Dye Party

My Guides are on summer holidays and I suddenly have an evening free. What better way to celebrate then by hosting a dying party/workshop with a couple of friends. They wanted to learn to tie dye so they came over to pick my brain and use my buckets.

I went shopping for garments suitable for the dye pot. The usual advice is white, 100% cotton but I wanted my dye projects to show a few different effects to the newbies.

This tank is white cotton but I was hoping that the lace wasn't so I'd be able to demonstrate how different fibres on the same garment, in the same dye bath give different effects.

Which is also why I chose these knickers. With a cotton front piece and a nylon/poly net it would definitely have some variation. It's also a good example of thinking outside the outerwear for your dye projects. 

This burnt orange top was bought to show over dyeing. I like the style but the colour is a bit to cheery for me. Who doesn't have clothes like that? So it became another example of what you can do with dye. 

Before everyone got here I got the kit out. I mixed the dye with water. We used Dylon Fabric Dyes For Hand Use (beware the flash if you are on an iProduct) because it's readily available and only takes 1 hour. I mixed the powder with 250ml, which is half of what it calls for on the packet, in case we wanted to do a mixed dye bath. We also needed salt, buckets, scales and elastic bands to use as ties.

We made up 4 dye baths is total. Intense Violet, Burlesque Red, Antique Grey and one mix of Burlesque Red and Antique Grey. Ad well as tie dying we put some garments in without ties and had a go at dip dyeing. Disobeying the packets again we didn't in any way stir or agitate the dye bath which gave greater variation in colour.

When the time was up I flung everything in the washing machine on a spin cycle. When it came out mostly dry we removed the bands to reveal our creations. They then hung on the balcony to air dry while we watched a film. It was a fabulous night and I got three new wardrobe pieces out of it. 

Grey tank with pink lace. I love this colour and I think the uneven dye take up is gorgeous.

I think you'll agree that these knickers look much more fun than the plain white ones.

And the more moody colour of this top is much more me. 

Ready For Adventure

I know I mentioned it a couple of Saturday's ago but I really enjoy knitting the clever, creative patterns from Leethal Knits. So when I saw that there was going to be a mystery knit-a-long I jumped at the chance.

Now I wouldn't usually go for a mystery knit-a-long, I'm uneasy with not knowing how my finished object is going to turn out, but considering how in love I am with the aesthetic of the Leethal Knits patterns... well I'm in. 

Being British I'm not certain what a Byway is but this is definitely green

The second stage - Get Set... - was released on Monday and it contains the first set of choices to make. There are four different types of knitwear to choose from. I chose (I'm trying not go give anything away here...) Green Byway and dyed my yarn a nice green to match.

Couldn't wait

This stage also has the cast on so I followed the instructions and ended up with this. The actual knitting starts when the next part comes out on the 12th. And I think that gives any knitter that's thinking of joining in enough time to but the pattern and pick out some yarn. 

Here are three reasons why you should:

1. The price goes up when each part of the mystery is revealed. Get it while it's cheap.
2. This pattern is gorgeous! No I'm not talking about the FO. Check it out, you can fold the adorably illustrated and well designed patten into a book. 
3. This is choose your own adventure style knitting. There is already a bunch of options and I bet as the knit-a-long goes on we're going to get a lot more.

I'm so excited to see how this turns out.

Official Pattern Page, My Project On Ravelry

Tie Dye

There was a week there where I was doing a hell of a lot of tie dye. It was about when I got married and I was cautioned not to make too much of a mess of my hand with all the dyes.

Dyeing is the ultimate messy science you can do at home

I helped my Brownies tie dye a shirt each (for the Science Investigator badge), did one for myself (as a test run) and then did a tunic/dress. Lots of tie dye was going down. We also had relatives over and they have an adorable small child. So while walking through H&M Stephen and the parents decided that she needed a tie dye dress.

"Well," I said, "Just pick out a white cotton dress"

We don't have the model for obvious reason but trust me, she is cute

So I mixed up some procion dyed into a bright, cute, kids colour and soaked until cool happened.

Spining, Dyeing, Knitting

The Spinning

So... I've taken up spinning. It was inevitable, lets face it. I could not help it. Show me a craft and I just have too. So with a bit of extra money in the old bank account I bought a drop spindle starter kit from Handspinner.co.uk. She doesn't seem to do the same kit any more but it came with a lovely rosewood top whorl spindle, some fibre and a copy of Respect the Spindle.

