Last month I won a little raffle we’re having in the Ravelry tapestry group. Not that I’ve been able to work on my diary, but apparently I’m still in. The prize was a gift certificate for Webs, which of course, being in the US, makes it difficult for me to shop because of postage and the threat of import taxes. So I blinded myself to all the lovely stuff at www.yarn.com and just picked ONE skein of something I don’t see here as well as weaving bobbins in a size I haven’t been able to find for my largest boat shuttle.
Tag: colourways
Dumping the science projects
For a while I’ve been recording facts about each yarn I’ve plant dyed, I’ve made solar and indirect light exposure tests (more about that when I have the energy to make a list), the pH values, the modifiers.
Well, I felt it was time to lose that for a while.
Decisions
I knew I wouldn’t have enough variegated yarn for full sleeves on my latest sweater, so I had a backup yarn ready. Only now I don’t know if to continue the wide stripes, redo with only two rows of each colour or all grey. Opinions?
Chain-dyeing
Instead of cutting mini skeins to dye, when I knew I’d be using at least some of it for weft, I decided to try to dye the unbroken yarn. I wound up small loops, tied, wound another etc. until the whole ball of yarn was used up, and then painted them side by side. I then use steaming so the colours don’t run too much, but having soaked the yarn in vinegar water first and also having vinegar in the dye solutions makes this superwash yarn absorb and hold most of the dye anyway.
The process from soak to dye layout to steaming and then tossed into the hot water to cool after steaming (with more vinegar to prevent bleeding) did cause some tangling obviously, that’s the nature of yarn, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. And now we’re ready to weave again.