June 2009 - I love how this turned out!!! My first ever sweater for me of my own hand-dyed, handspun yarn! As always with my family, there is a story behind the pictures. The finished-sweater photo shoot was done by DS#1, age 14, who just finished a photography class in 4-H. I suggested the red flower pots on the back porch as a backdrop to make the green pop. The nervous smile on my face in the first and 3rd photos is as a result of DS#2, age 12, calling out from the branch of the sycamore tree, “Hey, mom, watch me jump onto the roof!” DD, age 9, wanted to get into the action in photo 3, even from inside the house, which is typical. DS#1 then took a video of DS#2 jumping from the sycamore branch onto the garage roof, and then running and jumping and rolling from the garage roof onto the ground. Photo 4 is a completely candid shot of my reaction to this. No ER visit this time. (If you want to see the video, I think you can access it by clicking on “Flickr” under the final photo, which links to the video I uploaded to Flickr. But you have to turn your head sideways).

So, now you know why I knit and spin.

My 3-ply homespun yarn. I dyed 1 pound of wool in 3 batches, using three shades of Wilton’s cake decorating dyes: teal, juniper, moss. There is one ply of each batch, and one dye dominates each batch. I love the way the various component dyes “broke,” giving highlights of rust and purple and bronze. The overall effect reminds me of the mottled greens of the jungle, or the elements of an exotic Thai meal. Hence, “Evil Jungle Princess.”

This was my 4th sweater completed in the NaKniSweMoDo09 competition.