Long Time, No Post

Life. That is the only excuse that I have. Pretty self-explanatory I think :)

Good thing I have photos - I would've forgotten what I had been doing!

Socks. I dyed the fiber myself - Corriedale top, ~125g. I added the 25g of white when I thought that the 100g of dyed wouldn't be enough.

The top became 3 bobbins of singles.

 Which became this yarn, ~14-15wpi.

Then into these socks. I made them up from two different patterns and Rav'd here.

Then I tried spinning some fine Merino. It wasn't very easy, so I ended up stripping the top very thinly and spinning from that.

It was not the most fun I have had. Maybe more practice is needed? It created a thick and thin yarn, that was very soft and squooshy, I didn't have a lot, but it was enough for this.

During this time I found Corgi Hill Farm on etsy. Love her fiber! As is evident from my last post with the shawl. I also had some Rambouillet from there. This is quite like Merino, in that it is soft and fine. So I dove right in to give it a try. Still not much luck lol Though it wasn't as thick and thin as the merino. But I couldn't fit any more on my bobbin when plying - I had to hand wind the last few metres on :)

Also there was a very small hat for a friends newborn. Shown on a rather large headed Cabbage Patch doll.

'Til next post! Hopefully that won't be long, as I have been joining in with the Tour De Fleece on Ravelry :)

Cheers!

Catch Up Post

Yes, it has come to that again! I need to do a catch up if I want to have any hope of remembering to share what I have been up to.

Remember this? I dyed some more fleece to mix with it, in a dark blue. I played with my hand cards and made rolags for the first time (which really aren't so great to do worsted spinning from - learning curve!) But it was fun.

It looked pretty all plied up. I am attempting to swatch it to see what I might want to turn it into.

I also gained some more fleece. A lamb fleece from my Dad, which is a Merino X Poll Dorset or South Suffolk. Such a very small amount of wool - but I think it feels delightfully soft (Dad has other opinions, and tells me it isn't as soft as it could be). I only got about 180g or so after washing and picking all the prickles out - lambs are grubby little things.

Also some merino ewe fleece from a neighbour of Dads. So very kind of them. I haven't washed all of it, but what I have washed is lovely and soft also.

And the biggest - I finally finished my crochet Cap Sleeve Top that I started last year. I was procrastinating big time on this, as it was sitting there with just 1 round of crochet to go, and the ends to be woven in. Tut, tut! I am glad I have finished it though, as it is soooooooo lovely. I wore it to the Roxette concert and it wears well. I may need to put a little elastic on the shoulder straps at some point, as they are a little loose.

Cheers!

Solar Dyeing

I decided to give solar dyeing a go on the weekend. There were two reasons why.
1. I didn't want to risk felting my handspun (I sometimes don't watch very closely and my water starts to bubble), and
2. We are having a heatwave here - I may as well make the most of free heat!

So I started with rather unprepared wool - I quickly soaked it in some warm water. Then I added some hot tap water to my turquoise dye and citric acid (first time using citric instead of vinegar) and poured it into a strong freezer bag, then placed the wool in and tied it up. I placed it into a big saucepan, so that if the bag broke it would be contained.

Then out to the solar oven that my husband constructed ages ago and in it went. I put it in at about 3:30pm, so there was only a few hours of heat left for that day. Most of the dye had been absorbed by about 6pm but I figured I may as well leave it overnight and give it another day of heating.

At the end of day 2, the water was completely clear and when I took it out of the oven (must remember pot mitts next time) the water was at ~65C! Not bad! Again, I left it overnight, this time to cool down completely (that took a lot of patience let me tell you).

When I rinsed, there was no dye leak, and no vinegar smell :) I have read that turquoise dye can be a terrible one to get to stick, so I am very happy that mine didn't wash out.

All in all, I am very happy with the results, and while we have hot weather, I shall certainly be doing more solar dyeing, as it doesn't heat my house up, and uses free energy :) Win win I say!

Cheers!

Because The Kids Can't Have All The Fun...

Following on from this post, I did some dyeing of my own after I had helped the kids with theirs. Mine was more simple, as I was after a tone on tone sort of look, with speckles. And for some reason I wanted yellow. Actually I wanted orange, but I didn't have enough orange mixed up so settled with yellow and orange for the speckles.

The yarn is BWM Luxury 4ply - I am giving it a go to make socks for myself. The pattern is Diagonal Lace Socks by Wendy D Johnson. It is my first try at toe-up socks, and I am also doing them two-at-a-time on 2 circulars. Here is the wool wound into 2 separate balls to make it easier to do them both together.

It is slow going, but pretty straight forward. There are a few yarn overs in the wrong spot due to some "lack of attention" knitting sessions, but they will be hidden by my shoes (and I am pretty sure no one else will care except me, and I don't care enough to go back and fix them - knowing how it happened is enough knowledge for me - if I pick it up early enough I do stop and fix it).

I can't wait until they are finished and I can wear them (and cast on some more in a different pattern). I have plans for a pair of purple socks - I just need to dye the yarn :)

Cheers!

Yarn Dyeing - So Much Fun!

Base yarns - some grey unknown from the op-shop, approximately 10g. Bendigo Woollen Mills 'Luxury' in cream, leftover from this project, about 30g (I think).

Colours - Wilton food paste colours in red, yellow, blue and green. I made up each of these colours and also orange and purple. I used vinegar as the acid for fixing (I was using lots of bits and pieces I had found when looking up information, but it was a few weeks ago, so I don't remember the specifics - please don't follow my approximations, best to go and research it properly).

To apply the colours, I lay some Gladwrap on the table, and then the wool. I just poured the colour where I wanted it and gently massaged it in.

Once I had applied it all, I wrapped it up in the Gladwrap and popped it into a pan of hot water.

I kept the water just simmering or thereabouts (I wasn't getting too technical this time around). Once all the extra colour that floating around in the Gladwrap turned clear, I took the wool out to cool. On rinsing there was no extra colour loss.

To be quite honest, I was really, really surprised at the depth and vibrancy of the colours that emerged.

I did a swatch with the original grey yarn, as I wasn't sure what ply it was, but I got a bit bored just doing plain stitches, so I did a few yarn overs and knit 2 togethers to see what it would look like. I have come to the conclusion that is about an 8ply.

As I had a little more time left after dyeing those, I decided to do some small samples using a bluey-green 100% wool, also from the op-shop with the same colours, and also put the grey in the yellow, orange & red. I am liking the results.

There will be more yarn dyeing in my future - it was fun and a great way to use yarn that I don't like the original colour of :)

Cheers!