KarenJoSeattle

Stars and Stripes

I finally got my blog links lists set up in the sidebar. I'm really sorry they weren't there before I got all that traffic from The Harlot. Still, most of my hits seemed to just be to my front page where I do have more than two weeks worth of posts.

The Free Patterns link also got hits, maybe from people looking for Karen's sock pattern. It's on Blue Moon's site and also for sale at Churchmouse Yarns. Check out her other designs here.

I, on the other hand, have one pattern up so far. I'm working on that.

The blog lists still need some work and lack a few links. If you see something amiss or know of a blog you think I should check out, please let me know.

I listed blogs I read regularly but did push that a bit for the list of Karens. I know I've seen lots of Karen/Karin/Karyn knitting blogs, but apparently I haven't added many of them to my feed service. Hmmm.

I knit up my sample mini-skein I dyed in my self-striping sock yarn workshop. When I dyed my full skeins I left out the grays I tried to do here. I aimed for olive only in the variegated stripes between the blues and grays, but found a small amount of yellow quickly turns black to olive. I need to experiment with adding colors to gray to make it richer without turning it into a different color altogether.

This sample actually turned out a bit smaller around than I'd do for a sock - maybe an inch too small for my 8 1/2 inch ankle so it looks thin though the gauge isn't especially loose. I knit 8 1/2 stitches per inch on US1s/2.5mm. I wouldn't expect a big difference in the layout or width of the stripes for a slightly bigger sock or slightly different gauge.

For some reason I kept dropping stitches at the change of needles with this yarn (which yarn?). I don't usually do that. Plus, after swatching all day I suddenly realized that I had almost the equivalent of half a sock, but I didn't cast on like I would for an actual sock and I used up more than half of what I had in this mini-skein. I may need to do shorter color repeats. This one measured about 40 yards for one full repeat.

I haven't skeined this hank yet. I need a bit more set-up to do so without tangling everything. This photo should give an idea of how it will knit up. I did more variegation in wider stripes here and separated them with narrower stripes of darker colors -- and another 40 yard repeat.

When this is knit the stripes will run down from the top of the photo and then back up. The colors at the top and bottom will not end up next to each other. They'll turn back on themselves and make a stripe twice as wide as it looks now.

I ordered KnitPicks Bare in several sizes and blends to use in my dye experimentation. The olive and blue skein contains 75% superwash merino and 25% nylon. Both took the color well. The blue skein is a merino but not superwash. It did not felt in the dye process, thought it fluffed up a bit more than the blend.

I'm not wild about the feel of these yarns. They don't have much spring in comparison to other hand-dyeds I've bought. I did find one spit splice and a couple of flaws when I was winding them onto the warping board.

But, then, the sample skein was either the Kona or Gems provided in the workshop, both well thought of, and I found a couple of flaws in a shorter run of it. No knots or splices, though.

I want to buy a couple of cones of yarn to continue learning with, but could see myself getting to a point where I knit for others with the yarn or even sell it, so I'll do some research before I decide what to buy. Right now I lean toward a superwash and nylon blend as that's what I tend to think I should buy in hand-dyed sock yarn.

But I do get swayed by great color combinations regardless of the yarn used. I assume I'm not alone in that.

I Made This

Today in the second day of my workshop in dyeing self-striping sock yarn I dyed two skeins.

The gray stripes on my sample skein showed too little differentiation so I decided to go a slightly different direction. I'll experiment more with gray later.

On my first skein I did sections of stripes in gradations of blues and olive with a multicolored section mixing a green and a blue between. I hope the multicolored sections will work up as little blocks of color. The actual colors are darker than this.

I didn't take a photo of the skein before I wound it into a hank. When the skein is still laid out on the warping board you can see how the stripes will progress and get an idea of their relative width.

Tomorrow when my second skein, all blues, has dried I'll take photos of it on the warping board and explain the process.

I had a ball playing with the colors and painting the yarn. In fact, I had so much fun I bought some of the equipment and supplies to do more. Now I need to figure out where I can safely set this process up without dyeing the floor or counters. Then I'll have to buy yet more stuff.

I also need to find a source of citric acid powder to use instead of vinegar. I could tell that the hot vinegar fumes didn't sit well with my allergy-affected lungs. I remember buying this in the grocery store for canning ages ago, but the store I checked had only very small bottles with a bunch of other ingredients added.