Now as I've said many a time, I do love my cables. However it wasn't until knitting on a particularly cramped plane once that I suddenly became self aware enough to realize I was sticking my cable needle (and extra double point for that matter) in my mouth when not in use. Oh.
So what to do with it?

I know many rave about cabling without a cable needle and I do it for 1x1 cables sometimes but generally it's just not for me. (I end up feeling I'm strangling rather than working the cables). I like working fast though and all other methods have fallen short (sticking behind the ear- long hair bad idea / in the knitting - it falls out, split stitches / setting it down- the invisible gnomes abscond with it, etc).

With Mother Necessity nudging me, I set my mind to inventing a solution. I wanted a method that didn't require letting go of the knitting and liked a similar idea to the wrist pin cushion. After a few failed prototypes this is what I came up with and Eureka, it works perfectly!

This cable needle holder is worn like a ring on any finger that's comfortable. The elastic loop performs double duty as a button loop closure and holds the cable needle securely under tension. The cable needle is slipped in and out as needed without having to let go of the working yarn or needles.

What You Need (or what I used anyway):

• 2 1/2" long piece of round cord elastic
• 4" x 7/8" piece of fabric (approximately)
• Matching sewing thread
• One 1/2" button (with a shank strongly preferred)

If you'd like, you can print out this template for the fabric. First fold and press your hems, your final size should be 3" x 5/8". This final size is what matters, not the hem allowance. (Also, does pressing my folds with my hair straightener instead of the huge industrial iron make me a total freak?)

I used the fabric selvedge here as it was a little sturdier for attaching the elastic.

View from the right side. Note: if you have thin fingers (smaller than size 6), or would like to wear this on your pinky I'd recommend making the piece shorter.

Next fold the piece of elastic in half and secure it to the inside hem fabric making sure not to go through both layers. It's pictured here half unfolded on the right side. I found lashing down both ends by wrapping the thread around everything a few times help to initially secure it. Then work up and over each end in a figure 8 fashion being sure to pierce through the elastic a few times until it's nice and secure.

If you have greater finesse with a sewing machine than I, topstitch around all the edges to secure hem. Otherwise hand sew with backstitch.

Finally, sew on your button. If not using the recommended shank type button be sure you make a good strong thread shank. (You will be putting a lot a repeated tension on this closure.)

Now you're ready to zoom through your next cabling project!
I'm really rather fond of mine and happily wear it simply as jewelry. Definitely more stylish if forgotten than a needle behind the ear (or in the other stow-away place I’ve heard of- the cleavage)!

Posted by Jen at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (23)

I've been on a serious DIY kick lately. I present the latest installment, my new chair- my new spinning chair to be exact! What did it look like before?

Ick right? This was snatched up for a whole $4.99. Coincidently I had just seen the paisley fabric and had thought "Oooh I love that but don't know what I'd use it for." When I saw this chair I knew. It was a really simple reupholster project. Remove old fabric, give thanks that the underneath cushion is still in good condition, lay old fabric on new fabric to cut out pattern, wrap new fabric around seat and tack/staple into place.

The wood was in somewhat shoddy shape so I cleaned, filled in the holes and dings with wood putty, sanded and primed everything while taping off the woven back and metal parts and then applied two coats of white. The metal bars on the seat back were covered in so much gook that I wasn't sure if they were even silver but they luckily cleaned up surprisingly well with some steel wool.

Now to get some actual spinning done! (And knitting, I've been knitting- honestly.)

Posted by Jen at 05:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

Yikes, talk about a long "on hold" period. After a nice projects-filled weekend I finally managed to make some headway on my Box Charkha project; specifically the drive wheels.

To catch up- I've been using this excellent article (now available in PDF) from Interweave's 1996 Spin-Off on building a cigar-box charkha with some modifications. After amassing all the supplies and working on a plan I realized I didn't have access to a drill press need to drill perfectly centered and balanced holes for the wheels. I was rather amused at the suggestions that everyone "knows someone with woodworking tools". We're 20 something techies, everyone I know is more likely to fix your computer or network than build you a cabinet.

Thinking it was too bad I didn't live near my parents anymore I finally realized I could just ship the marked up pieces to my Dad to drill for me (thanks Dad!). I got the pieces back and it was promptly put on the back burner again by other projects. So, (somewhat) fast-forwarding to now here's what I did.

