I’ve been careening madly around the internet posting photos of this yarn. Well, on Ravelry and in a Picasa web album, anyway, which goes on G+ which feels very much like the entire internet sometimes…
POINT being, if we’re connected anywhere else, you may have already seen this, sorry. But really, if this yarn isn’t screaming for attention, I don’t know what is.
"Look at meeee!"
This is my latest yarn, and probably my best spinning result ever to this point. Especially as I did a chain ply (aka: Navajo ply), which I’ve needed to practice.
I’ve really been wanting to spin a gradient yarn after seeing friends on Ravelry produce simply gorgeous skeins from gradient-dyed rovings. I found this bold roving of Merino/Silk at Fiber Optic Yarns and snapped it up, even though the colors scared me a little. I love orange and yellow! But, yeah… no… scary.
I knew I could not split this in half and then try to ply the two singles together… I wanted NO barber pole effect! The spinning took several days and I think the plying took about a day. It’s all a blur.
Anyway, I’m really excited about these results and cannot wait to spin another gradient. There is some un-dyed roving in my stash and a couple of new green dyes… new project!
I’m so happy with the yarn that came from these three days! This is one ounce of fiber that became 234 yards of laceweight singles yarn on the drop spindle. It was starting to get really difficult at the end, and an ounce was about all I was going to get wound on… I wonder if that will improve with time as well.
I just love the way the colors look:
The fiber is more of my beloved Dicentra Designs. I never thought the drop spindle would captivate me; it just never clicked before. But now that I’m getting the hang of it, I love it. I thought I might go back to the wheel after I finished this yarn, but no, I pulled out the spindle again on day 15! Production is way down, though… this takes me forever.
Days 9 and 10 are from the drop spindle; on day 11 I finished up some yarn that was on the wheel.
Well, I had the best of intentions to spin every day of the tour, but it just didn’t happen on Friday. I was getting ready to vend at the “Crazy Daze” event in downtown Albany on Saturday. (Thanks to everyone who came out to enjoy the sun and the bargains!)
Anyway, here is my progress from days 5, 6, and 8:
I’m particularly happy with day 8… I spent the day practicing with the spindle, and by the end I had a little under 100 yards of lace weight singles yarn. I am starting to get it, whoo hoo!
Day 3 – plied the baby camel
Day 4 – started this BFL from Dicentra Designs
Totally loving these colors!
I wanted to write a post to say greetings to many new visitors! The old blog here has recently had some great traffic coming from Craftgawker, Craftgossip, and Pinterest. Thanks for your interest… I hope you’ll decide to come by again and please feel free to comment!
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I decided to try out a new theme here. I don’t usually go for dark backgrounds, but I do like what this grey does for photos. What do you think of the white text? Not sure how long I’ll keep it this way, but if anyone has a strong reaction to it either way, let me know.
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The other day, when I did the crock pot yarn dyeing, I did a second skein in dusky violet. Here are the results!
The yarn is a blend of alpaca, superwash merino, and nylon… soooo soft. This one went up in the shop, though it’s tempting to just add it to the stash!
Do you ever have a knitting or crochet pattern you want to work on, and you just can’t find the right color or shade of yarn?
Yeah, me neither. There are too many gorgeous yarns out there to be stuck for long! Nevertheless, sometimes the dyes call to me. And, so, here is the Very Unscientific method I use for occasional forays into applying color to string.
Note: when using the acid dyes, it’s important that your dye pot and all the utensils are used only for this purpose and never food preparation. That includes your microwave, if you choose to do the plastic wrap/microwave steam method. I use clean glass canning jars for the soaking (and some dye methods), and a second-hand crock pot from Goodwill. For now, I’m using paper cups to mix my dye solutions, but I plan to start making stock dye solutions, and for that I’ll use canning jars. I cover my work surface with a plastic garbage bag. One should also wear a mask & gloves while working with powdered dyes.
First I soak my yarn in tepid water and some white vinegar. I don’t measure.
I let that sit for an hour or so. It can go longer, but I don’t usually plan this stuff far enough in advance.
Meanwhile, I decide on colors. This time around, I decided to go for a golden yellow, so I pulled out three paper cups and mixed up solutions in varying shades of yellow and golden ochre. (To get a darker color, I used a bit more of the dye powder.) Again, I didn’t measure. And I don’t have photos of this step. Anyway, I mix the powder with hot water (should probably boil, but I’m lazy) and a glug of white vinegar.
What? “Glug” is a totally valid unit of measurement in the Very Unscientific method.
My next step is to take the yarn out of the soaking solution and squeeze it gently to remove some of the water. It should still be wet, just not swimming. I layer it in the crock pot and start pouring the dye solution randomly over the yarn, moving the yarn around with my fingers (wear disposable gloves) until the dye is taken up. I start with the darkest color, then move down to the lightest.
The photo below shows the yarn after all the dye solution has been added. At this point, there is once again enough liquid to cover the yarn.
Set the crock pot to high, put the lid on, and walk away. After a while, I check to see if all the color has been exhausted. I don’t time it. I just try not to let it cook to the point where it smells like cooked yarn, you know? No? Well, you’ll know it when you smell it, trust me.
After this, I just let it cool, then rinse with a bit of wool wash or a couple of drops of Dawn dish soap, then lay it out to dry. I was lucky to get a sunny day this time.
Ta da! 480 yards of fingering weight sock yarn (90% superwash merino/10% nylon).
I couldn’t resist starting to knit with it immediately:
This is the beginning of the Citron shawl. I am a crap knitter, so please do ignore that mess at the beginning there.
I’ve got 10 skeins of undyed yarn coming in the next few days, so I’m planning on some epic yarn dyeing sessions and these will appear in my shop in the next several weeks.
Am I boring ’cause I like browns and tans? (Wait! Don’t answer that.)
I purchased this Merino/Tencel (50/50) fiber from Fat Cat Knits and spun it into a fingering weight singles yarn. There are about 218 yards in 2 oz. I just find the colors so soothing and beautiful, like playing with rocks in a shallow stream.
On a whim today, I decided to search for projects on Ravelry using my Etsy shop name… and I found one!
I took 2.5 ounces of gorgeous hand-dyed BFL from Dicentra Designs:
…turned it into 338 yards of light fingering weight yarn:
… and Ravelry member nettlefly turned the yarn into cute socks!
Looking so pretty there in the sun, had to take a photo.
Craftgawker
Etsy Mini
