Yellow & Fluffy ... again ?!

Oh no - not more - is this woman obsessed with fluffy yellow stuff?   

  

Well, this is different fluffy stuff - not feathers this time but wool ...

Yes, I've had my cauldron  Dye Pot out - creating coloured yarn for spinning (and other) projects.









The wool is Bendigo Woollen Mills ReadySpin sliver - this yellow is a mix of LandScapes' Camomile and some left-over Dylon (name unknown, sorry).  The 1st batch is a yummy bright golden yellow, the 2nd batch came out lighter. 

I'll be using both these yellows to spin up some Australian Botany inspired yarn - the paler yellow will make great wattle flowers :-)

I'm a completely un-scientific dyer and love to experiment - a bit of this with a bit of that colour ...

Anyway, in every dye session I usually manage to produce at least one colour that wasn't exactly planned - let's call it experimental.  And we'll call this colour Rust.  
Mostly Landscapes' Sarsparilla.

Now for the reason I started this dye-session - I needed to make some fairy-floss pink ...

and here are two batches of pinkness spread out for drying.






And a close-up.   Mostly Dylon's Tahitian Rose  with a touch of Landscapes' Sarsparilla.  Very happy with this very sugary pinkness.

Home Made Dyelots and Attempts at LaceMaking

When you dye your own yarn, one thing you dread is running out of that yarn 1/2 way through the project. It is just SO difficult to dye a 2nd batch of yarn to the same colour.

That is exactly what has happened with the vintage style dress I'm knitting for granddaughter in wave stitch and yarn I dyed an aqua colour - previous post. I got a bit confused with translating ounces to grams and I've made the skirt very generous and full and 'girly'. There is enough of the original 200gr to complete the bodice but not enough for the sleeves which will be generous, full and 'girly' puffs. So - I stopped knitting at the waistband - procrastinated for a few weeks then plucked up some courage & another 200gr of the yarn & my dyes.

Luckily, after more than 4 decades of crafting I am beginning to learn the importance of taking notes and had done so with the 1st aqua dye job. Here are the results - skirt of dress next to newly dyed skein.


Not bad huh! the new dyelot is very slightly bluer but I think it'll be quite acceptable given that the break from one to the other will be at the waistband - and I've enough of the original to do that alternating 2rows from each ball of yarn trick. Big sigh of relief!

Meanwhile, I'm trying to learn how to make lace - bobbin or pillow lace. Because I really do need a new craft :-)

Here is my 2nd "bookmark" of whole stitch, half stitch and something else - tension is horrid and there are lots of mistakes ...

However, time to move on to "Torchon Ground" and after much brain strain trying to follow the instructions in Jennifer Fisher's book "Torchon Lace for today" (thanks for the loans of equipment and book Jay) ...

Those who know will see the mistakes - and yes there are knots at the top, I was conserving my thread !!

Fun with Colours

I've been having fun with the dye-pot again.

This will (eventually) become a knitted dress for my granddaughter - Bendigo Woollen Mills' "Luxury 4ply" in a rather dilute mix of Sandolan "blue 3G Turquiose" and a little bit of Landscapes' "Kelp".
I was really happy with that aqua colour so I popped about 100g of roving / sliver in the pot (also from Bendigo Woollen Mills)

Now, what to make from that ... spin it lace-weight and make a shawl ??




Well, the rest of the Sliver was sitting there looking very white so I made a start on an idea I've had for a while - to spin yarn that looks like the water of Sydney Harbour. I was sitting on a wharf, eating my lunch on a bright sun-shiny day, looking into the water trying to see the fish and I kept thinking of these lovely lines in Kenneth Slessor's wonderful poem "Five Bells"

"Deep and dissolving verticals of light
Ferry the falls of Moonshine down. Five bells"

only, being the middle of the day it was sun-shine that was being ferried down ... "deep and dissolving verticals of light" ... Wonderful words.

Well, I'm envisaging the finished yarn as a tweedy variegated - mostly a dark blue green with this as the "light"


It is actually a little more intense than the photo shows - it is Landscapes "Kelp" with a sprinkle of Sandolan Brown.

Dye & Spin Experiment a Success - Resilience

Last post I had just dyed a whole lot of wool roving and was being mysterious about what I was planning to do with it ...

Voila!

I like variegated yarn with long lengths of colour, when knitted up it gives a banded look, however, most of the commercially available yarns with long length colour variegation are really expensive and/or single construction (not plyed) which means they wear very poorly. So I've been dreaming of spinning up my own for ages and at last I've worked out how to do it. Long lengths of colour, plied and nice and thick (about 12ply).

The yarn is mostly Bendigo Woolen Mills 'Readyspin', the charcoal came that colour, I dyed the green and yellow.


I'm calling this colour-way 'Resilience' because it is inspired by the way the Australian bush bounces back after a fire. It is amazing how (when the bush-fire has been fast and not-too-hot) only 6 to 9mths later those apparently dead trees are sprouting new green growth all over their blackened branches and in the spring there are wildflowers and wattles in bloom. Amazing resilience! The charcoal is for all the burnt branches etc, the green is the new growth and the yellow .... that's the wattle blossom.

Now, what to knit with it ??

