Dyeing Yarn with Indigo

So uh, I might've found a new hobby.  Related hobby?  Let's go with that.  Remember a while back when I showed you what the owner of the Itsy Bitsy Yarn Store sent me home with?  Well, I decided that I wanted to try out yarn dyeing, but needed my hand held first.

So I bought her indigo dyeing kit (and a book, but that's for another day).  And had a lot of fun this weekend.  The method used in indigo dying is different than other natural dyes, but the info booklet that came with the kit walked you through it beautifully, and it was nice to have good results right off the hop.

Here's a series of pictures of my adventure this weekend:

After scouring the yarn (cleaning it). I was scared I'd have a tangled mess, but the loose knots held the skein together.

Indigo stock, resting for an hour in a warm bath.

Gently pouring the stock solution into the dye bath, trying to reduce bubbles as much as possible.  One of the chemicals added to both the stock and the bath is Thiourea Dioxide, which removes the oxygen from the water (and I think produces hydrogen sulphide, because boy does it reek of rotten eggs).  This is the only way that the indigo dye will bond with the fibre, so you have to make sure there's no added oxygen to the bath.

Dye bath, chilling out on my front step for an hour.

The dye bath itself is a yellow-green colour, but you can see where accidental air bubbles have oxidized the water blue.

Pulling out the yarn after it's first dip.  Hard to see, but it came out a light green shade at first. 

But this is where the magic happens, where exposure to oxygen turns it from green to blue!

Light blueish green...

...to blue!

And here it is after it's first dip.  It looks dark, but if I'd rinsed it and let it dry, it'd be a lot lighter.

Close up of the still-saturated bottom loop after the first dip.  I wanted a deeper blue, so put the yarn back into the bath for another 30 minutes. 

Here it is after it's second dip.  Deeper, and a gorgeous shade, but I wanted to try for something even darker, if possible.

And here's the yarn after it's 3rd dip.  It's hard to tell in these photos, but you could just see the dye sinking deeper into the yarn with ever dip, and I knew it'd stay this deep after rinsing this time.

Here's a comparison, sort of a before and after photo.  The yarn on the right is the same shade that I started off with before dyeing.

I am seriously in love with the results.  Don't know yet what I'm going to knit it into, but I'm sure I'll find something.  The whole process was labour intensive, but so much fun, and I want to experiment more.  There's so many plants around - even in my back yard - that I could use, and I want to try it all! 

Because of course I need more yarn.  And another hobby.  :)

Have you tried your hand at dyeing, and specifically natural dyeing?  Willing to try out indigo dyeing after seeing my stunning results?

Happy First Birthday, Things I Make. Plus Rocks!

Wow, that title is not easy to use as a name, eh?  Whatever, I still love it.

Anywho, IT'S MY BLOG'S BIRTHDAY!  Which I just realized this afternoon so I'm a little unprepared.  Give me a few days though, and we'll have a little celebration:

I'M HAVING A (belated) BIRTHDAY GIVEAWAY!  

Once I figure out what I'm giving away, that is. :)

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And for those wondering about yesterday's motivation, I did indeed go for an run this morning, and it was awesome(ly painful - but the good kind?).  In fact, I felt so good afterward, I decided to run the Black Street Steps! 

Photo Source

Well, I ran it once.  I'm regretting that decision a bit now, but I was proud to have done it.  I probably ran about 11 of the 12 sets of stairs, having walked half of two of the sections.  Considering how hard it was to walk it when i first arrived here, I'm pleased with how much stronger I am now (which is empowering all on it's own)!

Still, I may not be able to walk tomorrow...

In Other News...

Not necessarily about sewing (although maybe a bit because I want to get into sewing my own exercise and running clothes) or knitting (unless you consider people who literally knit and run), but I can't stop looking at the latest cover of Women's Running.  The link's been open on my computer all day, and I keep going back to look at it.  According to this article, the magazine's been making a buzz because they chose to feature a plus-sized model for their August cover. 

It's apparently connected to an article about how popular athletic clothing brands are starting to provide more sizes of running gear (omg that's fantastic!), but also to show that not all runners are the lithe figures usually associated with runners.  The model here, Erica Schenk, has been running for a decade.

I...can't believe how inspiring this is!  I finally understand why people talk about the need for more representation in the media.  I mean, I've always understood in my head that representation of different types of people are important, but it's never hit me so hard as it did to see someone closer to my shape looking strong and powerful like this in a magazine.  