The large drive wheel is made of the suggested two "basswood plaques" that are glued together right sides facing. The other larger wheel is a sandwich of three wooden circles with the smallest in the middle to create a grove that holds the drive band. A wooden spool is the smaller underneath wheel.

For the support rods and bearings I deviated from the article. I sawed plastic sewing machine bobbins in half to use as bearings instead metal tubing- easier to cut. Also easier to cut than the suggested metal support rods were bamboo knitting needles. This worked well since knitting needles come in such a variety of sizes, obviously. The bamboo needles were chosen to fit the inner diameter of the bobbins and the wheels drilled to the bobbin's outer diameter. The mounting blocks should be drilled to the exact needle size and the rods tapped in tight. My measuring was off however and my holes were a bit large so I improvised with wrapping an o-ring around one and using another bobbin half as a spacer for the other (and wood glue, lots of glue).

Under the large wheel, not shown, is a "washer" made from cutting out a circle from an empty plastic food container. For the drive band I used jewelry beading hollow tubing (not sure what this is called) since it was easy to cut to size. In the photo above you can see the double wheel is flipped over to show the spool/smallest wheel. I think I'm going to replace that one however with a smaller one, especially after referring to my own calculations (duh) as it'd put me closer to my desired ratio. The other reason I discovered while taking these photos- the box no longer shuts, oops.

I originally sawed one of the spools in half, as it was a bit taller than it needed to be but my hand sawing leaves much to be desired. Even after lots of sanding it was far from level. Well the double wheel assembly comes off the post for storing and I laid it in the box to make sure it'd still fit with the full-size bobbin. It did; so I thought, great I'll just use that. Forgot to take into account the support rod which also includes the height of the mounting block, heh. That's kind of how this project has been going, trial and error. But I'm enjoying the creative challenge-next up, the spindle assembly!

Posted by Jen at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

There's nothing like a big shiny new toy (a.k.a. piano) to inspire.

At quick lunch hour browse through the near-by antique mall, I stumbled upon this great bubble glass picture frame. I thought it was such a cool piece but what could I do with it, hmmm. So I left, thinking it over and then an idea hit me and I rushed back the next day. Yes! it was still there. I snapped it up and then began hunting for the right items to put it all together (which honestly is half the fun isn't it?).

To turn this...

into this.

(Click on the image for an xlarge detail shot.)

I'm so thrilled with how this turned out! I've always loved skeleton keys and found these and the picture corners on Etsy. The corner pieces were brass though and I had been hoping to find silverish when I discovered some rub on silver burnishing stuff at the craft store. Dabbed some on there and it worked perfect.

Here's a little detail, keys are hung on tiny cup hooks screwed into the wood back. Love the convex glass but trying to get a decent photo does cause you to perform a rather one-sided waltz for a decent angle.

These were another find at the same antique place. One of the vendors had a booth dedicated to old letterpress printer blocks, love! I had fun searching out the letters I wanted and spreading them out on the floor playing with different arrangements. An interesting looking spectacle I'm sure, but oh well. :D

Posted by Jen at 05:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Just sent out a finished design to DRG Publications for an upcoming book (yeay!) so not much knitting for me to show around here yet. I have been managing a few little things here and there however.

This was one of the quickest easiest projects I've ever made- and they work great! Finger puppets come double-point holders, brilliant I tell you. You can get the whole tutorial by clever Robyn over at Sweet Little Domestic Life. I got a bag of multi-colored monsters at Party City and plan to make a nice set for my most used sizes.

Scored some thrifted things too. As I've mentioned several times on here I love thrifting. How can you not with things like this?

A cute owl painting with neat plaster-over-wood frame that just needs some sprucing up for a whopping $3.99. Flip it over and take a look at the signature.

Robb Wallace
   Xmas
      1895

!! The frame has an inscription too, but a little harder to make out. A woman's name, the artist, and the same date so it looks like the original frame as well. How cool! Some of the plaster was broken off on the corners so I took some wall spackling we had on hand and with a moist paint brush molded it into the holes. It worked surprisingly well. Added a fresh coat of white paint and viola! - new craft room artwork.

Posted by Jen at 01:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Brooches and pins are so great; just slap them on anything plain and instant pow. Following Heather Bailey's excellent little yo-yo tutorial over here, I whipped up one of these with some scrap fabric. Again, it was really all just a pretense to use a favorite vintage button. I winged a loopy ric-rac thing and viola, a new accoutrement.

