A Pound of Merino and a Dyeing Test

4 mini skeins showing dyeing progression

I recently purchased a pound of beautiful fingering weight merino yarn with the purpose in mind to test out some dye techniques and start to develop my own palette to play with.

Here's what this beautiful pile of yarn looked like to start.

I separated it into roughly 35g mini skeins, plus one 100g skein.  I wanted small skeins to play with colour and not waste too much yarn if it went badly.  Also, this is enough to knit a swatch and save a bit with my dye info for reference.

In the first dye pot- I did a low immersion bath with purple, blue, and ecru (which disappeared).  I put all three mini skeins in here.

Sucked up the dye so fast!

Once it was out and dry, I could see what I wanted to change.  Back into the dye pot for two of the skeins- one with a diluted black just to dull out the white areas of yarn, and another in a more concentrated to give an overall more smokey look.

Here's all 4 steps together from right to left- bare, purple and blue low immersion (first step), and full immersion/overdye with light grey and dark grey.  I'm loving the more denim look of the darkest one, which is what I was hoping for.  Interestingly the yarn grabbed the colour immediately in the first skein- there's very little bleeding, well defined edging which I suspect is from soaking the yarn in acidic water as well as acid in the dye bath.  Could work well for some speckling- perhaps that's this weekend's adventure.

Stay tuned for some swatches coming soon.  My evenings are filled with TdF spindle spinning for a Ravelry challenge, then back to some knit time.

Happy knitting!

A Sweet Georgia Day

I was recently lucky enough to score a spot in the Sweet Georgia fibre club.  My first club!  Each month, for three months, we get a special colourway dyed specifically for the club.

This being my first month, I didn't know what to expect- and I can't express how happy I am with what I received.  A merino-tussah blend (soooo soft) and the colour can speak for itself.  As soon as I saw it I thought- this will look great on the blog!  The fibre came with a nicely produced card with some information on the fibre blend as well as the colourway.  I love this attention to detail and can't wait to play with this fibre.

So without further ado- some eye candy to enjoy.

 

Once I get through my spins currently in progress I'll make sure to link back to this post with a photo of the finished yarn.

And speaking of spins in progress- here's my starting point for my Ravelry group spin for the Tour de Fleece- a gradient batt dyed by CraftyJaks who is local to me here in Vancouver. I'm using a Golding purpleheart lace weight spindle and an Enid Ashcroft drop spindle and practicing a long(ish) draw with the carded fibre.  The fibre is BFL and very soft. 

Happy Spinning!

All Set for #SGYsweetsummerKAL

I'm picky when it comes to knit-alongs but this one checked off so many boxes for me that I couldn't resist.

First, I'm in love with Sweet Georgia yarns- especially the Tough Love Sock.  It's soft, survives living around a toddler, and best of all- the colour selection is out of this world.
Second, I had set a goal for myself to get another Westknits project off the needles in time for this year's Knit City and had already ordered the yarn.

I'm new to brioche knitting, only about halfway through my first project.  So I knew I wanted to tackle one of Stephen West's more simple brioche patterns for this challenge.  I settled on Syncopation Adoration Cowl which allows for great colour play, texture, and versatility in the finished garment.  I wanted something wearable and simple that didn't look so simple.

The yarn.  Oh the yarn.  Have I mentioned I love this yarn? 

The pattern calls for some stripes, plus one solid for the two colour brioche.  For the striped yarns, I picked out a neutral soft set of mini skeins (Pary of Five) in Cobblestone.  It's a soft warm grey, just a hint of brown.  Not quite brown, not quite grey.  The single colour I chose to pair with the mini skeins is a shade called Grapefruit and it's delicious.
 

Here's the minis with the full size for scale. 

And a bouquet of yarn in better lighting to see how they will play together. 

Casting on for this July 10- till then these are going to sit on my desk within squeezing distance.

I should mention- I'm not affiliated with Knit City, Sweet Georgia or Stephen West but I am a big fan of all three!

Happy Knitting!
-Adele