Another Day, Another Dye Pot!

Okay, before I start on todays fun stuff I need to rant. Please understand that in life you will sometimes have to stand in line. Yes, that's right, sometimes when you are checking out at a grocery store, a dept store or a CRAFT STORE, you will have to wait in line. Please know that if the cashier, trying frantically to cash everyone out as fast and friendly as possible, could get back up to another register, she/he WOULD DO IT! Calling to them from the line to get more help, yelling at them when you get to the register, asking to see a manager, will only serve to make them less able to do the job quickly and the friendly part will go right out the window. Advice: if you are in hurry DO NOT go into a craft store and expect to get out in 3 minutes. Give yourself 10 minutes to get through the line. Check the line as you walk in, if it's long, choose another time to shop. Ask the employees when the slowest times of day are and shop during those times. But no matter what, belittling someone because you didn't give yourself enough time, if the wrong thing to do. END RANT.

So, today I am trying to dye pure wool. I normally only do superwash, but I can get pure wool at work for a discount (no shipping from on line vendors, either) so I figured a couple skeins of Patons Wool would be a good first try. This cannot go in the microwave! If you are dyeing pure wool, the heat will need to be in the oven. I will heat the oven to 170 (the lowest mine will go) and leave it in there for 39 minutes or so. The yarn needs to be about 170 for 15 minutes to

set the color. I choose a darker, muted color way today, dark blues and purples. I will say that it

didn't look good at last check. Hopefully it will get better as it sits on the dye pot.

In other news, I put a beautiful black and grey net book case on my Etsy shop. It's got fun fur on the flap and a huge button for closure. I think it's really pretty. I have a purple and green one that needs a button and it will be ready for listing.

New Felted Handbags in my Etsy Shop

Over the holiday I made a few more felted handbags. I did some netbook cases too but those will get listed in a day or so. The purses are the same style but different colors. I found wonderful giant buttons at a local yarn shop that were perfect for closures.

I use Lamb's Pride, double stranded, size 15 needles for these. They take about a day including the 45 minutes or so in the washer to get them fully felted. They are almost a half inch thick, put a brick in one and they could be used as weapons!

I made one for myself with lime green as the top color and purple as the bottom color. A giant triangle shaped purple button as the closure makes it look really fun. I get a lot of compliments on it when I'm out.

They're bigger than they look in the pictures.

Going to handpaint some feltable wool this weekend. I usually only do superwash so I don't have to worry about it fulling when I go from hot to cold, but I will just have to have some patience and allow the yarn to get to room temp without cold water help. I'll post the results tomorrow.

Thanks for tuning in and Happy Knitting and Crocheting!

New Colorway is DELICIOUS!!! Oh yeah!

It's soo yummy! I love it! I made two cakes, one for me and one for Etsy. I even added a ball of red for heels, toes and cuffs.
LOOK at this!!!

As soon as I get finished with my husbands socks and my daughters hat, I will start on socks with this yarn!!

So, are you dyeing (ha ha) to know about my giant swift? It's really cool though not done yet. I still need to make a stand for it. What you see if actually part of my other, smaller, swift. When I make the stand it will be vertical instead of horizontal like the video.

Please ignore the messy house, I have too many crafts going on in one place. :) The swift is 5.5 feet across and makes the skein 4+ yards long for nice long color sections. The longer the color section, the thicker the stripe, if you're trying for stripes. Email me if you want to know how to make it: imagesinthewind@mho.com

Have a great night and happy knitting!

Check out my Etsy shop! http://www.etsy.com/shop/woolinthewasher

Dyeing Hints and Tips

So yesterday you saw the yarn I did yesterday and are waiting for pictures, right? :)

It is very pretty, though not quite what I expected. I will try using a brighter pink next time. But still a great colorway.

