Friday, August 17, 2007
Welcome to the dye pot.
It was a busy day here on Thursday morning. I decided to really get into the acid dyes that I had purchased before school ended. I wanted to try a couple of techniques that I had seen in Dyeing to Knit and a good time was had by all.
I did two roving bundles first. They are both superwash lambswool from Knit-Knackers and I used the standard handpaint technique. I find that superwash roving takes the dye so fast that I don't even need to heat them afterwards.
I was using dye measurements that were intended for a different brand of dye and I think it was way too much. I love the colours in the top one - the saturation is what I wanted but there was some run off before I got a total exhaust. I'm a little less happy with the green and purple. I wish I had given myself longer repeats of each colour. I guess the proof will be in the spinning.
The two sock yarns were both Knit-Picks Bare. The top skein was "sprinkle dyed". You wet out the yarn, spread it out in a shallow pan and sprinkle the yarn with the dye powder. The colours migrate a little but I think the end results is a little muddy. Again - I won't have a final result until I see it knit. I love how some areas look like they've been air brushed.
I was thrilled with how this one turned out. It is tie dyed. I space dyed the yarn with a light yellow, a light green and a teal. Once I finished that process I tied it in a bunch of different places with cotton and over dyed with saphire blue. The yellow didn't quite turn the blue I wanted but the overdye on the blue and the green is awesome! I can't wait to see how this one turns out.
I'm going to try and get one more dye day in before I got back to school. I will probably be back in the school building week after next and right now dyeing is helping me convince myself that I don't need to buy any more yarn (it's like I'm creating my own new yarn!). I may go pick up a little more natural roving but that should be it for a while.
I did two roving bundles first. They are both superwash lambswool from Knit-Knackers and I used the standard handpaint technique. I find that superwash roving takes the dye so fast that I don't even need to heat them afterwards.
I was using dye measurements that were intended for a different brand of dye and I think it was way too much. I love the colours in the top one - the saturation is what I wanted but there was some run off before I got a total exhaust. I'm a little less happy with the green and purple. I wish I had given myself longer repeats of each colour. I guess the proof will be in the spinning.
The two sock yarns were both Knit-Picks Bare. The top skein was "sprinkle dyed". You wet out the yarn, spread it out in a shallow pan and sprinkle the yarn with the dye powder. The colours migrate a little but I think the end results is a little muddy. Again - I won't have a final result until I see it knit. I love how some areas look like they've been air brushed.
I was thrilled with how this one turned out. It is tie dyed. I space dyed the yarn with a light yellow, a light green and a teal. Once I finished that process I tied it in a bunch of different places with cotton and over dyed with saphire blue. The yellow didn't quite turn the blue I wanted but the overdye on the blue and the green is awesome! I can't wait to see how this one turns out.
I'm going to try and get one more dye day in before I got back to school. I will probably be back in the school building week after next and right now dyeing is helping me convince myself that I don't need to buy any more yarn (it's like I'm creating my own new yarn!). I may go pick up a little more natural roving but that should be it for a while.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
socks, socks, socks, and the beginning of the December rush!
So summer's almost over and all I can do is knit socks. The evidence speaks for itself!
Above are some gym socks I made for my self from Zen Yarn Garden cotton/lycra yarn. The yarn had been marinating in my stash for a while and I could never really decide what to do with it. I'd tried making some full length socks but I was knitting it on 1's (2.5 mm) and it was way too tight. This time it was 2's (2.75) and everything went swimmingly. The tragedy is that after two weeks of going to the gym religiously I sprained my ankle at the gym. No I wasn't doing anything too strenuous. I was actually completly finished my work out and steped off the treadmill wrong and my ankle gave out under me. It's been a little less than a week and while I can walk on it now it is disgustingly bruised and sore.
These are a summer staple for our household. My BF always insists on wearing socks all summer with shorts so every summer he gets a pair or two of anklets in cotton sock yarn that will hopefully spare my shame. We are in a heated debate about the colour of these socks. He swears that they are purple and I am bound and determined to make him see that they are a dark blue. Any votes?
I'm especially proud of these. I spun up some superwash merino roving from Mama-E's (Mermaid colourway) and decided that the colours were perfect for my Mom. I wasn't super secure in my yardage so I learned how to do toe up socks so I could take advantage of every inch. I ended up with an 8" leg so I am super pleased. I don't love the short row heel so the next step is to figure out the toe up heel flap. I was most worried about the toe and once I got used to it (I did the Turkish cast on) it was no problem. I was left with a mere 10 grams of yarn that I will hold on to for darning purposes. This represents the beginning of the Xmas knitting. It shouldn't be too bad this year. The BF's sister is boyfriendless so that's one less person but my sister has a new BF so I lost my advantage as soon as I got it!
Today I spent the whole morning dyeing roving and sock yarn. I'll put up the results shortly. It was my first full experience with Jacquard Acid dyes and I experimented with a few techniques. Pictures to follow shortly.
Above are some gym socks I made for my self from Zen Yarn Garden cotton/lycra yarn. The yarn had been marinating in my stash for a while and I could never really decide what to do with it. I'd tried making some full length socks but I was knitting it on 1's (2.5 mm) and it was way too tight. This time it was 2's (2.75) and everything went swimmingly. The tragedy is that after two weeks of going to the gym religiously I sprained my ankle at the gym. No I wasn't doing anything too strenuous. I was actually completly finished my work out and steped off the treadmill wrong and my ankle gave out under me. It's been a little less than a week and while I can walk on it now it is disgustingly bruised and sore.
These are a summer staple for our household. My BF always insists on wearing socks all summer with shorts so every summer he gets a pair or two of anklets in cotton sock yarn that will hopefully spare my shame. We are in a heated debate about the colour of these socks. He swears that they are purple and I am bound and determined to make him see that they are a dark blue. Any votes?
I'm especially proud of these. I spun up some superwash merino roving from Mama-E's (Mermaid colourway) and decided that the colours were perfect for my Mom. I wasn't super secure in my yardage so I learned how to do toe up socks so I could take advantage of every inch. I ended up with an 8" leg so I am super pleased. I don't love the short row heel so the next step is to figure out the toe up heel flap. I was most worried about the toe and once I got used to it (I did the Turkish cast on) it was no problem. I was left with a mere 10 grams of yarn that I will hold on to for darning purposes. This represents the beginning of the Xmas knitting. It shouldn't be too bad this year. The BF's sister is boyfriendless so that's one less person but my sister has a new BF so I lost my advantage as soon as I got it!
Today I spent the whole morning dyeing roving and sock yarn. I'll put up the results shortly. It was my first full experience with Jacquard Acid dyes and I experimented with a few techniques. Pictures to follow shortly.
