Tinted cotton

I am still experimenting with different techniques. You can not tint cotton with food coloring, I had to resort to Rit Dye. I had some in the laundry who knows why I bought it and who knows how long I've been keeping it in case I wanted to dye something.

The day has come, I used purple and blue and yellow.

Here is the result: "kaleidoscope"

Stash management

Now that I have all these "over dye" possibilities I felt it was time for me to evaluate my stash. Sort of doing a late spring cleaning. I keep my yarn in plastic bins, some are huge and others are smaller. I find that some yarn like cottons are heavy and if I fill up a large plastic box it gets too heavy for me to lift. It's bad when you can't lift your box of yarn.

To my shock I have much more yarn than I thought. The bins number well into the double digits, not triple digits but... ok under a hundred but hovering around the 50's. Compared to some this is huge but I've known other yarnaholics who have more, not that this matters but I thought I'd throw that in there. The storage space is the biggest problem, we just don't have enough "real estate" to house all of our collections. Yes there is more than one collector in my family, I guess it's genetic or magnetic. When you have a lot of yarn management becomes a difficult task so I do not do it that often.

Each season I try and evaluate the leftover from the last winter or summer knitting. In the spring I start gravitating towards the cottons, rayon and silks because the weather starts being too warm to knit on a heavy wool sweater. Also I like to make a new piece to wear according to the season. One of the bins I have is called "Frog it or Finish it". In this bin I found this wonderful summer sweater that I think I started a couple or three years ago. Ok it was in one of the bottom bins and I have not seen it for a while.

Nice little sweater almost done all it needs is a front button band. I now remember that I wanted the button band to match the gusset and the dark green stripes. Now I know I had plenty of this green boucle rayon yarn but where is it? Organizing, labeling, sorting for about 2 weeks now and I am running out of places to look. I know I had some of this yarn..... where is it?

I was talking to my friend Leslie and she said to me oh that's easy the very last place you will look there it will be. And son of a gun she was totally right. I almost gave up on this and was ready to do a redesign and there it was at the bottom of one of the last little boxes I looked at. Small things make me happy but this was one of them.

Now to start knitting, select buttons and finish this sweater the hot weather is around the corner.

Tinting Wool

Tinting wool with food coloring is fun and easy! The first question everybody asks is will it last? Because I just started this and can not tell you first hand I do not know for sure. From my human hair tinting experience I can tell you that I'm pretty sure once the color is deposited in the core shaft of the hair it's there to stay. Some colors may fade faster than others but once the color is set and the water is clear when you rinse it out you are good to go and it will stay and last.

Try it out, it's not messy or toxic and the dye is readily available at the super market. If it tints your hand because you forgot to put on gloves, no worries just do a load of dishes and it's gone. I have been using my crock pot and my microwave oven. I like to use glass dishes because it's just easier to wash them out and see the colors.

Stick to the basic primary colors available red, yellow, blue, and mix colors for shades you want to create, use your imagination let the artist come out. You do not need any special equipment or special yarn. There is one rule you can only tint animal protein fibers with food coloring, wool, mohair, alpaca, cashmere, silk etc. Man made fibers and cottons will not work, we need "hair" to tint. You do not need special "blanks" which is wool that has not been dyed, you can use the "over dye" method. Take a skein of yarn that you have and may not like the color so much and over dye it.

Animal protein fibers only although some blended yarns will work if there is a high percentage of animal fiber mixed in. Oh yes food dye will work on human hair too it helps if your hair is "bleached" up first but if your hair is a light blond or dare I say gray, you can use food coloring to make your hair purple or blue! But I digress.... I used to be a hairdresser .... maybe that is why I'm so fascinated with this process.

How to test the fiber? I use the simplest method the burn test. Carefully burn the end of the strand and if it melts it's man made, if it goes to ash it's organic. How to tell the difference between cotton or wool? The smell will tell you, wool will smell like burnt hair and cotton or rayon will smell like burning paper or wood. I'm sure there are many different ways to test but this is my method and it seems to work pretty well for me. When the yarn is mixed I can sort of tell how much of it melts and how much goes to ash. Test swatch is the answer here.

The method is pretty similar to Kool-Aid dyeing but I find liquid food coloring is easier to mix and control colors. No powder to inhale no little mystery packages and it's cheaper than Kool-Aid packets. I've been buying 8oz bottles for under $3.00 at my local Smart & Final Market. Some people keep meticulous records and formulas but as you may have guessed I'm just not that type. I just jump right in and consider most of it as an art with a sprinkling of science behind it.

For example, my good friend Molly is not the jump right in sort but the type of knitter who will swatch and swatch and research and study and will meticulously keep wonderful records and will follow the exact directions on labels. She invited me over to work on a program for children she is teaching this summer (I'll be her assistant) at the Fairview Library in Santa Monica. She is dyeing yarn with Kool-Aid and teaching the kids to knit.