Today I am dyeing a red, raspberry, purple variegated in honor of my friend, Lisa. They are her favorite colors. I put two hanks together

and wound it on my new HUGE swift. It's 5.5

FEET across so I no longer have to wind the yarn around the kitchen table or the bench seat I usually use. Doing it around the seat makes my back hurt and takes 10 minutes or so. It makes me only want to do one skein per day because it's a pain in the back (ha ha).

Here is another shot of the Beach Glass colorway (I don't usually name the colorways).

Todays is in the dye pot and I used only the Jacquard acid dyes for it. When using a purple, I like those dyes better, The Wilton tends to show a lot of pink when it wicks.

I was asked about making sure the colors all match if you are doing a variegated of the same colors, like all blues or all greens. The best way to do this is to use only two colors. If I'm going to do a 4 color of just blues, I choose two blues; one really light and the other dark. Mix up the lightest color and check the color on a napkin. If you like it make sure you know how much water and how much dye you used to make it. You'll make it a couple more times. For the second color I mix up the first color, then add a smidge of the darker blue. Mix and check. If it's different enough from the first and you like it, keep it. Then do the same with the dark blue. Mix and check. If you like it, keep it. The last mix will be just a small amount of the lighter blue and then use the darker to make the third color. Mix and check until you find the right four colors to make your variegation. Using just the two colors and mixing will allow you to make sure the colors are in the same family. Nothing worse than three good colors and one that just doesn't match.

Time to go pull the purples out of the dyepot! Tomorrow i will show you the giant swift. Stay tuned!

A Quick Yarn Dyeing Tutorial

My Etsy shop is getting new yarns every day. Today I listed that pretty yellow/Orange variegated I mentioned yesterday. In case you're interested: http://www.etsy.com/shop/woolinthewasher

So how do I do it? Here is a short tut with a few pictures so if you want to try this you can. I use three different types of dye and they all wash and wear the exact same. The food dye doesn't wash out and it just as good as (if not better than) the toxic acid dyes that are twice as expensive and you can't use anything again for food. Keep that in mind. I use the Jacquard Acid dyes (toxic, $3.75 per jar, 40 colors) and the Wilton Icing Gel dyes (non toxic and $1.50 per jar, 24 colors) as well as the McCormick Food coloring drops (non toxic, 6 color with the Neons, $3.50 for the box of dyes).

Another good thing to have is a bunch of those paint cards from Home Depot or Lowes. It's a great thing to have so compare colors and get ideas for colorways.If you aren't comfortable going to the hardware store and taking 50 cards all at once, go a few days in a row and get a few more. I just asked the guy behind the paint counter if I could take a bunch for future reference and he told me to help myself.

So, just ask.I use them every day to make sure my color combinations go together before mixing dye. Then I mix my dye to match the color.

I usually use a natural colored superwash yarn fromKnitpicks.com. It's a great soft yarn, in

expensive at $6.49 per skein, and 100 grams for a pair of socks. I have a bench seat that I wrap the yarn around so it's about 6 yards around. If I need it to be longer I put a

box on the bench and wrap around the bench and box. I have an idea for a new swift and will let you know if it works. The skein in these photos is about 8 yarns around. This is the yarn in hot water with about 1/2 cup of vinegar, soaking for an hour or so. I found that overnight hasn't done anything different than soaking for an hour.

While the yarn soaks, I figure the colors I want and get out the dyes I think will make the colors I need. Here I use a combo of the acid dyes and Wilton dyes. The green is a combo of Kelly and Emerald (acid dyes). The blue is just Sky Blue (acid). The pink is mostly Rose Pink and Orange (Wiltons) and a bit of Hot Fuschia (acid). The Peachy color is a bit Creamy Peach(wiltons) and Salmon (acid). So you can see that the different dyes can be combined to make all the colors you want. *One thing to remember, the Violet Wiltons has a pink undertone that wants to take over. I'd use an acid dye instead of the Wiltons unless you are dip dyeing. After my colors are all mixed the way I like and I've checked them by putting a bit of each on a white napkin, I get my pots ready.

