Speckled Socks on a Round Knitting Loom

I'm really very happy with the way this speckled yarn is knitting up on the CinDwood Knitted Knocker Loom.   This yarn has a nice spring to it, and is very soft 100% merino wool. 

It's the Marly Bird Chic Sheep Merino wool that I dyed with Wilton's Violet, expecting the violet to break into its component colors -- and it did!

Here's the view from the inside, looking down into the toe of the sock from the top of the loom.  Those strings are the remains of the Kitchener cast on, that will be cinched up shortly.

The purl side inside the sock feels softer than the knitted outside.   I am imagining it cushioning my feet some day ... Yes, Happy Feet!

Here's a detail shot of the outside / knitted side.  I love how those speckles are coming together, all pastel and soft for Spring!



I am following a tutorial video by Hypnotic Hysteria, demonstrating how to make a toe-up sock on a knitting loom.   She's left-handed, so I have to do a little transposing to get things to work for my brain.  [I am including the videos here for my own future reference, which will come in handy when I have to make Sock #2!  I may have to dye another ball of yarn to match!]





She begins with the Kitchener Cast-on, which feels like weaving (Yay!).  It looks kind of messy and chaotic, but it does stay orderly and  cinches up seamlessly to close the toe box.   In my mind, it's 100x easier than trying to close that seam with a needle one stitch at a time. 

Dyeing for a Copper Patina 2 ways

Although they look very similar, these are 2 skeins dyed with the same color way with 2 different methods in the same pot. 

I am branching out on my own this time in terms of color choices.

I found this very helpful color mixing tool on the Wilton's website.  I decided to use Teal and Orange, mixed from the little bottles of color drop-by-drop with Wilton's Color Right Color Performance  System.

Teal Color Mixing Recipe
6 drops blue
1 drop yellow

Summer Orange Color Mixing Recipe
18 drops orange
12 drops yellow
4 drops red
1 drop brown
[I added an additional 1 drop of red
and 1 drop of crimson, so it wouldn't be so bright.]

Along with 2 T. white vinegar in the dye pot.  I may have added more later ...

My first thought was to dye a loosely wound ball of yarn, partially submerged in the dye pot, with just the tip sticking out still white.  Then I could go back later and dye that remaindered top part orange or copper for a nice variegation.

I wanted to use the same colors on another skein of yarn, stretched long and space-dyed in the crock pot.  The crock pot still had another project processing in it.   I was running out of time this morning with company coming this afternoon. Yikes!

 

So as the partially submerged ball was soaking up a nice teal-ly copper patina green on the stove top, I plopped in the 2nd skein of yarn to soak up some of the remaining dye in the pot.  Less green by then and more turquoise -- and more pastel.  I left the top of the skein hanging out of the pot so I could also dye that orange / copper when I get to processing that color.

The original summer orange that I had mixed seemed to be a little too bright (a little too Kool Aid?), so I added an additional drop of red, and then an additional drop of crimson to darken it up and make it a little more rusty.

The transitional color is a lot ore interesting than I thought it would be.  Now I wish I had dyed more of the fiber with the crossover transitional mixed teal and orange.  

 This is from the skein that was dyed in a hank, rather than the loose ball. 

The loosely-wound skein of yarn was Yarn Bee brand, 50% merino, part acrylic, and part nylon.  It was one of the skeins I'd purchased while trying to identify one I'd use as my standard base for all this dyeing.  I didn't think the acrylic part of the fiber would take the acid dyes, but it took surprisingly well!   Not sure I'll ever use this stuff again, as I prefer the Marly Bird Sheep Chic 100% merino--which is what the 2nd skein is.

 

The loosly-wound ball was so loosely wound that it was coming apart through the dyeing process.  I was a little afraid I'd have a tangled mess to unravel.  Fortunately, it didn't turn out to be too bad to unravel.  At this point it was still somewhat damp.  It's difficult to get the ball to dry completely without unwinding it.    The next step was to wind it into a ball--just to tame it, and then we could use the skein winder to get it into a long skein that could be hung up to dry. 

I was pleased to see that the teal color had indeed penetrated through to the center of the ball.  I must have been running out of patience and time with the orange side.  I had it tied off / bound just to keep the teal end mostly out of the orange dye water-that's why you see ore white on the orange side.

 This is how the colors spread out once the loose ball was skeined.    The white integrates nicely into the whole.

  

Here is one of the reference videos demonstrating a similar technique from Rebecca at ChemKnit's DyePot Weekly video series, though she wound hers into a loose ball, and dyed it more-or-less half-and-half. 

This was another site I consulted before trying this technique, from The Impatient Dyer for Skillet Dyeing Cakes of yarn.   I'll have to explore this technique a little more ...

Breaking Wilton's Violet with a Simple Dip Dye on the Stove

I realized I had not tried this technique on a simple plain white skein of yarn.
When I tried it earlier, it was on the marled wool. 

I used the usual 1/2 tsp Wilton's violet gel icing color in a pot of simmering water.

Here it is in the rinse water.  So many lovely colors from the 1 dye : Wilton's Violet.

