Dye Session 04: Blues and Greens

sorry this took so long to post...but here's the finished blue. my house actually looks a little like this color =) so that's exciting b/c i actually intended to try to mimic it.

i love the skein rolled up. it's so pretty. and there are SUBTLE VARIATIONS /me claps proudly


and here it is all laid out. i cut the ties on this one while it dried.


now i wanted to make the roomie socks. i actually don't need 2 full skeins of worsted weight yarn, but i figured i could make myself some or make him an extra sock should he ruin one...

this was dyed with the same dye (lots put into one jar and each pour measured precisely by measuring cup) and 2 different crock pots.


there's a bit more white in these than i'd like, but damn was this hard. i did my whole add more dye after 30-60 minutes right after you move the ties but it seems to exhaust quickly. maybe it's the vinegar?


and here they are side by side...purposefully messed up sides showing. notice in the skein on the bottom there's a bit of blue.


overall, i'm very happy with what i've done =)

memorial day

okay...

i usually DO NOT post anything personal other than knitting...to be completely honest ...i've been trying to avoid thinking about it...because, i just don't want it to be real.

but...

Joshua James Frazier may you please, please be resting in peace.

thank you for everything.

i miss you
i love you
i wish i had more time with you

-from the memorial video-
"If I Ever Leave This World Alive"

If I ever leave this world alive
I'll thank for all the things you did in my life
If I ever leave this world alive
I'll come back down and sit beside your
feet tonight
Wherever I am you'll always be
More than just a memory
If I ever leave this world alive

If I ever leave this world alive
I'll take on all the sadness
That I left behind
If I ever leave this world alive
The madness that you feel will soon subside
So in a word don't shed a tear
I'll be here when it all gets weird
If I ever leave this world alive

So when in doubt just call my name
Just before you go insane
If I ever leave this world
Hey I may never leave this world
But if I ever leave this world alive

She says I'm okay; I'm alright,
Though you have gone from my life
You said that it would,
Now everything should be all right

She says I'm okay; I'm alright,
Though you have gone from my life
You said that it would,
Now everything should be all right
Yeah should be alright

Dye Session 03: Blues

So, I decided that the green went so well, that i'd try making blue.

Well the first batch I did some bright blue with a smidge of black. Just a little bit of both because I wanted a nice soft blueish grey looking color.

After 30 minutes the water was almost clear and WHITE SPOTS GALORE! /me sheds tears

So, I did what I did with the green... rotated all the ties (burning my hands in the process), lifted the yarn, added only a bit of blue (powder directly to crockpot), some vinegar, let the dripping mix...

realized that the blue was not mixing well...so I used my chop stick (burning my hand some more) to mix it...when it was all just water and no powder clumps, I put the yarn back in.

30 minutes later the blue was taking, but STILL WHITE SPOTS
so this time i fliped the yarn inside out (so, if you held the yarn by one looped end, the parts that were touching now became the parts that were not touching...) hoping this would even out the color some.

put the yarn back in the water... cry over my burned hands (damn those crockpots get water hot)
30 mintues later, moved the top of the yarn to the bottom
30 minutes later, STILL WHITE SPOTS so I swished the yarn around to mix things up a bit... i really DO NOT want to add any more color (i wanted light blue...but now it's at a blue i'm comfortable with so I don't want to mess with it)

then remembered that the magenta + blue = purple skien was actually boiling...so i resolved to just let it sit for 60 minutes...in 30 i'll just probably look into the glass and see if i see bubbles along the edges...

but... if worse comes to worse, i can just dye it again tomorrow... with a darker blue and just cry...

but we'll see...maybe i'll be pleased with the results later.

---update 01---

okay so i went to look 60 mintues later and i CAN NOT understand why nothing is taking to the light blue/white-ish spots.

so, yes, i went to the dark blue and added a smidge to the water... now it's dark blue, blue grey, and white...

EHHHHHHHHH

waiting 30 minutes before i burn the whole thing.

---update 02---
well i gave up. did the "white spoon test" and the water was crystal clear. so i unplugged the sucker, cracked the lid... and decided to take some picutres.

it was very hard to catch the tones of the blues, so i'm putting up two pictures to show the depth. first up is the "light blues" ... which, in my opinion, right now...dominate the yarn


and here we have the "dark blues"


i'll post pics of it while hanging to dry and then pictures again once dry.

