Dye Job (and what a job)

Once again, in an effort to clean up a corner of my house, I end up in the middle of a bigger project.

The goal was to clear off a window sill of two sweaters that have been waiting to be pulled apart in order to harvest the yarn. After a day's work, I had some nice yarn:

 Wool/angora/nylon from a Carole Little sweater

 and a kitchen-sink blend from Ann Taylor Loft:

 The yarn felt great, but I really didn't think I would use it in this yellow colour.

So I thought I would dye it before I put it away. I set the yarn to soaking and started to concoct plans and sort my supplies. I'm mostly off of KoolAid dyeing these days because the Wilton's dyes offer a lot more control and options.

I mixed up jars of icing dye, water and vinegar in yellow, pink, blue and red.

Once the yarn had soaked, I laid it out in a baking dish:

For the first skien, I poured a little dye from the jars and "smooshed" it into the yarn to make sure there was enough coverage. This looked a little muddy from the colours mixing so for the next skein, I applied the dye mixture with a toothbrush. That took a little too long and there wasn't quite enough coverage, so on the third one I did a mixture of both. Then, on only the third skein, I added some drops of straight yellow and pink icing dye in an attempt for more vivid colours.

Once the yarn was covered with dye mixture, I laid it into a casserole dish with a lid. There was enough liquid from the dye that I didn't have to worry about the yarn drying out during the heat process.

I popped the dish in the microwave and did 2 minute heat and rest cycles. The first two skeins only took three cycles (6 minutes of heat) before the water was clear and the yarn appeared hot enough (~180^).

Here's the yarn fresh out of the microwave oven:

Once it had cooked enough, I set it aside in a pie plate to cool in its own time.

After I had cooked all three skeins,  it looked like I had a weird pasta dinner going on the counter.

Once they were cooled, I rinsed them and the first two skeins were hung to dry. The third one wouldn't stop bleeding yellow, so I ended up rinsing it a lot of times. I assumed it was bleeding excess dye because I added drops of straight colour. When the rinsing wasn't really working, I put it through two more heating cycles as well. Finally it stop bleeding colour.

The colour of the rinse water was yellow or orange, but the extra processing somehow washed out all of the blue dye and caused the colours to spread and mix. The yellow was overwhelmed by the red and pink. Here are the three skeins after they had dried:

Skein 1:

The colours are muddier because they mixed more in the baking pan.

Skein 2:

Applied with a toothbrush, instead of being poured, the colours are more distinct.

Skein 3:

The colours are saturated, but all of the blue is gone and the red and pink overpowered the yellow.

That was the end of phase one.

Phase two was to overdye the skeins with blue while leaving spots of the colours from the first dye. I decided to only overdye skein 1 and 3 because they had similar yardage and it would be enough for a pair of socks.

So I tied some tight cords around the skeins every 6-8 inches or so:

You can see here, that in places I split the skein and tied the two parts in different spots:

I was trying to tie up the particularly bright spots and I wanted to make sure that all the spots wouldn't be spaced the same. (I didn't want them to "line up" when I was knitting them.)

The overdye with blue was a lot of work. Blue is a tricky colour anyway--it doesn't seem to set during the heating process. You have to let the yarn cool in the dye water and the dye seems to set more during the cooling process than during the heating.

So the actual dyeing in a pot was easy enough, but the yarn would not stop bleeding blue. Once again, I'm not sure if it was excess dye in the pot (I used quite a bit because I wanted a dark blue) or if it just wasn't sticking to the yarn.

I did multiple rounds of soaking the yarn, rinsing the yarn and heating the yarn. Finally the rinse water started to clear up.

Skein 3, which came out with the stronger blues:

and Skein 1, which was more on the teal side:

Presumably the strong yellow tones in skein 1 shifted the blue more green

And now it was time for the unveiling...what would the yarn look like under the resist ties?

I unwrapped the white yarn and didn't see much of a difference:

Before I had a chance to get too worried, I opened up the tightly wrapped yarn and saw that there was still lots of colour inside:

Here's a picture of skein 1 (left) after it was re-hanked (to mix the colours up) and skein 3 (right), where you can see the colour blocks because it was not re-hanked:

And in case you can't get enough, here they are again:

And a close up of skein 1:

Isn't that so pretty!! The colours are pretty subtle, but I think they'll add just the right punch to a pair of dark blue socks.

Still want more? Ok, here it is caked up:

This is skein 1 and 3 caked together (double stranded). Even though the two skeins came out quite different colours, they will make a beautiful blend as I knit with a strand of each held together.

Here is skein 2 caked up:

Since it was an odd yardage compared to the other two, I left it after the first dye. I decided I would use it for contrasting toes and/or heels on the socks.

In fact, here is the toe of the sock I couldn't resist casting on:

I've chosen a subtle textured pattern for the body of the sock which will be done in blue. Not too detailed since you wouldn't be able to see it on the dark yarn, but something that will break up the plain field of knitting. The scattered purl stitches should highlight the pops of colour in the blue.

And that, people, is how you clean off a window sill.

