Not that long past, but is was two summers ago. My friend PJ (whose backyard was used for this experiment) forwarded this picture to me yesterday.

I have since then I’ve found better ways to dye sock yarn in stripes, but this was fun (though a bit hot).

On the warmest day of the year in Maine–I’m from the desert; it NEVER gets hot here–I pulled out PJ’s utility table and set it up under a tree. I used my warping pegs to lay out the yarn. I had made the warp pegs back when I considered weaving (that was a short experiment). I took giant nails (they are about 8″ long and as thick as my little finger), and put two through a 5″x10″ 1″ thick board. I then used c-clamps to attach them to the table.

I covered the table with plastic wrap (I use a LOT of plastic wrap when I dye) and then wound the yarn like a warp. Then I painted the yarn using my favorite colors: Jaquard’s Hot Fuschia and turquoise, some bright blue and a bit of navy. I did some interesting things like tying cotton string every 1/2 inch before using the fuschia dye to try to get a fair isle effect (it didn’t work well).

Here are the socks (you may have seen them last year):

When I was done painting the yarn, I wrapped everything up in the plastic wrap and steamed the whole mess. I like the way it came out, but it was a lot more work than I planned on it being.

Next time I’ll use a shorter warp–I’ve figured out how to get what I want without walking 15 miles to do it.

Finally (finally for me, my lovely swap haul showed up on time), here’s what my swapper, Nicola, sent me (please note the amazing dark chocolate):

This was her first time dyeing roving and I think it’s marvelous! The fiber is blue faced Leicester from the UK (where Nicola lives). She was concerned it was a bit felted, so she sent along additional white fiber for me to dye. It’s the perfect goodie package for me . . . especially with the chocolate. It’s not easy to find bars of Lindt chocolate in the wilds of Maine (though I have been known to track down stores in Boston!).

Nicola is having a fun Tour de France competition on her blog. It’s too late to enter, but it should be fun to follow along (it’s guessing how many days during the Tour that it rains).

Now, if I can ever find time to spin, I’ll be making stunning yarn from the UK! Thanks again, Nicola!

Yipee!

I found a place in Maine that carries all the dyes I like! And, it’s within easy driving distance of my house. Searsport Rug Hooking has Jacquard, ProChem and Cushing Dyes (all acid dyes). It’s womanned by smart, knowledgeable women; has tons of fabric for rug hooking (plus many other things for RH that I don’t understand); plenty of classroom space for the many workshops they host; and dyes, dyes, dyes.

In addition to the dyes, they also have dye swatch books for Cushing, Jacquard and ProChem. “What’s a dye swatch book?” you may ask. It’s a book filled with real wool samples dyed in various strength of color.

The also had something I haven’t seen before, but I found to be fascinating: Dye Cards with Formulas. You need to know how to make 75 different colors by mixing Jacquard dyes? This is your answer. The cards are written in straightforward formulas (1/2 tsp X and 1/4 tsp Y) and include a swatch on wool.

What a wonderful find! Well worth a drive in the rain. I had good company as well–PJ came along for the ride and fixed their serger while we were there. We seem to make friends no matter where we go. I’ll go back to Searsport Rug Hooking, and I’ll recommend people shop there as well.

Take a look at the right column! There’s a new completed item (the cowl out of handpainted alpaca). I’ll take some pictures of it at work tomorrow. There are new listings for “Free Patterns”–Ram’s Wool and Southwest Trading. I added a friend to my list: the Schooner Isaac Evans. She sails out of Rockland, Maine and is captained (and blogged) by Brenda Walker. You can see the Evans and her sailing schedule here.

Whew. But, a good whew.

I found a size 17, 29″ circular needle at Reny’s for $4.99. If you aren’t from Maine, you’ve probably never heard of Reny’s. It’s the store that means we don’t miss Target or K-mart; and the prices are better. For those of you local, the large needles are at the Camden store near the Poppycock (nuts only).