We had a wonderful time in Molly's kitchen testing out all the colors and fibers.




Molly was measuring labeling and keeping very detailed notes, I was just eyeballing. Hoping that I will remember what I did. Ok my method may not be the best I see that maybe a few labels and some notes may be needed here. I'm off to cutting labels and getting my old tint box that I used for my hairdressing days and keeping records. (Maybe)

There is an article on Knitty describing dyeing with Kool-Aid click here.
http://kathrynivy.com/patterns/extras/dyeing-yarn/ Paas

This is cotton dyed with Rit Dye...... I'll tell you about this method after a few more test runs. I'm very happy with the outcome of this. I crocheted an iPhone and wallet cozy to hang around my neck for those quick access occasions.

Work in progress

Ok some of the yarn is hanked. (I'm not really sure yet if this is a real word or not but you knitters out there know what I mean.) And the wool fibers are soaked and waiting for their color bath. Yes I know this is crazy my friend Marla carefully rolled the yarn into nice neat balls of yarn from a hank of yarn. And now I'm unrolling the ball back to a hank of yarn so I can over dye it. Whopie what fun!


I test "swatched", which is something I rarely do. Just like knitting a gauge swatch I'm not too crazy about planning precision, measuring etc. I am of the ilk just to jump right in. Test is in the outcome. Somehow the knitting and fiber angels are with me on this one most of the time it's worked for me. As they say don't try this method at home, my advice is to plan ahead write down the recipe for everything and then follow the pattern or the recipe exactly. Do as I say not as I do.

Here we go, soaking yarn, crock pot ready, sink all clean and shiny ..... let there be color.





Come back for the results, I will post about it I promise.

All tied up and waiting

I've got some great wool that I've "hanked" up to dye but it's rather time consuming to do this. The part that I really like here is the over dyeing. I have lots of really nice wool but the color is not exactly what I prefer. Why did I buy it? Maybe it was a really good price and I figured I would learn to like it or it was such nice wool that I just loved the fiber.

Either way it sits in my stash and waits for a project. Now that I have discovered over dyeing this has opened up a whole new day on this stash of mine. I have some friends with wonderfully organized yarn collections but my collection I feel is "raggedy dooo"...... some beautiful yarn and then some weird stuff that I just could not pass up.

I am on a mission to organize.... (even I had to crack a smile at this one)..... organize I will. But then again I'm constantly organizing and still end up with too much STUFF!

Then I went to have lunch and knit at a friends house. Oh no.... she is bringing out bags and bags of yarn. I mean big garbage bags FULL! I suddenly see all these "over dye" possibilities! Yes you guessed it more yarn has come to my possession. More hanking, more organization.... but it's such lovely wool.... I'm only doing food coloring so I can only dye protein fibers. (Thank goodness)

I say thank goodness because there is a whole garbage bag full of cotton yarn too... I'm addicted to yarn what can I say. Yes I still have two bags of yarn in the trunk of the car that I'm going to see if my friend Molly will take for her "Fairview Knitting Circle". Molly teaches at The Fairview Library in Santa Monica.

Fairview Branch
2101 Ocean Park Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA 90405
(310) 458-8681

Planning Ahead

As I have mentioned before on this blog, I belong to a knitting guild and I am the "program" chair person. (I find the "talent" and book the "talent") So far this past month in April for the spring workshop we flew Amy Singer out here from Toronto, Canada. The workshop she gave was "Plug and Play - Design your own lace shawl."
(Amy is the creator of Knitty.com)

Amy and I had a great time visiting Venice Beach. If you have ever walked along the Venice Beach Boardwalk, you know what a fun and what an unusual place it is. I love visitors because it gives me a chance to go down there and act like a tourist. Look at all the "artwork" the streets performers etc. Lots and Lots of "stuff" to see.

Amy and I also searched local Japanese book stores for knitting books. I come to find out that most of the Japanese knitting books have charts that are easy to follow so you do not need to know how to read Japanese. There were some beautiful knitting books we saw. Like this one.

This coming October we are very lucky to have Anna Zilboorg come to teach us. The workshop will be all day Saturday and all day Sunday.

Saturday Workshop:
TWISTED TRAVELLING STITCHES

Austrian twisted travelling stitches create patterns in high relief that resemble woodcarvings. They are easy to do once one has learned a few special techniques (among them, how to interpret the charts) and had a little practice. They can also provide a wonderful base for embroidery.

The class will begin working in the round (since that is easiest with these patterns) making a water bottle cover. Then we’ll go on to flat knitting, with a cell-phone cover that could easily turn into cuffs for an elegant sweater.

