Learning Something New - Sock Knitting!

I've been spinning and knitting for well over six years now, yet somehow I never dared to try socks. I love handknit socks, but they seemed kind of intimidating as a knitting project. Also, I don't really want to spin sock yarn for several reasons: it has to be extremely thin, it has to be quite even, it has to be plied... It seems to be a matter of diligence more than of creativity, and I am not the most patient person, I like my creative outbursts ;-) Spinning and plying the usual sock yarn of 420m/100g would take ages. First, I'd have to spin nearly a thousand metres of yarn, then I'd have to ply all this yarn, and then it would probably not last for long, as socks are for walking in...

You could argue that I don't necessarily have to spin my own sock yarn. I am proud, though, I have never bought yarn other than cotton yarn for dish cloths - more about that another time, maybe - in all my spinning time, but always used my own handspun for my knitting projects. However, as with the cotton yarn, I finally decided to break the tradition after all. If I know I won't spin it but I do want to do the project, why not? After looking at sock yarn online I decided to compromise: I'd at least dye it myself. This way, I can still be creative, and I don't have to use yarn I am not fully satisfied with. I didn't like many of the commercial yarns, and when I thought about buying hand dyed sock yarn I though "hey, wait - why should I when I can have fun with it myself?". Sooo - I went to Ebay and bought 1 kg of undyed sock yarn ;-)

Due to lack of time (yes, still in my graduation process, studying like mad) I decided to do a quick dyeing session with easter egg colours. They can be used with normal cooking dishes and heat-set in the microwave, so no need for any preparations or special pots. I am quite in love with teals and blue-greens at the moment, so this is what I went for.

Unfortunately, my camera had some issues with getting the colours right - the yarn is a lot more beautiful in person! It's lighter than I wanted it to be (lots of light, somewhat greenish blue), but I got used to it and now like it very much :-)

I had picked a pattern before I bought and dyed the yarn: Falling Tears (which is also available on Lucygerbils blog). In fact, the pattern (wich I found while browsing on Ravelry during a pause between studying sessions) was the trigger for the whole thing. I am picky, I admit it. I have found few sock patterns I really liked (before this one, that is), and seeing that such a project takes a while I didn't want to get stuck with just any pattern. Only drawback: the pattern is not really suitable for beginners as the things which actually make a sock a sock are not explained. So I ended up buying a sock knitting book (it's in German - Sockenworkshop to go) and starting the project anyway. I am sure I could have found everything I needed on the internet, but sometimes I like having a book instead of printed sheets that will get lost at some point or another.

The photo is a little behind the actual status, I just started the heel a few days ago. Then I fell ill (bad dental infection or whatever is the correct term) and was in too much pain to do anything than watching trashy TV shows. I am better now, as the antibiotic is finally working, but I decided on some studying today instead of trying to work out the mysteries of sock knitting. I am looking forward to continuing the sock, but I still feel a bit intimidated ;-)

The Colour Of Tea - Part II

Anyone remember my tea dyeing experiment? I've been wanting to post photos ever since the yarns were dry, but the weather has been really bad for photos most of the time. I have decided to take some pictures now, just in case I won't get any good ones before spring - and should I be able to take better ones later on I'll post another set :-) 

Lessons I learned from all this:

* tea smells a little weird when you put wool or goat hair in it
* I should have used more tea for more intense colours. When I complained about the wool being too light in colour, my husband asked "didn't you want camel colour?" :-D No, I really did want dark copper (AND he knew ;-)). Well, maybe next time. I like camels, though, maybe I'll name the dye lot after them. And the yarns are beautiful, as I realised once I got over my expectations.
* documenting things like this and blogging about them always takes longer than you might think - though it helps to do it right away and not postpone it to some other time. Thank you, blogger, for enabling me to start and save postings! :-)

The Colour Of Tea - Part I

Quite some time ago, one of our friends from Authentic Fiction blogged about dyeing with black tea. I loved the colours and thought about trying this myself, but somehow I never got around to it. Today I received my copy of "Harvesting Color" by Rebecca Burgess, and I SO felt like trying out some plant dyes! I don't know whether I will keep the book, as some or maybe even many of the plants can't be found where I live (the book is really beautiful, though!), and when I looked at my supplies I returned to a German dyeing book for the recipies. As it turned out, all the leaves I could use would have to be soaked over night, so I desperately thought about what else I could use and the tea came back to mind. I've had a huge package of black tea for ages, and it wasn't that tasty in the first place (I used small amounts for my henna hair dyeing sessions, but 500 g do go a long way), so I decided to have a go.