I put about 1.5 cups of hot water in each and then pour my 1 cup of dye in the water and stir. Then I take out my yarn, squeeze it dry and make four loops all about the same size. Each loop will go in a

dye pot. Make sure you put the dye in an order that touching color will make a new good color. Only the green and orange would have made mud and I made sure they didn't touch too much.

I move the yarn around a little make sure all of it gets to the dye and move the section that are high into the dye for a few minutes, then into the other color for a few seconds so I don' t have too much un-dyed yarn. After the dye pots go clear, the yarn has absorbed all the dye it can.

If there is still a lot of dye left in the pot after about an hour, use less dye the next time. I take the yarn out and squeeze it a bit so it doesn't drip. Then it's time for heat. I usually tuck each color into it's own baggie and put the whole thing on a plate in the microwave for 3 mins on, 3 off, 3 on, and let sit for a while. When it's room temp again, I rinse. If there is no dye left in the water and if no dye transfers to my hands (I don't use gloves) then I don't go through the rinsing. If there is a lot of dye left in the pots, I rinse the yarn sections in hot water until it runs clear. I use the washing machine on spin to get most of the water out and hang to dry.

Tomorrow this yarn will be dry and I will cake it and get pics for you. Check back to see how it turns out!

Later! Happy Knitting!

I know, I know!!!!!

Yeah, it's been a very long while and i'm sorry. Life got really crazy with school and work and all creative processes (except math) came to a screeching halt. But i'm back.!

I've finished a pair of socks made from Patons Decor. It's a home dec yarn, 70% acrylic, 30% wool but the hand is soft and there is a bigger wool content than Wool Ease from Lion Brand. I've got two pair made from this yarn, a brown~lilac~butter yellow colorway and a burgundy~black~orange colorway. Because of the acrylic, they are warm but not too hot because of the wool. so far, I like them.

I've been dyeing for a few weeks too. I've got some really fun color ways, a gradient from green to blue, a yellow to orange 4 way variegated, a perfect Valentines Red/Pink/White color way and the most fun is a green/Purple/orange variegated color way that is amazing! I made a green 10gram ball for toes, heels and cuffs. They will make great socks!

The only skein i will be keeping is a hot pink/salmon/yellow colorway. I am keeping it for me because the colors remind me of tulips so i'm going to make a kelly green ball for those toes, heels and cuffs. Kinda like stems to the flowers.

more soon, and pictures to go with it!

Kids and Knitting Looms

My youngest daughter turns 10 on labor day. Double digits and she's excited. Since I've been knitting for 8 years or so, she's been watching me the whole time, wanting to learn. Unfortunately she just doesn't have the patience level to do it with two sticks and string. So for her birthday she is getting the entire loom kit (circles and long ones) and ten skeins of yarn. Check them all out at Michaels or Joann Fabrics and Crafts (start there, it's where I work :)).

They are made for knitting like the kids do on their fingers. Things knit up pretty fast and you can do both knit and purl stitch. You can do both knit in the round as well as back and forth.

I gave Journey (the daughter) one of the round looms and a skein of purple heather worsted weight and let her go to town. In about a week (she was afraid of it in the beginning) she had made her very own winter beenie. She won't take it off. She wears it to school and gets scolded for wearing hats in school, but she does it anyway.

For the holidays, we are going to make 8 scarves for 8 teachers in the school colors. Each will be a different scarf but with the same two colors. It'll be interesting to see if we can come up with 8 different patterns with only two colors. Wish us luck. But this time Journey will get to help.

Looms come in both circular and long looms. Looms allow both circluar in-the-round knitting as well as back and forth knitting. The longest loom is 22 inches. When you get done using that loom, you will have a smaller blanket or have of a big one. Use one strand or several at a time to make anything you can imagine.

Easy to use and fun. So if you have small ones who want to learn, or even if you want to try something new, try the Knifty Knitter Looms!