Monday, March 19, 2007

Hand-dye success!

Here's what I spent my Sunday doing...

Fingering, 80/20 Merino/Silk, hand-painted

Fingering, 80/20 Merino/Silk
Hand-painted



Fingering, Merino, Kettle-dyed

Fingering, Merino
Kettle-Dyed



Worsted, Merino, Kettle-dyed

Worsted, Merino
Kettle-dyed



Worsted, Merino, Kettle-dyed

Worsted, Merino
Kettle-dyed



I so love using my acid dyes. It takes a lot more prep-work than using Wilton's, but the actual dyeing process is quicker and I am loving the results. It is very interesting that I used the exact same stock mixtures for the two fingering-weight yarns and the difference came from the dyeing method. The hand-painted is very dark and exact while the kettle-dyed has a softer, washed-out look to it. I'm thinking Bengal as a name for the hand-painted colorway, and Sandstone or Autumn Wood as a name for the kettle-dyed colorway. Aquamarine is a logical name for the turquoise-colored skein, so I think that's a keeper. Nothing screams out to me for the Blue/Green/Yellow one, the names I have bumping around my head all seem cumberson or don't do the color combination justice.

Before I get too far ahead of myself, I am going to try to recreate the two kettle variegateds tonight or tomorrow night. I took lots of notes, so lets hope that is enough.

Thanks for looking!

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Well, you asked for it....

Here's the link to my Etsy storefront. I have a lot of personal knitting to burn through this week, but I'm hoping to get some work done on my patterns and yarn before the end of the month. I'm doing up some kettle-dyed variegateds on Sunday, so I'll have some pictures up by tomorrow night.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Just a little update...

My kitchen scale arrived on Friday and my yarn came on Saturday. I'm hoping to mix some dyes and get a few skeins of hand-painted done this week. I'm planning on putting things up in the Knitty Keen Etsy Shop by the end of the month.

I will also have a few new patterns available as free downloads by the end of the month as well, but you'll have to wait until they are posted.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

In the works

My dye has arrived and as soon as I get some yarn, I'll be doing up some handpainted and space-dyed yarns to sell in my Etsy store. I will also be selling stitch markers and some of my patterns. Here's a preview of one that is coming soon -

Frogs in My Pocket
Frogs in my pocket
(or on my coffee cup in this case)