Dyeing Wool Mittens Wine Red

Red Woolen Mittens

I got a new pair of wool mittens for the winter at Fleet Farm.  I know I know-- I haven't been to any craft shows where I could buy the sweater mittens, and I'm tired of patching my old ones.  These wool mittens from Fleet are certainly serviceable, and will be warm with a thrummy lining (probably just a sock).  But I wasn't crazy about the neutral color, so ...  using what I know about using Procion dye on wool, I dyed them my favorite red wine color.

Woolen Mittens as purchased in a neutral color.

I let them soak overnight in a bucket of water with a drop of Dawn dish soap.  The Dawn helps in case there's any finish on the wool that might affect the take-up of the dye.  I knew the lining would not dye because it's acrylic.

In the morning, I mixed up a batch of dye concentrate:

1 tsp dye powder
1 cup warm water
Pour into a bottle with a tight-fitting lid and shake-shake-shake until dye is dissolved.

In the dye pot:
1-1/2 T salt
1/3 cup white vinegar
Enough water to submerge the mittens.
Heat to a low simmer.

Peering into the dye pot with wine red dye.

Add the dye concentrate. Add the pre-soaked, but wrung out wool mittens.
Let them simmer for about 1 hour.  It's amazing to see the dye bath exhaust like it does with the wool dye and food coloring.  I never see that with Procion on cotton.

Normally, you'd add soda ash to the mix with Procion dye, but this is damaging to protein fibers like silk and wool.  Instead, we add vinegar and heat to make the dye set.  I've had very good luck with this method, as explained on Dharma's website.

Let them cool, then rinse them out.  Let them dry, and be warm all winter!

Additional notes:
It took more than a week of letting these soak out excess dye.  I think that was due to the acrylic content of the liners.  In the end, I put them back on the stove and simmered them another 2 hours with water and a little vinegar in hopes of stabilizing the remaining dye.

These mittens also had a clumsy oversize shape, so I employed the ladders stitch to take them in a bit and round the tops off.  Now they look more normal!

 

Toasty and warm for winter dog walks! 

Arts & Crafts Treasures from the Holiday Folk Fair in Milwaukee (and then some ...)

Me, Vicki and Oliver with an Uly - Little Beehive from the Czech Pastry Stand.

Most years my family tries to attend the annual Holiday Folk Fair in Milwaukee.  It's always the weekend before Thanksgiving.  When I was in junior high / high school, the language clubs always took several buses down to the Folk Fair.  That's where I fell in love with it!   The food, the costumes, colors, dancing, music.  For me, it is America's rich tapestry of Immigrants and cultures coming together -- and we are ALL Immigrants here unless you're a Native American.

Latvian Mittens (Wool)

This year, I was on a mission to get a pair of Latvian or Nordic knitted wool mittens.  The kind with the pointy (as opposed to rounded) ends.  Why?
     1) For practical reasons to keep my hands warm this winter, and
     2) to study them -- the patterns, shape, color work.   I want to figure out how to make these on a circular loom. [Stay tuned!]  I picked out this blue-white-green pair.  Aren't they pretty?    A lady in the booth says she knows the woman in the Old Country whom makes these, along with weavings on sale in their booth.  They are a little thin to be practical for the coldest days here, but I can add an additional lining.    

I've been following Latvian / Nordic mitten patterns on Pinterest and Ravelry.  I think I can use my circular looms to make these -- once I figure out how to do the color work elegants.

They also have a section where people demonstrate traditional crafts such as spinning or knitting.    Some years, they've even had a loom with someone weaving.  My husband particularly likes the Wisconsin Wood Turner's Booth, where they do demonstrations, and sell wooden items.

 Seam Ripper with Maple Burl Handle

At the Wisconsin Wood Turner's Booth, I picked up a beautiful seam ripper with a maple burl handle.  The sharp tip can be hidden away for safe-keeping, when not in use.  After a lifetime of sewing (and un-sewing when necessary), I thought it was about time I gifted myself a pretty seam ripper.  Now I can retire the cheap extruded plastic handled one I've been using all these years.

PHOTO - yarn bowl
The gentleman was also selling a beautiful cherry yarn bowl.  I convinced CL to purchase this for me for Christmas -- since I"m making him a pair of socks.  What can I say -- I'm partial to cherry wood.

PHOTO
CL purchased a couple of ceramic items from the Polish stand.  We were also looking at butter dishes (Turns out our old elegant silver butter dish is full of lead, so it has been retired.), but settled on a couple of smaller dishes to replace a few that broke at home.