Whitehorse has a large community of very intense, hard-core runners.  I have a buddy who is a big time, dedicated marathon runner, who travels all over Canada and the USA for races.  She runs up to something like 75 km a week while in training, and she's pretty quick too.  But in her weekly running groups, which can number up to 60 people?  She's usually in the bottom 5 runners.  BOTTOM FIVE.  How does a beginner, and one in pretty poor shape, even start?  How the heck do you find the motivation, especially when you've been told before that "you have the wrong body for running"?

Well, this is one way.  I think I'm going to dust off my running shoes and hit the trails tomorrow morning.  :)  CONSIDER ME INSPIRED.

(And maybe also inspired to buy some patterns from Fehr Trade!)

My Northern (slightly feral) Garden

Welcome to my home!

Since no one said no to a garden tour in my last post, I'm taking it as a 'yes please' and giving you a tour!  As you can see, I have a very well manicured yard!

This is the stone retaining wall with an infestation of wild rose.  I 'trimmed' this area this spring by the fancy 'whatever survives the rake gets to stay' method.  It's actually a good source of rosehips in the fall, and I'm hoping to do some preserves with them this year! 

My planted garden leading up to the door.  This garden has been here forever, but I dug out the old dirt and replaced it with new rich soil this spring.  I love the rock tiers!

"Vintage Mix"  So pretty.

Aster, about to bloom.

Baby's Breath.  Surprisingly in purple, despite the 'white' tag.  I'm good with it, because it's pretty.  The white bits are some Lobelia that's not doing so well.

These are some of my favourites in it so far.  I've been waiting ages for the Asters to bloom, and it looks like one is finally about to!

View of my lovely grass lawn.  Or erm, tree- and rose-shoot lawn.  And a couple of pots with Petunias (one of my favourite flowers).  I love sitting out here and reading and knitting.

This is some sort of bush that grows behind the chairs.  I just noticed that there's some sort of berries growing on it.  Wonder what this is!  CAN I MAKE IT INTO JAM?!  Needs further research.

There's a ton of beautiful wild flowers along the side of the house.  Aside from the two above, there's also wild poppy, but it's done now.  I love the variety of wild flowers we have here in the Yukon.

Backyard!  I know, it's horrible, but I blame it on renos.  The addition there will eventually be our master suite!  There's a sea of (admittedly pretty) weeds growing under that bay, but eventually I'd like to plant some tall flowers there.  The hot tub looks ugly, but it's glorious in the winter!  Nothing like sitting out in a hot tub under the stars and northern lights in -30C. 

This is Fireweed, our Territorial flower.  It's my absolute favourite flower, and is entirely responsible for my new favourite colour.

Chokecherry and Saskatoon berry bushes!  We also have a Chokecherry tree and Saskatoon tree in the yard, which is pretty cool.  I love the contrast in the leaves and berries in both plants right now.  I've made all sorts of things with these, including chokecherry syrup, saskatoon jam, and saskatoon pies!  Mmm I'm so excited for fresh saskatoon pie.

And oh hey, there's my canoe veggie garden!  It's not actually doing as well as last year, but I blame the squirrel.  You can see the carrots in the front there.

The onions on the other side are dying, for some reason.  At least the dill is doing well!  Doesn't the bloom look like fireworks?

Broccoli across the top, with lettuce, radish, and beets across the bottom.  That big empty spot was supposed to be where I was supposed to stagger the radishes, but uh forgot.  I should get on that.

Aren't these broccoli so cute?!  A man at the greenhouse told me they do really well here, and if I leave them over a couple of frosts, they'll be really sweet.  CURIOUS. 

Kale and what was supposed to be spinach - which did well last year - but I fought a bitter battle with a squirrel this spring, and my spinach got caught in the cross-fire. :(

Don't know what kind of tree this is, but I keep calling it a weeping willow.  Looks more aspen or something, but whatever.  The bush to the right blooms pretty pink flowers in the spring - you can see them in this post.

And last but not least, the dead bush that lives below my sewing room window.  I'm going to rip this out and plant raspberries!

I hope you enjoyed the tour around my yard.  I certainly did - it made me look at everything closer, and now I want to know what everything is in it. 

Espresso Leggings: The Test Version

I bought Cake's Espresso Leggings ages ago, when they were first released.  I didn't even wear leggings back then, and am only a recent convert on their comfy wonderfulness.  (With a long top to cover my arse, of course.)  I knew they had potential though, and had plans to sew a few pairs for underground clothing and warm winter layers.

And then never got around to sewing them.  As usual.

Uh, but I'm having a heck of a time finding decently fitted leggings, especially in colours other than black (and sometimes charcoal), and I sort of want to sew some fun exercise leggings too.  So of course I made a black pair of Espresso.

