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March 22, 2005
Stand Back! I Have A New Addiction.
I dyed the yarn on Saturday and I am woman, hear me ROAR. That was FUN. I would love to just have my own little shop where I spun the yarn and then dyed it (or the reverse) and then sold it. Fibery bliss.
(pictures in my gallery, link at the end of this)
I had ordered the yarn from Knit Picks - the color your own yarn. I sort of half heartedly looked for a tutorial but only found a wee bit of discussion. So, in true Deb style, I winged it. I even treated myself to a new double boiler pan (aka "corn pan" to y'all Southerners). By the way, soaking yarn in vinegar is a sure way to ruin said new pan.
I bravely plunged the yarn into the vinegar (I half expected it to molt and steam or something). Ummm, how long is this supposed to soak? I decided to mash it around until it was soaked through - yowza that vinegar tears up your hands. Another question immediately arose - how the heck do you do all this without tangling up fingering weight yarn skeins?
While the yarn was soaking, I got the water boiling in another pot and put in the dye. How much? The one discussion I read said a little on a toothpick. Because I am American, more is better so I put in a lot on the end of a knife. I then took a whisk and made sure it was all dissolved (this will be really important later on). I then gently squeezed as much vinegar as possible out and put the yarn into the dye bath.
I quickly realized that one side of the yarn was going to be darker than the other so I got the potato masher OUT of the playdough toys and mash, mash, mashed. Did I already mention the tangling fear? The brown, yellow and green hanks came out beautifully. Then I did the blue. Oh. My. That was NOT what I was expecting. I swear it was all mixed up and appeared dissolved but it came out very, very mottled and splotchy. Actually, I kind of like it like that. Same thing happened with the mauve except not as dramatic. One thing that the dyeing discussion mentioned was that the colors would be taken up into the yarn and the water would be clear. That was very true with the first three but with the last two (the splotchy ones), I could not get it all taken up - I am guessing that means my knifeful amount had something to do with that. Meh.
I had to cool the yarn so that it didn't get shocked into felting (I wasn't sure if this was feltable yarn or not). So while the platefuls of yarn spaghetti were cooling, I did up the Kool Aid. So many wonderful sounding colors, I was literally paralyzed with choices. I finally settled on Mandarin Tangerine and Grape Berry Splash. Not together - I had five hanks left to dye (I told you in the last post that I went overboard on ordering right?). The Knitty feature on Kool Aid dyes mentioned that I should use one packet. So I used three. Great way to make neon bright colors. Actually, that was really helpful for the purple. I put the orange yarn in a drawer so I don't have to look at it. I will probably overdye it with something. I don't know.
I hung the whole shebang (why can't I say that anymore without thinking of William Hung?) up on my mop and broom handles in my kitchen. I can't wait to see it swatched up. The colors are very heathery.
Dyeing was a blast. I am already mentally going over the wools in my stash to see what I can dye. Oh, I almost forgot - I had ZERO tangling despite all the mashing and flipping that I did to the yarn. I balled it all up on Sunday.Pictures of the process in my gallery.
Posted by DebC at 09:08 PM | Comments (5)
March 18, 2005
Glass Beads? Whose Got The Glass beads?
I finished Miss Dashwood last week and gave it to my neighbor baby. Oh my but she is a beautiful baby! (Ponders for a moment trying again for a girl – Okay, NO, I am totally over it). Anyway, the bobbles on the hat are cute but they sure do suck to knit, especially in cotton. I am going to do the hat over again two more times for the other two baby girls on my street (all almost exactly the same age). I picked up a couple of cotton tape sweaters (worsted weight) last summer at a market here for $5 that were just for frogging. I will use those – I have bright orange, bright red and a luscious purple. I unraveled the purple one last night. I think I will make the bobbles another color – maybe orange. Take a look at the picture and tell me what you think. I remember when I had definite opinions about certain colors NEVER ever going together but last night I realized all bets were off for me. Purple and orange? Sure!
Okay, so I am sure you know what the glass beads are but do you know WHERE to find them? Kim Hart Designs click on the store link). Today is opening day for her! Were you coveting the sheep stitchmarkers? How about the fish? I know, how about some one of a kind, handmade glass buttons for that special cardigan? Go, go GO!
And now that the Herculean task of web design is mostly done for me (only Herculean because I am NOT a web designer, LOL), I am going to dye that yarn I talked about an entry ago. I am going to try the Wilton cake dyes first (for a baby sweater) and then I have a obtained a stunning array of Kool-Aid packets waiting to do a sweater for me. Hmmm, I wonder if I can make some self-striping yarn? Maybe I can make that board that was posted on Knitty.
Wendy and I are going to indoctrinate a newly arrived crafter (sewing) into the evil that is the local market. MILES of fabric tables, miles I tell ya. Oh and it wouldn’t hurt if the LOYM was there too. We are sadly approaching the time when “they” decide for us that yarn can’t be available at the market in the summer. WHY?
Thinking about doing Wendy’s flash your stash day. Gotta decide whether it is worth the sheer embarrassment of my yarn bulimia.
Posted by DebC at 08:41 AM | Comments (2)
March 08, 2005
Oh My, Where Did The Last Three Weeks Go?
I have been on the computer nearly continuously for the last three weeks, yet no blog update! Before I tell you why (and get you all excited, hahahahaha), I will update on ME.
I finished the baby sweater that I am submitting to Knitty (boohoo no picture allowed until then). It is beautiful. The baby it was made for was born just a few hours ago and is a healthy strapping boy, so it should fit now. Which is actually good because the days have become progressively more gorgeous around here. Definitely Spring-like.
I decided that I am going to redo that sweater in a yarn that other people can get. The model sweater is made from mystery market yarn. I got some superwash from knit picks that is called "color your own". It is 100% merino and a little more than fingering weight, so it should knit up to be a soft sweater. I am going to die it with Wilton cake dyes - it will be my very first dyeing experiment. I won't do anything funky with the first batch but I plan to make some purty colors for ME - I got about 10 different flavors of koolaid to play with too. The folks at knit picks must have been laughing their butts off at how much I ordered. Sort of like ordering Chinese food the very first time. Anyhow, more yarn is always good, right?
I also cast on Miss Dashwood last week. Very cute, very fast and very easy. I highly recommend it - just make sure you pay attention to the pattern. I forgot to knit 2 inches in plain stockinette after the bobble band and ended up with a frisbee on the first try. Oh and speaking of the bobbles - GAH, I hate bobbles. They look cute but they are painful to make. I am using up some stash mercerized cotton for the hat and it has no give to give during the great American bobble pull. Someone on Knitty suggested using a crochet hook. Where was that person when I was praying not to break a needle? I am happy to report that my sanity and needles made it through intact. I should be through with the ear flaps and strings in a couple of days. I have just the cute baby to put it on too. Standby for adorable pictures.
Okay, okay so what was I doing all that time on the computer? Designing my very first website. Up to this point, I have only dabbled in the single page of my blog. Kim's website has many pages! I have yet to get the shopping cart part of it up and running but that is coming along too. Her store grand opening with be on the 18th of March (SOON!). So go on over to her blog and say hello.
Posted by DebC at 11:29 PM | Comments (1)