Continuing the theme.

Hats, and I am getting rather tired of them.   I made or finished nine this week, partly because I finished two class ones, and partly because I crocheted a few, which goes faster with worsted weight (#4) yarn and a large (USI-5.50mm or USJ-6.00mm) hook.

The two class projects are a snowflake-patterned hat from the two-handed colourwork class I took at DFW Fiber Fest in September:

And the top-down knitted beanie hat from the Triangle Fiber Guild meeting earlier this month, when we had a virtual lesson from The Knitting Fairy:

In progress, showing how we start using a technique that
leaves no hole to be closed later!  Using up bits of yarn.

The handy thing is that since I wasn't sure how much yarn I had from these two colours, because they were part of a donation bag of leftovers, I could just work until I ran out.  Which I did, having just a couple-few yards of each yarn left, not enough for another row.

In addition to some plain crocheted beanies of ombre yarn, I made one of a new yarn called "Flower Power".  The idea is that you follow the instructions, and the yarn is coloured in a way that it makes the design without you having to change colours.  Instead of turning the item into a square once the flower is done, I worked straight to make it a hat:

There are enough colour repeats to make twelve squares, so since I used three for that hat, I can make four other hats of this style.  I may try doing a top-down hat instead of one both for practice and so that I won't have to worry about ending at the top in the middle of a colour.

They disappeared.

I was getting ready to create this post, and was moving photos of the final test dye for my DFW Fiber Fest class, when >poof!< they all disappeared.  I've tried everything for recovery, with no luck.  Same thing happened when I took a class a couple years ago, and I was even sadder because those I cannot reproduce.

So this is the remains of the test dye, and descriptions of what went before:  I wanted to show the difference between dyeing half a skein, and half a knitted blank.  I took two blanks that are failures from a use-in-class viewpoint (because of dropped stitches, due to a tensioning issue, and two skeins in the original hank.  I had one pellet left from a set of easter egg dyes, and didn't remember the colour, but it should go with light blue.

When dissolved in vinegar the dye was deep blue, so I thought it would be blue, but no, it was purple:

As you can see, it dyed them to a light purple that is not as visible when the yarns are wound.  That's what I wanted to show, the difference between dyed-in-skein and dyed-in-knitted-blank for the end results:

Wound balls underneath the same put-ups.  Notice how much
larger the hanked yarn ball is - I had to finish it by hand.

Luckily I have one of each format that I had dyed with neon green, so it's more vivid, to show how they look wound, although I don't have a matching set of hank and knitted.  That's why I made the others, to show the before-and-after in class:

In each of the above, the hank is on the left and the knitted blank is on the right.  You can also see the effect of the yarn being knitted and wound, or in the hank and wound.

I also have the three-colour ball from an earlier test dye batch.  Some of the yarns from that batch became pennants for the bunting at DFW Fiber Fest, and I realized after I mailed them that I forgot to take a photo.  I hope to get a snapshot of them onsite.

Typically American Measurement

There are jokes and memes going around about how Americans will use anything as a unit of measurement to avoid the metric system.  My friend Trish and I joked about it and decided to display her Great Big Squishy Scarfie Thing against their Grand Caravan:

Current length, on Colour #21 of 25, is about 2/3 of a Grand Caravan.  I've knitted on it twice (somehow, not this trip!), once when I was there for "AIDA" and once at Maryland Sheep & Wool.

I did some knitting of my own, a scarf of Bernat Blanket that I left in Dallas to donate to Warm Up, America! at DFW Fiber Fest next month, and three hats; four if you count the one I knit on a friend's machine so I could try it:

The green one with brick stitch at top left will go to the local
guild's Hundred Hats Challenge collection; the other three are
destined for a different charitable project.

This time I was there to see her son in "HAMLET", portraying several characters, primarily Rosencrantz:

This wasn't the only play I saw this weekend, though.  On Friday I went to the Allen Contemporary Theater to see two friends in what turned out to be a spectacular production:

I've recommended it to people, and they report the shows are
selling out before they can get tickets.  Kudos to ACT!

And then this went into a black hole, instead of getting published.  I thought I'd hit the "Publish" button!

Since then, I finished another two hats for the collection, and half a scarf for WUA:

Ooops, the top one is a repeat from the previous photo.
Both hats are AlwaysBeKind yarn.  Scarf is a Caron Chunky Cake.

I've planned some projects (probably too many to get done before DFW Fiber Fest), and finished my Berie Shawl of the "Sunset Skies" yarn:

When I saw how much is left, I decided not to frog back and add another garter row in the center, and there isn't enough remaining for a border, so the shawl is as it is (and fits me well) and the last bit of yarn will go into a hat or something.  Yes, I have the ends to run in, but that's just a few minutes of work.  I love how it feels, very soft and cuddly.

Testing the tea (dye).

