This blog records my experiments and successes with fabric and fibers, surface design, stitching, weaving, photography and whatever else strikes my fancy. Enjoy ...
Variety of Wilton Reds -- Not quite what I wanted.
On the left: Crimson + Red + a drop of black = Rust
On the right: Burgundy came out more fuscia and pink (Sheesh!)
Wilton's Burgundy
For the Burgundy, I used Wilton's
icing dye in the crock pot with a splash of vinegar, and 2 balls of
yarn. 1 loose, and the other held together in a re-purposed onion bag.
I really like how that worked -- loose enough to hold the ball
together, and loose enough to let the dye penetrate. And not so tight
as to act as a resist.
I have to say I was a little
concerned about the Burgundy when I first put it into the water. The
pinks struck first -- and since I was not after a pink this time, I
panicked a little. But I waited it out ... the water was kind of brown
-- rusty, the other color I was NOT after that day. But I've learned to
just wait and trust the process. The colors come together, and in the
end, hopefully, it's what you wanted in the first place. So I waited,
and it did come out more like a darker red, but maybe not the burgundy I
would have thought.
Another time, I blended Wilton's crimson with red and a touch of black (skein on the left in the photo at the top of the post) hoping for a nice deep wine red, but what came out was a deep rust color -- much more brown / orange than I had wanted. It's pretty in and of itself, but I can't think of what I'd do with it. Still morning the lost wine red I was hoping for.
In the end, I over dyed these with Procion dye (wine red) and got more of what I was looking for, with subtle gradations. Yes--I'm happy now. ;-)
I finished my second pair of socks on the CinDWood circular knitting
loom. Thanks to a trip to Idaho (Yes, Sheila! I was visiting my old
friend up near Boise) last week, with plenty of idle time in the
airports. Yeah! And they seem to fit, too!
Here are the specifics:
Yarn : Chic Sheep 100% merino wool (with great springness suitable for socks)
Color : Lace (hand-dyed by me with Wilton's Delphinium Blue)
2 balls (1 per sock) at 189 yards with a little left over.
Loom: CinDWood Knitted Knocker Loom 1/4 inch 56-pegs
Pattern:
I followed Hypnotic Hysteria's instructions for Loom-Knit Toe-Up Socks on this video:
[This isn't actually the video I learned on, but it's very similar. Hypnotic Hysteria had a You Tube disaster where her channel was hacked and she lost everything, and had to start over. To date, she has not re-posted the one I started with, but this one is close. I think the only difference is that the leg is a little longer, and she was using the 56-peg knitted knocker loom, like I did.]
Just for kicks, I'm going to add this video, too. It's a different loom, but the pattern is closer to what I did:
My alterations:
Instead of 7 decreases/increases for toe and heel, I did 9 stitches. (I need a wider toe box.)
65 rounds for length of foot
45 rounds for leg above ankle
20 rounds for cuff
(Ribbing is Knit 2 / Purl 2 for more springiness)
Dancing with Sophie, who doesn't look so impressed.
I am so pleased with the way this turned out! It was a pleasant surprise, too.
It looks like the Northern Lights shimmering in the night sky!
I think I might add some beads to the collar line -- maybe some hematite with a few sparkles.
Here it is from the back.
The dress is a simple Swing Dress blank from Dharma, made of rayon. These are cool and comfortable in summer. I have a few others I've worked up before. [See the Watermelon Dress.]
PHOTO Sketch
This is what i had in mind. Purple on top and a turquoise / ice blue on the bottom with some white in between.
Dyer's Notes
I soaked the dress in soda ash solution while I mixed the dyes. The soda ash fixes the dye, so that it doesn't wash out. It's an important part of this process, and one you can't skip.
I picked one of the many pre-mixed purples (Grape?) from my old stock of Procion
dye. I didn't like how it mixed initially, so I added some deep navy until I liked what I saw. For the blue, I went with the teal blue that gave me such a nice denim blue on the wool yarn a few days ago.
I tied off the waistline with a plastic bag around it, so that it would
resist the dye. It didn't work very well, and I absolutely love this
bit of serendipity how the colors bled and mixed with each other!
Northern Lights Dress in the Dye Pot
On the low-water immersion dye board, it looked so saturated that I didn't think I'd get any texture out of it at all. I had it scrunched up on the board to make lots of peaks and valleys for the dye to penetrate (or not).
Once I added the color, I let it sit for about 18 hours. If you want any texture, it's a good idea to let it sit, and don't disturb it too much. Otherwise you'll get a very uniform color saturation with little or no texture -- sometimes you want that, but it's good to know how to get it when you want it.
I probably flipped it over when I got up in the morning. Since the dress is a double layer of fabric, I didn't want one side to be too different from the other -- which can happen with a double layer.
Into the microwave for 2 minutes to help it heat set. Yes-- I have an old microwave relegated to the basement for non-food purposes. Perfect for dye jobs like this.
The next step is to do an initial rinse in COLD water to wash out the soda ash. Once that is rinsed out (It feels slippery), you can begin rinsing in hot water. Some instructions will say to keep rinsing until the water runs clear. I tend to fill the pot (or at least enough to cover the dyed cloth), and let it sit a few hours. Then dump the water, and repeat with another round of hot water. I do this until it runs nearly clear. It seems like that's a better use of water.
