I'm leaving yarn-dyeing to the professionals (and 7 other things I learned at Knot Hysteria)

I realize Knot Hysteria's been over for quite some time now. And I'm pretty certain that my bloggy friends and anyone who's read my previous post about the retreat are well over it by now, too. But I did promise another post with 'knitty gritty' details.... and today being the last day of the year and myself having a vague need for closure, I figured it'd be okay to bring up the subject once again--- grizzly details (see next pic) and all.
Actually, I made several attempts over the past few weeks to write this, but I kept getting out of control and ending up with drafts that were way, way too long and too wordy. So here it is, my best shot at encapsulating KH, once and for all.

1) Believe it or not, I meant for this yarn to be a dark brown with red and amber contrasts. Icelandic wool however, drinks up lots of dye. And since dyed yarn looks very different when it's finally dry, I had a fail for dark brown. Lesson learned: dyeing yarn is really hard to do, especially if you want pretty yarn.



2) My personal motto from here on out: "buy it, don't dye it."




3) I also learned (gasp!) Russell Crowe does not really knit.


Well, I suspected as much.
Convince me that Russell doesn't know more about Chinese take-out than he does knitting:



4) I learned that the practice of knitting is only about 800 years old. Much older woven artifacts and weaving textiles are commonly mistaken by archaeologists to be knitting tools and knitted items. Why? Because most archaeologists aren't knitters.

5) As uptight and antiquated I've thought Knitting Guilds to be, I learned that they function to uphold standards of excellence in knitting for the purpose of preserving the history of the handicraft. I'm more inclined to join one now.

6) I learned that lever-knitting is the most ergonomic, efficient way to knit. The method was used by our hand-knitting predecessors during the 19th century cottage industry production era.

(photo: Shetland Museum Archives)

7) Even though very young children can learn to lever knit, it would take approximately 28 days to establish the muscle memory required to swtich from my current of style of knitting (English) to Lever-knitting. Which means I'll probably never learn to lever knit:

(Trying to keep my index and thumbs free and allow the larger muscle groups execute movement.)

8) Color perception registers very highly in emotional value when it comes to knitting and yarn. So maybe if I think of a fabulous color name for my (ahem) not so pretty yarn, it might help with my perception of it. Ideas?


I'll leave you now with the rest of my scrapbook pictures and happier colors to see---
Happy New Year to you, dear friends! May 2010 bring much joy and lots of knitting!