dyeing
Can you see why I call these the Lighthouse Socks? Even in dim light, they shine like a lighthouse! Made with self-dyed yarn (with Kool Aid), they really "stick out".
As I had two balls รก 50 grams, I wanted to make the socks as long as possible, I chose the toe-up method. I used a generic toe-up pattern, but I can't remember what it was called!
It wasn't groundbreaking, though: I "figure 8" casted on 11 stitches and increased every other round at the sock's edges until I had 60 stitches. I then knit plain to the heel, which was a short row heel. The pattern claimed it would be a "simple no-fuss, no-w&t, no holes" heel. Ha! Either I misunderstood or the heel is crappy. The pick-ups on the knit side were fine, but the ones on purl side are full of ... holes.
Last Sunday I took part in Kreativflohmarkt / Creative Flea Market in our local art centre & creative space Unperfekthaus. It was organised by Charly from Natron & Soda who also comes to our knitting group. It was so much fun!
I had stitch markers, self dyed wool and shirts from Marvellous for sale. I didn't sell much, but did manage to end up on the plus side!
This flea market will happen first Sunday of each month from now on, and I will certainly be attending! It was nice to sell your handmades, and just as nice to sit with the other sellers, knit and chat.
What a great way to spend a Sunday!
So, I'm feeling better so I can finelly get back to blogging! This is what I have to show you first - the Damson shawl.
First the stats:
Pattern: Damson by Ysolda Teague
Needles: 4mm circular
Yarn: 1 skein of Zitron undyed sock yarn, self-dyed with Kool aid - and ca. 20 grams of Zitron bamboo sock yarn, also self dyed. More about this later..!
Modifications: I did the lace bit in garter stitch instead of stockinette. It looks good!
Two weeks back me and a few friends from the Essen kniting group went to one member's place to have fun and dye.
She had set up everything at the back yard, so we won't mess up the house. There was also bread and salad to eat, plus chocolate of course. How lovely!
So we got started and everything went fine, before it started drizzling and the weather got quite chilly. We persistantly kept on dyeing, and the rain pesistantly kept on coming down, so at the end we were almost as wet as the yarn! Just take a look at the sun parasole in the microwave picture! (press Read more if you can't see it)
In the end, the results were gorgeous, as you can see. Everything got dyed, and after three pots of tea we started to feel dry too, and sat around talking for several hours more.
I've been requesting and getting Kool Aid as "Random acts of Kindness" from many lovely people lately, and decided now's the time to try how they work.
I've dyed with Kool Aid before, but only in a microwave, a machine I don't have at the moment. So stovetop here's looking at you!
I followed the advice on Knitty and first dyed some white sock yarn with three bags of Orange and two bags of Tropical Punch (that's red). I think they came our really nice and happy looking!
I played around with some more Kool Aid, and thought I'd show you the results before they go on a ball or a project even.
First one's made with two sachets Orange, one Cherry. The yarn weighed 127 grammes.
Next yarn weighs only 50 grammes, so I only used one sachet of Ice Blue, and one Grape. The grape is too heavy here I think, I was hoping for a more turqoise yarn... but I'll learn for the next time.
The Kool aid dyed yarn in balls - I can't wait to knit something of them!
Värjäsin lankoja viikko sitten, nyt sain ne kerille!
I had wanted to try Kool Aid dyeing for a while, and when I got several balls of unnamed white wool when a friend of mine was destashing, and Sinead was leaving for the US in a few weeks for holidays. What better opportunity to try! I asked her to bring some sachets, and I got them this week in the Borders Knit and natter evening. So, Saturday night I got to it. I first studied the instructions, and put the wool for a bath (pic 1).
Pic 2: The lovely colours.
Pic 3: The atelier
Pic 4: After 30 minutes of wetting the wool I got to the actual business. First try - variegated yarn with Cherry and Grape. Very nice! On this I applied the colour water with a spoon.
