Fun with dyes
G'day all!
Firstly, thanks to all for your kind emails and comments concerning the first anniversary of my father's death.
Look, I am coming through with a promise! I said I'd have pics of the yarn I've been dyeing. More yarn. More pics!
I threw some laceweight into the dye pot in skeins and added small amounts of hmm, plum coloured dye I think. I let that go for a while and it became nicely variegated, then I added little spots of hibiscus here and there. (To me hibiscuses are lurid oranges and yellows and reds, but I guess they mean the syracuse hibiscuit or whatever it is, the one that is deciduous and has mauve flowers.)
The colours are a bit more intense than in the skein - I can't get good colour reproduction currently cos it is sunset when I get home and using the flash just washes out the colour and I don't have enough space in this house to set up a flash tent.
Then I grabbed more yarn and tossed it in the dyepot, after the pink was done and removed. This lot was hot-dyed with hibiscus and later on a bit of clematis to add more blue/violet to it.
Purdy, eh? It isn't really that lurid, but the colours are quite clear, not murky.
I have to reskein these, or ball them or something cos they are mighty messy at present even with a few ties on them. Maybe I should do another blog with the yarns I do not want to keep on it. It can be my swap/trade/sell blog. Most of the yarns I've dyed recently are not things I intend on keeping, well not if someone else wants them lots, enough lots to talk turkey!
I hardly got a chance to do my April Project Spectrum stuff. I finally finished the handspun hat I was working on - it is basically a cone, knitted top down. It is soft and warm and fuzzy.
Can you tell where I ran out of yarn and had to use a different dyelot? LOL Also someone asked me if I would actually wear it. It isn't my colours but yes I would It is nice and warm and a bit dicky, the latter being rather like me.
Plus here is the start of the new May Project Spectrum, assuming it is green cos I keep not being able to load Lolly's page.
Elfine's sock toes by Amelia Raitte. I am trying them on one long circ, even a metal circ, but I think I need a longer circ! It is an interesting technique and much easier to use than have two socks on two circs mainly cos you have no choice about which needle to knit off and onto - there is only one! You CANNOT stuff up! Unlike what I was doing with two socks on two circs. But I am getting some laddering problems, which I think would be alleviated with a looooong circ. You can see that I've started the pattern if you look closely at the top sock. Yarn by Jessie, and is it ever yummy! The colour changes are wonderful, and again the colour reproduction is not perfect.
Hokey dokey, time to go do some kumara (sweet potato/yam) and carrots to go with the roast chicken. YUM! I love roasted vegies, getting them that bit caramelised... yum yum YUM! And then I might do a little house blog update. Or maybe I'll continue painting the wall in the fibre room. And then I have to watch Spicks and Specks at 8:30.
anon!
Firstly, thanks to all for your kind emails and comments concerning the first anniversary of my father's death.
Look, I am coming through with a promise! I said I'd have pics of the yarn I've been dyeing. More yarn. More pics!
I threw some laceweight into the dye pot in skeins and added small amounts of hmm, plum coloured dye I think. I let that go for a while and it became nicely variegated, then I added little spots of hibiscus here and there. (To me hibiscuses are lurid oranges and yellows and reds, but I guess they mean the syracuse hibiscuit or whatever it is, the one that is deciduous and has mauve flowers.)
The colours are a bit more intense than in the skein - I can't get good colour reproduction currently cos it is sunset when I get home and using the flash just washes out the colour and I don't have enough space in this house to set up a flash tent.
Then I grabbed more yarn and tossed it in the dyepot, after the pink was done and removed. This lot was hot-dyed with hibiscus and later on a bit of clematis to add more blue/violet to it.
Purdy, eh? It isn't really that lurid, but the colours are quite clear, not murky.
I have to reskein these, or ball them or something cos they are mighty messy at present even with a few ties on them. Maybe I should do another blog with the yarns I do not want to keep on it. It can be my swap/trade/sell blog. Most of the yarns I've dyed recently are not things I intend on keeping, well not if someone else wants them lots, enough lots to talk turkey!
I hardly got a chance to do my April Project Spectrum stuff. I finally finished the handspun hat I was working on - it is basically a cone, knitted top down. It is soft and warm and fuzzy.
Can you tell where I ran out of yarn and had to use a different dyelot? LOL Also someone asked me if I would actually wear it. It isn't my colours but yes I would It is nice and warm and a bit dicky, the latter being rather like me.
Plus here is the start of the new May Project Spectrum, assuming it is green cos I keep not being able to load Lolly's page.
Elfine's sock toes by Amelia Raitte. I am trying them on one long circ, even a metal circ, but I think I need a longer circ! It is an interesting technique and much easier to use than have two socks on two circs mainly cos you have no choice about which needle to knit off and onto - there is only one! You CANNOT stuff up! Unlike what I was doing with two socks on two circs. But I am getting some laddering problems, which I think would be alleviated with a looooong circ. You can see that I've started the pattern if you look closely at the top sock. Yarn by Jessie, and is it ever yummy! The colour changes are wonderful, and again the colour reproduction is not perfect.
Hokey dokey, time to go do some kumara (sweet potato/yam) and carrots to go with the roast chicken. YUM! I love roasted vegies, getting them that bit caramelised... yum yum YUM! And then I might do a little house blog update. Or maybe I'll continue painting the wall in the fibre room. And then I have to watch Spicks and Specks at 8:30.
anon!
Your dyeing looks great, I'm so happy to see my sock yarn, and I can't seem to link to your house blog. The first link takes me to a yarn page (very nice) and the second gives me a page not found.
ReplyDeleteI love house pics. Show me!
The May project spectrum color is green...I'm not participating, but it's ALL OVER, so it's hard not to miss :)
ReplyDeleteI have grown to prefer magic loop, and found a 40-inch needle to be jsut right. Maybe longer for 2 socks! Way to go - the toe up cast on looks so tidy. I have been admiring Jessie's yarns. I just can't decide on a color.
BTW - what's "dicky"?
I really love the way you write. I think in an Aussie accent when I read your blog! (Well, more of a Skye Mangel sort of voice - sorry I went to Australia twenty years ago so Neighbours is the only bit of Australia that comes into our house at the moment)
ReplyDeleteHuzzah!! Green for Project Spectrum!! I am going to die from happiness - not that I don't do green all the time, but this month EVERYONE ELSE is too!!
ReplyDeleteLovely dyeing, I quite like the purples, violets and mauves, oh and periwinkles. Nice socks. I'm in a sock slump because it's cold and thus cardi knitting weather!! Very clever on the one needle too, I'm a dpn person but this looks easy!!
I love the handspun yarn hat! Reminds me of those Fruit Salad sweets :-)
ReplyDeleteYou are having some dyeing fun, aren't you?! Lovely colors, too. I can hardly wait to hit the dyepot myself...
ReplyDeleteI almost did Elfines with my Black Lagoon Sundara! But I realied it might not go so well, since I was going to be sitting and talking a lot...
That yarn you have dyed is GORGEOUS!! You have done really well!
ReplyDeleteWhat ply is purple yarn?
I so want to make those Elfine socks one day! Working my way through difficulty of socks at the moment! lol.
Katt