First attempt at self-striping sock yarn

After dying for longer colour repeats on a chunky yarn, I decided the next thing to try was a self-striping sock yarn.

I used the same method for winding and dying the yarn as I used for the previous experiment and again sectioned the yarn into four equal sections.

Colours used this time around:
a light blue/green - mixed using emerald and turquoise
a dark green - mixed using emerald and turquoise
light purple - straight from dye stock
gun metal - straight from dye stock

The bottom image is the toe of a sock, I could not wait to cast something on. I am fairly happy with how it has come out, although the stripes are not very thick. For thicker stripes I am either going to have to limit myself to two colours per skein, or find a new piece of equipment to wind longer skeins.

Dying for longer colour repeats - Part 2

I am so pleased with how this turned out, especially given that it is my first attempt at longer colour repeats.

As promised last week, here is my dying process, in pictures.

After the skein was dry I was keen to get it back into a shorter skein, but a little worried about how I was going to do this without creating a giant knot! Luckily for me the door handles in my craft room are the perfect distance apart to loop my long skeins around and then wind on to my umbrella swift. I managed to get it wound without any tangles and it didn't take too long.

I am sending this skein to a friend. She had seen the yarn I had dyed to match my winter coat and asked if I could dye her some chunky yarn for a cowl she wanted to knit. I am excited to see how it will knit up.

I now have ideas for trying gradients and self striping, based on what I was able to achieve with my first attempt at longer colour repeats.

My equipment is clearly very basic but for now it works. I am getting results that I am really happy with and having fun along the way.

Dying for longer colour repeats - Part 1

Up until now all my dying projects have resulted in highly variegated colour-ways. I have kept the skein the size I purchased it in, and dyed the entire skein in one go.

So, for this dye project I made a longer skein and dyed it in four sections.


First I had to figure out how I was going to create a longer skein. I do not have a warping board, or even flat back chairs that I could run the yarn between.


I scanned the house for something that could work. I settled on the coffee table, flipped upside down, and wrapped the yarn around the legs in a Z pattern.


My first attempt I confused the way I was wrapping the yarn, not realising until I was tying it. This led to rewinding the yarn back into a ball, untangling as I went. The second attempt I chanted to myself as I wrapped - over, under, over, under - so I would not make the same mistake again.

 I tied up the skein with numerous ties, made it into a loose crochet chain and left it to soak.

Now for the dying...

I dye in my kitchen and do not have the space to attempt hand painting, so I needed a plan to that would allow me to still do immersion dying but in sections.

I set up my baking tray on the stove top, and then a tub for the undyed portion of the yarn and a pot for the dyed portions.

I had put temporary ties in the long skein to split it in to four sections, as I fed each section into the pan I removed these ties and made sure that the dye overlapped at these points so there was no white.

Colours for this project:
section 1: emerald and turquoise
section 2: purple and periwinkle
section 3: orange and russet
section 4: sky blue

I posted a mid-dying colour photo on Instagram (link on the left).

Check the blog next week to see the colour progressions, what solution I come up with for re-skeining my long skein back to a "normal" sized skein and the finished dying project.

Dye project - to match my winter coat

Years ago I bought a pink coat. Since then I have not really had any accessories that matched. Now that I have an urge to dye everything, I thought I could try to make my own colourway to knit into a beanie and mitts.

I know I could easily just knit in a black or neutral colour, but I wanted something bright and cheery.

For this experiment I used my large baking tray and heated the water on the stove top.

I used Skein Yarn, two of her DK natural skeins. The base is really soft and springy.

Colours for this project were pink, russet, orange, purple and gun metal. Using my solution stock and squeeze bottles.

The yarn was pre-soaked in water and then bought up to temperature in vinegary water. The yarn was placed in a semi-circle/horseshoe shape in the pan.

On the edges I layered the pink, russet and orange  - squirting the dye solution directly on to the yarn. The purple and gun metal was squeezed on the middle section. I let it cook a little and then added more colour to the whiter spots and squirting some dye directly into the water rather than on the yarn.



Once I was happy with the colours I covered the tray with foil, kept it on the heat for about 20mins and then left it to steam and cool. Only when the water was completely cool did I drain, the now clear water, and soak in fresh cold water. As the yarn hung to dry, I could already see the effect I was able to get by mixing the pink, orange and russet and then the blending at the edges with the gun metal and purple.