I had previously (one or two years ago) spun some white fibre into yarns I wanted to dye - so you can see how long it can take me sometimes to actually realize my plans ;-) It took me a while to sort through the yarns and to label them. I put the details on pieces of paper, laminated them, and fixed the info to the yarns with thread, so I won't have difficulties knowing which is which after the dyeing process. I have lambs wool, a gorgeous blend of kid mohair and bluefaced leicester wool, merino/bamboo blend, and bluefaced leicester wool on its own. 7 skeins altogether.

I decided on using the dye bath twice, first with 300 g of yarn, and then again with about 200 g. I googled about dyeing with tea, found this blog entry (and the one by Authentic Fiction already linked to above) and some reference in German. I decided to just experiment with the amount of tea I needed. I took out my sewing machine and made a very simple bag which I filled with about 150 g of black tea.

I stitched it up, and now I had my very own, handmade tea bag ;-)

I put the tea into hot water, and I think I let it boil for about 20-30 minutes. Then I turned off the stove and let the dye bath sit for a while because I had other things to do

After about an hour, I put my first four skeins into the dye bath, without washing or even dampening them first. They didn't need to be washed because the fibres I used were commercially processed and thus without any grease or plant matter or anything.

I plan to simmer the whole lot for about an hour (which is nearly over, since I've taken my time writing all this) and then removing the yarns and putting the second lot in for another hour. I am so curious how the yarns will turn out, I do hope to get some gorgeous copper, though I am afraid they will be just brownish... We'll see :-) I'll take photos of the finished yarns when they are dry and when there is more suitable light.

Busy Day

I've been busy dyeing today, and now I'm spinning another yarn. Luna is still drying, so pictures will have to wait a few more days. But I'm seizing the opportunities my new mobile phone- a Galaxy S- provides: taking pictures and blogging them directly :-) So here's another quick peek.


Ah well - to be honest, I had to edit the post on the computer, after all. I haven't figured out yet how to copy/paste text to the parts where it should be (above the pictures). There is a "mark text" function which usually works somehow, but not on blogspot. Or maybe my fingers are not agile enough. Anyway - I hope to finish the yarn today, so I'll be able to list it soon.

The Scarf of HoRRoR

I've already mentioned it and been asked to show it - now I will. And I will tell you the story behind it, too ;-)

Once upon a time, there were two best friends who were both going to be married - not to each other, but to the most wonderful men in the universe ;-) The four of them really fancied learning how to dance so they could stun everyone at their respective wedding, and as luck would have it, they were friends with a dancer/dancing teacher. He was willing to teach them and spent many hours with the two happy couples, correcting their every move and suggesting impressive dance patterns.



Instead of payment, the two women - who were very talented at fibre arts - offered a handmade item of the dancing teacher's choice. Being allergic to wool he requested a silk scarf and he also decided on a cable pattern .

One of the fibre artists dyed some wonderful silk, the other one spun it into more than 800 m of very fine yarn - and here's where the horror began. The yarn should have been of sport weight or fingering weight (14-16 wpi), but silk tends to become thinner than you'd like when spun up, even when you're very skilled. So the young and talented artists ended up with very fine lace yarn of about 30 wpi. Extremely beautiful - and very time-consuming to knit, especially when combined with a cable pattern. The knitting artist has managed 46cm of scarf so far.

It's stunningly beautiful and feels gorgeous, but the extrapolation is 75 hours of knitting time. Now, if there's a person who deserves this scarf it is definitely our dancing teacher - we were all magnificent when performing our respective wedding dance. But that doesn't mean the knitter has to love the project, right? She really wants it to be done.



btw, have I mentioned my husband and I chose House of Fire by Alice Cooper as song for our wedding dance? You'd think our guests might have guessed we weren't going to choose a traditional waltz, but they did sound surprised - it was great fun :-D

New Yarn Series Coming Up

For all of you who like to get creative dyeing or painting their own yarn and want to work with handspun without having to do the actual spinning, here's our new product range: handspun white or light grey yarns of varying texture and fibre composition, ranging from simple lambs wool to luxurious cashmere. We'll also use our own handmade blends, made from a whole range of gorgeous fibre. Look out for yarns "To Dye For"!
(If you just love white or natural grey, these yarns are for you, too, of course! ;-))
Have anything specific in mind? Please don't hesitate to convo us on Etsy, we're happy to create whatever special yarn you want!