---update 03---
woke up this morning and rinsed... SURPRISINGLY the water was clear on first rinse. but since i used eucalan and there were suds everywhere, i rinsed a second time for good measure.

after rolling it (with a rolling pin) in a towel to get out the excess water, it was pretty close to dry. hopefully this means that it will be dry sometime tonight??? oh and this time i took out the ties while drying (b/c it makes dents if you don't).

so here we are hanging on the drying rack.


because it's so early in the morning, i went ahead and took pictures of my dry and ready to use new yarns.
this is the magenta which i redyed in blue...and it came out a raspberry color with blue highlights. so here's it in the skien ready to "go"


and here it is undone so you can see the color changes


now i'm beginning to realize that yellow is a very hard color to capture. this picture looks like the yarn is all one subtle (very) solid...but it's not... it's got yellow tones in it.

i actually went outside with a white towel and turned my flash off, used micro, and did a fast shutter speed in hopes to get true color...but damn is anything yellow hard...


my feeble attempt to show the color changes... i promise you, it's gorgeous.

Dye Session 02: Picture Essay continued

That's right... this is a continuation... so read Dye Session 01 first =)

Okay...so I was itching to make green...and itching to dye something right... so I started over again. This time, I left the ties tight, but tied in 6 places instead of 4. And, I got smarter with the soaking. I added a glass and put a loop around it so I know where I can grab the yarn without tangling it.


I followed all the same procedures except
1. i used less dye powder in total (even though i mixed to get the green)
2. i used 1/3 - 1/2 cup of vinegar
3. i used warmer water for both the bath and the crock pot
4. this time i went to check and move the ties =)... but after 30 minutes and not 2-3 hours LOL


I thought it was looking pretty...but maybe a bit bright... so
1. I made more mix, but in lesser quantities than what I originally had
2. added 1/4 cup of vinegar.

now when i lifted the yarn (this is why I burned) i just let it drip into the crock pot. with the other hand, i added the new dye and vinegar bath. the dripping, in my mind, did the mixing.

i moved the ties (all 6 of them on HOT WET yarn) and relaid them in there - i went back to check after 30 minutes and was pleased with the color


so then i went to check on the magenta-ish abomination that I did yesterday. and yes...


there were white spots.


so i took a jar, some blue, some hot water and made another dye bath with a crock pot i just bought that day (which was yesterday LOL...yes, i went on craigs list and bought a crock pot while at work... picked it up during lunch too). anyways, after 30 minutes, it was distinctly BLUE and RED...which kinda had me panicing.


so i went to check on the lovely green again and felt better =)


so after 3 hours of cooking, 7-8 hours of cooling over night, 30 minutes of rinsing...here are the picutres of both yarns...

i love the green...maybe not as subtle solid as i hoped (a bit on the solid side) but that's okay... it still has to dry


this will definately be a subtle solid, but damn did it get dark! it went from magenta to a deep burgundy color - you can see some blue highlights in it...which i think will be cool once it's dried. i would like to see what this looks like on a much lighter scale... it's summer time and all so i wanna see some happy colors...


all that remains is
1. what color to dye next
2. what color to dye the worsted weight yarn for the roomie
3. should i keep dying or actually knit it first LOL.

=)

---end---

Dye Session 01: Picture essay

So... I got an itch to dye yarn...and immediately went NUTS and bought a bunch of supplies





Target: Crock pot, plastic measuring spoons, wooden spoon, and basin
Safeway: Vinegar
Knit Picks: Jacquard Dye Starter set and yarn (3 skeins fingering, 2 worsted)
Already had: empty jars, aloe lined laytex gloves, packaging paper, Eucalan wool wash and printed instructions

So I redid the ties on the skein because I thought they were too tight...


this turned out to be a big mistake because i put it to soak and realized i was going to have a tangled mess


But I went ahead and did the following while it soaked
1. put room temp water in crock pot
2. put on gloves and mask
3. get the jar and put in some dye powder
4. added some hot water to swish (i don't like stirring to get out clumps and really didn't want to use ANOTHER utensil that i would never be able to use again)
5. added the rest of the warm water from the tea pot into the crock pot
6. added 3/4 vinegar to the crock pot
7. added dye solution to crock pot
8. grabbed yarn, squeezed it some
9. stuck it in and let it cook.... because i wanted a subtle solid i refused to move it...



it was looking so pretty until i started talking to red and realized that there are going to be white spots! so i ran to check...but alas, it was too late. the dye was almost completely exhausted and there was white spots galore.



