This is a mitred square knitting up with my hand-dyed yarn. Its not as crazy as I'd thought it would be! Its also less blue. I've never knit a mitred square before. Its erm, not very square without being pinned to within an inch of its life.
Finally finished. If I were to knit this pattern again I'd probably make the next size up as they are very snug. