Dyeing sock yarn, making flip-flop socks, eclipse pictures, and needle felting.

So, what have I been up to this past month? Playing in the dye pots! I'm really getting a kick out of creating variegated yarn by dyeing it in my crock pot. I love what is coming out of it so far.

I had a request for flip-flop socks, so I've been teaching myself how to do those on the sock knitting machine. They are a bit fiddly, but I'm getting the hang of it. I'm part of a circular sock knitting group on Facebook, and there were instructions for these in the files. So far, so good.

I had a great time getting these shots of the lunar eclipse. My husband Eric got up early, I stayed up late, and we made a drive out to our favorite spot in the White Tank Mountain regional park west of Phoenix to stalk the super blue blood moon. I'm quite pleased with the results.

And speaking of pleased with the results, I tried my hand at two dimensional needle felting, using some 8x10" wool prefelts for a base to work from. The first picture was me just doodling over the course of an evening, trying out layering different colors in an abstract piece to get a feel for the materials. The second was my attempt at fiber figure drawing, using just black and white wool felted over a medium grey piece of wool prefelt. I am loving the results!! I am definitely going to be pursuing this medium for my art. I dyed many of the colors in the top piece, by putting a length of white roving in with my sock yarn when I dye it. So, this combines my dyeing, my felting, my drawing, and hopefully in the future my photography. I'd like to take pictures, and use them as reference photos for my fiber painting.

I am really really excited by the possibilities here!

Tutorial: Self striping sock yarn

Now, I am not an expert. But I hand dyed some self striping sock yarn, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out!

So, I figured I'd share what I did with you all.

Materials:
Wool yarn. I used superwash sock yarn, which is less likely to felt.
Jacquard acid dyes
vinegar
water
cotton crochet thread for ties
Dawn dish soap for washing afterwards

Tools:
saran wrap
squirt bottles
measuring spoon
gloves
dust mask
warping mill (or something to measure out your yarn)
swift (Or someone to hold the hank of yarn out for you in their hands.)
ball winder (Optional. You can ball up the yarn by hand.)
scissors
steamer
tub for soaking

Note: Do not use any of the items used for dyeing for food preparation ever again.

So, the first thing I did was to wind the hank of yarn from the swift onto my warping mill. I figured that 5 yards on the mill would give me about a 10 yard repeat (as the yarn goes back and forth from end to end.) My calculations were that that length would give me about an inch pattern repeat in my socks. You'll have to swatch for your own tension and row size to get your own figures.

 I tied loose figure 8 ties every yard, from some cotton crochet thread. That helps keep things from tangling, and the cotton doesn't dye so I can find it easily later on. Don't tie these too tight, or they will block the dye from getting through to the yarn.

 I also used loose ties around each arm of the figure 8 crosses at the ends of the warping mill. This again keeps things in order, and makes it easier to replace the yarn back onto the mill when the dyeing process is done.

 Then I chained the yarn up as I took it off the warping mill. No tangles!

 I soaked the chained up yarn in a tub of water and vinegar for half an hour. I had about a cup of vinegar in here. This provides the acid for the acid dyes to bond to the fiber.

 While the yarn was soaking, I put down a layer of cling wrap onto my work surface.

 Then, I chose my colors. My client wanted green, yellow, orange, and pink, as bright as possible.

 At this point, I put on my dust mask and gloves. Then I put about a half tsp of dye into each squirt bottle, and mixed it with warm water. Once the dye powders were closed up and put back away, and my area cleaned up, I could take the dust mask back off. I don't want airborne particles in my lungs!!

 I squeezed the water gently out of my yarn, and laid it out onto my work surface.

 Then, I had fun with the squeeze bottles! I used my gloved fingers to squish the dye down into the yarn, to make sure it got all of the way through. A bit of color theory helped here. I wanted bright colors, and I know that colors across the color wheel from each other combine to make earth tones. So, I kept the green and pink/orange far away from each other.

 After dyeing, I covered everything with another layer of saran wrap.

 Then, I rolled the bundle up.

 I curled the long bundle around itself, and put it in my steamer. I steamed the packet of yarn for an hour, then let it cool overnight. The next morning, I rinsed the yarn in the sink with first a squirt of dish soap, and then plain water to rinse the soap out. You are looking to rinse until the water runs clear. It didn't take long at all this time. Then, I hung the yarn up to air dry. (I forgot to take pictures of the rinsing and drying process.)

Once the yarn was dry, I put it back onto the warping mill, and used my automatic ball winder to put the yarn into a useable form.

 All ready to go!

It worked!!! I cranked out a pair of socks on my 100 year old sock knitting machine, and just danced in my seat the whole time. I am really, really pleased with how it turned out!

Yarn review: Franklin sock yarn

Well, that didn't work as well as I hoped. I was experimenting with Franklin sock yarn from Webs. It dyed up beautifully! But it is a little thick for my antique knitting machine. And, when I got a sock made up, it felt kind of dry and crunchy to the touch. I think this sock yarn is a little coarse for my sock making needs.

Come to think of it though, I think this yarn will be beautiful for making coiled basketry, where the feel against the skin won't matter as much. It seems nice and sturdy, and should hold up nicely for that use. (This picture is from a different brand of yarn, but you get the idea.)

Yup. Need to keep experimenting!

Hand dyed sock yarn, and a shot of me with my sweeties

I had a request for a couple of pairs of socks, cranked out on my antique sock knitting machine. The blues that she wanted were easy to find in commercial sock yarn. However, she also wanted some rich earth tones with touches of brown and green. And wow, the easily available varieties of sock yarn have diminished since I started making socks. However, I did have a skein of white wool/nylon that I had been meaning to experiment with. And I had some Procion dyes. Now, those are really meant for cellulose fibers rather than protein fibers, but if you swap out the soda ash in the soak for vinegar, it works pretty well. I liked the colors that I got.

The remaining question was, was this yarn going to work in my finicky machine? It doesn't like yarn that is too thick, and commercial sock yarn is kind of a hit or miss as to whether or not it will flow through the machine. Luckily? This works!

I still need to run the resulting pair of socks through the washing machine to wet finish them, but if that turns out well I will definitely be ordering more of this yarn. And, experimenting with a few different methods of dyeing sock yarn. I'm seeing a new obsession....er, product line....in my future!

Oh...and since I know some of you were curious after my post of a couple days ago, here is a shot of me with my two sweeties.

Both of my kids and my son-in-law were in town last month, so we got our family portrait done. While we were there anyway, I grabbed a shot of the three of us just for fun. The photographer was a little puzzled, but she rolled with it very nicely.

And now, I really ought to put the yarn away and get some sleep. It is 3:30 in the morning. But I am wide awake, and I want to play in the color some more!!

Phoenix heat, socks, silk, and night photography

Yes, it is blasted hot in Phoenix this time of year. The car reading does in fact say 121F. Though I took that a few days ago. Right now it is 'only' 108F.

So what have I been doing? Trying to stay in my nice air conditioned studio during the day. I've got a couple of clients that I've been working with. The first sent me a picture of the inside of a sea shell, and asked if I could make a silk boho-kimono inspired by those colors. It took two tries, but I'm pleased with the result. She was too!

I have another client who requested a sock-of-the-month for a year. I've been having fun with that, too. I've got June & July taken care of. But, I've found that many of the sock yarns that were my go-to choices have been discontinues. Today, that got me out of resting mode, and I ordered a sample of Web's Franklin sock yarn. It is undyed, which means that I'll be able to play in the dye pots and make my own sock creations. Well, if the yarn works well in my machine, wears well, and feels good to the touch. Which is why I went with the sample, rather than the full 4 lb cone of yarn. I'm hoping it will work out, but willing to experiment with a couple of sources until I find a yarn that I really like, that is still affordable to use for sale.

So, I work in the studio by day. And, try to leave going outside for my walks and other activities to the night time, when hopefully the temperatures have dipped below triple digits. That means I've been experimenting more with night photography. I'll keep working on that, but I'm enjoying some of the results I've been getting.

Next up? A road trip to get out of the heat. Stay tuned!

May socks, and my studio floof

What with the studio re-flooring after our flood, I just today finished up May's sock-of-the-month offerings. But I got it done! This month, the colorway was 'Surf', from the Deborah Norville Serenity sock yarn collection. It is 50% merino wool, 25% rayon bamboo, and 25% nylon. I like the way this yarn feels and wears, and it slides through my old cranky machine like butter. Except I don't want to wear butter on my feet, and I do want to wear these socks. 

Here's the finished socks, shown on my nice new studio floor. I'm super pleased with both. Now, to figure out what next month's colorway is going to be.

Maybe I'll get my new Studio Floof to help me decide. The stray that moved in a week or so ago seems to be making herself right at home, no? She still wanders in and out (after all, she has a whole neighborhood to run), but as it heats up here in Phoenix she seems to be enjoying the comfort of my computer chair more and more often.

Sock knitting with Patons Kroy Socks FX on an antique sock knitting machine

My daughter & I were in JoAnn's the other day, and spotted some sock knitting yarn that I hadn't tried in my antique  Creelman Brothers sock knitting machine. The beast is about 100 years old at this point, and is quite picky about what yarn it likes to work with.

My go-to yarn for socks has been the Serenity sock weight yarn from the Deborah Norville collection. My machine loves it, and it makes lovely soft socks. But I spotted some Patons Kroy Socks FX yarn, and my daughter fell in love with one of the color combinations. We made a deal: she'd buy the yarn, and I'd use it to test in my machine. If it turned out, she'd get the socks. If not, I'd ball up the yarn, and she'd get the yarn to use in her crochet work.

So, off we went. I first noticed that the Patons yarn was thicker than the Serenity stuff. In the same 50 gram size ball, there were only 166 yards, vs. the 230 in the Serenity. I was going to have to be careful. I make the socks from the cuff down, and I was afraid of running out of yarn  before I finished the toe if I did my usual calf high socks. So I decided to change the pattern to come just above the ankle.

Onto the machine it went. I had to put it on and rip it out a couple of times while I tinkered with the settings on the machine. As it was a thicker yarn, I had to loosen up the tension, and add more weight down below. Even so, the yarn jumped off the needles a couple of times when I was just starting to turn the heels and toes. Luckily, I've gotten good at repairing a run, when I catch it early enough.

I followed my pattern for size 10 women's socks, that I had worked out for the Serenity yarn. It turns out, when your yarn is bigger, and when you have a looser tension, the same number of rows in the foot makes for a longer foot. When I was done sewing the toe closed, the sock measured 10 1/2" long in the foot. That is a half inch longer than what I was aiming for. Also? The yarn, which is a wool/nylon mix, was not as nice to the touch as the wool/bamboo/nylon mix I was used to. Hmmmm....

Well, I decided to throw the finished socks into the wash, and see what the water would do to them. I washed them in warm water with a load of regular clothes, and then tossed them in the dryer on medium heat. And hoped for the best.

It totally worked! The socks shrunk and fluffed a bit in the wet finishing process, and ended up just at 10" long in the foot. And, the fluffing made them softer to the touch. My daughter squealed when she saw them, and tried them right on. She oooh and ahhed about how soft and comfortable they were. And we both absolutely love the gorgeous color changes.

The color repeat is long enough that I couldn't do my usual trick of starting each sock in the same spot in the repeat in order to get matching socks. So, when I make socks with this brand of yarn, the socks will be similar, but the color repeats will be in different spots. Michelle didn't care a bit! I think she likes them better that way.

Overall? Two thumbs up. The yarn is a bit trickier to work with on the machine, but those colors are well worth the hassle. If you were using traditional knitting needles, the extra bit of thickness wouldn't be so much of an issue. And, from here on out I'll wash them in cold on a delicate cycle, and lay them flat to dry. That should avoid any more shrinkage.

Now, I need to make myself a pair!!

Socks and Hiking in the White Tanks

Well, the day has come. My eyes are getting old enough that I gave in, and decided to use a magnifying glass for sewing closed the toes on the socks that I make. It sure makes it easier to see the teeny tiny stitches, so I don't drop any by mistake when I'm doing the finishing work.

I was working on finishing up this pair of socks for one of my Sock-a-Month clients, when my husband got home from work and suggested that we take a bit of time to enjoy a hike in the White Tanks, west of Phoenix. I'm game!

We tried the South Trail tonight, since we hadn't been on it yet. It is a relatively easy mile to where it joins up with another trail, though it is a gradual up hill the whole way. My calves were feeling the work on the way in. We set a timer for 45 minutes, so we would have enough time to get turned around and back to the car before we lost the light.

We don't just do serious hikes though. I'm always on the look out for a good picture. And Eric is a very good sport. "Hey dear! Go force push that saguaro!!" I giggled, he giggled, and an epic shot was born.

We also spotted this little fellow. The lizards are hard to see sometimes, with their perfect camouflage coloration against the rocks. And they usually skitter away before I can get close. This one actually stayed still enough that I could use my telephoto lens from a distance to capture his portrait. "Can she see me? I'm very still. I'm a rock. Don't eat me. Rock."

We did get back to the car, just as we were losing the light. The sunset was beautiful. In just a month, I'm suspecting it will be too hot in the desert for hiking. But for right now, it is wonderful.

And yes, I finished up the socks when I got home, and put the listing up in the Etsy shop. So I'm feeling all accomplished this evening! Good day.