"A Little Spinning......"

I dyed some "Border Leicester Cross" fleece a few weeks ago and did some spinning. The color of the dyed fleece looked similar to the pinkish/salmon color of house insulation.........not "exactly" what I was going for but I figure I will ply it with white or possibly try a 3 ply this time. That remains to be seen. I do have more fleece carded, the white, which is ready to spin, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. All in good time.

This photo was taken without the flash and perhaps shows the dye color a little truer. The previous looked a bit orange in comparison.

On another fiber note.......I was thoroughly impressed with the customer service of Great Northern Weaving Company, Kalamazoo, MI. I called in an order on Monday morning and my supplies arrived TUESDAY afternoon! I was so impressed that I actually called to tell them. www.rugwarp.com

"Many Colors/ Dyed Sock Tubes....."

I have been involved in dyeing more knitted sock tubes. I have a few photos that I wanted to post. Photo #1 is a dyed sock tube prior to unraveling and knitting the pair of socks.

This photo is of the knitted pair of socks, using the above tube. They have not been wet finished yet, and you are able to see the slight "rippling" ,caused by the yarn under tension (?), which will smooth out after washing.

And #3 is a number of dyed tubes waiting to be unraveled and knitted into pairs of socks.

As you can tell, I am enjoying this dyeing/knitting process VERY much. Discovering how the dyed tube pattern creates a different pattern after knitting, is an amazing and enjoyable thing. I hope you feel the wonder of it as well. ;)

"Exhaust That Dye!"

When I had taken the pair of blue/black socks out of the crock pot, the dye bath was still slightly blue looking. So, I figured I would see what would happen and slipped the next sock blank into the tinted water. Here is what showed up.......blue "mist". :) I used this for the base of my next pair of socks.

Jacquard's Fire Red and Sapphire Blue were my dyes on this pair........the turquoise yarn on the ends is the waste yarn used to keep the tube from "running".

The finished sock tube.

And the finished pair of socks. They're showing as being rather "ripply" in this photo, but they will not be after going through the final step, which is machine washed/air dried.

"Dyeing a Sock Blank...."

Last Friday, I dyed the 2 strand sock blank tube that I had knitted on my NZAK. I had been avoiding dyeing it because I knew when it was done I had to unravel the 2 strand tube by hand. So finally, I bit the bullet and did it. This is how it looked in the sink after dribbling the various dyes that I had chosen for it.

And after slowly putting it into the crock pot with the vinegar infused water.

I "almost" forgot to take a photo of the finished dyed sock blank. I think I had about a third of it to unravel yet when I remembered that I needed a photo. Each ball will have approximately 1350 feet/450 yards in it when wound......enough to knit a pair of mens large socks (I wear a size 12 1/2-13 shoe and I have enough to knit a pair for me).

The 2 wound balls in natural light. I will, of course, post a photo of a finished pair of knitted socks from them.

"Dyed and Knitted Sock Blank Tubes....."

I had posted this photo earlier of this dyed sock blank tube that I had knitted on the NZAK. I do so again for easy comparison.

Before......

During.....

After.......the knitting of the sock is complete, but the toes need to be "kitchenered" together (64 needle cylinder).

This is a sock blank tube that I had dyed and wound onto a paper towel cardboard center, ready to be knitted.

The resulting pair of socks from that ball of yarn (prior to kitchenering, 64 needle cylinder).

Knitting a sock blank tube on my NZAK......

The dyed sock blank tube, ready to be wound onto a cardboard tube and knitted into a pair of socks.

"Socks and Stocking Caps....."

A pair of sock that I knit this weekend using the NZAK. I used Lion Brand Sock Ease yarn.

Here are the other 2 baby stocking caps that I knitted this weekend and dyed. These were given to Andy and Angela for their new little girl, Rebecca Bradley, who was born last Friday.

Here is a photo showing all 4 of the baby stocking caps that I knitted and dyed.

"Doing a Little Dyeing......"

I knitted a couple of baby stocking caps on the NZAK, my circular sock machine. They were an experiment, as I had not knitted any before, so wasn't sure how they would turn out. My 1st one was immediately put into an envelope and sent to Abigail, my granddaughter, to see if it was large enough to still fit her. If so, then more will be sent her way.

After posting the cap to Abigail, I came in and knitted up 2 more caps for the experience and also because I wanted to try dyeing them (I used the cream colored, Valley Yarns Franklin Natural Cones sock yarn from WEBS).

Here are my colors that I mixed up in my "Dollar Store" oil and vinegar bottles, which seem to work very well for mixing and pouring the dyes. The stopper is VERY tight, allowing no dye to escape around it. The brand of dyes that I used this time are Gaywool, from Australia.

Since each knitted piece was so small and I wanted to use a different color dye for each one, I decided to use the microwave to set the dye. I had done dyeing in the microwave before, but that was using Kool Aid, so I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to "blend" various colors, which as you can see from the photo, really didn't happen. I got carried away initially with Willow, a deep green, so my other drops of colors were swept quite away, but it did created a mottled effect in the knitted yarn. In this photo, the dye is almost "exhausted", which means almost totally absorbed into the yarn. A few more minutes heating in the microwave and the water was clear......the piece was finished and needed only to be rinsed thoroughly.

My next attempt was with Citrus, which I decided to use by itself to see if I would be able to get an even color. It, too, did some mottling, but overall I am happy with the dye results and experiment. This photo shows that the dye was no where near to being exhausted, so it was heated, if I remember correctly, for at least 10 more minutes, perhaps more.

Here are finished stocking caps.........

I knitted 2 more caps the following day and also used the microwave to dye them. Once again I tried dyeing them 1 overall color, but they, too, had a slight mottled effect. I think the solution to that may be to use much more water and make sure the knitted piece is submerged fully and continuously during the process. I also used less dye to try for a more pastel effect......finding out that less still means MUCH less, although I was pleased with the results. :) I'll post a photo of them when it is processed.

"My 1st Successful CSM Socks!"

This is the 1st pair of socks that I was able to complete on my NZAK. Ironically, they actually fit me. :) I knitted them from Valley Yarns Franklin Natural Cone, which is a sock yarn from WEBS, and is 75% wool and 25% nylon. There was some minimal shrinkage after wet finishing. I had bought this specific cone yarn because of it being able to be dyed, which I did on Saturday, putting it in the dye crock pot with a skein of hand spun yarn. Basically, I dyed it this color only because I happened to have the dye ready for the skein of hand spun, and it actually matches a hand knit sweater that I knitted this past year.

This is the 2nd pair of socks that I knitted with the NZAK and believe it or not, I used the very same pattern (number of knitted rows) as I did for my 2st pair. This is a prime example of how different yarns knit up. This pair was knitted using Opal Elements (75% superwash wool and 25% polyamid), a German yarn by ZwergerGarn (?).

If you remember from an earlier blog entry, I rigged up a paint roller cage that I am able to use skein yarn on after re-winding it onto paper towel cardboard tubes.

Experimenting and practicing on the NZAK continues.....yesterday I knitted a hung hem using a 3-1 mock ribbing and will continue with that experiment again today.