With the new IK out there's been some talk of the samples being a bit on the monochromatic side. Now one of the things I love about knitting is you can choose nearly Any color there is for your piece but I understand some may find it hard to visualize. So for the heck of it, I did a little playing around in Photoshop with the photo for my design Mirabella.

I think I'm leaning towards a red one, yum.

Posted by Jen at 05:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

The transformation is finally complete. I have been anticipating it for so long- at last our new bedroom!

I love it so much, it's amazing what having a space that's yours does for your mood. It makes me happy every time I walk into the room.
It is an astonishing difference, especially if you could have seen the true "before". Dull default beige walls with some smatterings of unmatched dorm-like furniture, an uninspiring room for sure. Of course as usual I was too distracted by starting a new project to get a good before shot, but thought of it in time to snap this just before the first brush stroke went on.

Booooring

The wall color has been finished for a little while now, but the hold-up? My own artwork!

I think it's terribly funny that with all the art classes and design school I have never painted canvas before. In fact, I've barely painted at all as I'm more a drawer. But when I was hit with this idea I figured I could keep it simple enough to take a stab at it. I'm so surprisingly pleased they came out!
I had to do a bit of hunting to find some ready-made canvas that were square and large enough but these fit the bill perfectly (literally too- as they were on sale and really inexpensive). A few tubes of acrylic, a white paint pen (see what I said about keeping it simple) and I was ready to go. I didn't want a flat color and so I happily mixed my paints without too much precision so as to have visible paint strokes. I simply went for a general color in-between the accent shades I already had to tie them together for I dislike everything too matchy-matchy.

The room can be dark and cozy or if we open up the plantation shutters on the wall of windows it becomes bright and airy.

Right, onto the gratuitous photos...

Can I go back to bed now?

Posted by Jen at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (36)

Interesting little meme going around. It's amusing to me to note that spinning would've been in the last category previously, but worked it's way up the ranks with surprising speed.

4. Love it! This is my thing.
Knitting, baking, designing/pattern writing, graphic design (blogging, web design/development/multimedia), music, spinning (wheel and spindle- but very new!).

3. I do or have dabbled in it.
Calligraphy, cooking, crochet, cross-stitch, decorating, entertaining, felting, origami, painting or drawing, paper making (did it in college), pattern editing, photography (wish I knew more), sewing, writing.

2. I'll give it a try.
Appliqué, beading, book binding, dyeing, embroidery, flower arranging, gardening (I have high aspirations, but I really suck at it so far), macramé (the kitsch factor amuses me), millinery, mosaics, other crafts, shibori, soap making.

1. I've got absolutely no interest.
Basket weaving, candle making, card making, cartooning (can't do it), collage, balloon animal making, doll house making, etching, glass bead making, glass blowing, jewelry making, lace making (needle lace, cutwork), lucet, paper-mâché, pottery, quilting, rug hooking, scrapbooking, stamping, story telling/acting/stage work, straw marquetry, string art, stuffed toy making, tatting, weaving, wood carving.

So where do your interests lie?

Posted by Jen at 03:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I hacked up a t-shirt!

I forgot to get a Before picture (bad blogger!) but it was your standard large male tee. I've been looking at shirt reconstructions for ages and have several I've wanted to try. I've also been planning on taking a sewing class because my "skill" extends to knowing how to work my sewing machine and that's about it. However, with tickets in hand for the Tool concert* I wanted to make this one now. Laaa, my spectacularly crappy sewing job!

I don't care, I love the shirt! And hey, it's in black, you can't really see the crap sewing too much.

I pretty much completely winged this, no idea what I was doing. I laid a smaller fitted shirt over top as a guide and cut down the sides and sleeves. I just made up a way for sewing in the eyelet tape but I should have cut the armholes deeper width wise. So I fashioned little pieces at the top of the eyelet strips to hold them together, it appears to have worked. I had originally planned on cap sleeves of some sort but then woke up and realized that was way out of my league. Instead I drew on a neckline, cut and tied the front straps with some ribbon, me likey!

*It was awesome btw - they really put on a great show

Posted by Jen at 08:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)

I do love felt; it's definitely my kind of sewing material. I think coming up with boy embellishments though is a little trickier, at least for me apparently. I went through a few different ideas before deciding on this one and am quite fond of the final result. (Convinced myself I did not need to keep this pair for "future what if".) I used Heather Bailey's great Bitty Booties pattern and got to rummage through my vintage buttons and use some of my vintage ric rack too.

