Dyeing to Knit

Been experimenting with handpainting yarn. In October, took a course on how to handpaint yarn at a great new knitting store in Ottawa, Wabi-Sabi. Along with seven other fibre enthusiasts, painted my first two skeins of yarn. Been hesitant to do this at home - what with white cabinets everywhere - and decided that an alternate location would be preferable.

Had lots of fun - and managed to create two lovely handpainted skeins. Introducing skein #1, a purple, blue and turquoise mix, and skein #2, a monochromatic green mix. Not yet re-skeined, you can see the application areas for the different paint colours.

In mid October came across a great find at Value Village - 10 balls of Medil Kid Seta in a cream colour, which is very much a Kidsilk Haze look alike. Immediately thought about handpainting this yarn. Decided to book the Wabi-Sabi studio for a dyeing session (therefore saving my home kitchen from paint spills and vinegar overload).

Started with the balled Kid Seta.....














In preparation for dyeing, re-skeined and tied the 10 balls....

















And then the studio session (sorry forgot the memory card for the camera!) Three friends came along, and two of them dyed yarn as well. Was a lovely way to spend a Sunday.

It took about three hours to handpaint the yarn. Decided to graduate the colouring of the skeins, by creating a base colour which used moss green and yellow colouring. Then diluted the base colour into three strengths, then handpainted on the colour.

Yes, I really like greens......

Here the skeins are drying. Need to re-skein, then grade according to colour and then ball into centre-pull balls for knitting. Plan on making one lace cape and one lace shawl.

Tagged

Black Star Knitting tagged me to share 7 facts about myself. I'm somewhat new to the blogging game, but I'll play along.

Here are the rules:

-Link to your tagger and list these rules
-Share 7 facts about yourself (random or unusual)
-Tag 7 other people at the end of your post by leaving their names and links to their blogs
- Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog

Here are my own personal 7 facts. I decided to share some of the less known things I love:



1. I love the movie "The Way We Were" starring Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand. I adored this movie when I first saw it 1973, and have since bought it in VHS and DVD versions!

2. I love the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. I've read the 6 books in the series (a total of 6,053 pages) three times from cover to cover, and also listened to the audiobook.

3. I love Bob Dylan songs, mainly from the 1962-1975 period. I have most of the discs for this period in vinyl and CD.

4. I love margaritas. After watching a bartender named Victor (at a Cuban resort), hubby now makes margaritas that rock!

5. I love the TV series "The Waltons" which ran from 1972-1981. Good night Scott-Bob.

6. I love shopping at thrift stores like Value Village, St. Vincent de Paul and Goodwill. My most recent best finds were 10 skeins of Kid mohair silk and a Bob Dylan CD.

7. I love soaking in the bathtub, watching a movie with a glass of wine. Stayed at a boutique hotel in Montreal several years ago that had this feature, and asked hubby for Christmas for the same setup. He made it so!

These are the next 7 tag players:
Hired Hands, Deblog, Wool Power,
Canadian Guild of Knitters, Gennoel, betseydoodle, Andrea Wong Knits

Surprise!

I've been knitting Baby Surprise Jackets like mad. It all started with a request from my husband for a baby gift for a colleague who was having a baby. I had noted that the Elizabeth Zimmerman BSJ was a very popular ravelry pattern, and decided to check it out. Coincidentally there was a BSJ Knit Along just about to start, so I joined up and began my first BSJ. I used a variegated fingering. I decided that the first BSJ was too small, so I decided to use a more substantial weight of yarn, and moved up from fingering to sport weight yarn.

I checked in the stash and found some Patons Astra that I had left from a Franklin the Turtle sweater which was 100% acrylic and would be totally washable. I just started in, playing with the colours and making my selections as I went along.

It was fun to imagine what the jacket would look like when done. I was pleased with the resulting BSJ, and then looked through my button box for four buttons that would match. Would you believe that with HUNDREDS of buttons I did not have four that would work? So I decided to make dorset buttons. They were a nice touch.

By this point I was addicted. Two done ... but more yarn left in all of the colours ... so I decided to keep on going ... and made another ... and then another. It was interesting to see how DIFFERENT each of the jackets was, using the same palette of yarn, but adjusting the balance of colours, and making different coloured buttons.

This became a real stash buster experience and in the end I used up almost all the colours. In fact, I did not put a button band but decided to insert a zipper in the last one, as I decided to use brown yarn around the jacket and found I did not have enough. I was worried!

In fact I did not have any brown left. I used it all when I crocheted around the jacket and then sewed in the ends. This little bunch of yarn is all I have left!

Now I have two BSJs completed, waiting for the next baby shower. Surprise!