Yarny Fun!

I've been an avid knitter for about 4 and a half years. There's just something magical to me about sticks and string becoming art. It's so good for anxiety. And then you have fun stuff to wear!

About a year ago, I decided that I wanted to try my hand at dyeing my own yarn. I started with kool aid, it creates bright colors and is colorfast so it won't bleed. It will lose color over time if it's stored somewhere sunny but it's a great place to start. Food coloring works also but you have to add acid (white vinegar) to get the color to set. Here is a great tutorial for creating gradient dyed yarn. This is the tutorial I used to learn how to dye my own yarn!

There are a few rules. And I mean just a few. First, you must use 100% animal fibers, wool is the easiest and most cost effective when you are just starting out. There are ways to dye cottons and other fibers, I just don't do it. Second, you have to use the powdered mix, the squirty bottle kind has sugar in it and you don't want sticky yarn. Third, you have to have fun! Here are a couple of my first kool aid dyeing attempts!

After I became comfortable using kool aid, I invested a bit in some acid dyes. The brand of dye I use utilizes white vinegar as the acid that sets the colors. There are other brands of dye that use other sources of acid, I'm just most comfortable with the Jacquard dyes.

My recent dye job was a first for me, I used a sock blank. Basically, it's a pre-knitted piece that you dye and unravel to knit with. It's great for stripes and handpainting designs into the yarn. It starts out looking like the pic to the right. This yarn is going to be a yummy pair of socks!

Once you've dyed the blank, you unravel it and wind it into a hank or a ball. There is something insanely fun about unraveling a blank. I hate having to unravel (or, frog) my knitting though. The yarn is pretty kinked up when you unravel it so it's a good idea to wet it and let some of the kinks relax. I put a plastic coat hanger on the bottom of the hank to add a bit of extra weight.

I love the way the dye didn't completely take so that I have speckles of white in the purple. I haven't picked out the pattern to use yet but I can't wait to see how it knits up with the speckles and solid sections! I have a few (read: a bunch) of projects that need finishing first though. Sigh. There are simply too many awesome things that need to be knitted!

A little note for my local readers! We meet to knit and crochet at Shineworthy Tea the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of every month from noon to 2pm. The tea and company is fantastic so be sure to pop out and join us.

Don't know how to knit? No problem, we've got you covered. I was gifted some knitting needles and I have plenty of spare yarn to share!

Everyone go out and have some yarny fun today!! Do you knit or crochet? Dye your own yarn? Spin? All of it? Tell me about it in the comments!

Work in Progress: Trillian Shawl

I've been knitting for about 4 years now. I picked up needles and yarn when I was going through some tough times. I had a colicky infant, I had just had major abdominal surgery to attempt to put back to rights my busted up abdominal muscles (sidenote: it didn't work), the huz was working INSANE hours. By insane I mean, a 70 hour work week was standard. My mom came to stay with me every day, from morning to night. I was bored and depressed and anxious. I had briefly attempted to learn how to knit when I was in my late teens but I lost interest.

Sitting on the couch, day in and day out, got boring really quickly. In desperation, I asked my mom to  take me to the craft store and teach me to knit. That day, a monster was created. Now, I have yarn stashed all over the house, I have projects in various stages of completion in a basket, overflowing, beside the couch. Most knitters will tell you it's almost impossible to only knit one thing at a time. Maybe in a time before the Internet, people could work on one project from start to finish. 

There's this evil amazing website called Ravelry. It has patterns for everything you could think of to knit and some you'd rather not have seen. Through the wonder of Ravelry, I have 9 pages of patterns (or 445 individual patterns). I will never be able to knit them all, if I gave up eating, sleeping, bathing, and tending children, I would still not have enough time to knit them all. If you happen to be a "hooker", there's also a wealth of for you as well.

One of my projects that is currently unfinished is the Trillian Shawl from Martina Behm. It is my lazy day knitting project. It's not terribly difficult so I can watch TV or keep an eye on the kids if they're having a rowdy day. It creates a beautiful, light shawl that you can wear in all seasons. Or so I've heard. Mine is about a third of the way finished. 

I have fallen into another crafting abyss... hand dyeing yarn. I love it. I love being able to control the colors and create custom yarns for projects I want to make. Because there's nothing worse than going to the yarn store to not be able to find the exact right color for your project and still leaving $100 lighter. I started with kool aid. It is insanely easy to dye yarn with kool aid. If you follow me on Pinterest, I have some neat pins on kool aid dyeing to get you started. I dyed the yarn for this shawl. I love the soft teal and the variegation came out perfectly!

I've since moved on to acid dyes, which sound hard and scary but aren't. The acid is usually vinegar. The color combinations you can create are amazing and you have a bit more control than with kool aid. I tend to stick to grays, blues, purples, and teals. They're my favorite. I've dyed a few skeins of yarn red but I haven't found THE red for me yet. I'm not quitting though. 

Do you knit? Crochet? Dye? What is your favorite craft or creative outlet?