The rest of the weekend was a determined dash to finish the Circum nav cardi- and I did! It's currently blocking and will be ready for the Guild's show and tell and some finished photos soon.

Posted by Jen at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

Whilst reading about this great mirror re-do I remembered I too had a gaudy gold freebie mirror that had been lounging in the garage. With a bit of funky green paint I now have my own looking glass for the craft room.

I started with a metallic green paint that I "sponged" on (went ghetto-style and just used paper towels) but it ended up not being enough contrast on its own. So I picked up some bright lime green and did another coat in that, followed by brushing on a few highlights in the metallic.

Another little spot in our home that makes me irrationally happy is our pantry. Oh how I love our new pantry and its space of cavernous proportions. In my ongoing quest to organize all our bags and bags of indian spices I picked up a bunch of these assorted glass jars. The little rows just make me smile and make cooking that much easier and in turn, more enjoyable.

You do have to kind of master a squat waddle to get out the crock pot but hey at least there's a place for it.

---

Thanks for all your great comments on the bias hat Version 1.0! I already have the pattern all written up and plan to offer it in child and adult sizes along with Version 2.0.

Posted by Jen at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Ok, I know you're all probably tired of hearing about it, but I finally got some photos of the new craft room. My lack of photographic skill is rather obvious with these, I need more practice with lighting, but anyway- onto the pics!

Walking into the room shot. Now the walls came out more blue than they truly are, it's more a greenish-blue. This is the actual color.

The armoire with the table fully extended. You can also fold it out just half way, it's pretty cool. There's even a built in electrical plug for the sewing machine. (Thanks Mr. Pieknits!)

With everything all organized now it looks like I don't have that much, ha! I've seen some awesome craft rooms; mine looks so bare in comparison. Lots of space to grow though is what I figure. I also have lots more decorating ideas and things to go up on the walls.

Tiki glass o' pens

I <3 my vintage VW van.

My own little "window box" I created for the room. It came out just like I was hoping! I was originally planning on making a real planter box with some wheatgrass but then found these non-expiring plastic types, much more manageable. I have a bit of a black thumb with house plants.

The built in shelves in the closet now houses my yarn stash. The plastic bin on the bottom holds the overflow. Again, not nearly as impressive as some others, but I try to only have yarn that I have specific projects for.

And can't forget Aejaz, he likes the room too - a little too much while we were painting. I was sure we were going to have a half blue dog as he kept trying to lean against the walls. He's posed here in front of the new drawing table/ ball winding station. I plan to put up an inspiration board here too.

And if you're not completly sick of photos yet, there's a few more on my flickr set.

Posted by Jen at 05:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (32)

Well I had to break in the new room.

$0.30 thrift tie + $0.20 felt = Cheap crafty accessory - my favorite!

I did a wee bit of backstitching embroidery detail. I wanted to add some green swirly thingies around it too but need to find a bright enough colored thread to stand out against the busy background. So I may still add to it. This is so quick I've already picked up a second tie to do as well.

Posted by Jen at 02:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I may be a little bit retarded. So, not really remembering that I had messed with my spam filter settings recently I was kinda wondering why my comments had seemed to drop off. Now I tend to feel most times when I'm talking that I sound incredibly stupid and yet I seem to keep going on and on despite the chanting of 'Shut up Shut up' in my head. When it translates to writing, the first thing I think is I wrote something stupid, and it totally came off wrong. Then on a little blog housekeeping spell I decided to check my junk folder... yeah- tons of super awesome comments! Thanks everyone and sorry for not replying! I feel like a dolt.

On to making stuff...
As you can see above I did some more super easy crafting - record bowls! I <3 how these came out! And so freaking simple, I did them while putting away the dishes people- talk about fool proof. There are lots of tutorials out there for these, I basically used this one from Roxycraft.

Lounging on one of the bowls is one complete Knucks glove for Mr.Pieknits. Gotta keep those gaming fingers warm, I keep suggesting different gamer tags for the embroidery and he keeps insisting he isn't that dorky. I'm working these in the always lovely Elsepeth Lavold Silky Wool. I had a heck of a time finding a yarn in this gauge locally that wasn't a disgustingly pastel baby color, let alone something for a guy. Then I spotted the Silky Wool, love this blue.

Posted by Jen at 05:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Can't get any easier than this, the 15-minute circular needle holder.

