Taming Sari Silk

I bought a skein of recycled Sari silk from the MD Sheep & Wool fest last year. Not being a big fan of novelty/fuzzy/variagated yarns I'm not sure why. Took me a long time to find a pattern I wanted to use but I finally did Aloo & Silk Summer purse .

Of course before I made the purse, I lost the pattern....
While doing some kid-free knitting at my friend Linda's house on Saturday I saw this in one of her books. It is Square 26 : Twisted Columns from Barbara Walker's Learn-to-Knit Afghan Book. I thought the mosaic pattern would add structure and it looks similar to the original pattern. I also liked how the random color changes were broken up.

Here's a close up:

The second yarn is hemp - sorry not very good at keeping labels on things. My son said it feels like rope. Hopefully it will soften with use.

Also did some extremely imprecise, quick & dirty dyeing this weekend.

Yarn: Ruffles by Lion Brand
Dye: McCormick's food coloring - blue, green, yellow

Method: Skeined and soaked yarn in vinegar water with a little salt added.
Stuck the skeins on some Saran wrap, squirted with food coloring. Sealed up the package and microwaved for about 3 minutes.

I'm making the Frill Seeker Scarf from the Lion Brand website. Tan cashmere is from a sample pack from Colourmartuk on ebay.

AND I really will try to update more than once every 2 years from now on!!