the weasels are loose!

I got my dyeorama yarn yesterday from my dye buddy Liz. She dyed it all with Kool Aid and it’s self-striping and lovely! I had forgotten that I’d put my parents address to ship to because I wasn’t sure if I was going to move. Then when I saw my mom at my aunt’s house last night, she said that I had gotten a package.

Here’s a closeup of the yarn

And that’s not all! Liz also sent me some double pointed needles to knit it up with. And this amazing lady also somehow found MINI EGGS in JUNE!! Plus they are the yummy british ones too!

Liz, you rock! Thanks!

1 comment June 14th, 2006

dyeing projects

A couple of weeks ago I bought 10 jars of Jaquard Acid dye at Pearl Paint. I’ve been saving up 1 L soda bottles to make dye stock. So yesterday while it rained I got dyeing. I only had 6 bottles so I had to pick which colors made the cut. While I was planning on dyeing other stuff my main goal was to do my dyeorama yarn. So those colors got dyestock priority.

Once I had all my dyestocks made and my fiber soaking it was time to get ready to dye. I had 2 skeins of sock yarn. I had been planning to paint them, but I’ve been reading the Twisted Sister Sock book and I’m intrigued by kettle (hot) dyeing. So I decided to give it a whirl. First up I dyed some purple and bright green to get the feel for it. Then I got working on the dyeorama yarn.

The olive I got is very brown so I mixed it with kelly green to get real olive color. Then I picked out chartreuse, gun metal (dark blue) and sky blue. Kettle dyeing seems very “artistic” to me. You can dribble here, squish there, pour here to get very interesting results. Painting yarn is effective, but seems rather mathmatical to me. I need to be a little more patient in my hot dyeing, since I forget to let one dye exhause before I add another. Although that probably makes some interesting effects.

Anyway, I love the way it came out. The color bands are very small, so I was quite interested to see how it knit up. Since certain colors are used more overall, it should have the same effect as larger bands from a distance, but be more varied close up.

I finally got good brown dye so that was a theme for my wool dyeing. I did some brown and blue, and some brown and turquoise. I dyed some tinkle and some wool brown to card together later. This was all on the stove. Then I had 8oz of roving that won’t fit on my stove, so I sort of splattered it with pink and orange and microwave steamed it. Then I dyed some firestar orange for carding. Note to self: get a big roaster pan for dyeing.

All of that dyeing took 3-4 hours and made my back ache. But now I’ve got lots to play with! You can check them out on flickr. They are all the most recent photos.

1 comment June 4th, 2006

Dye-O-Meme-A-Rama

To help our buddies out for the Dye-O-Rama Swap they asked us to do a little meme. So here are my answers….

Your favorite colors? apple green, orange, brown, teal, hot pink
Preferred yarn weight (Fingering, Sport, DK, maybe even Worsted)? I’m willing to try anything but fingering scares me just a bit. I imagine myself trying to knit with needles that are the size of sewing needle.
Do you prefer solid or multicolored yarn? I like both
If your buddy is able to do so, would you like a variegated, self-striping, or self-patterning yarn? Whatever they want to try is cool.
Would you be interested in a wool blend sock yarn (nylon, tencel, silk, acrylic, alpaca, etc.)? Sure, but also washable is good.
Imagine the perfect colorway. What would you name it?
What was the biggest appeal to you for joining this dye-along? To see what other people come up with.

General yarn/fiber questions
Have you dyed yarn/fiber before? Yes If so, what’s your favorite dye and method? I like to hand paint with acid dyes.
Do you spin? Yes
Have you knit socks before? Nope
Do you use sock yarn for just socks or in other patterns too? I’ve used sock yarn for non socks.
What are some of your favorite yarns? Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk, Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride
What yarn do you totally covet? I have a shopping problem so if there’s something I coveted I probably already have it
Favorite patterns? Not that I can think of.
Any pattern you would love to make if money and time were no object? Nope
Favorite kind of needles (brand, materials, straights or circs, etc)? I make a lot of hats so I love my addi turbos
If you were a specific kind of yarn, which brand and kind of yarn would you be? Noro Transitions
Nothing to do with knitting/yarn/fiber in any way but seemed kinda fun: Do you have a favorite candy or mail-able snack? I love milk chocolate. Cadbury mini eggs are my all time favorite, but its not easter anymore
What’s your favorite animal? Liger?
 Do you have pets? What are their species/names/ages? I have a kitten named Lola and she going to be 1 at the end of the month.
If you were a color what color would you be? turquoise
Describe your favorite shirt (yours or someone else’s).. green melange ringer t-shirt that was my mom’s when I was in girl scouts. It has pine trees on it and says “lake hiawatha girl scouts is a good place to grow”.
What is your most inspiring image, flower, or object in nature? Snow covered mountains
Tell me the best quote you’ve ever heard or read. “A life lived in fear is a life half lived.” - Strictly Ballroom
Do you have a wishlist? no

1 comment May 9th, 2006

color theory

My dyeorama buddy asked me to post up on my thoughts on colors. So here goes…

I like my colors to be colors. They can be subtle, but not pastel.

I am obsessed with bright apple green. I like hot pink, brown, orange, teal. My colors are the ones that are funky and fresh.

I am not afraid to make a statement with color.

2 comments May 4th, 2006

Got my dye buddy

Of the 280 people who signed up for dyeorama I was one of the 80 who didn’t get an email with their buddy’s name after the host thought they were spamming. But it was in my mail this morning!

I bought some Wool2Dye4 Supersock Merino for this project. Damn this stuff is thin. It nice, but I don’t know if I’d buy it again because you are going to have to knit with size .025 needles with this. However it was half of the price of Louet Gems Pearl.

I have to remember to email my buddy when I get home and can access my gmail accounts. I need to find out her color preferences.

Add comment May 3rd, 2006