Category: Crafts

I finished a pair – knitted Socks that Rawk

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“If we took a holiday…
Just one day out of life”
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“It would be so nice.”

Pattern : Holidazed (StR Sock Club)
Yarn: Blue Moon Socks that Rock – Mediumweight
Colorway: Muddy Autumn Rainbow (Sock club color)
Needles: Knit Picks size 1 (2.5mm)

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I loved working this pattern. The yarn itself was magical.
When I first received it I thought, “oh that’s pretty.”
Then I wound it and thought, “wow, it is gorgeous.”
I cast it on and fell madly in love as the colors began to shimmer and shine.

And look how much I have left!

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The rib is stretchy and the yarn is cushy – what more could you ask for in a sock except dreamy color.
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Adventures in yarn dying : some photos of the process pt.2

One of the assignments in dye class was to work with your discomfort color. Here are my 3 skeins drying on the bottom rack this morning.

Drying

My discomfort color is orange, so the first skein on the left was (and still is) my least favorite. Here’s a close up fully dried – I’m showing the green here because I like that part best.

Discomfort

The dye color is a lot less saturated than it started out. My second favorite, the blue and green below started out with much deeper blues. But I like the faded look of these colors and they remind me of worn comfortable denim.

Comfortable jeans

My very favorite is the blackberry. I thought it would be black black but I still love the result.

Happy colors

So here they are – all happy together. I got a much deeper appreciation of independent dyers and their process. Especially when they have to try to replicate a colorway hundreds of times.

las tres

Thanks again Tina for this look into the dying world.

Adventures in yarn dying : some photos of the process pt.1

In the last post I mentioned being assigned the task of thinking about the colors I love. That was all preparation for the class I had the great good fortune of taking from Blue Moon Fiber Arts‘ Master Dyer Tina.

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The room was all set up and we spent a little time learning about wool and how the manufacturing/milling process changes the way dyes adhere. We worked with BMFA Socks that Rock yarn in medium weight and the same acid dyes that Blue Moon uses.

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Here’s Tina showing us first how to add the colors.

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She adds a second color and shows us how they blend together.

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After adding a few more colors she demonstrates the fine art of “squooshing.

She lets us loose and we start playing with the colors – oh what fun!

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This is IrishGirlie’s : Isn’t it beautiful?!

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Once it is all saturated and ready to go, it gets a squirt of vinegar and wrapped it up in plastic so it is all nice and snug.

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Here they are ready for the microwave (2 min) to set the colors, then they’ll dry.

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I can’t wait to see the results! Hopefully I’ll be able to share a few photos tomorrow when we pick up our very own hand-painted yarn.