthday without cake. I was hoping Orla would want to bake with me but despite saying yes she refused to come into the kitchen :-/ so if it tastes awful I've no littlies to blame it on!!!

The recipe I used is from this book, which was a Christmas present from my sister.

Every time I use this recipe I have a slight panic that it's gone horribly wrong. It never seems to have the usual cake mixture consistency, it's more like pastry when it goes into the cases/tin. I've never had a problem with the taste of it though ;-)

I also got to try out my butterfly cake silicon mould. I've had this one and a train one for ages now. they came from a clearance sale at Lakeland some time ago and I've just not used them. One thing that has put me off is I threw away the cardboard that was around them that told me how much mixture to make. Anyway I was brave and it seems the recipe I followed (Vanilla Cupcakes) makes pretty much the right amount!

See what I mean about the consistency????

But it seemed to turn out ok...

I'm hoping Erin might help me ice it when she gets home from school. I might use this mould and recipe for her birthday cake as the plates & party bags are butterfly themed.