We'll be starting with this, fresh from the bobbin and soon to be listed in our shop:


A handcarded blend of Bluefaced Leicester wool, mohair, Merino wool, and sparkly nylon fibre, 141 m/68 g. The fibres are dyeable with acid dyes, which include easter egg colours (or other food colouring), so you don't even need fancy equipment.

Blur of Colour

Recent attempts to make the white and grey winter world a little more interesting and cheerful. Somehow, I always end up with the same colours after each dyeing session, though. I should work on a wider range ;-)

I've dyed alpaca, mild proteine fibre, Bluefaced Leicester, merino/kid mohair blend, tussah silk, merino/tussah silk blend, some Wensleydale curls and two skeins of handspun Icelandic wool.

Speaking of Icelandic wool, that stuff is amazing!
When I went to Iceland in 2008, I bought a shawl made from local wool which is not nearly as soft as merino or BFL, but amazingly warm! And I do love the texture, so I wear the shawl a lot - but it's really more a broad scarf than a shawl and I wanted something larger, so when one of my favourite suppliers added Icelandic wool to his shop I couldn't stop myself and just HAD to buy some ;-) I got white and (natural) black varieties and after I spun a wonderful black yarn for the shop (which has already been sold), I sat down to spin a larger amount for myself. It's about 800 m of laceweight yarn, now dyed dark green - and now I have to decide on a pattern.
I had also brought some raw wool home when I returned from Iceland, and turned some of it into a scarf and wrist warmers for winter excavations (did I mention that stuff was warm?!) which have proven the fibre to be the perfect material. I need to take photos, I always forget...

Colours

I've just spent four or five hours in the kitchen, dyeing various types of fibre: merino/bamboo blend, alpaca, soy silk, tussah silk, milk proteine fibre, Blue Faced Leicester/silk blend, and kid mohair.

I do love the outcome and think it was well worth the time - though I always hate cleaning up afterwards... That's done now, too, though :-)

I am running out of space for hanging all this stuff up, the bathroom is not too big. It's a good thing there wasn't enough time to dye even more fibre...

Dyed!

Allright, I didn't have the time yesterday. But now I'm back again, and here's a photo of the beautiful colors I dyed two days before.

The first one on top is Bluefaced Leicester wool with tussah silk. Underneath you can see Merino wool with bamboo. I love how the tones of light blue, turquoise and dark violet turned out! And I'm really looking forward to spin a very, very special yarn from this one. At the bottom, there's Bluefaced Leicester in shades of green. :)

I don't have plans for these beauties yet, but I think I'll come up with something nice soon.

Dyeing Day

Finally! Since those enormous amounts of fiber had arrived, I wanted to dye! I had already stashed Easter egg color which I wanted to use, and now, finally! I had some spare time. I stationed myself in Weird's kitchen and had really much fun mixing the color and preparing the fiber. Bluefaced Leicester, Bluefaced Leicester with tussah silk and Merino wool with bamboo went into my dying pots - and came out in tones of green, all shades lavender can take andflaming reds!

I hope to have some spare time again tomorrow, so I can take some pics!

Spring? I think so!

I've finally spotted the first flowers: a tiny patch of violets in the park behind our flat. So spring seems to be getting here at last! I've been waiting very impatiently, spinning spring yarns in order to attract that wonderful season and today I had coffee outside for the first time this year. It was great, and I also got some knitting done - but I have to keep this a secret for now, since the object will be a birthday present and I am not sure whether the person in question reads this blog...

We've been quite busy lately, but - sadly - not yarn-wise, but in our life "beyond yarn". Only during the last days we have finally got around to some serious spinning, a few results of which can already be seen and purchased in our shop.
I, for one, have rediscovered thread-plying once again. I hadn't done that for quite some time and now I can't get enough. I am very partial to alpaca fibre at the moment, which is great for said technique - so you might see a great deal t of wavy alpaca yarns in the near future :-) (Two have already been uploaded)

I've also purchased some spring yarn stuff, for further celebrating my favourite season.

