April 14, 2006
Every now and then I get an idea in my head, and it possesses me until I do something about it. These ideas can be about anything. Cleaning out the wardrobe, rearranging the CD collection, obtaining a particular item from eBay, or a whole set of books by a particular author, anything is possible.
Last week I got an idea in my head about dyeing. It had been in my head for a few days, but was brought to the forefront by the gift of Knit Picks dyeable yarn I received from Tammy.
Being the sock yarn whore that I am, I've been reading posts on various blogs about dyeing self striping yarn. Then I started dreaming about it. That's when I decided that it was time to actually dye some striping sock yarn of my own. Because you know, I don't have enough difficulty now deciding which sock yarn to knit up next!
I decided that I wanted to make yarn with graduated stripes, similar to Trekking XXL. I only had dye on hand in pink, blue and purple, and all are vivid colours. I just figured that I could use less dye for paler shades. I wanted to have three shades of one colour, striping first in a pale shade, to a mid shade to a bright shade.
First of all, I worked out roughly how long I wanted each repeat, then tried to work out how big a skein I needed. Then I wound the skein. This was a rather amusing part. Our house is tiny, and to get the length I needed involved various chairs and an obstacle course to wind the skein. I think if I ever do this again, I need to find or make a warping board.
Anyway, the skein was wound (I forgot to take pictures at that stage), and I let it soak overnight.
The dyes I use are Landscapes dyes, and the colour I used is "Galah", a bright pink. First off, I decided the dye the whole skein the palest colour.
Landscapes recommends that for each 100g of yarn, you should use 10g of dye. So, for the whole 100g skein, I used 1g of dye, figuring I'd get a nice light shade of pink.
Maybe not! 1/10th of the recommended amount of dye, and it still came out this colour!
At this stage, I decided that getting three shades of pink would be near on impossiblethis time, and decided just to have two stripes. So I dyed half of the yarn (50g) with 5g of colour, as recommended.
I don't know if I'm totally happy with the result.
I had hoped for a better contrast. No way was I going to get three shades of pink! So next time (if there is a next time), I think I'll have to start with 0.1g of colour.
I had fun with the dyeing, although making huge skeins is a little tedious. For that matter, so is reskeining.
When wet, I wasn't happy with the colours, although now that it's dry and I've turned it into two wound skeins, I think it looks pretty cool.
The contrast seems to look better here, so I'm hoping I'll get some pretty funky stripes happening.
I haven't balled it up or started to knit with it yet, becuase I'm quite enjoying just looking at the skeins. And if I start to knit these socks, DH may get a bit stroppy, seeing as the socks i started for him back in December are still only half done.
And, speaking of DH's socks, progress has been made.
I've given up on the 2 circs method, and they're back on the trusty old DPNS!
Posted by Donna at April 14, 2006 07:52 PMComments
It looks fantastic Donna, really lush!
(Glad you're back on the dpn's, don't know why, but I am!)
I Like!! I tried DPNS for the first time yesterday. They are kinda cool...I could even(maybe) think about knitting a sock...*gasp*
Posted by: Precious-Stuff at April 14, 2006 09:50 PMAwesome. If you ever decide to sell it, can I be top of the list ?
Posted by: Lara at April 14, 2006 10:36 PMoh it looks great to me! you'd be suprised what looks good once its knitted up too... mmm cant wait to see them knit :)
Posted by: happy spider at April 14, 2006 10:47 PMIt's certainly a 'wake you up' kind of color - but both are beautiful and I be will be great when knit!
Posted by: Jade at April 14, 2006 11:41 PMTher pink yarn is beautiful! I also really like the colors of DH's socks.
Posted by: Wendy G at April 14, 2006 11:50 PMThere is a nice color contrast in the dry yarn. I think it will be very pretty when knit. Yay for DPNS! I think they get a bad rap sometimes, but I love them.
Posted by: wool winder at April 15, 2006 12:30 AMthe dyed yarn is beautiful.. can't wait to see it knit up!
I love the corols in your hubbys sock.. what yarn is that??
I bought my first long circ the other week, still waiting for it to show up tho, I'm planning on trying 2 socks on 1 circ?? we'll see how it goes, I'll probally go back to DPN's too..lol
Posted by: Vicki at April 15, 2006 12:43 AMHmm, I wonder if you could just use really large dowels to make a warping board? Doesn't need to be too heavy duty since it might be used too much. Now I am thinking I need to do some more dyeing!
The sock yarn you dyed are really pink (stating the obvious..) Anticipating seeing it knitted up. I prefer dpns for socks too.. but that might be because I've never really tried circs for them..
Posted by: kessa at April 15, 2006 01:34 AMI get those ideas in my head too and they'll drive me crazy until I do something about them. Your dye job looks great.
Posted by: Jill at April 15, 2006 01:51 AMThe dyeing is wonderful, and I'm so with you on the DPNs versus 2 circs. Give me the DPNs any day!
Posted by: Norma at April 15, 2006 02:07 AMWow, that is so pretty!! I haven't ventured into dying yet, but want to once the weather is better and I can do it outside.
Posted by: Tammy at April 15, 2006 03:07 AMlove that color, it is perfect! i occassionally try the two circ method, and keep going back to the tried true, trusty double points.
Posted by: marti at April 15, 2006 04:32 AMlol!! I'm imagining your house one big niddy noddy. The colours look good and when skeined back up it looks just like knitpicks yarn - suprise suprise!! hay a thought - maybe you could have used some 'run away' or something on the section you wanted to be lighter? I've never tried that but it's an idea. :-)
Posted by: the stripey tiger at April 15, 2006 08:05 AMSock yarn looks great now it has dried, there is a really good contrast!!! Can't wait to see your socks now!!!
Posted by: 2paw at April 15, 2006 04:19 PMfantastic sock yarn and YAY for socks on dpn's.
Does this mean there will be two pairs of finished socks soon??? :)
Love the yarn! The colours look beautiful.
Sorry to hear of the demise of the 2 circs but ya gotta do what works for you!
Your wool looks gorgeous! Congrats on your first dyeing attempt. I'm certain it'll look great when you knit it too.
Posted by: OzK at April 16, 2006 12:22 AMYour yarn looks great. I was thinking of dying yarn too, but to be honest, I'm too lazy. It seems so much trouble. But maybe someday?
I've one question if you don't mind answerin if you have time. I loved your blue lace scarf from a few postings before. As I told you, I have the magazine and thinking of trying my hand on it. I have never done lace knitting before. I have one on my needles. A 10 rows repeat (get's pretty boring fast). anyway, I've read in the pattern "do not break the yarn throughout knitting" or something like this. I have several balls of yarn for this lace pattern. How do I do "not break"? Do I just knott it together? If you could answer I would really appreciate it!
Thanks, Monika Oh, by the way. I like DPNS better also. ;o)
Welcome to the hand dyed obssessions,I love creating something different each time.I am nearly past the pastel and brights and would love to try some autumn colours like your DH's.I am hoping to try the Gaywool dyes!
Can't wait to see how yours knit up!
The yarns look lovely!
Posted by: Emy at April 17, 2006 02:14 AMI adore the colours - well done.
Posted by: blueadt at April 19, 2006 02:40 AM
I think they look great. The problem with dyeing is it's so hard to know how things are going to turn out beforehand.
As for the re-skeining; there's a reason I raised my self-striping yarn prices. The time involved is unbelievable!
Posted by: jessie at April 14, 2006 08:56 PM