Category: Acid Dyeing

Hexagon non-progress

PiaAcid Dyeing

I’ve decided to make my hexagon blanket in superwash only and preferably the same brand, a super soft merino. I have a whole bunch of solids as well as white and grey yarn to dye up in smaller skeins over time. I’m aiming at only a few duplicates of each, so some of my initial big batch dyeing projects have been put in the shop in case someone likes this yarn too, and that will enable me to get more yarn and keep playing. 😉 I want to dye as many different skeins as I can possibly cook up.

I’m also not making the hexagons double like a puff, making a very lightweight blacket. That may be a mistake, since they are stretchier and not as sturdy, I’ll have to come up with a non-stretchy edge/assembly method. I may want a contrasting border between each cell anyway. And yes, it’s going to take forever…. I’ve only made 15 so far + one that is too small because I forgot how many stitches I used for the others.

I’d like some opinions, do you think I’ll regret not making them double? I was thinking of perhaps backing them with fabric, but maybe I should go double knit like a puff, to help it keep its shape better? They ARE very thin, I have to admit that. I can always lay my singles double and mount them with the knitted doubles, so no work is wasted. I don’t want them stuffed.

I’ve also considered knitting them larger, making a solid border round each hexagon, then assembling those. Won’t make the blanket any thicker, but quicker to put together. It could become my meditation blanket, both making it and using it only for that, as I easily get cold when I sit still – that way it gets put away when not in use, and won’t be ruined by the dog making nests in the sofa, as well as not giving me an excuse to get up before time. I’m not one for such ritual paraphernalia, really, but some say it’s a good thing, so maybe it is.

hex01
Just a bumpy testknit on a too small hexagon, not so sure I like this idea. Needs to be darker and perhaps the same for all if I do this.

Hexi-tæppe

Ud over at have besluttet mig til at kun bruge superwash strømpegarn til mit tæppe, er jeg stadig i tvivl om jeg skal strikke dem enkelt eller dobbelt. Jeg vil gerne have et meget let tæppe, men det skal dog kunne holde faconen og ikke blive trukket fra hinanden. Man kunne quilte noget stof på bagsiden, hvis man ellers vidste hvordan, eller jeg kan begynde at strikke dobbelt puffer alligevel og bare montere de enkelte lapper dobbelt. Men jeg ved jeg ikke synes om at kun binde hjørnerne sammen som de gør på beeskeeper’s quilt. Og der skal i hvert fald ikke fyld i.

Har også overvejet at påstrikke en ensfarvet kant på hver og derved få større lapper og minimere samlearbejdet. Men det bliver stadig et meget tyndt tæppe som måske strækker sig lidt for meget. Har overvejet at bruge det som meditationstæppe, både at lave det og bruge det kun til det, da jeg let bliver kold og derfor distraheret, på den måde bliver det heller ikke ødelagt når hunden bygger rede i sofaen, hvis jeg lægger det væk og kun bruger det til det ene formål. Normalt er jeg ikke til den slags ritualer, men der er nogen der siger det er en god ide.

Jeg vil stadig have så mange forskellige puffer som muligt, så i fremtiden bliver der farvet meget mindre portioner end jeg begyndte med, for nu har jeg en masse dubletter i overskud af små 6 g fed. Muligvis lidt for ambitiøst, men nu ser vi. Indtil videre har jeg ligesom kun lavet 15 + ovenstående som blev for lille fordi jeg begyndte med 10 masker istedet for 12.

Råd, ideer og vejledning modtages med kyshånd! Man skal kun udfylde sit navn i kommentarfeltet….

Sweater SAL 2

PiaAcid Dyeing

I finally spun a skein of each colour for my long sweater, I still have to spin some moorit and purple, but at least I can begin test knitting. The grey skein is straight off the wheel and hasn’t been washed yet, so it looks a bit flat compared to the others.

allshetties

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Sweater SAL del 2

Der sker da lidt, omend langsomt med Spindeforeningsprojektet. Der er nu spundet 200 g rødorange, 150 g sortbrun, 100 g moorit, 100 g lilla og 150 g grå. Jeg har til 200 g af hver, men jeg kan jo ligeså godt komme i gang med at strikke og så spinde efter behov/hen ad vejen. Det grå fed er helt frisk fra tvinning og ikke vasket, derfor ser det en anelse fladt ud, men der skulle fotograferes mens solen kiggede frem.