Then I read the book and spun some yarn. I made yarn! It is not perfect yarn and the process kept me on the edge of my seat but the end product is stringy and holds together so... yarn! Hopefully as I get better I can say what the hell I did but really all I know right now is that I spun wool on a spindle.

I had my imperfect yarn. I also had two choices, knit with it or leave it on a shelf. I really didn't want to forget about my first hand spun. It wasn't perfect but it could still hold stitches and I was proud of it. For all it's faults it is the first yarn I've ever made. I had to knit with it. It was time to make a plan

 The Dyeing

First the colour. It had to go. White is not my thing. Luckily I had just the right dye stuff in my freezer. About a month before people in the Plants To Dye For group on Ravelry were discussing using Californian Poppy roots and flowers to dye. At work they grow like weeds so I picked 300g of the flowers and brought them home.

The finished object (note: this colour is most true)

With flowers I like to follow India Flint's Ice-Flower Dye method of freezing the flowers and then thawing in lukewarm water to produce colour. I gave the yarn a quick alum mordant then into the ice flower bath it went. The colour took beautifully. The yarn was now a lovely, cheerful yellow and was given it's name: California.

Imperfections: too thick!

The Knitting

I chose the pattern Diversify from Knitty Winter 2011. It had lots of options which I though might help me get somewhere with the inconsistent yarn. I first cast on the small worsted version but it soon became clear that the thick sections of my yarn wouldn't put up with that so I switched to the chunky. I knit until I ran out of yarn and then I put it on and hugged it to my face. It is, perhaps, a project only a mother can love but... I made this thing, I adore it!

Imperfections: too thin!

The End?

Nope! I'm still spinning. I have four bin bags full of the shavings from Captain Kid and Chieftain, the two alpacas I've been feeding for a couple of months now and I found a lovely local lady with fabulous coloured roving: Little Owl Crafts. I bought some in Exeter early in September and it's now my second handspun. Still not perfect. Still fills me with pride.

The second attempt: stay tuned for more spindle fun!

Hand Paints and Hand Prints

I hit across the idea of hand painting stripes on a top reading Tilly and the Buttons when I was off sick. Of course I had neither an unaltered, plain t-shirt or any money that week. Also couldn't really stand. So the project had to wait until the weekend. With all that extra plotting time I decided that as well as the stripey t-shirt I needed something a bit more adventurous. Off to H&M to buy my plain clothes.

From the front: a precarious balance and a stripy shirt 

The stripe painting was cool, it was lovely and easy to do especially after I decided not to match up my front and back stripes. I love the purple and turquoise combination. It was so fun that I have to come up with new colour combinations.

From the back: I never realise how much taller Stephen is until I see how all of his pictures of me are pointing down. 

For my next paint job I wanted spots. I figured that using a brush to paint them on would result in just a bit too much irregularity. I needed something circular to stamp them on. Luckily I went to primary school and was taught the power of potato prints.

Front view: I'm smiling on the outside but on the inside I'm cursing the bank holiday weather. 

You know potato prints? Where you cut a potato in half and carve out a shape? You load it with paint and go stamp, stamp, stamp? Well that is what I did. It made these gorgeous circles that I stamped in a randomish pattern. Just the right amount of irregularity.

Back veiw: I know I said I wanted one more shot but don't make me stand in the rain!

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Plant Dyed Yarns

So Stroud? That place was awesome. Really awesome. I bought some lovely plant dyed wool there that made me stop and think. I have plants. I like wool. Why aren't I doing this? Well, I continued to think about it. I ordered a copy of Wild Colour and kept on thinking.

It's all about the slouches

While I was thinking I was also knitting. I used the plant dyed wool from Stroud to make a Ysolda's Ripley. I named mine Antique Lace because of the subtle colour of the annato dyed yarn. Check it out on Ravelry for more pictures.

foraged dye stuff and chipped nail polish

Wild Colour arrived and I agonized over the swatches. What could be my first dyeing experiment? Well the Oregon Grape are just starting of ripen up and I have a ball of undyed wool from Abbey Home Farm so... after two goes in the dye bath I got this lovely beige with a hint of pink.

A little blush

 With some birthday money Stephen and I picked out some lovely looking undyed yarns. The one I couldn't wait for was Pipit. At the same time we ordered some alum (both from DT Craft and Design) so this one was mordanted before the dye bath.

Before

And what was in the dye bath? 300g of comfrey. It came out a stunning green. I love plant dyes!

after