Making Niddy Noddy, turqoise fiber

I dyed some lincoln fleece with the extra dye left over from trying to make a gradient colored yarn. Pretty!

And then I needed a niddy-noddy for winding out the dyed yarn to set it in the microve so I found directions online and made this one in a matter of minutes. Twenty dollars worth of niddy-noddy...in three minutes...with cheap materials...PRICELESS. Where I took the picture of it is a perfect shot of how many crafts and things I am into. Click on the pic to see a larger version.

Until next time...

Sock Wars Anthum

Sung to Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill"

Knitting for you, with a view to a kill
Blog to blog in some places, feel the chill.
Nightfall covers me, but you know the plans I'm making,
Still oversea, could it be the whole world knitting around
A sacred why? A big hole gaping inside
The gussets, why?

Until we knit right to the wire
That fatal sock is all we need
Knit right to the wire,
To fatal sounds of broken dpns
Knit right to the wire,
That fatal sock is all we need
Knit right to the wire.....

Choice for you, is the view to a kill
Between the wools, assassination standing still.
The first short-row heel, turn, go up your ankle and leg,
Very stretchy bind-off, will EZ come through for you once again?
But now we have to finish the second sock!
A chance to die.

But can we knit right to the wire
That fatal sock is all we need
Knit right to the wire
To fatal sounds of broken dpns
Knit right to the wire
That fatal sock is all we need
Knit right to the wire
When all we see... is the view to a kill

By Muthaknitter

Dyeing Gradient Yarn

Do you ever wonder how to make gradient yarn? Well look no futher because I will be posting how to in the coming days so that you do not need to spend money to purchase a book, but rather spend it on more fiber!! I"d post a picture BUT BLOGGER IS NOT UPLOADING FOR ME!!!!!!! AAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

I went to a knit-all-night last night (6-11) and I took a break from knitting to read the book Yarns to Dye For. Well, needless to say, I memorized a few techiques to avoid buying the book (because I am soooooo broke).

The procedure goes like this:

You will need two containers, one with the dye bath (prepare as usual), and one filled with rinse water, and gloves to protect your hands from being dyed. Heat the dye bath till warm but not so hot you cannot put your hand into it. You don't want to activate the dye just yet but the warm water helps the yarn to obsorb it since it is not pre wetted. EDIT: You want the dye to be active otherwise the dye will come out in the rinse water. So heat to just below boiling and hold it there.

wind your yarn into a non-center pull ball, do not pre-wet the yarn. EDIT: Some fibers are hard to wet so prewetting with a few drops of Synthrapol added to the water will help (rinse soap out before dying), THEN wind into a non-center pull ball.

Place the ball into the dye bath, holding it down till it sinks if nessecary

Right away, take a five foot length of yarn (more or less to suit your needs), and while pinching it through your finger tips on one hand-draw it out of the dye bath, through the pinch, and let it fall into the rinse water. Leave it were it lay in the rinse water DO NOT AGITATE, PLAY OR OTHERWISE DISTURB THE YARN IN THE RINSE WATER, as this will tangle it and make it very hard to wind back up later. If you prefer some white in the beginnin of the yarn, pull that from the ball before submerging it into the dye bath.

Wait five minutes (or a time that suits your needs), and repeat the above step.

Continue with the last two steps until all the yarn as been pulled over into the rinse water-letting the end of the yarn hang off the side of the rinse container so you can find it without agitating the water.

Wind your wet yarn out of the rinse water onto a niddy-noddy (it will stain so be sure to protect your niddy noddy or use a low-cost PVC one) and tie it off in four evenly spaced places.

Wrap in plastic wrap EDIT: Place in freezer zip-lock bag, close all but an inch, and zap in microwave in two to three *30 seconds to 2 minutes rest* cycles or place in a stovetop steamer for 20 minutes. (Microwave ovens will vary so watch closely so you don't scortch your yarn. Once steam starts to build up in the bag-enough zapping has occured. Let rest and zap again).

Place freshly steamed yarn in an out-of-the-way place to cool off to room temp

After the yarn has fully cooled, unwrap and hang somewhere to dry.