These are my trial run, and I'm glad I did it.  I had a few issues, mostly in measuring the front and back rise.  I seemed to get really weird numbers - much shorter than I expected and the same for the front and back.  Everything I've read in my attempt to understand crotch curves says that latter bit was wrong, especially considering my *ahem* ample bum.  Obviously I did something wrong.  So I sort of made stuff up based on my total crotch curve and figured I'd fix it.

Heh.  I wound up with some really high waisted leggings!  And a really awful crotch (there's that buzz word again!  Not worried though, there is nothing nice about the crotches in this post!), but that's my own fault.  I don't know why, but I thought the crotch curve looked too narrow, so I added some width to the thigh measurement.  I'm 99.6% sure that's why things went so wrong here.


I don't care, these are super cozy house pants that I'm not embarrassed to be seen in, and with a long enough top, you won't even notice!

I didn't have any 3/4" elastic, so I (finally) used some 2" elastic I've had pretty much since I started sewing.  Glad to get that piece out of my stash!  (Although it's a pretty cozy finish, I'll probably try it again.)

As suggested in the pattern, I added a tag to the back, because you really can't easily tell the front from the back here until you put that sucker on and it simultaneously covers your boobs and exposes your crack.  Oops.

I'm going to try these again, possibly tomorrow later today, and follow the instructions properly this time.  Except for the front and back crotch curves, because obviously I'm doing something wrong there - I'll just measure off a RTW pair I have that seems pretty good. And add some length, because those suckers aren't hemmed at all.

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Oh hey, anyone interested in a tour of my gardens and back yard?  I have some great flowers, trees, and bushes growing in my yard, and some fun veggies growing in my canoe!

wip Name and Shame Time

Uh, I might have a problem.  A big startitis problem.  A woman at one of my knit nights recently asked me how many projects I had on the go, and I jokingly said 15.  Um.

Here, let me lay it out for you.

1. Year in Temp scarf.  Started in January, stalled out in March.  Still recording the daily temps though, so I'll catch up...someday.
2. Toque Tank.  This was the second knit I started during the TTTKAL, after I powered through my Avana.  It flew off of the needles...until I hit the armhole and neck bands.  This will probably only take another couple of hours of knit time.
3. Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot! Nearly finished the first fingerless glove!  Loving this project, but the colourwork takes a lot of concentration.  Maybe a half-hour to finish the first?
4. Striped toque.  This is for a silent auction for an upcoming family reunion.  We're fundraising to buy an outdoor event tent.  I'm planning to make a pair of fingerless mitts and a cowl to go with it.  This is still in the wips because I just need to finish sewing in ends.  Uh yeah.  Minutes.
5. Henri.  The as-yet-unblogged sweater.  I adore this thing, it's like a wearable swatch, so much fun to knit!  I need maybe a few more hours to finish the front, then onto the back.  This got put on hold while I knit my Cardboard Cafe for the Holla Knits KAL.  Definitely something that needs to be picked up again soon!
6. Fuego in Flames toque.  Haha just started this sucker.  I justified it because...because.  I'm knitting this out of a scrumptious yarn one of my best buddies sent me in March for my birthday.  Considering how much I'm loving both the pattern and this yarn, it shouldn't take too long to finish it.
7. Amiga for the Heather's Amiga KAL.  Just blogged about this.  I'm nearly done the raglan increases, but will be holding once they're done to wait for Heather to catch up (she cast on tonight - July 7!).  
8. Nub of a scarf.  Was supposed to be a small lacy scarf using this amazing qiviut that the above-mentioned Heather sent me a while ago.  I don't like the lace though, so I guess I'll frog this and find a better project for this yummy yarn.  Not that there's a lot to frog.
9. SpringTastic Socks.  Started this on the way to Mexico, hoping to finish the pair on the trip.  Then realized how long fine-weight yarn socks take, so hoped to finish one.  Then was just pleased to get past the heel.  Uh, these are taking a while.  I like them though!  Must get back to them.
10. Yet another Baby Vest.  Same pattern as the pink one I just made.  Probably only need another hour to two to finish this one?  What the heck, me, just finish it already.
11. 5 Hour Baby Sweater.  On...5 months?  AHA yeah.  All that's left is about 12 rows for the hem and buttons, AND THAT'S IT.  I...don't even know why this isn't done.
12. Silver Star Crocheted Blanket.  Started for a friend's baby, took too long to start, baby is now 1.5 years old?  I don't think he's getting this blanket.  Good thing I didn't tell his parents about it, eh?
13. Reverb.  Uh so I started this November 2013, and last worked on it during a plague the end of December 13.  I do really want this cardigan, it's just been hard to restart this.  Maybe I should pull it out again after I finish Henri.
14. Alpaca Winter Socks.  I think I mentioned these socks (or erm, half of a sock) in the Baby Vest post - they're a community knitting project.  They'll be a really heavy and warm men's over-socks.  These suckers weigh a ton already!
15. Dishcloths!  I'm including both of these as one project so I don't go over the holy number 15, shhh.  Actually, I've joined another dishcloth swap and they posted both the Happy dishcloth and the Pinwheel dishcloth.  I spent that morning working on these instead of cleaning my house and packing for a camping trip last Friday. HAHAHA.  The crochet dishcloth only needs another half hour to finish.  The pinwheel needs to be seamed and have all the ends sewn in.  One or both is going to someone awesome!