Since I am going to Dallas (briefly) I thought I'd try some dyeing and take the samples to leave for next month's class.  I hoped to have a pile of knitted blanks to leave, but have had issues with tensioning the loom.  I've also decided to give people half-skein blanks, about 98-100 yards of yarn, instead of a full one, because it might take too long for people to paint a full-sized one.

Speaking of blanks, one of my sample dyes is a blank and a hank, dyed the same (half in one shade of green and half in another), to show how differently the resulting yarn will work:

However, the main plan was to refresh my ability with tea-dyeing.  In theory it is simple: make a BIG pot of tea, add yarn, and simmer.

I managed to goof it up in the beginning by (1) putting in too many skeins, crowding the slow-cooker I am using, and (2) adding the tea bags and yarn at the same time.

The result was VERY spotty, so I pulled out the yarn, drained much of the water back into the pot, added some fresh tea bags with the spent ones, and allowed it to become tea before returning the yarn.  The end result was still a bit streaky, but not as badly:

The above photo has a hank of the original colour under and to the left of each dyed hank.  The blue and tan came out much closer in colour than I expected.  Even though they are not perfect, it's a learning experiment, and I took notes, and that's also part of what I am teaching the students.

I was able to get a couple more slow cookers, so opened to the waiting list but with an absolute cap of eighteen.  When I last heard, there are seventeen registered for the class.  Wow!!

Plunging in Again.

I haven't dyed yarn since moving, but offered to teach a class at DFW Fiber Fest this year, which they accepted.  Last year at DFW Fiber Fest I took a course in natural dyeing (eco-printing, the teacher calls it) and a friend was in the class; she told me that she had fun but is sensitive to compounds so couldn't do more at home unless she could order pre-treated items from the teacher.  That class used cotton fabric as the base, which needs to be treated with washing soda and other harsh mordants for the dye to bind.  I mentioned that I've done dyeing using kitchen-safe (and mostly edible) products, and she talked me into applying.

Shortly after DFW Fiber Fest opened registrations I was told that nine people had registered for the class, which was more than I expected!  In this weekend's update, we found out that the class has SOLD OUT.  I am in shock.  Complete shock.  Yes, it is a small class (fifteen students) but I didn't think that many people would be interested.

The first year of DFW Fiber Fest (2006) I taught this class, and had three students registered.  I might have had a fourth as walk-in.  I've kept in touch with two of the three.  One of the students went on to run a dyeing business for a while (I have some of her yarn in my stash) and the other does spinning and other things; I don't know if she still dyes.

So I figured I need to work on the agenda for the class, and make sure the schedule will allow for what I want to show people.  This means doing some test dyeing.

One item I want to show them is dyeing on blanks, which are preknitted (could be pre-crocheted; I am going to test that also) pieces of fabric that are dyed, then unknit (or un-crocheted) and made into something else.  Mostly these are called "sock blanks" made from two strands of fine yarn knit together, that are then dyed or painted and unraveled, allowing for two matched socks without having to figure out where a stripe begins, as you do with a single long skein.

I found some yarn of a good weight (since the premade blanks are more than I wanted to charge students for class supplies) and with a small swift and knitting machine, gave it a try:

  

The skein is just shy of 200 yards and made a blank about 31" long:

I also prepared some leftover bits of yarn from other projects.  I wound three hanks, and had a bit of some moth-nibbled yarn from a donated stash that I simply tied in a couple of places with yarn.  The two on the bottom are the same yarn, but it was in two pieces (I think because of socks? or moths) so I wound different lengths to show how that can affect the end result.

Then it was into a dyebath.  I took some notes about quantities, and started with some green dye, then pink, and finally blue from a set I'd purchased a couple Easters ago to dye eggs:

I had no real plan, just water and white vinegar and dye, and part of each piece, except that the small tied one I threw in whole.  I forgot to take a picture of the pink in progress, but remembered for the blue:

It was such an incredible colour I went to my charity yarn stash for some other yarns to add to the pot.  I had a bit of beige and a quantity of white with blue specks, which you see at the bottom and top of the above photo respectively.  I'd planned to leave the white yarn with just green, until I saw the blue, so I dyed part of the white in blue and left some alone.

End results looked great when I put them on my drying rack:

I couldn't wait for the small bit to cool before I unwound the yarn tying it:

And this is the final result arranged similarly to the first photo, but with the additional yarns at the right:

Yes, not much of the pink, no surprise to anybody who knows me.  For the two at the bottom, I decided to leave one partly in the original and dyed the other; originally I was going to leave both of them with half undyed, but I liked the blue too much.  In retrospect, I could have done the smaller one in half-pink, so it's something to remember for a future dyepot.

Speaking of which, I wish I'd done two of the blanks, so I could wind one into a ready-to-work cake and the students could see the before and after for a gradient.  So next up will be to create two blanks (and maybe a third for crochet - or should I do two for crochet so I can leave one and wind one to show the differences?) and dye them together, then wind one into a cake.