You can also do gradients in other color combinations. Say you want to do a yellow to red to almost black combination. Pull out your desired amount of yarn for the first color gradient (yellow), add red or orange dye to the dye bath (yes while the ball of yarn is still in there), let it sit for five minutes, pull some more yarn and when ready add a small pinch of black dye and let it sit for five minutes.

If you let it sit and resist the urge to stir, it should create some interesting dye effects for an even more unique yarn.

Ta-da! I'll post my results of both techs soon!

Until next time...

Walmart Making Changes

This is encouraging! This means that the Anti Walmart movement (The High cost of Low Prices) is working! If walmart is saying they are looking to change to increase a loss in buisness, and that they are loosing sales to Target (which is a better company on all fronts) then the movement has made an impact! I stopped shopping at walmart two yerars ago after seeing the movie with a group of friends and learning of the lowly tactics and how badly the employees were treated. Not only that, but how the cloths come from overseas sweat-shops that pay the employees a measly $3 A DAY...how horrible it must be for them. Thier cloths never fit me right anyhoo. I am a plus sized woman, and their plus sized pant butts fall short of my plus sized behind. You'd think if my waist was large, so would my behind.

Now I see headlines that Walmart is doing a makeover of it's company and it's practices. People can make a difference if they really want to!

Until next time...

Quizilla: What type of Knitter are you?

What Kind of Knitter Are You?

You appear to be a Knitting Guru. You love knitting and do it all the time. While finishing a piece is the plan, you still love the process, and can't imagine a day going by without giving some time to your yarn. Packing for vacation involves leaving ample space for the stash and supplies. It can be hard to tell where the yarn ends and you begin.http://marniemaclean.com
Take this quiz!








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Cannon in D on Guitar

WOW!

Loxosceles - $15 Wool Combs (Some Assembly Required)

Loxosceles - $15 Wool Combs (Some Assembly Required)

Yes!!! Will post pictures when I get them done. Thanks to abellpamela from yahoo group "Spinning" for posting this to the group!!

More Jar Dying: Pencil Roving

This first one is a bit blurry, I know, but I took it in the microwave before nuking it to get a good picture of the colors. Next time I will add more red and yellow. It's really hard to stuff a fat skien into a jar and layer the colors too. I spun this pencil roving. Looks more like novelty fat yarn though!
Results of the dye-job (no puns please!). I will definately use more red and yellow next time. But the red traveled again which I LOVE because it creates some interesting colors! You can't see it but there is some earthy green on the other side of the brightest yellow part. I think I like this color way. I call this Earth, sky and The Heavens because of the earthy greens and firey yellows and red, then blues and purples. Could do with Earth-Air-Fire-Water and The Heavens, but that is a mouth full! I love the randomous of jar dying!!!

The next one is of the dyed BFL I did in the jar (check archives). It cards up kinda funny lookin, but I am sure it will make some interesting sock yarn! I will have to try this again and then use the combs that I am making to make it more...color defined.

 

Cable hat FINISHED!!

YAY!
YAY!
Jumping for joy!
The photo on the right is me modeling it. You can't see the color very well because I had to turn off the flash (bathroom mirror). The lleft one is what the hat looks like, plus an idea of the fiber I spun the yarn from is the background (done with Corel Paint Shop Pro). At the moment it is a tight brain hugger, but I got hot while taking photos so it will definately be warm when I need it. I still need to block it. YAY!

Until next time...

Another thing I want to knit someday...

Wing-o-the-Moth Shawl OOO pretty! I could spin me up some nice lacewieght yarn with the alpaca hair I have. 1000 Yards? I know I can!

Until next time...

Yarn Painting

My first attempts at yarn painting. There was a lot of dye leftover and it all leaked out while being zapped.

These are singles I plan to navajo ply...
...And this is a small skien already plyed. I cannot wait to knit with them both!

Until next time... 

Jar Dyeing for the First time

This is my first attempt at Jar dying.

And these are the results . I think it came out really well considering it was my first try! I had layered yellow, red, blue, and purple from the bottom up. The red seemed to travel all through the jar and mixed with the other colors to make shades of green, orange and brown in some places. I LOVE THE RESULTS!! It came out better than I had ever expected! I like both extremes: the blue, purple and reds; and the yellow, oranges, greens and reds...so earthy!

Now I cannot wait for it to be dry so I can card and spin it up! I wonder how it will end up....

This blog was my inspiration to try it.


Until next time...