Solar Dyed Yarn

I did this Yarn by wetting the yarn then sprikling it all over with the colours of the rainbow. Each colour has a salt shacker and I have mixed in the crystal citric acid. I also flipped the yarn to get enough on the yarn. I wanted colour. I placed a little plastic over it so the yarn would not dry out, it was like a little greenhouse. Then washed it out and dried. Magic.

The two on the ends where done with more liquid dye but in the try and covered like the one above. The mini yarns I set up in my jars for dying and place the lid on and left in the sun for the day. All the colour was getting taken up fast. I might over dye some of these colours still but I gave me a nice flower set of yarn to start with.

Ok this set is double dyed. First I did a light dye colour on each mini yarn, also done in the sun with my jars. Then I wound them back up into the mini skein that they are, with the twist in the yarn. a small amount of Crystal citric acid and dye went on the bottom of a dry jar, then a skein, then dye then the next skein. Untill I had all five in the jar and dye also on top. I then added water to top it up. Put a lid on and set it in the sun. Yes I changed colours of dyes the yellow, green and blues. They match each other with out being the same. I just love them. So far I am just dying yarn with the plans to use for my sock knitting. Some might end up as mittens or little half gloves. But mostly specail socks. I see some people have done some ice dying, I have done ice or snow ding on cotton but wool dyes likes the heat. Maybe I will look into it as I might need the sun to melt and heat it all up for wool.

Summer busy

What have I been doing. Well not a ton of sewing is getting done, maybe a little bit.

The knitting bag was in great need. I keep on knitting socks and wanted a cute bag with this fabric. Love the little horse zipper tag I fuzzy cut out. The yarn is my Purple Pansy yarn I dyed back in April.

The Purple Pansy Socks are now done and ready to show off. I am very happy with them. I think I have enough yarn left to do a short pair also.

Another knitting bag was made with my camper fabric. The yarn is some watermelon yarn I dyed in May. The socks are now started and being worked on. I have the first sock done and the second one is just ready to work the heal decrease and then the foot and toe. Soon to be done.

These short socks are now done too. I finished them as we drove home from camping in June. The yarns are also yarns that I dyed this spring.

Dyed yarn to show off what I might knit up this summer. A few are hand dyed yarns I bought from a local yarn dyer, Rose Hill Yarns. So far I just love to buy her stuff. I can pick it up just on the other side of Leduc.

My beast Dolly, she and I have been doing lots of agility training this summer. It has been hard to get in training in this hot weather. This is after a water break on evening.

Socks and Bags

 

My shoes today match my short socks. Love this sea green colour. Of course hand made socks that I also dyed the yarn too. 

Another set dyed with the plan for more short socks for summer. 

I had fun doing the sprinkles on this yarn. I gave the yarn an all over pale pink and then sprinkled the Yellow, Turquoise. and Pink on the yarn. 

I also got this mini iron bag done for my mom. 

 

I had done two for me and made hers to match another bag I did for her sometime ago. 

Summer Socks

 

Sock pair #10 for the year finished!

#9 start and finish for 2021! 

 I got these done in time for the spring weather. But where is the warm weather. I love this dyed yarn I dyed in early April. I was thinking about beach and cool waters but also the touch of lime. The free pattern is from Ravelry Rose City Rollers but then I changed so many things.  I wanted to know how to get the roll at the top. Well it is just knit, I used my reinforced heal that I have been doing. Also I tried Eye of  Partridge on the bottom the feet as I get hole there every time. Then I finished it off with my favorite toes.  So not sure I followed the pattern much.  Very happy with the socks and I have enough to do a second pair. Maybe I will but add something like a different colour heal or toes. 

Up next was a big sock repair. The ankle of these socks are what is left of my 1st pair of socks I knitted 18 years ago. I had repaired the foot, toes and heals a few different times. It was time to say good bye. So I reknit from the heal down with new yarn that was at least a good colour match. Pretty good repair. But so cold I have to wear these winter like socks and the short ones. 

What is next?

