Category: dyeing

  • some colour and some black

    I dyed up the last pound of corriedale roving that I’d bought from eBay a while back (seller winderwood farm) and it was finally dry tonight.

    I dyed in the crockpot, with Cushings dyes, in two 8 oz. batches. The roving’s in a couple balls because I accidentally pulled too hard in a few places while fluffing it up! I really like how the red/grey/purple one came out; it was totally not what I was expecting.

    I started a new sweater that’ll go fast, I hope – I’m cold! I don’t know if you noticed, but those last couple sweaters I knit were cotton, and I’m definitely feeling a chill. The sweater’s a top-down pulli in black wool. Not terribly exciting, and you probably won’t see it again for awhile, since it’s pretty boring blog fodder.

    I’m also going to start some scarves, since they’re the ultimate cold weather accessory – one in the black casmere I showed the other day, one in some yummy blue sky alpacas worsted. Yum.

  • the knitting

    Didja see johanna’s comment to my last post?

    “I don’t know Laura, your last minute attempt to throw in some knitting doesn’t convince me. You’ve gone to the other side. You are a spinner.”

    Hey man, it ain’t all spinning up in here. Evidence:

    Bamboo Chickami
    Pattern: Chickami by Chicknits
    Yarn: Southwest Trading Company Bamboo, “Chocolate”, less than 2 skeins!
    Needles: Denise US 5 and 6
    Started: June 27, 2005
    Finished: July 18, 2005

    Notes:
    I only had 2 skeins, so I made a size smaller than I’d usually do (34″ instead of 36″). It turned out well, if pretty darn fitted. I even had yarn left over…

    …but not enough for me to have done the larger size. Oh, and I did the wide strap version. Bra strap issues, but I don’t care all that much. The yarn is weird; feels really soft on the ball but more scratchy knit up. I think wash and wear will help, and it’s really starting to grow on me, actually.

    Oh, and I even started another project.

    I’m calling it “Sapphire”. A tank of my own design out of Pingouin Sillages, which I assume is discontinued. It’s 50% cotton, 45% viscose, and 5% silk. Yummy colour. In an unprecedented move, I have since bought and switched to an Addi Turbo needle for this project – the bamboo was dragging. Why don’t I like Addis? Well, I find the tips too dull, they’re too slippery (so I don’t have control, and I knit looser as well), and I don’t like the noise. Oh, and they’re expensive. But, we’ll see. Maybe this will convert me or something. (Don’t worry Denise, I’ll always love you.)

    And I finally bought buttons for Spencer.

    See? Not a spinning thing in the bunch. But how about some dyeing?

    “nectarine”, a nice soft wool blend.

    Crazy bright merino that I bought (I didn’t dye it) from my trusty eBay seller.

    Tomorrow: Stash addition.

  • spinnin

    Just spinning here today, folks.

    I spun up the first two lots of my hand-dyed corriedale.

    The colours aren’t quite true – both of the dyed skeins are more brown in real life. How *do* people get colour-accurate pictures? I suppose a better camera would help; alas, I’d rather spend the money on fibre. The rust yarn is about 150 yards, worsted-ish weight, and the green one is a little thinner and about 196 yards (both are 4 oz and 2-ply). I’m quite happy with the colours after being spun up, actually.

    And check out these cool tags; my cousin gave me them at Christmas. Seems like a waste to just use them for myself, so I’m going to pick up some plainer tags just to label the yardage and such.

    I also spun up that sherbet-coloured merino, but I couldn’t get a good picture tonight – I’ll put one up tomorrow. In the meanwhile, I’ve dyed some more of the merino. This stuff is seriously soft; I think I need to buy some more (plus it’s a good deal)!

    This one is primary colours with a bit of the in-between colours (just a touch of green and purple). I love that it actually turned out bright!

    This one is more red in real life; it’s dark pinks, reds, and purples. I quite like it, even if it does look kind of like a bruise.

    That’s it for now! Next question is, of course – what do I do with all this handspun?

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