How to Wear an Elephant

So a dear friend gave me two lovely tea towels for my birthday. She knows I have a thing for elephants and who doesn't need new tea towels?

BUT I could not bear to use them as tea towels. They were so cute. I thought, "I could make a shirt out of these." (I have obviously been reading a lot of "re-fashion" blogs! This one's my favourite.)

And that is what I did!

I started by tracing the shoulder slope from a sleeveless shirt that I liked to wear, and sewed the two towels together:

I then traced the side seam and sewed them together at the side leaving a slit at the bottom. Then I tried it on. I could barely get it on. Obviously tracing a knit shirt to a woven fabric has its pitfalls.

So I ripped out the seam, marked the armhole a little deeper and stitched the back and front together with no seam allowance at all.

I just ran the pieces through the machine with their finished edges side by side. I used a wide decorative stitch and it worked out great. It also progresses beautifully into the side slit.

Here is the back:

This towel was a little longer and had a lace trim as well as a ribbon on the one end. Perfect for a hem of a shirt.

The other towel was a little less busy with a larger motif. In other words, it was perfect for the front.

Ya, that's a pretty big smile.
I'm pretty pleased.

It has a simple ribbon edging--no lace.

I know the shirt is not well fitted and sits a little awkwardly, but I love it and it is just what I was imagining. It is comfortable (it is the perfect crispness for cotton--almost like linen) and has an easy fit. (Once I get it on; it barely fits over my head.)

Later I may cut a rounded neck in the back and redo the front. (A rounded neck? A slit tied with ribbon?) But for now I couldn't bear to cut into the towels and liked the idea of just using the two rectangles to make a shirt.

On top of loving the shirt, I serendipitously acquired two skirts recently that are the perfect shade of pinkish orange to go with it. (Before I got the tea towels. Life just works out sometimes considering this is not a colour I normally wear!) And it's a good thing because I have a wedding to go to today and obviously I was going to wear this shirt for its grand debut. It was nice to have something matching and dressy (or dressy enough for a summer afternoon wedding) to go with it.

Here is a shot of my wedding outfit:

After I had it together, I was looking for a necklace to break up the big space of white on the top. I couldn't find anything the right length and "heft" until I tried this knitted necklace I made last time I went to Squam. It was exactly what I was looking for, except I wasn't sure about the colour. Then I noticed that it is the same tone of greige of the ribbon on the bottom of the front and the lace on the hem of the back. Serendipity strikes again!

I also added some turquoise bangles to my wrist to break up all the orange that was going on. But it turns out I didn't really need to because when I got to church, this same friend had part two of my present ready to give me:

A parade of elephants on a bracelet that will match everything! :)

Mesh Stripe Kerchief...Success!

I finished the linen kerchief I was working on. It is a smallish triangle of fabric to wear around my neck when I want a little warmth. It's cool feeling against my skin (even as it's keeping me warm) which is lovely in summer.

I had a hard time stopping this one. I really didn't want it to get too big but I was so enjoying knitting with the linen and the simple pattern.

I believe I mentioned before that I alternated rows of stocking stitch with rows of the mesh. The mesh is a simple combination of knit-2-togethers and yarn overs on one half and the mirror image SSK and yarn overs on the other. You wouldn't have to mirror image, but I can't help myself.

For the shape, I increased two stitches at the center on every other row and one stitch on each edge every row. The extra increases on the edge made the ends extend a little further than a regular 45-degree angle would have done. I thought that would make the ends a little more suited to tying.

I wasn't planning to add a border on the edge but as I got closer to the end, I realized that it would roll horribly if I didn't do something.

So I added a few rows of seed stitch, which mostly does the job. I thought the texture of the seed stitch would also play off of the mesh texture nicely. I finished off with what I would call HJSSBO (Half Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off) because I added a yarn over on every other stitch only. It came out the perfect amount stretchy.

I am really pleased with the final scarf. I looked a few times for a pattern that matched what I wanted and couldn't find one. This came out pretty much just like I was thinking.

Even though I think it's a pretty colour, it's a bit odd and I don't seem to have a lot to wear with it. But as you can see from these pictures, sometimes I don't care and just wear it anyway. :) These were taken when I had a chance to walk along the river in Niles and enjoy a day where the sun was just warm enough and the breeze just cool enough to make it perfect outside.

I have plenty more linen from the sweater I raveled to get it so now I'm considering what other things I could make from it. I really did enjoy working with it even though it should feel more like cotton (ew) than wool (yum) while I'm knitting it. I briefly considered a skirt, but I know I don't have enough for that!

Project Stats
Started: 15 Jul '15
Finished: 13 Aug '15
Pattern: Mesh Stripe Kerchief (my own) More details here if you want to make your own.
Materials: 81 grams raveled linen (lace weight)

Oranje Tulpen

I don't have to translate that, right?

With a bunch of orange wool blend facing me after ripping apart a sweater in a fit of I-don't-want-to-wait-a-minute-longer, I looked for a suitable sock pattern.

What could be better for bright Dutch orange than socks with a tulip pattern? Nothing, of course.

Obviously I am still carrying my trip to the Netherlands last June with me. And why would I fight that?