Students will need to bring worsted weight yarn and 5 dp or two circular needles. (Dk weight yarn is also okay.)

Sunday Workshop:
Stranded Knitting or STRANDING

Everything you need to know about two-colored knitting will start with how to make a steek and slash it without a sewing machine. Then we’ll make a sun glass case practicing two-handed knitting in the round and carrying one color over long distances. Finally, we’ll knit backwards with one hand and with two, for those times when going in circles cannot be done.

Students will need yarn in two contrasting colors with dp needles.

If by chance you do not know who Anna Zilboorg is, here is a list of her published books on Amazon.

Read an article about Anna on the Knitting Universe site.

How much did you say this cost?

Is this a typo? I know I did not pay $195 dollars for this book. It is a wonderful book but almost $200 dollars for it? But if you go to amazon.com and search for this book you will see this outrageous price.


I guess it's true, it's out of print and very hard to find. I think I'll treat my $200 dollar book with new respect. I now remember buying this book at one of the Smithsonian Museums. At the "Renwick Gallery" in Washington D.C. What a beautiful Gallery a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Almost right across the street from the White House.

A craft museum, so I went and found a number of knitting books and this book. At the time I paid $24.95 for it and just knew that I would love it even though I had never dyed anything but always wanted to. It was crazy my suitcase weighed a ton from all the books I purchased.

My visit to Washington D.C. was fascinating, I had never visited D.C. before and went there just to see the Museums, the White House and all the American History. I loved it. I went by myself and had a great time visiting the museums and staying as long as I wanted and viewed what I felt like. My hotel was very close to the White House and I was intrigued by it all. Although it look so small especially with those large buildings on either side of the House. Quite frankly I've seen bigger mansions right here in Beverly Hills. But it was still very beautiful and interesting to look at. I walked past it every chance I had.

Seeing and meeting the very strange woman camped across the street Concepcion Picciotto. They say she has been there since 1981. Yes across the street from the White House and living on the street, sleeping on a lounge chair with some kind of makeshift tent. When I asked her about bathing and taking bathroom breaks. (Well I like to know details) She told me that she only leaves to take a half hour break and quickly comes back.

When I asked one of the many guards around if this was legal? Can you just camp on the streets? He was a handsome young man with a Southern Drawl "Mam there are no laws agains Crazy."

But I've digressed from my dyeing yarn activities, here are the "hanked" yarn waiting to be painted.
I've been "hanking"..... maybe that is not the right word or proper English but you know what I mean. It's the reverse of winding the yarn into a ball. I'm unrolling the ball and making it into a "hank".

Colors Gone Wild

A whole new world opened up to me in fiber arts now that I've discovered the wonderful world of dyeing yarn. I've been fascinated with the process but it kind of scared me and from afar it looked like it was a complicated process.

The dyes, natural, acid, kool-aid, food coloring? What to use and how to use it, most of all where to get it? Kool-Aid is the easiest get but it seemed childish and more of a play thing than really dyeing wool. Then I saw a lady with the most beautiful color mohair shawl. The color was a "Burnt Sienna" in my world a pinky salmon like pink coral. (I'm having trouble trying to describe the exact shade, too bad I did not take a picture.) Pink but not really pink, because I usually do not like pink but this color looked lovely especially on the lady wearing it.

When we chatted about her lovely shawl, ie. what yarn, what color way etc. She told me she had this ugly light beige mohair and she dyed it with Kool-Aid. Wow! Note to self: when I get home I must try Kool-Aid dyeing. I asked the first natural question that comes to mind and the same question people ask me now that I'm dyeing, "Will it fade? Does it wash out?" She told me not yet, and she's washed it once. Also said how often do you wash your shawls anyway? Not that often. Maybe a sweater more but only time will tell how much fading will occour.

Some colors may fade faster than others. Just like some colors grab easier than others, it's all a big experiment. But what fun! Here we go dye all over the outside kitchen, crock pots heating up, yarn hanging & drying...... I'm getting nothing else done.... but having a lot of fun.

The store I went to locally had a very limited range of Kool-Aid flavors but they had a whole range of food coloring. I bought food coloring and could not wait to get home to try this out. Oh yes before I went home I stopped by my local beauty supply and bought 6 tint applicatior bottles. They seemed to be practical for this task, they have ouce markings and a nice little spout to apply the color. If it works for hair it will work for animal hair/wool yarn.

Stay tuned I'm now taking pictures of all the yarn I've dyed....... will share it all later.

Happy dyeing.

Dyeing, knitting, teaching & taking pictures.

Shawl by Natalie

Shawl by Natalie, originally uploaded by BananaKnits.