Cooking up some Colour

Dyeing can be fantastic fun when all goes well and the colour is just as you had planned; it can be a disaster when the colour ends up all wrong! However, as I get more experienced I'm having fewer disasters :-)

This weekend I had the dye-pot on the stove again and everything turned out really well. This is a spot-dye, the yarn is Bendigo Woolen Mill's 4ply wool - when knitted up this sort of yarn looks very pretty, like spring blossom.Then I dyed some roving - Bendigo's Readyspin and some Border Leicester - in shades of grass green and gold/yellow (showing quite washed out in the photo, sorry!)



The green and gold will be part of a spinning experiment ... all rather exciting!

Knitted bolero for my Niece

Well, I got both knitted pressies for my sister's twins finished in time but only just. I started this bolero months ago - and then put it aside. The yarn is from Bendigo Woolen Mills - 12ply and they call the colour "Seamist" - I added the darker bits myself and am quite chuffed with the result. The photo below shows the colours better.

The pattern is (like the hooded jacket) from a French pattern book - and it was all in French but the fantastically detailed schematics once again made it possible for me to work things out. I did change things somewhat (those who know me will know that I seldom actually follow a pattern!) The original had a shawl-style collar and plain sleeves to the wrist. My niece loves dancing and especially Spanish / flamenco style dancing - so I'm indulging this (it is part of the job of an Auntie) hence the frilly bits on this bolero - and the rose with matching bit - which is mounted on a hair-clip (all Spanish dancers need a rose for their hair!).

I rather enjoy being an Auntie :-)

Tatting, Scanties. Spinning and drying the Sky

Pumpkin Hour on Sunday night means that it must be time to Blog about all the things I've been making. Also, I'm on a wireless connection - which means that late on a Sunday night is about the only time I can get good download time. So here goes.

The big news is that I have my very own spinning wheel - bought myself a Majacraft Pioneer from Virginia Wool Farm on Saturday, I'm calling the wheel Kevin because his purchase is thanks to Uncle Kev's stimulus package. The Pioneer is a lovely wheel to use - very smooth and easy with the double tredle and everything is central so no kinks in the spine :-) I've been spinning lots more of the red yarn as used for that wire-frame hat ... will be making a jumper or dress to match. Have also decided to spin some yarn as a gift for my mother - she knits too - so - my 1st attempt at dyeing roving. And it worked without turning into felt ! Here it is laid out to dry ... I think it looks like the sky - so here is some sky getting dry "Nothing but Blue Skies from now on ..."



In other news - I've been making little corsages in tatting and have listed 2 in my Etsy shop, this is the larger one, pinned on my favourite vintage jacket (which is NOT for sale). I've also listed a pair of silk scanties - ooo naughty? well, not really - they are so not scanty at all. I hate to think just how many pairs of modern things I could have sewn from the fabric it took to make this one pair of (not)scanties. Used a vintage (1940s) pattern, petal pink silk and a vintage motif that I've had in stash for at least 20yrs waiting for the perfect project - and it is perfect for the yoke of these "scanties".

A Whole Week of Making Things

Made the frilled bloomers

and the bonnet
to match the embroidered dress I’ve made my grand-daughter – see previous posting for the dress. The Bonnet buttons up at the back and when unbuttoned it lies flat which is great for laundering and packing ...

Then I started yet another knitting project – a zipped, hooded, cabled jacket for my nephew whose 8th birthday is just over a month away - will I get it done in time??? It is 12ply (from Bendigo Woollen Mills) so a fast knit but the pattern is from a French booklet and is all in French; to my shame, I’m totally mono-lingual.

However, French knitting patterns are fantastic, they give schematics with every measurement and with the aid of an old French/English dictionary I’ve worked out the basics … maille = stitch (and thence to chain maille ?) aiguille = needle, monter = cast on (I hope) …


Am working (travail) the fronts in one with the back to the armholes (emmanchure ?) and have changed the cables a little.


Those wire frame hats for the Cert 4 Millinery class are progressing – but slowly and they just won’t be finished by the due date – next Tuesday :-/ Here is the black one (I blogged about it when it was a head cage!) I was going to pile a heap of black lace onto it but that made it a hat for an un-Merry Widow and my teacher keeps reminding me that I’m supposed to be making “Fashion Hats” not reproductions from another era. Drat Double Drat - I don’t like most currently Fashionable hats and I lurv the old ones. Anyway, I think this might be a compromise – old tatty lace bits but cream not black and some paper butterflies that I bought in Paris – ahhh! Will look better without the pins and surplus wire.

On the weekend I was busy dyeing – a very old Indian Sari that I’ve had for over 20yrs (and it was old back then) a very lt weight pale apricot silk with metal thread medallions, very lovely.
But it had been in a box for far too long – so although it did feel like a total sacrilege I cut into it and turned it into 4 large shawls and 2 small neck scarves. But pale apricot is not a good colour for people with pallid skin so into the dye-pot they went. I do love playing with dyes, have a huge pot that barely fits on my stove – it is so tall I have to stand on a little chair and I stir the pot with a bit stick, recite Hamlet and feel like a real witch ☺ Very happy with the results, lovely fruit colours – apricot, peach, strawberry, blueberry … I've listed this shawl and one scarf in my Etsy shop.