---end---

don't laugh at me

so...i'm a hayao miyazaki fan. my first movie of his i saw was spirited away. very very beautiful. although, i did want to stab the little girl for her lack of tone because she just seemed to scream throughout the whole thing.

my next movies of his i saw on a miyazaki marathon on cartoon network...but the roommate bought me howl's moving castle.

this is definately one of miyazaki's more mature films (if you can even say that)but i've watched it ... non stop ... since what? monday? and i'm still going LOL.

anyway, i love the art work, i love the colors, i love the voices. (christian bale is hot...in general)

so anyway...goober me who is a fan's type of fan (yes i've knitted a harry potter slytherin scarf - as a gift - that my friend wore to the opening and had people accost her for)

man am i tangential or what today?

anyway, being a goober fan fan ... i want to knit the toys on howl's bed. i'm leaning more towards the hippo with the stupidly long tail. yes, i will attempt to knit it big (life size)... and i figure it's easier than knitting wobbly spots on a cow ... with green ears (too cute)

but yeah... i figured knitting the toys would be easier than knitting a howl, calcifer, etc.

i am thinking of dying up some deep navy blue yarn and knitting some feathery lace socks...but that would require research and effort...but it is much less effort than trying to knit a howl...

maybe someone should just find me christian bale so i can make him socks...and our dogs can play together... /me starts dreaming...

so yeah... hippo with stupid long tail anyone?

my finger hurts

okay so i've had a two day dying adventure =)

i'm actually writing everything up in word and will include pictures AFTER i'm done with everything...

but let me tell you i'm pretty excited =D

i'll have some nice happy green socks. by "happy" green i mean something slightly yellowish, light, and happy. hopefully it's a subtle solid

oh - just found this >> http://theknittery.com/c/120995/1/8ply-dk-silk-merino.html look at the "barley grass" and that's pretty close to the color i have =)

i'll also have some varigated (or subtle solid) purple socks....they started off as magenta, but i missed spots (damn yarn ties) so i redyed it in a little bit of blue...got a bit worried b/c it was actually looking like blue, pink, and purple...but after 3 hours the water stopped being blue, pink water remained (assuming dye has been exhausted since the color's been completely mixed) and the yarn is purpleish... DARK purple...so we'll see.

definately LOVING dying =) feels so satisfying.

definately going to the knittery (see side bar under shopping) for some sock yarn =) cashmere sock yarn with nylon...

/me drools

can't wait to show you guys pictures

i'm also thinking of sending people some yarn i dyed just for the hell...but we'll see =)

---end---

ps. added Anti M to the side bar...say hello and take a peak!

happy birthday to me

okay, so it's like...super super early for my birthday...but...instead of the spa i bought dying stuff.

so... here it is
1. jacquard acid dye starter set that has Vermillion, Fire Red, Sky Blue, Sapphire Blue, Yellow Sun, and Jet Black. this means i'm going to have to think about how to make green lol.

2. three (3) skiens of superwash/nylon fingering weight yarn @ 462 yards each (to test subtle solid dying)

3. two (2) skiens of superwash/nylon worsted weight yarn @ 220 yards each (for aaron's socks that i still haven't done)

i need to get
1. a crockpot (going to target)
2. masks
3. white vinegar
4. gloves (i think i have some at home)
5. a wash basin (i think i want a specifc one for washing)
6. these instructions printed out before it suddenly disappears off the internet ()

but i do have to report the following good stuff
1. the cable ribbed socks have been done =) i need to wash them
2. finished ONE jaywalker sock today @ bf's basketball game
3. camisa is done being knitted. just need to block and seam =)
4. i got fitted knits (i know i'm horrible)
5. i got knitting on the road (dude you have no idea how quickly this book is disappearing!)
6. i got the cashmere yarn from red =) very excited....

but yes... i must go now...

---end---