I actually think there might be more, but this is what I could find.  And this doesn't even touch on sewing.  I have a declaration to make though:

I, Heather of Things I Make. Plus Rocks, do declare that I will finish at least 5 of these projects in the next month, and will not start anything else until they're done.  I will also finish all of these projects before the end of 2015.

And now it's your turn: how many wips do you have?  *arches eyebrow*

Amiga kal: Planning and Swatching

Happy Canada Day!!

Sorry, I felt the need to say that.  :)  Hope you all are having a lovely day, Canadian or no!

So my good buddy Heather is a wonderful person and an overall good friend (as most knitters are).  And despite knitting for AGES, has never knit a sweater before.  Shocked?  I AM. 

I've been hounding her for years to start one, because I am a good knitty friend.  And yes, she does actually want to knit one - she owns how many sweaters worth of yarn for the purpose - but for one reason or another, has never gotten around to it.  So as the filthy enabler that I am, have finally talked her into doing a sweater KAL with me!  This way she has the motivation to do it, and I can help her if she runs into any issues.

The extra fun part has been trying to pick a pattern that we both want to knit.  See Heather and I, despite having the same name, have completely opposite tastes in everything clothing.  In spite of this, we both agree that Amiga is an amazingly versatile pattern, and easy enough for a beginners sweater.  So problem solved.

I'm knitting mine using a cheaper alternative to the scrumptious recommended yarn (which is Americo Cotton Flamme, if you're interested) - Valley Yarns Noho Cotton Flake.  Which...I see is now discontinued and on closeout at Webs for about $16.  Hmm, I might order another cone of this, because it's nice to work with...

Anywho, Heather will be using an alpaca/wool version of the recommended yarn, Winter Flamme.  Which looks scrumptious and I have a little bit of fibre envy (but whatever my yarn is cool).

I did a bit of swatching to see how my cotton yarn would behave.  I knit one swatch on 5 mm needles, and got 19 st/24 rows in 4" off the needles.  This was close to gauge, at 17 sts/24 rows in 4".  I wasn't really concerned about it being 2 sts off, since a small tug makes this loosely knit fabric at gauge.  I want this snugly fitted across the shoulders, so I wasn't worried too much.

Then I blocked it in my usual way, which involved dumping it in a giant bowl with luke warm water and some mild soap, letting it soak for a while, then squeezing out the water, rolling it in a towel and stomping on it to get out most of the water, and then laying to dry.

This resulted in a swatch that was about the same width, but that had shrunk from 6.5" long to 6" long at a row gauge of 26st/4 inches.  Hmm.  I expected this though since it's cotton.  And I sort of expect that the fabric will actually stretch a bit with wear.  But this is definitely something I'll have to keep in mind around places like the armholes and raglan increases.

For kicks and curiosity, I tossed the swatch in with a load a laundry.  You can see the result at the bottom of the photo above.  It shrunk a further 1/2" with a row gauge of about 28 st/4 inch.  And it's still holding strong at 19 st/4 inch width wise.  Except now it's far less stretchy width-wise since the fabric if firmer, somehow.

Despite this, I actually like the fabric more after it's trip though the wash cycle.  The yarn bloomed wonderfully from a tightly woven string, and the whole thing is softer and drapier.  So I think I'm going to send it through the cycle at least once.  I'll have to deal with the bias that the dryer emphasized (see how the swatch skews to the left in each of the photos, and gets worse at the bottom?), but I'm sure I can fix this by pulling it out of the dryer before it's completely dry and tugging on it a bit.  Despite having cast this on already on 5 mm needles (haha I was excited leave me alone), I think I'll rip it back and restart with 5.5 mms to help with the gauge a bit.

And so concludes my most extensive swatching experiment ever.  Yeah I'm normally pretty lack-luster at this part, but it was kind of fun!

Next update on this Amiga KAL will probably deal with some of the fitting adjustments and mods planned for this pattern for both Heather and I.

Although the next blog post might actually include some sewing for once!