And finally, I have been reminded of our shop anniversary. I had been looking forward to that for a while now, and obviously I forgot all about it. Not until I saw this posting on Authentic Fiction today did I realize that we've been on etsy for more than a year. Happy Birthday to us - kind of ;-) We've registered on March 3rd, had trouble registering our credit card (being from Germany doesn't make that easy!) and finally opened the shop on (I think) March 23rd. We sold our first yarn on Arpil 6th, so maybe we should at least celebrate that :-)

I do hope we will be able to spin a lot more, now - I for my part really missed it!

Dark Atlantis (Triangular Shawl) - finished!

I promised pictures of the Dark Atlantis triangular shawl - and here they are! :-)
The shawl can also be worn as a scarf which makes this beauty even better and more practical. I am so very happy with it :-)

Fresh Colours

I have been busy dyeing once again :-) Some of the colours are too bright for my taste, but they will make lovely spring yarns. I absolutely love how the colour turned out on the handspun cashmere (right side, front), it's perfect for me.
Click the picture to see which fibres I've dyed.


I have also finished the triangluar shawl, in fact, it took me only two days and I am very happy with it - but I haven't been able to take good pictures, yet. I will try to take some on the weekend.

Dark Atlantis - Triangular Shawl

Remember Dark Atlantis? Remember I said I wanted to keep it? Well, I sold it to Sigrids Datterdatter and spun a second, slightly different version for myself. It turned out to be quite a lot of yarn (247 m/114 g) and I started searching the internet for patterns. I have wanted to make a triangular shawl for quite a while, but I never got around to spinning enough yarn for myself.



I found a very helpful website containing information about yardage and needle size for a one skein shawl that encouraged me to try it. They used yarn of similar weight and nearly the same amount as my Dark Atlantis (II).
Before I started, I made some matching, extra large stitch markers which I absolutely love :-)

D-A-Y-S unpacked

I couldn't stand to wait any longer. Last night at about ten past one, I had to see what was in that parcel. Here you go:




















































I am very happy and I absolutely adore this yarn! Maybe I will take the advice of my dear swap partner and spin the fibre she's also sent me into a suitable yarn and knit those two up in stripes. I suppose a scarf would be great - and would also go very well with the black clothes I usually wear :-)

Thank you again so much, Chra!

A Glimpse into the future ;-)

I finally got to start (and by now, finish) my long-planned project of the mythological object "Brisingamen", which is the necklace of the Goddess Freyja. The name might be translated to "flaming ornament", so I chose flaming colours for this project.
I wanted the art yarn to be sumptuous, so as to do justice to the object that inspired the project and to the Goddess who owns it, so I not only chose a lustrous wool/silk blend, but also real gemstones in different shapes: carnelian, citrine, moonstone, garnet and aventurine.


The fibres have been hand dyed by myself, using professional acid dyes.
The gemstones have been strung onto a very delicate golden lurex thread, which I took along all the way while spinning. It turned out I dyed enough fibres for quite a large skein, about twice as large as my skeins usually are. Since I now own a wonderful spinning wheel with huge bobbins, it all fit onto one - but I decided to sell this beauty in two seperate skeins, since it will be quite expensive due to all the luxurious materials and I want people to have the chance to buy a smaller part of it. However, I won't cut it in half until someone buys just one skein, so if someone buys the whole lot, it will be one unbroken, large skein.

I really love this yarn and it will be very
hard for me to part with it... But I guess I can't afford to keep everything I like ;-) Especially since I don't want to sell stuff I don't like myself; so after this beauty has been washed I will list it on Etsy.

The Pacific

Did I mention I did a bit of dyeing yesterday? I think I forgot to - well, here's the first result: The Pacific!

I have to get used to my new spinning wheel as I did the last bit of restoration today (one of the three bobbins had to be mended). I dyed with food coloring, an easy but permanent way of coloring animal fiber. For the batt I used here I used light grey extrasoft merino wool and colors in the shades of blue, magenta and green, wildly mixed together. It's a two-ply, quite unusual for me, but I thought the wavy structure would look nice with the colors.