Dye day

PiaAcid Dyeing

I decided to clean out my dye shelf and start afresh, running out of 1% “clean” colours and lots of little leftovers cluttering the place that I no longer remember the formula for.

So I dug out my bin of Suffolk fleece and just kept throwing chunks and dyes into a couple of pots of vinegar water, keeping them hot all the while.

And then I got all excited, mixed up a new batch of each dye and began mixing again to dye the rest of the fleece. For some reason all my different reds turned out a pretty similar orange, but that can be fixed….

This means I’m done “spot” dyeing my Suffolk fleece, apart from the batch I’m going to flick and spin as is or comb on my superfines.

I’d love to process the rest on a drumcarder however, because it’s not in any kind of lock formation, so I’m going to leave it for a bit to see if I can get a hold of one. Possibly spend idle hours (a concept I once read about) picking and flicking so the VM is gone.

It’s been separated into colour groups, each one will be a yarn I think.

Recently I also dyed some more Shetland for my sweater project

And a couple of sock yarns that are supposed to look like worn denim.

Mitt

PiaAcid Dyeing

After trying to knit with my predrafted hankies on 2.5 mm needles I decided to give them a bit of twist.  Having done that, I decided to ply them as well…. Too fiddly otherwise, snagging on the join of my circulars, just plain ARGH. I think if I’d drafted them thicker it might have been easier, maybe I just suffer from old lady eyes….

One mitt done, weighing in at 9.6 g. I have a total of 44 g of silk judged from various pattern, so apparently silk weighs nothing compared to wool. I’d originally wanted them really thin, which obviously isn’t happening on 3.5 mm, so I ended up not making individual fingers, not wanting too much material between each. Dunno what I’ll do with the other half of the yarn. Matching earmuffs? LOL. Or just a nicer pair of mittens…

I made up the pattern as I went along, and being my first glove ever, I see lots of room for improvement, but they’ll do their job. When I tried them on before casting off, the 3-finger part seemed longer unfortunately, I would have liked them to extend to the last(first) joint. But I’ve already woven in ends, tough luck.

I’m as yet undecided whether I like to work with hankies or not. I like silk and I don’t mind the rustic look that you get, but I think it’s really hard on the fingers to pull them open, as well as quite boring compared to spinning. I’ve got about 300 g left of them, they don’t cost extra rent I suppose, so they can either sit there or I could dye them and hope someone else will care for them more than I do. I have plenty of silk top to work with instead!

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Fingerløs

Første forsøg med vantestrikning, det gik ikke helt som planlagt, men jeg er ok tilfreds alligevel. Jeg brugte meget mindre garn end jeg havde regnet med, den første vante vejer kun 9,6 g og jeg har 44 g i alt. Den sidder endda ret løst, selvom jeg troede jeg havde strikket den for lille, da silke jo strækker sig. Jeg kan så konstatere, at det strækker sig MEGET!

Jeg ved ikke helt hvad jeg synes om hankies, jeg synes det er hårdt at trække dem ud til tråd. Men jeg har købt 300 g, så jeg må vel hellere få dem farvet og finde på et eller andet.

Quezovercoatl

PiaAcid Dyeing

Project winter cape from beginning to end with pics. I made it last year, but never finished it in time to actually wear it. My coat is great, but when it’s really, really cold, I need something extra, and wearing a ton of sweaters underneath isn’t always practical.

Yes, yes, I really suck at titles, so re-reading Eric by Terry Pratchett recently set this one off. Anyway, “a wooly something to wear over my not terribly thick overcoat in winter” just doesn’t make the cut either. So there.

It’s hand dyed and handspun Gotland fiber and improvised garter stitch pattern with a crochet edge.