Well I dyed these mini yarns on Sunday night. I just love them. The two colours I need to remake in a larger volume is the Dark Purple and the lime green both near the bottom. I will maybe do others. Like I group of more blues. 

But I had to use some right now. 

Well the next start! colour strips! in a short sock! 

How fun is that? 

See Why I need more Purple and Lime. I just had to use them right as quick as I could. 

Green Socks

 

I got another pair of hand knit sock done. This pair I tried out more knit 2 purl 2 and did it all the way down the front of the foot. They ended up kind of narrow for my feet. So Angelia. my son's girlfriend, got the socks. She was pretty pleased. They look great pulled up over her leggings.   

My plan was to wear them with the top turned down for the summer. Or you can pull them all the way up. I love the bands of yellow and darker green that came out. 

This is pair # 9 finished this year! I am on a roll! 

Here was the yarn after dyeing twice. The first round of dye was Easter egg tables, but it was kind of boring. So in the pot it went again. that is when I added the darker green, mostly by adding blue dye over the paler greens. I did leave a bit of that nice lime green. The blue was sprinkled on touch with dry dye. so very spotty. But I love how it knit up. 

The yarn base was Diamond Select Footsie yarn. 

Here is the yarn all in a cake. So you can see I had hope it would look better. 

Yes I have started another pair! You will have to wait to see what is next! 

Birch Tree Socks

 

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Wow Sock Pair #8 for the year done.

I dyed this yarn earlier in this winter. My inspiration was Blue Sky and Birch Trees. I was very happy with how they knitted up.

I did the ribbing with Knit 3 Purl 1 and then kept doing that down the top of the foot. They fit nice I am happy with this pair. I also did the reinforced heal and heal cap. I can not say I used a real pattern as they are kind of the vanilla pattern I use all the time. but just changed my ribbing. 

  I was thinking of socks I could wear over the summer months so I plan to turn the cuff down. 

The yarn started out as Lion Brand sock yarn with 75% wool and 25% Nylon. 

Dying Sock Yarn

 

Wow I love how soft this yarn came out. I can be a little heavy handed with the colour and this time I was hoping to have soft. I think I got Soft! The dyes that I have are Fast Acid dyes from Prochem. The colours I used where Lobster Bisque #339, Lilac # 845, Magenta # 338. I did my favorite casserole dish covered and in the oven for 40 mins. 

I used a 100 gram skein of sock yarn with 25% nylon, Diamond Select Footsie. Not sure yet which kind of sock I will knit. Maybe a short sock for summer. 

Here is the yarn all caked up, ready to knit. 

Then I started on blues with a touch of lime green. The skein on the right has mostly blue with a touch of light lime. I love lime.

 I then did the left on because I had the colours mixed up. It has more Yellow to make up all that Green.

Both of these skeins is used colours Brilliant blue 490, sea breeze 408 and sun yellow 119

Here is my mostly Blue one, I am for sure keeping it for me. In fact I have just started to knit it up, only just started so not much to show yet. 

The skein with more green is caked up and I gave it to my mom. She knits socks too. So I thought it was a fun colour for summer. She is finishing up some socks for my dad then she can do this for her self. 

Here is my blue ball ready to knit. I think I will do short socks for my self. I looked up a free pattern called Rose City Rollers. They are cute. Let you know how they turn out. 

Ugly Green Yarn

 

I did some over dying yarn the other day. 

I hand done this sock yarn, with Easter egg dyes and did not like what I had.

So Over dying to help out. 

I added bight blue and some National Blue in speckles. maybe some other green too. I just played with the colours. Well I am not sure I like it now either. 

But Wait

I then put it in to a ball. Wow it changed so much. I think I like it now. this is closer to how it will knit up and it looks pretty good now. Sometime Over dying is the best thing to do. No more sappy weak green. Now just bright bolder colours. 

Easter Monday Socks

 

Chocolate Strawberry Yarn has been knitting into Socks. This is the 7th pair I finished this year (pair #6 start to finish for the year). I started these March 20th and had them done by March 30th. 