Nothing against sewing, I do have plans to make a placemat dpn holder ala the Grumperina method but I like this one for something a little different. Circular needles are inserted through the center holes in craft supply wooden spools and dangle by their cords.

Stuff you need
Wooden spools (mine were Large Barrel, 3/16" x 7/8"; 1/4" hole, 20 pcs from a craft store)
Approx 1 1/2 - 2 yards floral wire (I believe mine was 28 gauge)
Permanent markers (I used a silver paint pen and a sharpie)
Scraps of yarn or fabric
Glue (hot glue gun was weapon of choice for me)

Note on the spools - mine have 1/4" hole which fits up to a US size 10 needle. This was adequate for me, but if you require ones for larger sizes you can drill or use a needle file to enlarge the opening, or look for a larger diameter spool.

What to do with it

First, label all your spools with the appropriate needle size. For my end spools I wound a piece of scrap yarn around the spool and secured it with a dot of glue. A piece of fabric cut to size would also look nice. You could obviously embellish these however you like. I went with simplicity (also known as "easy"). Next cut a length of wire about 1 1/2 - 2 yards long, I just kinda eyeballed it. Thread wire though first spool and hold in half so both lengths of wire are equal. Following the diagram below, weave the wire in and out of each spool.

Then, once the last spool is wired on, twist the remaining two wire lengths around each other and fold into a hook shape. Trim ends and load up with all those unruly needles.

Posted by Jen at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (25)

Into other crafting areas that is.

Look! I do know how to use a sewing machine! Ok, so by "use" I mean I remembered how to set everything up and make it actually go- but hey, that's an accomplishment to me. The table runner itself was purchased after much searching for a decent one, but it ended up being too short. It seems they do make 90" runners but they appear to be hard to come by, and I liked this one damn it. So I figured I could handle sewing on little extensions. A quick trip to the fabric store produced remarkably close matching fabric and trim; I took that as a good sign.
It's not 100% perfect (that sewing a straight line thing is tricky and all) but you would never know if you're not scrutinizing it, therefore I call it a successful project.
The new Craft Room in the works has plans for a little sewing table, as I really do want to sew more. I think it'll be much easier if the machine isn't buried in the bottom of my closet as its only storage place. Next up a needle roll case and these great headbands.

Knitting? Oh yeah, that. The magazine project got delayed and the new deadline is now the end of this month and thus nothing to show really. I hope to be more interesting soon.

Posted by Jen at 04:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

I realize I'm squeezing this in on the very last day but of all the many colored saris I possess, the one shade I don't have is purple. Just the purple border and accents on this pink one from March is the closest thing. Although coincidently, next month will be the grand finale for Sari Style. My final and finest wedding sari is conviently a "neutral color" for August. In addition, I have the Boy's traditional outfit- so a little extra something as well.


So I was thinking what more can one do with these besides gazing at them, specifically in a craftier vein. Obviously, the sari's I've been sharing have tremendous sentimental value and I wouldn't dream of cutting them up but there our so many beautiful saris to be had for a pittance for that very purpose.



You can make some great looking pillow covers like these. Or fashion a whole bed set- like this one on Craftster

Even simpler, draping saris as curtains is very effective- like here.

They also make really neat looking fabrics for remaking into western-style clothing. If you possess more sewing talent than I, you can do this yourself or check out this really cool site. Who's sari now? I particularly love this Gypsy Skirt.

So why not go out and find your local asian market and browse through all the textiles? This site - www.eknazar.com has tons of local listings for different areas. In Dallas, there are over 60 apparel yellow page listings. Of course, there's also always eBay, which has lots of inexpensive options too.

With all this sari talk, that of course brings me to the lovely recycled sari yarn.



I was lucky enough to procure this from Cookie's stash sale after much coveting of said yarn. I love this yarn. I love the idea behind it, the ingenuity and good cause, love the randomness and vivid colors. If you haven't seen this yarn in person yet I encourage you to pick up a skein- it's way cooler looking than the photos. I've had to restrain myself with my self-imposed binds of project limiting on this. I have bag idea in a starburst pattern all worked out in my head and rearin' to go.

In another, somewhat, related topic- I finally got to recoloring my henna inspired bleach design shoes.