While the yarns simmered (it takes about an hour for the dyebaths to exhaust, important to know for a class) I finished the Giverny Shawl, except for running in the ends:

Not much of the yarn left, so I didn't do the ruffle edging.  But I think it's fine as it is.

Fiberuary - Week 3

 

Day 15 - Cozy Corner

This is Judy's sunroom.  I thought it makes a perfect location for "cozy", with the addition of crocheted (not by me) afghans and a mug of tea, and my knitting.

 

Day 16 - Reading/Watching

I knit while watching the opening of the Maria C. Vallejo Lace Collection, and during class (but no photos), and then knitted and read on my flight home.

Day 17 - Monochromatic

I almost forgot to take a photo, then thought I might have to re-use something and I want these to be unique as much as possible.  As I was trying to find something else I noticed the piece of felted wool I'd purchased at last year's Carolina Fiber Fest, to use for shoe insoles and padding.

Day 18 - Twos Day

Photo shows the in-progress scarf to match a hat I knit last year.  I had two skeins of yarn in different colourways and decided to work them into a set.  First the wedge hat, and the rest for a scarf.  I tried to do a scarf in wedges also, but it was more of a challenge than I felt like managing.  So I changed to this pattern, in which I started with one colour, added the second, and when the first colourway ran out, finished with the second.  Bottom photo shows the finished set, which I didn't complete on Tuesday.

Day 19 - Wear It Wednesday

It was a cold and snowy day, so wearing a thick handknit sweater was perfect.  I've seen baby and toddler sweaters with the leaf pattern at the yoke and wanted one in a grownup size.  When I found one, I was very happy that some well-aged yarn in my stash would work nicely.  Lower photo is a better one of the sweater; in the selfie I am at the storm door but the glare prevents you from seeing the snow.

Day 20 - Fiber Friends

I have many photos of people I met through fiberarts, and groups and events I have attended.  Many are just of two of us; this is of the DFW Fiber Fest board and guest teachers from 2011.

Day 21 - Now & Then

The Sock Yarn mittens that were in one of my first blog posts also appear in the "Favourite Things" photo for Day 13.  One has a moth hole I need to repair.

DFW Fiber Fest 2024 - Charitable Giving

Every year, DFW Fiber Fest allows various charities to set up shop, so to speak.  For several years the locally-headquartered Warm Up America! has been co-hosted in the vendor hall information booth, and this year they were given their own space.  As previously reported, I took quite a few items to donate.  I debated whether to switch to a large duffle bag but decided that might entice me to bring back more yarn than I need,* so I decided to pack into the suitcase (unfortunately, not an expanding type) and a couple of totes, one of which looks enough like an oversized purse that I could carry it on the plane as my personal item.**

I also took these two sleepy kittens which a friend is collecting for her local library's Welcome Baby project.  I made them out of scraps of dishcloth cotton plus a bit of acrylic for the light purple face:

The pattern says to use DK weight yarn and mine
are of worsted, since that is what I have handy.

I made sure to get a photo of the luggage before unpacking:

Saturday night I spent a couple hours post-supper relaxing to videos and running in ends and making sure everything has tags.  I tried to photograph them by groups, but a couple items hid under other things so are in a different group.

These are blanket pieces.  WUA takes 7"x9" pieces and has
volunteers sew them into blankets.  I was trying stitches.

Eighteen hats - the nineteenth was hiding under scarves.

Four shawls, assorted sizes and shapes.

Eleven of the scarves.

Three hat-and-scarf sets.  The middle one is of a handdyed
acrylic I purchased at DFW Fiber Fest two years ago.

One more hat, a pair of mittens (also handdyed yarn), and a
striped pair I decided I don't like enough to keep.

These scarves were still in a drawer when I took the other photo.

My total is 2 blanket pieces, 19 hats, 3 hat-and-scarf sets, one hat-and-mittens set, one large pair of mittens, 13 scarves, and four shawls.  Most have a label from the yarn; a few have printed washing instructions.  I had an old worn-out duffle I'd left with friends that one brought to me, and I packed everything into it.  I was surprised that they all fit!  I printed a donation form and marked everything included.  So when I walked up with the donation, the volunteers offered to unpack and I said they didn't have to do it, I was happy to donate the duffle as it couldn't be used as luggage reliably.  One started to ask me to fill out a form and I pulled out the one I had, which was in an outside pocket.  They got very excited as I had written the number of each item on the form - the volunteers told me many people just do a checkmark at the type of donation.  Hey, it's not my first donation!

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* Not that I truly need yarn, you understand, but there are show colourways to collect.  And so on.

** Handily, it plus my computer bag fit under the seat in front of me, always my preference since I don't like struggling to reach into an overhead bin if I can avoid it.