Experiments in Hand-Dyeing, Part I

I finally got to try experimenting with Hand-Dyeing again. I tea-dyed, well over-dyed really, some ecru cotton thread for the Ravelympics. It was pretty successful, so I wanted to try more things. This time, I wanted to try dyeing 100% cotton thread and 100% bamboo thread with Wilton's Icing Colors (cause I have lots of them and it just sounded like fun). But everything I read seemed like it wouldn't work for my threads.

I asked around Ravelry a lot and read a lot of blogs and dug into my copy of The Yarn Lover's Guide to Hand Dyeing. Cause I'm stubborn, I was determined to try it anyway. I took lots of notes and kind of pieced together a strategy to try.

I made 3 10 yd skeins of each thread type. For one skein of each type, I decided to do nothing to it except wet it before dyeing. For another skein of each type, I decided to do a mordant bath in Alum and Soda Ash before dyeing. For the last skein of each type, I decided to scour them in Soda Ash, then mordant in Alum and Soda Ash (again) before dyeing.

Here's how they came out:



The three skeins on the left are the bamboo and the 3 on the right are the cotton. I'll give details as to which had what done after the experiment is completely finished.

They seem to be colorfast. I rinsed and washed several times and could not get anymore dye to come out. I even pull a strand through a paper towel and they were all dry to see if any would come off on the paper towel...nothing. So far so good. Now, I'm testing them to see if they are light fast or if they will fade after all this work. I'll let you know how it goes. If all goes well, I'll post exactly what I did.

Happy Crafting!

Hopelessly Overcommitted and Loving It!

Thanks to the Ravelympics, I have made many new friends. We all came together for the games as Team Hopelessly Overcommitted. Sounds perfect for me, right?!? Well, it was! I never knew there were so many other like-minded people hopelessly overcommitting everyday, not just to their fiber passions, but in life in general. It was great fun! We encouraged each other in competing for the games and, of course, committing to even more things! LOL We had sooo much fun that we just couldn't stop after the games were over. So a new group on Ravelry was born...Village Hopelessly Overcommitted! (All links in this post are Ravelry links. If you're not a member yet and knit or crochet, you should be!)

Thanks to these amazingly talented ladies, I've pushed myself and am learning new things and overcommitting to even more! LOL It's this group, that has encouraged me to give cabling a more serious try. Karen (Lykkefanten on Ravelry) designed this gorgeous cabled bag called Viking Bag as a cable test for her Viking Socks. As you may have already guessed, she is also a member of Team HO (which is just another fun thing about our team name!). She, and others in the village, helped me get through reading a chart, successfully, for the first time! And that lead me to do this....

In my typical fashion, it's about 90% complete. All I have left to do is seam it and add some sort of handles. But I LOVE this pattern! And I can't believe how easy it was to create such complicated looking cables! I am now totally addicted to cables!!! I plan to make more of these bags and try some other cabling projects too!

The same group, in fact the same people, also encouraged me to try something I never imagined could even be done...knitting two socks at the same time (no big deal right?)...one inside the other! GASP! Yes, it's true, it can be done! It's a double knitting technique and it works like a magic trick. There you are knitting on DPNs looking like you're making just one sock. When you finish, you magically pull one sock out from the inside of the other and Voila you have two completed socks. Magic I tell you.

Well, I have yet to complete my first pair of adult sized socks. So I wasn't sure that I was ready for attempting such a feat. I searched patterns and found something in my queue I thought could work. Not itty bitty socks that are the same color (for a matching pair) so as to totally confuse me, but Christmas Stockings. Yep, stockings, made on BIG needles with contrasting yarns so I can easily see what I'm doing and really get the technique down. Yes! This is it! And off I went and here they are...
It's the coolest thing ever!!!

I've also started on a Crocheted Circle Scarf for myself in a deliciously soft bamboo yarn, Babyboo from Knit One Crochet Too. I LOVE this yarn! In fact, I love this yarn so much, that it doesn't bother me that I have to frog it and start again because it was coming out too wide. Just means I get to pet the yarn more. :D Here's the progress I had made on it before frogging...

I have wanted to do this pattern for a long time and I'm glad I'm finally getting around to it.

Remember those finger puppets from the Death Star Buddy Bag? Well, they were my design. And my son has asked for even more of the characters to be made into finger puppets. So I am working on writing up patterns for the 3 I've done (Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia) and creating new ones as well. One of my goals for this fall is to write them up and make them available. I might not be able to get all of the characters he wants figured out by then, but I for sure have a few more I can do. They're really fun! So keep an eye out for more posts about them. I promise to let you know when they're ready! :D

And as soon as I figure out how to add .pdf downloads here, I have a pattern, or recipe really, ready for the Beaded Wire Crochet Tiara!

Happy Crafting!