Sunday, September 20, 2009

EcoWool Dyeing


The Eco Wool that was once bright yellow is now a lovely shade of Blue Green. Now I have to decide what Sweater I want it to be......

Friday, September 18, 2009

Some Dye-ing Adventures

So what does a single girl do on a Friday night....Why, dye yarn she has been hoarding in her stash for years!!!
I've had this light blue yarn, I bought on Ebay, years ago. It is a brand called Tuna. It is not a super soft yarn, but it would make a great felted bag. The original color was a very pale blue. I decided to over-dye it in a dark blue. The most common color in my wardrobe.

So I went at it with some RIT dye (as I cannot wait to order proper acid dyes), some old pans I got at a garage sale, and my basement sink. I've experimented with dyeing a little, so I know the general procedure. I have to say the color came out exactly as I wanted.
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Pay no attention to the junk on the shelves. Wow, I need to clean those shelves off!
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It was a bit of a struggle to dye the 5 skeins. Hats off to the Indy dyers who do large lots of 1 color!! You are my heroes!!!

NEXT....
There was so much color left in the sink water.. I thought, what the heck, I have 4 skeins of a bright yellow Cascade EcoWool (another rash bidding effort on Ebay). Let's dye that too.

Do you know how heavy and bulky 4 skeins of EcoWool is????......when it's wet! Well, Ii do, now. I think it went about 15 pounds. I had to carry the wool downstairs dripping wet (because brianiac here, couldn't soak it downstairs as I had a sink full of blue dye from Dye Job No. 1). But as you can see it's in the sink.
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I put the bags on top of it to be sure it was all submerged into the dye solution.

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This is the experiment yarn I threw into the dye when I was doing the Tuna yarn. I'm hopeful the yarn is going to come a out this dark shade of Olive Green with some blue and yellow undertones.

This is much better than the Screaming Yellow the yarn was originally. The yellow was not a bad color...just nothing I would ever wear, and I have more than 1600 yards of this stuff...It's crying out to be a sweater from A Fine Fleece or an Alice Starmore gansey.

Monday, September 07, 2009

Happy Fall To All

Thanks to everyone who contacted me about my last blog post. Your thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated.

Things have been very busy in my household. My son started his Freshman year at University of Charleston (WV). There was so much to get done to get him ready. But he is doing great there so far.

I've also changed responsibilities at work. I've been in the same group for about 12 years now. I work for a very very large consumer goods company, and I am a perfumer. I'm staying in perfume, but I am changing assignments. I'm now working in air fresheners, candles, and all those types of products. I'm excited. It's a very fun area to work in. I was working in Beauty products (shampoo, antiperspirants, creams, etc) for about 15 years. I think the change will be good. It's just alot of work now.

I've been a very scattered in my project work. Usually, I am very monogamous to my projects. But lately, I am staring all kinds of projects and not just knitting. I found a book called 200 Braids to Twist Knot Loop and Weave. I think it is so cool. I want to try all these braids and twists. And I have no clue what I would use them for right now.
I'm thinking about crochet projects and I just started the Long Cabled Vest in Lion Alpaca Yarn. I've already got the fronts done and I am 1/2 up the back. But I am itching to start 2 other knitting project, This drops design and this Caron pattern.

Also, I'm itching to spin more. And use some of my Handspun on some hats and cowls

See, I all over the map these days. I find that when I am like this, it is best to start every project that stricks my fancy. Naturally, I will stop working on the projects that I really am not interested in, and put more time into the ones I find most fulfilling. You know, some projects are just more interesting in your head. It goes back to the saying: "Do what you love" But sometimes you have to try a bunch of things to figure out exactly what you love doing, right?