Woolen Sweater from Poland

Ok -- So not purchased at the Folk Fair by me, but perhaps someone did at some time?  I picked this up in a trek through the local St Vincent de Paul thrift store.  What else would I do on a vacation day? You never know what one-of-a kind treasure you'll find there!  And I did drop some things off. 

100% Wool, and big enough to fit me.  Not felted and shrunk up.  I saw the tag and interpreted Pollak as Poland.  Now I see it was made in Hong Kong.  Sigh!  Not Poland after all.  Still -- It fits in with the northern European style, and is something I can plan on wearing to the Folk Fair next year.  ;-)    100% wool for only $12.  It's still a deal in my mind!

100% Alpaca Wool Sweater, cut out from Lands End at StV for $8!

And it's in my colors with that olive green. 

The Bolivian stand at the Folk Fair was selling alpaca sweaters for $240.

We used to have a Lands End Outlet Mall here in town, so my guess is that it had been returned and someone purchased it at a bargain, but surrendered it for whatever reason.

So again -- Not purchased at the Folk Fair proper, but very much in the style.  Very much wool!

When I went to check out at St Vinny's, the girl asked me if I was going to an Ugly Sweater Party.   I said, "No -- These are beautiful sweaters and in classic styles.  Not ugly at all!"  I think she realized she'd put her foot in her mouth.  But I understood where she was coming from.  They'd put together a couple racks of winter sweaters, some of them suitable for an ugly sweater party.  But not these treasures!

Now for some swirls of color and costumes from the dancers.  I know these are not great pictures.  My phone is old, so you'll have to be satisfied with the abstract versions, that pristine perfect action shots. 

 The Polish Dancers

The Scottish Dancers (along with the Pipers)

 

Mexico  -  Wow!  What a head dress!

Progress on a Few Fiber Fronts

I'm making good progress on the Red Circles Scarf.  This is about 10 inches into the 43-inch section in the middle of the scarf.  Anyone who weaves will tell you how satisfying it is to see such a pattern develop.  

I am using some weighted tent clips to help keep the selvedges straight and even.  

 

I'm also starting  a new pair of socks.  This set is for my husband, so I have to make some adjustments to the pattern to fit his larger foot.  Easy enough!

The color is a lovely deep leaf green that I dyed a few weeks ago.   

Here are the skeins drying by the heating vent.   

 

They have a lovely gradient of greens.   

 Here is the toe of the sock emerging from the circular knitting loom, while the Kitchener cast-on keeps everything in order.  Don't you love how this yarn is knitting up? Yummy!

Cranes Quilt Top for Vicki

I finished the quilt top for Vicki's Cranes, in anticipation of her arrival back in WI next week.

It still needs to be sandwiched and quilted and otherwise finished, but finishing the top is half the battle!

 

Here's a detail shot of one of the moons, appliqued down. 

 

This is the pattern.  I bought a kit a few years ago, and finally got it together for her.  

Teal Blue Socks

 I finished that pair of teal blue socks I started back in September with that Chic Sheep merino yarn that I dyed myself.  I am very pleased with the way they turned out!

 

I used the Knitted Knocker Loom from CinDWood Looms.

The pattern was based on one of Hypnotic Hysteria's videos.  Unfortunately, her You Tube account was hacked, and she lost over 700 videos.   Heartbreaking and so demoralizing. I guess she didn't have any backups at home.  I wish I could help her recover those videos.

I had a few notes from watching the old sock-making videos, so I was able to do it this time without consulting the videos, which are no longer available.    [So sad!]

From my notes (to fit my foot):

     Use the CinDWood Knitted Knocker Loom

 

     Kitchener Cast-on (I like this because it feels like weaving, and leaved a seamless join)

     Work the toe box with with 9 decreases / increases

     Then start working in the round for  65 rows

     Work the heel with 9 decreases / increases on the opposite half of the toe

     Work in the round 45 rows for leg

     For Cuff: 20 rows of 2 Knit and 2 Purl

     Super Stretchy Bind off.

Here's the yarn I was using, dyed back in May.  The link includes a video on the dyeing method--which has become my all-time favorite for dyeing yarn.

This time, I had a second circular knitting loom, so I could work each step at roughly the same time, so avoid the second sock syndrome (where you finish the first sock, but don't have the heart to start the second one).   That worked out very well.

On to the next pair of socks for my husband in leaf green and deep navy.