They're better, at least close enough for me to be happy. Fabric paint pens are what I first checked out but they all seemed to be in really vivid reds that I was wary I wouldn't be able to blend to a more subtler shade. Next I compared some different fabric dyes and ended up with good ol' RIT dye as the most versatile. I just mixed up a little bit and painted it on with a regular paintbrush until it reached the closet shade I could get. Viola!

ETA: I forgot that I uploaded a scan of my dorky doodles for these bleach shoes for anyone who's intrested in making a pair. What I ended up doing is a more simplified version then the sketches but it could serve as a jumping off point. Click the image for the full-size version.

Posted by Jen at 05:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Next Saturday, the 24th, will be our 1st anniversary. A year! I can hardly believe it. We've done and experienced so many things yet it's gone by so fast. I could too easily gush on and on, but no one really needs to hear that. :)

As I've mentioned we're going on a cruise next week to celebrate so I'm posting a little early. Looking over our photos, I came across some of the "crafty" elements I did for the ceremony.

These were our "favors" I made for our wedding in Hawaii. The woven Lauhala boxes are a traditional craft in Hawaii (and I later found out in India too). To carry our "international" theme I filled them half with Jordan Almonds (traditional American wedding sweet - my side) and the other half with a ladoo (traditional Indian wedding sweet - his side). Then I tied them with ribbon in our colors and the little tags I designed.

The menus I did in the matching fonts and colors. These were also carried through into the ceremony programs.

Like all brides, because I love my dress so much- a shot of one of my favorite parts. Those are all real buttons with loooots of tiny button loops. Thankfully I had my crochet hook with me!

Posted by Jen at 06:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (18)

Cherry Love



My first completed cross stitch in about 10 years. The pattern is from the little kit I picked up for Project Spectrum. It came with a small frame and mounting board I have yet to attach to it. While working on this I was happy to find everything pretty much came back to me. Not that it was very much in the difficulty department but I enjoyed doing something a little different. I'm thinking it might be keeping me company in my cubicle once it's mounted.

Knitting projects
After a few rippings and recalculations I've made some more progress on the Lace Leaf. 'Fairly confident' is what I'd have to say I am currently feeling about all further calculations being accurate.

The yarn I dyed is holding up to repeated swatching and ripping cycles as I work out the last of my celtic cable charts. Hoping to have something photo worthy here soon, I'm really pleased with the way they're coming out. The design sketches for them are a purse with a worked-in reinforced bottom that I'm eager to test out.

Posted by Jen at 02:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So this is how I spent my Saturday. Following is the method I developed for dyeing my recycled yarn with food paste dye (Wilton's icing dye). What I like about this method is that the yarn is never added to water that is a different temperature, thus minimizing the chances of shocking/felting. Added bonus is not having to handle scalding hot yarn, this is a good thing if you are like my accident prone self.

First soak the yarn in lukewarm water (without vinegar) for 30 minutes. While the yarn is soaking prepare your dyepot.


Icing dye is very concentrated, so 1 bottle of food coloring will dye a lot of fiber. For 4 oz. of yarn I used a little under 1/2 tsp. Wearing gloves, mix your dye into a cup of hot water until it is completely dissolved. Next, fill your dyepot with tepid water and pour the dye mixture in.

*Tip - You can purchase latex gloves in bulk at hardware stores like Northern. Usually 100 gloves for around $6 instead of 3 pairs for the same price elsewhere.

Remove the yarn from the soaking water and gently squeeze out excess water. Now add the yarn into the cool dye.


Bring water up to near boiling (150-160°F) and simmer for 10 minutes. A steady steam should be rising off the top at this point.


You can see here how the water is getting much clearer

Now add a glug or about 1/4 cup of vinegar being careful to not pour it directly on the yarn. The vinegar aids in the uptake and colorfastness of the dye, because of this it is best to add it after the yarn has evenly soaked in the dye to help with a more uniform coloring.
Bring the temperature up to 180°F (170°F for silk) and simmer for 30 minutes or until color is exhausted.


Turn off heat and let cool in dyepot to room temperature.

Rinse thoroughly with same temperature water and hang to dry.


The first batch I dyed is hanging on the right. This was with Leaf Green and it produced a very vivid green. The second batch I wanted a more mossy/earthy tone so I sprinkled in about 1/3 of a packet of Cherry Kool-aid too. The result is hanging on the left, exactly the color I was going for actually. I guess all that color theory in college finally paid off, heh.

The finished skeins
Rollover the smaller images to view enlargement.

Posted by Jen at 03:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (18)