Jun 29, 2008

Weekend Projects

This weekend, I got together with some knitters from Ravelry and learned about dying yarn. We mixed Jacquard dyes into squeeze bottles and hand painted our yarns. The yarn was first soaked in a water-vinegar solution. After dying, the color was set by heating the yarn in saran wrap, at 350 degrees, for about 30 minutes.



We painted normal skeins and blanks. The blanks are yarn knit into a scarf like block on a knitting machine. The object is you can paint matching stripes on the two blocks, then knit out of that block to make matching striped socks. I didn't love the way my colors turned out. They were meant to be a light grey and mauve, but are more of a dark grey and purple. Oh well, practice makes perfect.



(Lori used some fun bright colors)


I do like the way my skein turned out. I used equal parts red and blue to make a dark purple base. I applied it to one end of the skein, then squeezed it down to a fade out. I then filled in the whiter areas with a more dilute solution.



Here are all of our yarns hanging to dry while we kicked back, had lunch and knit for a while.



While I knit, Brian was up to bigger and harder projects. He rent a front end loader to dig out a nice hole for a new patio. This has turned out to be a very difficult project due to the intricate network of tree roots he has had to chop through. He's really doing a great job. Today his dad came out to help him, which was much appreciated.



So far he has turned this


into this.

6 comments:

Patty Ann said...

I'm sorry but I can't even comment on your yarn art after seeing Brian drive that huge machine! hahaha. I'm so jealous. I love that they rent those things to average people!

Angie said...

You're calling Brian average??

Amber said...

Cool yarn! Looks like it was fun!!!

Patty Ann said...

Oops I didn't mean it to sound that way. I meant perhaps experienced with heavy equipment as a rental prerequisite. If Dad was driving that thing I wouldn't want him too close to the house.

Kim Davis said...

SOOO nice! Why do people go through all that work to build a too-small deck/patio? Why not just make one big enough for a table like yoou're doing? Good luck with the rest, Brian!

Anonymous said...

And to think dad didn't even complain about being sore from all the chopping he did. chuckles is an animal when it comes to home improvement work.!