Rules for Feeding the Stash

Friday, May 27, 2016

Big Changes, and Yoga Shawl Yarn


If you recall, when I was at my knitting retreat last month I dyed up four skeins for a special project that I wasn't able to tell you about at the time. Well, now the cat's out of the bag-if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram you already may know this, but I started a new job on Monday as the Borrowing Supervisor for Inter-Library Loan at the university I've been a secretary at for the past three years. I'm super excited about this change, and I'm loving my new job so far. I've been trying for years to get back into library work, and it feels so good to be back doing what I love.

I used to complain about the HVAC in my office a lot-and the library is notoriously even worse, so as soon as I accepted this job I knew I was going to need a dedicated library wrap to keep at my desk for chilly days. My mind immediately went to the Yoga Shawl-I loved this pattern when it came out, but I didn't feel like it was something I'd wear a lot as an accessory. However, it's totally the kind of thing that I'll snuggle up in at my desk!

My plan was to start knitting this week, but after I wound the yarn into cakes I noticed that my hands were red. And the card table was red. And when I went to rinse my hands, I splashed my front and got red splotches on my shirt. There was a lot of dye to clean up-not surprising, given that this is such a rich and dark red, but it was really tough to clean up. I had to bleach the card table, my shirt was a total loss (it was a $1 tank top, so no biggie), and I really don't want to go through all that again to re-skein the yarn to try and set the dye more, but I also don't want to get dye everywhere while knitting. So do I cast on fearlessly, and only knit while wearing dark clothes? Or do I suck it up and re-skein the yarn and hope I can get the dye to set better? Or is there another idea that's evading me so far? 

4 comments:

  1. CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I didn't know your career path was library work - that's so awesome. :D

    I'm lazy, so I'd probably do what you did and just cast on. But if it's shedding dye that badly, I'd probably wind up regretting that move. That's a big project to be lugging around, and you're bound to accidentally dye something else in the time it takes to knit it. :( But yeah, bummer about having to reskein it.

    Gorgeous colour though, and that pattern looks like a great match.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congratulations on your job! I practically lived in the interlibrary loan office in grad school. You guys rock!

    As for the yarn, I was going to say just knit with it, but if it's staining the furniture...

    ReplyDelete
  3. congrats on the new job, that is so awesome! I find that if you soak the knit in a solution that has about half a cup of vinegar and about a quarter cup of salt (with enough water to full immerse the project) it helps set dye quite a bit.

    ReplyDelete
  4. That's so exciting about the job! It's great to be doing something you actually want. Although kind of a bummer about the yarn, hope it works out! :)

    ReplyDelete