Then it goes into the washing machine for a proper wash to get out any remaining dye.
I used to use that special Synthropol soap for this stage, but it seemed like it was very hard on the new color I'd worked so hard to add, making them come out kind of tired looking and used. Now I save the Synthropol for scouring only (That is pre-washing your dry goods to remove anythng that might interfere with it taking up the dye.)
Since this dress is made of rayon, I let it drip dry. The fiber sort of tenses up when it's wet, but relaxes when dry. Quite a phenomenon, really.
I could add some additional surface design -- stamps or stencils. I'll have to think about that ...
I think the beads around the color is the way to go. Keep it simple and elegant!
I love these summer Swing dresses from Dharma.
They are so comfortable, you can dance in them!
Feeling the need for a little Texture this morning.
Any guesses as to what this might be?
Scroll down for the answer ...
It's a light grate near the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Scotland. I think this is right at the entrance at Pret, where we liked to have breakfast on our 2017 trip.
What do I mean by light grate? This was built into the sidewalk with glass blocks built into it, to allow light through ... There's a city underground in Edinburgh. I've seen a few of these around downtown Oshkosh, too. ;-)
I love how each block is different, aged, cracked, rusty and grungy, but nicely ordered and presented on this grid. Each block could have it's own closeup, and be it's own texture in and of itself. Maybe I'll bother to isolate them sometime ...
A while back, I purchased a pair of pants. They were super cheap -- cotton and comfortable. The only problem was the color : Yellow. Not my favorite. But I also knew I could dye them to something more my liking.
This is the original color of those pants. Yellow.
I chose Teal Blue, because it came out so nice on the wool yarn a few days ago. Looked kind of like faded blue jeans. But I should have known, the dye would react differently on cotton -- because that's what it was design for. It's much more intense on cotton with the soda ash fixer.
I was a little afraid I'd wind up with "green jeans" if I added blue dye to a yellow base. You might catch a whiff of green in the final product, but it's overall very blue -- and intense.
The thread is obviously synthetic because that did not pick up the teal blue dye.
Success! I think next time, I'll just buy the trousers in a more suitable color to start with!
What do I do when I have a day off? I relish in the extra time for crafting!
Greens and Blue Skeins
The boys went on an adventure to Appleton to get OKL a bona fide fountain pen for his high school graduation and send-off to college. I stayed home so I could have free reign in the kitchen to kettle dye another batch of yarn.
This time, I was experimenting with using an old trouser sock to hold the loose balls of yarn together. It looked like a fat sausage in the pot. As expected, it acted as a resist, somewhat, but the dye looks like it got through just fine -- in most cases. I think I can squeeze, mix, and stir those packets to get more dye to penetrate.
For the most part, I was using old Procion dyes. Using Dharma's instructions for Procion Dye on wool (no soda ash, as it can destroy the protein fibers). I sized it for roughly 1/2 pound of fiber, or 2 balls of merino wool yarn, each at 100 grams.
In the Dye Pot,
1-1/2 T salt
1/3 cup white vinegar
Enough water to cover / submerge the balls of yarn.
Heat this until it gets just ready to simmer.
For the dye concentrates, I mixed up
1 tsp dye powder with
about 2 cups warm water.
1 put that in a plastic bottle with a tight-fitting cap, so I could shake it up until the dye powder was completely dissolved.
Once the dye pot was hot enough (just ready to simmer, not boil), I added the dye concentrate -- not usually the entire bottle (except for the teal). Stir that up.
Then add the balls of yarn.
I did not pre-soak these balls, so they took a little more work to get them to soak in the liquid and be comfortable in the dye bath. It would be worth experimenting to see what effect the pre-soaked balls have on this technique.
Then I let them simmer on the stove for about 1 hour. I am amazed at how the Procion dye nearly exhausts with this technique -- I see that a lot with the food coloring, but usually not with the Procion on cotton.
Let them cool before you remove them from the dye pot.
Here are the results:
Leaf Green with a splash of Moss Green:
Leaf Green with Moss Green, fresh out of the pot.
Greens fresh off the niddy noddy.
Leaf Green with Moss Green
Skeined up and looking pretty!
Teal Blue - I really like this one! There seemed to be so much dye left in the pot half-way through, that I decided to add a 3rd loose ball to the pot. I was careful not to disturb it much once it was in the pot, as I wanted the mottled effect that brings.
This view of the Teal Blues on the Niddy Noddy really shows off the color changes in the gradient.
Teal Blue Skeins
Stormy Skies - Purples and grays:
Storm Clouds out of the pot.
The one on the left was in the trouser sock, so it kept it's shape a little better.
The other one was fast and loose, and lost it's shape in the process.
I was hoping the trouser sock would help it keep it's general shape so it would be easier to unravel with fewer tangles.
Storm Clouds, skeined up and pretty.
For future reference, this is the general technique I was using, demonstrated here by Rebecca at Chem Knits. Keep in mind, I was using wool yarn and Procion dyes, so there are key differences with my results. But the basic idea of throwing an intact ball of yarn into the dye pot is the key to getting the gradient.