In Rebecca's Video at Dye Pot Weekly, she manages to avoid the magenta segment -- I'm not quite she how she did that. When I see that pink strike, my heart beats a little faster with more than a little ick.  But I know enough to stay with it, and that the pinks will continue to develop and not be in the final product.

For reference, here is Rebecca at ChemKnit's video from Dye Pot Weekly :

Dyeing Sock Blanks Doughnut-Style for textured Gradients

YUM!

This particular technique got me so excited when I saw it on Rebecca's Dye Pot Weekly episode #107, because knitting the sock blank into fabric and then shaping it for textures hearkens back to my old Procion Dye experiments on cotton.  This was something I wanted to try on yarn that is knitted into fabric form!


Heree is Rebecca's wonderful video demonstrating this technique.

Below you'll find my notes on how it turned out for me.  ;-)

My little Addi Express could make the narrow sock blank, but I realized I'd need the larger one to make wider, looser sock blank.  I didn't really want to invest $200 in the Addi King if my interest in this was short-lived, so I opted to purchase a generic circular knitting machine at 1/4 the price.  This was recommended by Margaret O at Sheepishly Sharing.    I got this one on Amazon for $54--used my points, and got it essentially free.  And it arrived in only 2 days!  [Note : I considered purchasing the Knit Quick knitting machine that Rebecca is using in the video, but the reviews on it are dismal -- It tends to break if not immediately, soon after you start using it.  Hopefully this generic pink one will wear better, and last a little longer.]

I made the sock blanks - one small and tidy, and one larger and looser.  Yarn is Marly Bird's Chic Sheep made of 100% Merino.  It has a delightful spring to it, and is washable, so it will be perfect for socks, I think.

   

Sock Blanks Rolled

Then you roll them into themselves, like a doughnut, so we can see how the dye will penetrate the layers.

Instead of the stove top, I opted for my slowcooker / crockpot method for this experiment.   Here the doughnuts are pre-soaking in plain water for 20-30 minutes.  I had the crock pot set on high so that the room temp water could slowly warm up to the needed temps for this method of dyeing wool. 

 I already had the box of Wilton's food coloring she had in the video -- not the usual gels we've been using, but drops.  You mix the colors according to particular formulas.  That's really satisfying to see the color come together / develop with the component colors.

I took out the yarn doughnuts, and added the required dye drops for a deep purple.  Gave it a stir, then dropped in the yarn doughnuts, squished them a bit to make sure the dye could penetrate and let them sit.

It always amazes me how the color of the water changes through the dye process.   This must have been soon after I dropped the yarn balls into the pot.   You can still see the reds in the dye.

After a while, the reds had absorbed, and you could still see the blues (and a very little red) in the water.  

This is probably about the time that I added 1/4 cup vinegar to help the blues strike the fiber.

This is probably when I went to bed at 10:30 pm or so.

I left the crock pot on "Keep Warm" or Low for the night, as heat also helps the blues absorb into the fiber.

By morning, the water was essentially clear.  Just a hint of light blue left.

Behind the spoon, you can see the deep purple yarn doughnuts.  That outer layer absorbed a goodly amount of the dye as it was readily available.

Here's another shot of the yarn doughnuts in the spent dye pot.  The water is essentially clear, and the water is still steamy and hot.  

This was the first peak after I unrolled them, still hot and wet from the steaming dye pot.

I was so excited to see the colors and gradients we got.  Yes, these are colors I can live with!

It took a couple of days for them to completely dry, especially now since we're not building a fire for heat every day.

Here's the larger, looser sock blank. They dye had a much easier time penetrating because it was so loosely knitted and rolled.

Here's the other side.

This has been turned right side out again.  Though when it was dyed, the purl side was out because of the way it was rolled into the doughnut.

Here's a detail shot of the larger, looser blank.

Here's the tighter blank.

Here's a detail shot of some of the color variation.

All day at work today, I was thinking about coming home and being able to unravel those sock blanks to see what kind of designs I got on the yarn.  But first -- I had to make a cheap Niddy Noddy out of PVC pipe, connectors, and end caps that I picked up at the local hardware store for about $7.  Build your own PVC Niddy Noddy.    Didn't take long to cut and put together, either.

Rebecca at ChemKnits / Dye Pot Weekly also demonstrates how to unwind a sock blank with 2 threads / yarns.  I was wondering about this myself, so her simple video was helpful.   I think she also has a video about making your own PVC Niddy Noddy.

 Aren't they gorgeous!  Like rain coming down ...  or a meteor shower.  The knitted structure acted like a resist, and made it a little harder for some of the dye components to penetrate.  What a beautiful effect!

As you are winding it onto the Niddy Noddy, you don't notice how kinked up the yarn is.  The heat and water during the dyeing process served to set the fibers in the knitted shape. I think this will eventually relax -- I'll have to look and see if there are tricks to that.  That kinky skein is what it looked like before I twisted it into  the smaller hank.

 I am so happy with this gradient!  I hope there enough there to actually make a pair of socks!  If not, I know how to make more!

I am excited to get started with a real knitting project on the new pin looms.

This technique has so much potential for other colors, gradients, textures!  There are so many possibilities, I think I want to develop some kind of grid (like gamers use) and roll the dice to choose what color(s) / techniques to dye yarn.  Unless someone has already done it?