My family and I went to see Odiako New England Saturday night. Loud, lovely drumming based on Japanese drumming, taiko. The kids and I really loved the traditional songs; the contemporary ones were less thrilling. The concert was a fundraiser for the Japan exchange program at Camden Rockport Middle School, so it really was a win-win evening. Go see O.N.E. if you get the chance. It was entertaining and educational (but not TOO educational).

Today is Easter, though with over a foot of snow on the ground it’s a bit difficult for me to believe. I was raised in a place where they’ve been mowing their lawns for over a month already. We hunted for (plastic) eggs in the living room and ate the candy around the kitchen table. Because we didn’t make plans for dinner (hey, no family in town means that sometimes you just don’t think like that), we went out for Thai food at Tamarind in Rockland. The food was amazing. Each dish had its own special flavors. It was spicy and tasty. I got to see my kids devour green beans and ask for more (it helps when the green beans crunch and make your mouth tingle). Go eat there when you have the chance. Say hi to Mel, the owner and a woman I just taught to knit. She’s already on her second vest (a man’s small) and she just started knitting the middle of February!

I’m participating in the Dye.no.mite swap (see the button in the right sidebar, under the webrings). I’m supposed to send my swapper a few gifts and a card or two. The point is to send things you’ve dyed. My swapper is a quilter (which I’m not), so I’m going to learn some new dyeing techniques. Specifically, I’m going to use fiber reactive dyes (as compared to acid dyes, which work for protein fibers–wool, silk and animal fibers). You need different additives for fiber reactive dyes, so, at this moment, there’s a pound of soda ash fixer being packed up and sent to me.

Like usual, I’ve ordered from Dharma Trading. They sell everything you need to dye anything. And, they sell tons of stuff *to* dye. I had a great person on the phone today and she completely understood that I was buying both acid and fiber reactive dyes. She even gave me some tips for FR when I told her I’ve never done it before. She said that the methods are very similar. Here’s a breakdown:

Acid dyes:
Use on wool, mohair, alpaca, silk, nylon
Use mild acid as fix (I usually use vinegar)
Need heat to set dyes
Fibers must be soaked in water and fix to get even dyeing

Fiber Reactive dyes:
Use on cotton, hemp, tencel, linen
Use soda ash as fix
Need time to fix (time while damp with fix and dyes)
Fibers must be soaked in water and fix to get even dyeing

My swap buddy likes reds and warm earth tones, so I bought two reds, an orange and a brown. Honestly, I chose by color name: Black Cherry, Red Wine, Tangerine and Chocolate brown. ‘Get the theme?

I bought some cotton/tencel yarn (Classic Elite’s Premier) and I need to track down some fabric to dye (or maybe I’ll buy some fat quarters). I’ve got some hand dyed Merino blend hand spun yarns that I’ll send. Oh, and a little, spring canvas bag, a Maine mug (”how to eat a lobster”), a lobster soap, and a bit of dark chocolate. I think that’ll make two nice surprise packages. Any other suggestions?

Dyeing for fun

I’m getting ready to teach a rainbow dyeing class, so I’ve been ordering roving, dyes, and supplies. I also wanted to put a display up at the store to entice people to sign up, so I did a little dyeing to share.

I’m NOT putting in dye warnings in this post. Be smart when you dye, so you won’t die or make anyone sick.

I broke out my dyeing supplies and discovered that I had a bunch of dyes already mixed up. I’m lazy and cheap, so I just used those. That also means I don’t know the names of all the colors that got used, but hey, that’s the way it goes.

Superwash merino roving is an excellent choice for a dyeing project. It is bright white, strikes dye clearly, and it won’t felt even if you muck will it during the process. It also makes nice socks. I tore the roving into eight ounce lengths–plenty for a pair of socks after spinning it.

I soaked the roving in water, a bit of Unicorn Fiber wash, and a glug of white vinegar over night. I then drained the fiber and squeezed it out.

My dyes were already mixed up in squeeze bottles, so I put down long sheets of plastic wrap (the commercial brands are MUCH better than the store brands), put out the roving, and started pouring the dyes.

I try different layouts with the roving for the fun of it. The shape makes a difference if you’re dying yarn, but there’s still so much processing with roving (spinning and plying) that it’s just for fun here.

