Knitting Dragonflies

I’ve been amazed at blending and creating colors from just the basic three colors. It started as yarn dyeing, and took me to watercolors, which helped me understand color on a whole different level. I haven't painted in a bit. But I have been playing with yarn dyeing….. The inspiration, a photo from a spice market in Morocco! The spices, the colorful clothing, and the sky! I discovered if I do my yarn dyeing in multiple steps, laying the colors in one at a time, (wash, add another color, wash repeat as many times as you desire) that the colors come out cleaner! I’m loving the results. The above set is Morocco spice, especially dyed for someone! It is best to think of the color wheel and lay in your lightest colors first, do some planning. Think of what color the overlapping colors will make. Red is the strongest, so I always add that one last. Want to warm it up? Put the entire skein in a weak color bath of a warm color, red, orange, or yellow. Cool the color, try a weak...

I’m ready for spring. I’m sure that is true nationwide. OK, I love snow and winter, but time to move on to the next season. Below are my inspirations, along with how I got the colors.  Bright flowers and sunshine were my inspiration as a got out my dyeing supplies. My husband always helps me. Looks like he found a knot. So first thing, yellow, I need some yellow yarn! Yellow like the sun that gives spring life. All yarn is soaked in water 15 min to saturate and then gently squeeze out excess [4 T of Acid Dye (Jacquard) in water, golden yellow, microwave for 5 min. and let sit for 1 hour, rinse in cool water, and gently squeeze excess water out, sprinkle some of the same color over the yarn, while tossing, microwave 4 min and let sit for 1 hour, rinse in cool water, and hang to dry]   OK soaking, Now some pink, pink for the little pink buds of wildflowers [1 t of Acid Dye in water, microwave for 5 min. and let sit for 1 hour, rinse in cool water, and gentl...

In the attempt to get a different look to my dyed yarn, I tried to dip the yarn into separate dye pots. Wow, I love the look, clean colors, more definition.  I used this article from Knitty to guide me. Of course it is more work. My hats off to all of you who hand paint yarn! I started with some vibrant shades of violet and green. I couldn’t find what I wanted and ended up using this tutorial on food coloring. From Spindle and Wheel. I used the Neon food colors that I found at a baking shop. They came in a paste. The mixing was quite a bit of trial and error. To come up with the right color and salt/vinegar mixture, this resulted in lots of little bundles of dyed yarn, and several pages of notes. I wanted the colors fairly close together to get a nice repeat when knitted. Wheee…This really exercised my arm muscles, dipping into the green, I tried to make five different bands of color. Then the purple, also five bands. Then wrap it all up into saran wrap and microwa...

I saw this sweater on this front of Knitscene Fall 2009 and decided to make it, but  with a twist of colors, minus the belt (why place a belt over your pattern area?). Deciding on blue I picked out some Blueberry Kool aid, then offset it with Lime Kool Aid. I did this in a three step solar dyeing process. For more info on my solar dyeing see this post . (more dyeing how to info links here ) Wet your yarn (natural fibers take up dye better), thoroughly, soak at least 15 min in warm water. While you are waiting for the soaking. Dissolve your Kool Aid packets in warm water (or the same temp. as the water you are soaking your yarn or fiber in), standard amount is 1 package of Kool aid per oz of fiber or yarn. Less Kool aid=lighter color, more kool aid=vibrant. 1-Solar dye my yarn with the Blueberry Kool Aid, I used 5 packets per 4 oz of yarn, dissolved in 4 cups of water. (I use a sun tea jar, I know many people use canning jars) After this is dissolved, gently place your ya...

I started out with my first handspun, and decided to make a plain little knitted in the round bag to store my Tarot cards. It was my first attempt at spinning on a spindle, so it was pretty wonky. Thick and thin, so the square gathered up as the gauge changed. Just a row of ktog, yo, knit 2, repeat for the drawstring, and I’m ready to sew it up. Then I decided that I didn’t like the plain beige. Being in the middle of a Kool Aid Dyeing frenzy , I decided to give it some color. A little microwave dyeing , and then decided to felt it , because the shape was irregular enough that I couldn’t think of how it could be used.  Well, felting is unpredictable, sometimes too small, or too fat. But like life, if given lemons, lemonade it is. And so my tarot bag became a make up bag. Which even works out  better. Due to the triangle shape, everything fits it in perfectly. Great, a cute little bag and it holds just enough to make a girl pretty, and fit in my purse! May...

I had dyed this yarn using Kool Aid and had so much fun it lead to a Kool Aid explosion in my kitchen. Lots of Kool Aid, lots of yarn, fun and color. See this post for the yarny back-story. So then I began looking for a pattern that would suit my needs. I settled on The Sailor’s Delight Socks (rav link)  from 2 at a Time Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes . I decided to use the dark plum for the cuffs, toe and heel. and the variegated for the rest of the sock (I hope I have enough) Here I have started the heel. This will be the 2nd pair of socks that I have knitted with Melissa’s 2 at a time technique. The first attempt was rocky, but this one is going smoothly. Heel turned and…. Gusset done, now all I have to finish is the foot and toe. Almost there…. All done, pre blocking. I do like knitting two socks at a time. Pros… -use every bit of yarn -if you alter a pattern, and don’t write it down (like me, thinking “I will remember that” no worries, you have already ...

I got some plain yarn, it is beige Lion Brand 100% wool, kind of boring. 24 oz of it. I want to knit this , from Knitty. Imagine by Karen Alfke who blogs here Abakini, better living thorough knitting. Notice that there is green and blue Kool Aid, in the background. Because, yes, I am officially obsessed with Kool Aid dyeing. I wound it off into 4 oz hanks. And then cooked up some lemon-lime Kool aid, I used 5 pkgs. per 4 oz of yarn. I decided to solar dye the yarn, since it is 93 here and sunny, and I found some sun tea jars on sale at Wal-Mart. I let it “cook” until the water was clear, then let cool until room temp and  rinse and drained it well. This took about 6-8 hours in full sun. Let cool and then rinse in cool water. Hang to dry.   Very green, but I wanted a little variation in color. I used blue Kool Aid, and used 2 pkgs. per 4 oz hank of yarn. I had a brain storm of applying it with a salt shaker. . Make sure you yarn is just barely damp, not se...