First Dyeing of the New Year

And first blog post, I really want to get back into the habit of doing this as it's such a great reminder of things I have done and how I did them. Hence the dyeing. These are new dyes for me from Doodlestop. The main reason for using them is that they can be used in the kitchen with utensils from the kitchen, most importantly, my microwave.

My usual method requires a large pot on the stove that is only used for dyeing, a nuisance and time consuming. I had been wanting to use the microwave for ages and with these dyes I could.

The purple is Superwash Merino, nylon and cashmere. The red is the same as the purple but a high twist so the yarn is denser. The blue is Superwash blue faced leicester and donegal neps. All the dye solutions were 1.25ml with 125ml of water. I then added dye in 10ml amounts to water and put the yarn in. The purple was 10ml blue and 20 ml red. I'm not really happy with it but dyeing is all about experimentation.

 I have quite a lot of sock yarn for dyeing so more playing on the horizon.

Self Striping Sock Wool

Keeping the skein smaller really helped with the tangling and winding and gnashing of teeth. (see my previous post) This blue and yellow was much easier to manage. I've knitted a small bit of it up just to see how it looks and I love it. 

I have been dyeing again today, trying to recreate the colours in this picture of foxgloves that I took at Chatsworth back in August.

I made up a green using easidyes and put that in the big pot. I put half of the skein in the green dye and rested the other half on the metal rack above the dye mix. I then sprinkled magenta dye crystals on top of it, put the lid on and simmered for 15 minutes. When it's dry I'll put a picture on, the natural part of the skein ended up pink in places and some of the green ended up blue, I've no idea why. However, I like it and can't wait for it to dry so I can knit it. There was quite a lot of colour in the big pot when I removed the skein of yarn so I put another one in, its a lovely blue with shades of green, love that too.

That is the big problem with all of the dyeing, I want to knit it all and not sell it on Etsy. And it is selling, I sold two skeins this week.

I've just ordered another 5 skeins of undyed sock wool, merino this time, so more dyeing at the end of the week. Fab!

Sewing and Dyeing

I'm playing with dye, encouraged after my day at Toft I bought dyes and yarn and I have been playing. The skein on the right was the first one I did. I 'painted' it in magenta and blue on cling film and then I put it in the microwave. It was a bit hit and miss as I wasn't sure how long to cook it for, when I took it out quite a lot of dye came out of it as I rinsed it, this could have been as there was too much dye or because I didn't cook it long enough. I'm not sure whether to wash it again or over dye with another colour. The skein on the left was dyed with the left overs of the first skein. I love this one, how the colour changes are so subtle, there is a true lavender colour and mixes.

Having done that I got bored waiting for the yarn to dry so I made this knitting bag from a pattern from Emma Garry. The fabric was from the Fent shop in Skipton, the outer is John Lewis and the lining is Liberty. The Fent Shop is fantastic for fabric and notions, all brands, pieces, bolts etc. 12" zips only 50p! I always visit when I go to Skipton, sadly they don't have an online shop so you have to visit. What's not to love about a visit to Skipton I say!

I had a good day creating yesterday, and now I'm off to Derbyshire for the Wensley Yarn Workers Exhibition in Cromford. I'm doing socks! 

I think I may have found my blogging mojo!

Dyeing Yarn at Toft Alpaca

It was really sweet how the mummy alpacas surrounded the babies to keep them safe as we entered their field, they were so close we could hear them humming to each other.

I spent a lovely day learning how to dye yarn, it was a great workshop, Debbie Tomkies was full of information, she showed us several ways of dyeing yarn to achieve different effects. We also made a range of colours using different quantities of dye to see how easy it was to make the colour we wanted.

This was my main effort, hopefully when I've knitted it up into socks it will be striped in the three colours. I'll post pictures of the socks when they are knitted. 

Harriet at Toft Alpaca was the perfect hostess, the lunch was lovely and the piece of carrot cake as huge. I would really recommend workshops at Toft.

I didn't come home empty handed. Not only did I have my dyed yarn, I also bought 500gms of grey alpaca fluff for spinning, its so soft.