“Don’t dye too much”. To make sure you don’t end up with muddy color, I leave open spaces between the colors the first time I pour on dyes. Then I use my fingers to massage the dye into the white areas. If the white areas are too big, I add more dye. In the end it looks like this

More plastic wrap goes over the top of the roving, then I roll up everything like a big burrito, sealing the edges. If I haven’t dyed too much there won’t be dye dripping out the sides and the roving will be colored all the way through to the bottom. The burritos are put on a steamer basket in a deep stock pot. I put about an inch of water in the bottom, pop the top on, and put it on the stove on high.

When it comes to a boil, I turn down the stove so the water simmers, and check on it in about 10 minutes. When the burritos puff up with steam, I turn the stove off, and leave the pot to cool with the lid on. The next day I rinse the roving out in the sink (another great reason to use superwash roving) and spin out in the washing machine and hang the roving to dry.

After a day you hang it up to display and hope to get a chance to spin it someday.

So, wanna dye? Sign up at the store.

For the last 10+ days I’ve been sick. First with the flu (for about a week) and now a cold. That makes for not much knitting, spinning or dyeing. I have three bumps of superwash Merino roving soaking in the basement sink, ready to dye, but have no energy to do so. I’ve got three knitting projects within arms reach, but no inclination to pick them up (though, I have updated the progress bars to the right–I’m not completely out of it ;-).

I ordered roving and set up the venue for the dyeing class I’m teaching in April. If you want to come and dye sock yarn and roving in rainbow colors, this is the class for you. I’m ordering dyes soon. Since it’s March, there’s a 20% discount on greens. Too funny! Contact me or Unique One if you want to come play in the dye with me.

When I recover from illness and survive my civic meetings (two budget, one planning) this week, I’ll be back to knitting and dyeing. My goal is to have pictures of completed items this weekend.

I had a meeting that went on until 11 last night; then I came home and couldn’t sleep.

So, I slept in, the 3Ts made me breakfast (without me asking!), and then I got up and took a bunch of pictures. It’s been a good morning!

I’ve been spinning for about five years now. Spinning led to dyeing. I’ve done a lot of both. I’ve done so much that I’ve taken to teaching dyeing classes (upcoming class on 4/21–join me, it’ll be fun!).

For a taste of my taste in handspun, handdyed yarns, check out the “Handspun Yarn Gallery” at the top of the sidebar (to the right of this column). It’s just a sample of the dozens of skeins in big boxes in my fiber room (and the living room, and sometimes the bedroom). I’ve literally spun 20+ lbs of fiber and most of it’s in bags and boxes. Perhaps I need a “completed bar” for the handspun projects I should be working on.

Make sure you scroll down to the last picture. It has the companions to the skein in this post. That’s where the picture of My Favorite Skein is. Check it out!

Lack of a computer has kept me a busy gal.  I completed some socks last night:

Using my favorite Yankee Knitter pattern these socks are Briggs and Little’s Durasport (which we have at the store, but isn’t on the website).  It’s wool and nylon, but only comes in four colors.  My itchy dyeing fingers put an end to that!  I actually dyed two skeins in this "colorway".  The first was "typical" dyeing–putting out the skein (tied in the two yard length it came in) and carefully applying dye.  The second (this one) was put out in a 40 foot skein, then dyed in stripes.  I had estimated that it would take six to eight feet of yarn to knit up into a quarter inch of sock stripe on fingering weight yarn.

I was right, but getting eight feet of one color was a bear.  It worked on the hot fuschia, but the turquoise wasn’t as clear.

Here’s the "typical" sock, that was completed a few months ago.  It’s wet in this picture, having been just taken out of the washer.  It’s got a few months of wear (hence the fuzzy halo), but you can see how the stripes are different.

One more comparison:

Note that the ball of yarn with the pair of socks is the leftovers after two socks were knit.  From weighing them I know I can get another sock out of each ball.  So, in the end I will have knit six socks (three pair) from two skeins of yarn.  Oh, and each skein is $5.95.  The best deal in town.  Just add dye.