Month: January 2012 (page 1 of 2)

A new adventure!

So, I wanted to add something else to my shop. Hand dyed roving. I’ve been saying I was going to try it for some time now, but hadn’t had the chance… or the bare roving. Today was the perfect day to give it a whirl! And the perfect time to try out my new “green” dye. This dye is more environmentally responsible, but a bit more expensive than the dye I’ve been using. I’m curious to see how it will turn out.

Above you see a bare merino/silk blend, presoaked in a vinegar/water mixture. It’s shivering with excitement about being a different color. It really is, you’ll just have to trust me.

And here it is, relaxed and soaking in the color. It’s hard to tell from the picture, but the darkest color is actually purple, and then there’s red, yellow and green. Let me tell you, this was not easy. I used a syringe to apply the dye, and even though it looks like it’s soaked all the way through the fiber, it’s not. At all. In fact, when I peeked underneath, the entire bottom was still mostly white.  Even after I added more dye and pushed and pressed and manipulated, the dye had a hard time spreading to the bottom. But after enough gentle prodding, it seemed good. And it blended to make a much better color combination, which is what I was hoping for. When I was sure it was saturated, I folded the roving in the saran wrap lining the plate, placed it in the colander and steamed it for 30 minutes.

Here it is after the rinse. I meant to take a picture of it being steamed, but I forgot. The water was clear right from the start. The roving sucked up ALL the dye. I still rinsed it a ton, not to get rid of any excess dye, because there wasn’t any, but to get rid of the smell of the vinegar. I even use a little Burt’s Bees Baby shampoo. (This is how I rinse my yarn too.)I did this all VERY carefully, as I’ve been told it’s quite easy to accidentally felt your roving. When I say “rinse”, I mean gently lowering the roving into clean water and then lifting it out. Then lowering it into more fresh water, pushing on it gently, then lifting it out again. I do this maybe 10 times or more.

And here it is, drying on the rack. So far so good! I can’t wait to see what it looks like when it’s dry.

I also finished another slouchy hat for a friend. It’s the same one I made for my mother in law for Christmas, the Slouchy 2-Way Cabled Hat. And now I’m going to start it again for another friend!

And today I sold my 8th skein of yarn! Say bye bye to Crime Scene. It’s the 2nd skein I’ve sold to someone who didn’t actually know me! He asked me to wind it into a ball, so I thought I’d take a picture of it before and after. It’s always so cool to see the skein turn into a ball. It gives you a better idea of what the yarn will look like when it’s knitted up.

So tomorrow I might post again, I have some Baby Alpaca drying next to the roving, and I can’t wait to share with you!

More progress

Hi All! I’ve been keeping busy as my real job has been really slow. I finished another Gaptastic cowl for a friend’s wife. I knit it up in red Baby Alpaca. After knitting with Baby Alpaca, my fingers may never be satisfied with wool ever again. It was so soft and silky, warm and stretchy…aaahhhh….I’m hooked. Here’s the finished product, all packed up and ready to be given. I want to keep it.  🙂

And I dyed a skein of wool/silk for my friend who asked for a yellow skein. I love how it came out….I call the colorway “Bode”, after the sunny, happy, little blonde cutie it reminds me of.

Unfortunately, once again, the photo doesn’t do it justice. There are some darker orangey tones running throughout it that didn’t get picked up in the photo.

I started my very first toe-up sock!

It’s not hard at all! I just started the sock the same way I start my hexipuffs. It’s coming along slowly, but surely. It’s knit in the round on 2 needles, like the hexipuff. I find it to be a little fiddley, but I’m getting used to it. I love the color I’m using. It’s one of the Sanguine Gryphon skeins my sister bought me. The colorway is called Roja.

And now I’m about to start another commissioned project, yay!! 2 different friends have asked for the cabled slouchy hat I made my mother in law for Christmas. So tonight I will start the first one. I wish I could make my whole living knitting and dyeing yarn. This having a real job stuff just gets in the way!

I leave you with a picture of two super cuties who got to see each other for a playdate this past weekend. Emmet and Jack.

 

 

2 Works in Progress

Here’s a quick Saturday morning update. I’ve only made 4 hexipuffs so far for the BeeKeeper’s quilt. They’re quite adorable, and I really need to be more disciplined and try to make at least one a day, or this quilt may take 20 years to finish! Each one takes me about an hour, although I think I’m getting faster. My friend Maiya came to visit last weekend and she fell in love with the quilt and she’s now going to make it too. And the best part about that is she bought 2 skeins of my yarn (Atlantic and Pacific) and she ordered 2 more from me which I have to start dyeing today (she wanted two different yellows, and I sold my only yellow skein.) That makes 6 skeins sold so far!!

The second project I’m knitting is another Gaptastic cowl for my friend’s wife.

He asked for one in red to give to her for Valentine’s day. What a perfect gift! (It’s my second commissioned project!)  I went to the local yarn store to buy the yarn and I picked out Baby Alpaca. She won’t be able to wash it very easily, as Baby Alpaca has to be VERY gently washed by hand and air dried, but Alpaca is not itchy, and warmer than wool, and it feels like heaven! It’s so luxurious! I’m falling in love with Baby Alpaca, and I bought 4 skeins of it to dye. The problem is, I kinda want to keep it instead of selling it. Anyway, I’m more than 2/3rds done with it and it should be completed within a couple more days.

That’s all for now folks! It’s a snowy morning, and I should really get off this computer and take a shower and start dyeing a yellow skein of yarn. I will leave you with a picture of two cuties, because blogs are more fun with pictures. Here’s Emmet and his buddy Cooper at the Seacoast Science Center last weekend.

Have a great day everyone!

 

Older posts