I am really pleased with the results. I had the idea in my head of how I wanted it to turn out and it actually worked! The mixture of orange and pink together created a really great colour, that will go well with the coat and the purple and gun metal break up the pink and helped to mute out the russet.

Playing with colour

Although I have not had a huge amount of time to spend dying, and I also can't invest in skeins and skeins of bare yarn, I have done a little more and have played with a comparison between different yarns and different techniques.

I now have ten different colours of acid dye. I expanded my collection recently after deciding I wanted to get the primary colours to begin experimenting with mixing colours. I am familiar with the basic colour wheel and know what colours are pleasing to me both by themselves and side by side but my crafting up until now has not involved any mixing of colour or creating my own palette. I have purely put pre-made colours together into my handcraft. So mixing colours and seeing the outcomes of that on yarn has been interesting and exciting.

I have prepared each colour as a dye stock. Up until now my experimenting with dye has been sprinkling the powder directly into hot vinegary water and watching it mix and react with the yarn.

This time I had a thought process of wanting to try a different method and these are the results.

Skein 1

• 100% wool
• pre-soaked in plain water, then bought up to temperature in plain water
• small amounts of mixed and diluted dye stock added to the water
• started with a yellow, then added a light blue and gun metal
• At this point I thought I had what I wanted, so added vinegar to the water and set the dye.

After it dried, it was way too pale, and there was too much white and very light yellow for my liking. So it got another bath!

Second round:

• bought the skein up to temperature in water that just covered it
• applied diluted colour to patches that seemed the lightest, turning the wool and adding little bits all over of all of colours (and combinations of them)
• Finishing with a final vinegar treatment at the end to set everything.

Skein 2

• 85% super wash merino, 15% nylon
• pre-soaked in plain water, heavily twisted into a skein
• mixed a custom green and added the dye to hot vinegary water before adding the skein
• let the dye exhaust, turning the skein as it soaked for even coverage
• took the yarn out, unravelled it, then returned it to a fresh pot of hot vinegary water (low level)
• focussed on the white sections, squirting pure dye solution directly on the yarn.

I love both skeins. Love them for their differences and what I learned from the mixing and diluting process and from the different ways that yarn takes up the dye.

Hobbies that feed the soul

I have been working as a professional in an office for almost 16 years. It can be challenging, rewarding, fast paced and interesting. But it also has its moments of stress, frustration, routine and the mundane. I guess this is true of most jobs and that is why we look for outlets, outside of this, to satisfy the soul.

Knitting has been my primary escape. The rhythmic and often "mindlessness" of knitting provides me with a kind of meditation. Where the hands and the mind work as one to create beautiful and unique pieces of wearable art. It is also something that I can pick up and do for 5 minutes or 5 hours, to de-stress from a busy work day or while away the hours on a leisurely weekend.

Generally I stick to a pattern, or heavily rely on a pattern to achieve the results I am after. I have dabbled in design as I like the idea of creating something brand new, but yet to come up with anything that I would be happy to publish.

For a long time I have also played around with stamping, card making and paper craft. There is great joy in tailor making a gift card specifically for someone. I collect paper, ribbons and brads - even small scraps and parts of other cards to re-use or recycle. I like the personal touch that this can add to a gift and feel that it is another way I can show my emotions and love for the recipient.

My latest crafting adventure is dying yarn. This was something that I had wanted to do for a really long time, but I was intimidated to try. Now that I have begun I don't know why it took me so long to start. I find the process magical. By adding yarn to a pot of hot coloured water I can end up with amazing and unique yarn. There are no rules, no restrictions, only creativity and experimentation. Unlike knitting it does require a more dedicated amount of time, but it appeals more to my creative side and the need to make something that is uniquely mine. The added benefit is then having my own colour to then knit with.

Ideas for colours and techniques I would like to try are constantly swirling around in my head. The camera gets pulled out to snap "that" moment of a sunrise, a opening bud of a flower or how the light hits a drop of rain.

I am certainly a long way from calling myself a dyer, or producing something that is saleable or repeatable, but I am having a lot of fun and enjoying the process of learning something new and creating my own yarn colours.