After a false start making these toe up, I ripped them out and started from the top. The chart kept me on my toes. It's a 24-row repeat with an independent lace panel on each side.

But totally worth it because you end up with these lovely tulips running up the centre front of your sock.

After finishing the leg, I knit the back stitches for 24 rows to make a heel flap followed by a short-row heel:

Then I picked up 12 stitches on both sides of the flap and starting knitting all the way around again. I decreased the extra stitches, one on each side every third row instead of every other row to make a longer gusset.

Once the gusset was decreased, I knit straight on to the toes. I thought I had room for one more "loop de loop" in the tulip pattern but I probably should have skipped it. By the time that was done, I didn't have much room for the toe. I decreased the stitches in fewer rows than normal and ended with more stitches to. This yielded a much more rounded toe.

I did the decreases different on this pair, just for something to try. Instead of lining up the K2togs and the SSKs so that a strong line appears on the decrease line, I reversed their positions and got an essentially invisible decrease. There's just a slight line between the front and back stitches.

Besides the length of the foot being just a bit long (there's no extra length, really; the socks just don't have to stretch to fit), these are definitely one of the best fitting socks I have. I am really loving the heel flap with short-row heel and the longer gusset really helps relieves some of the tightness over the top of my foot. I think my foot is pretty narrow, but it definitely needs more room around the foot, just in front of the leg. Maybe it's the high arches. I don't know, but I'm really happy to have found something that works.

The yarn I used is only 40% merino and I'm hoping it will be not quite as warm (even though it also has 20% angora and 10% cashmere). With the sock's short length, I think they will be good for spring and fall season. So far it is working out that way!

Project Stats
Started: 2 Jan '15
Finished: 25 Apr '15
Pattern: Tulpen by Stephanie van der Linden (free)
Materials: 40% merino/30% viscose/20% angora/10% cashmere mix from an Express sweater (78 g), held double


Here's one more look--some slip of the finger or misuse of the timer produced this picture, but I think it is kind of neat anyway.

Prayer Shawl

Here's a project I haven't shown you at all yet.

There is a family who attended our church until recently that is helping their son through cancer treatment. Of course we all have been praying for them, but someone at church suggested (strongly) to me that I should knit a prayer shawl for them. Her logic was that although she would like to do so, she can't knit. So I should make it.

I guess I couldn't argue with that.

I knew some of my raveled cashmere would be ideal. I know it's hand-wash but other than that, it is light, warm and compact. I didn't want to knit a huge thing that would be hard to carry around or take with them as they travel to another town to go to the hospital.

With that in mind, I searched for a smallish shawl. I wanted something pretty (of course), pretty but not too fussy, and preferably a crescent or semi-circle shape just because I've been intrigued by that lately. I found an option I liked and I would have to use two strands of the cashmere to get the right thickness.

Since there was lace in the pattern, I decided that I would ply the two strands together. I've done some lace with two loose strands, and I don't like how it separates in the yarn overs. So I estimated how much I would need for the shawl and plied it on my drop spindle. I turns out I ran out with only about four rows to go, plus the I-cord bindoff. But I had plenty of the yarn, it just wasn't plied. Since there was no more lace, I finished the shawl with two strands that were not plied. I can't see a difference in the stocking stitch.

Part of why I liked the pattern was its interesting construction. You start by knitting the wide border that will end up along the bottom edge of the shawl:

But as you go, you increase one stitch at one edge, but leave a stitch on the needle that you don't knit. As you go along, this gives you a whole series of stitches on the one edge. Once the border is done, you have all those stitches ready for you--you don't have to go along and pick them all up. I thought it was brilliant.

The picture above shows the border just after I finished it, and you can see the stitches on the right side all ready to go, as soon as I bind off the stitches on the needle. (I was knitting it at a Coffee Break conference at that point. I was very happy to finish the border during a break so that I could move on to the stocking stitch section for the afternoon. No more looking at charts!)

(You can tell I knit the lace while I was at the conference, at meetings and at small group because there are two places where I lost my place in the chart. It's a 16 row repeat and I either skipped from row 8 back to row 1 or skipped from row 16 to 8. So I was still following the chart, but it doesn't flow quite like it should. I didn't notice until after I had the shawl blocked! But don't worry about looking for it, there's no prize if you find it. :)

Once the border is done, you knit across all the stitches and then start some short rows from the center.

 This makes a nice crescent shape:

 Well, if you block it right. A lot of the projects on Ravelry look rather triangular and I tried to avoid that.

The shawl is finished with an eyelet row and then an I-cord bind off, which you can see very well in the first picture above.

It was a lovely knit and of course handling cashmere is always a treat. The shawl would be easy to throw over your shoulders over a shirt or sweater for a little extra warmth. Or it could be worn around the neck, either tightly wrapped or in a longer, looser loop.

I hope it wears like a hug.

Project Stats
Started: 31 Mar '15
Finished: 13 Apr '15
Pattern: Regina Marie by Sara Burch
Materials: Raveled cashmere, 47 grams ($3)
Finished Size: 44" point to point / 14" top to bottom centre