I took a photo class yesterday and boy did I have fun. I'm exhausted today but I've learned some new techniques to photograph knitted projects. Here is the best shot of the day's shooting, my friend Natalie posing with her garter stitch shawl. Natalie calls it "Hollywood Shawl" at least her version of the pattern "Mara". The color is rich and rusty red, looks great on Natalie.

On Natalie's Ravelry page she describes it:

"This shawl is Mara-inspired but in the end bears no resemblance to the pattern. I added eyelet rows to lighten it up and went for a ruffled edge rather than the ribbed edge."

The pattern is available free "Mara"

I love dyeing yarn.

I took a class from Tina Newton and we dyed sock yarn. I love dyeing yarn. I want to do more. This could be a slippery slope for a new way to have fun. Just look at how I'm concentrating and watching Tina with fascination. (picture from "IrishGirlieKnits")

All I can say is WOW

Way to go Staff Sgt. John Sorich IV

"COURTESY JOHN SORICH. Sgt. John Sorich, 26, of Eden Prairie (far right, closest to the camera) taught 10 of his fellow Army Reserves troops how to knit during their one-year deployment in Iraq. A few of them needed convincing first, but found the skill to be a great stress-reducer"

Read this StarTribune article.

Springtime Knitting

The weather is warming up and soon it will be too warm to be knitting winter wool. I am now working on a couple of projects for the summer. The first one is "Rainbow Silk Cloud" the name is obvious it is colorful and it does feel light as a cloud.

When I try this on it feels like wearing Cotton Candy. This is the second project I've knit with this type of yarn Mohair and Silk mix and I love the way it's kind of cool and warm at the same time. I know this does not make any sense, how can a sweater be cool and warm too? I don't know but it is. Some things are just magic and this sweater is one of those.

It packs up really small and does not wrinkle and is great for traveling. I have a couple of trips planned this year and look forward to making this sweater part of my travel wardrobe. The pattern I use is from the class I teach "Template Knitting" a basic top down raglan sleeve garter stitch. The class I'm affectionately calling "Gypsy Knitting" and it's a fast, easy knit. I will be teaching this class in May at the Santa Monica Library.

I'm always fascinated how we can make a whole entire garment from string, in this case almost like cob web thin silky mohair "string".

Size 10 needle which makes a lacey fabric and the project knit up very fast. Instant gratification that is always a bonus for me. Because I'm not a monogamous knitter, here is one of the other projects I'm working on. Again the same pattern with different yarn and it makes it look like it's a totally different pattern.


I call this one Molly because the colors remind me of Molly the owl. Who is Molly the owl? Here is the link. There is a couple who love birds in San Marcos California, (a bit South of here). They put up an owl box and waited 2 years for an owl to move in. Molly and McGee moved in Carlos the owner of the box put up a camera and the world started watching Molly sitting on her eggs.

The colors are not showing up the same way as on my monitor but this yarn I got does remind me of the colors Molly has. She is a barn owl and is now a proud mama of 3 Owlettes. It was fascinating to watch these little eggs hatch. Something I've never seen before. Isn't the internet wonderful?

And guess what Carlos who narrates the goings on periodically talked about his wife Donna being a knitter. One day she was off to her stitch n bitch group.

I'm progressing nicely with this summer short sleeve cardigan. I've tried it on and it too feels very nice and soft. I think this will be a wonderful little cardigan for the summer. Size 5 needle the yarn doubled and is still cob web thin but it makes a wonderful light weight fabric.

I bought the yarn a a wonderful little store in Manhattan Beach, California.

Srpingtime Haircut

Clara Parkes you're amazing

I really like Clara Parkes, she is a wonderful writer and so very knowledgeable about fiber and such. She is an author of several books and the creator of Knitter's Review. Before Ravelry and still today a wonderful fun place for knitters to chat and share information.

Check out her reviews on knitting related things like tools, events, shops, new books etc. New this week a great article about Yarn from Ducks! Softer than Cashmere! Wow I want some.

Fiber Preview: Quakmere

Clara Parkes left her career in San Francisco's booming high-tech industry to pursue her love of knitting. She now lives on the coast of Maine in a farm house full of fleece, fiber, and yarn. Best-selling author of The Knitter's Book of Yarn (Potter Craft, October 2007), she is the publisher of the top-ten knitting website KnittersReview.com, and a frequent contributor to Interweave Knits and Twist Collective.

The Knitter's Book of Wool: The Ultimate Guide to Understanding, Using, and Loving This Most Fabulous Fiber

Bag Furniture?

I think I want one. A perfect Knitting Couch, room for projects and tools.

Quinze & Milan has teamed up with bag manufacturer Eastpak to create a limited edition collection of "backpack furniture" to be featured during the 2010 Milan Design Week.