I used a pattern I had but slowly I make changes. So this pair, the new thing is how I cast on and the heal cap has reinforcement stitches, both I learned while doing a sock a long, with Kate Atherley. It was a good class done on line. 

Here is the yarn dry and ready to roll into a ball. The dyes I used for this yarn was a fast acid dye from Pro-chem. I used a casserole dying technique, in a pan with vinegar added and set in the oven to steam covered. It is a low emersion technique I learned for dying wool fabric. 

So I dyed more but this time I tried Easter egg tablet dying. Here is Green and Yellow tablets at the beginning. 

I couple minutes later.

So here is all the tablets. But I wanted more variety. So I added Bright orange dye in the one area.  

Dried and dyed. But I am not sure I like it. Maybe I will over dye some blue in there. 

Here is the pink blue and purple egg dying tablets. I used 9, 3 of each colour. This skein I used a the casserole dyed in the oven and low water levels.  

Here is the yarn dry and ready to roll into a ball. This is Cathy Colours for sure. 

So sock repair is also a thing I end up doing too. This was a very early pair of socks I knit. It started as a real pretty 100% Merion wool, super wash but the wool did not stand up to the wear of a sock. They were nice and soft. I decided to save the top ankle and re-knit from the lower ankle down. They look odd but you knew what? they are one of the best fitting socks I have. Lots of ankle room but not to big anywhere else. The new yarn used on the foot is Knoy yarn with 25% nylon so it will stand up real well. 

Sock Pair #5

 

This pair of socks is #5 started and finished this year. The yarn is very soft and is from local sheep. It is Smiling Sheep Happy Sock Yarn. It is 85% SW Merino and 15% nylon. It is a hand dyed yarn and the colour name is "All I Have To Do Is Dream". 

They knit up real nice. But for some reason I started the toe decrease too early on my first sock. I made it way too short for my feet. So I had to redo the toe and make it longer. All is good now. I must have been rushing too much. 

I have started to knit up the next pair. I am using my Chocolate Strawberry yarn. I had another class with Kate Atherley last Sunday, The Sock A Long, hosted by Focus on Fiber Art Ass. It was on zoom again. I learned to do a different heal cap that also uses the reinforcement stitch I use on the heal flap. So happy to learn a new thing again. I will be able to have better socks and I hope the heal will last longer. . 

Here is the pretty photo of the Chocolate Strawberry yarn I dyed. I hope to do more dying soon. 

As I have been wearing my sock daily, they do wear out. I washed a bundle up and after they dry I check for weak points. This pair I had redone the toes and now the heals need help. So I dig out the left over yarn and stitch over the old stitches. I am glad it is just my socks I have to keep in good shape. If I had to do this for my whole family all winter long, I could not keep up. My men would have to learn to knit. 

Dying for Socks

 

So I got this pair of socks done in record time, 8 days. Wow ! I cast them on the needles on a Sunday and got then finished the following Sunday. This is sock pair # 4 started and finished in this year. 

I got a chance to take a sock knitting class on line with Kate Atherley. I took a mitten and glove class from her 2 years a go. I also have her sock book, it was on my Christmas list and mom got it for me.  So I picked this yarn that is a little bit larger then store sock yarn. This still has 10% nylon and should stand up to sock wearing. 

So with Kate we make a swatch for sure. Here is mine. But I did make a second swatch with one size down needles and have liked that better. I ended up casting on 60 stitches on 2.75mm needles. 

As the Sock-a-long is on zoom and set up at my sewing spot. Oh my, Knitting took over. 

A few days later after class, I had to dye some sock yarn. I had been getting all kinds of ads show up on my feed. So many pretty yarns. So I dyed these two. 

This one I am calling Chocolate Strawberries. I yarn I saw that inspired this, had a pale pink and my pink got away on me. I still love it and it is mine not like the one I saw. 

Then this one I call Birch trees and sky. Now can you see the black and white freckles are the birch bark the green for the tree tops and the blue sky. 

This photo might be the best way to see how it will knit out. I do not except any kind of row thing as the colours change is so quick. But I will love these colours. 

I still want to dye more yarn. Maybe this weekend.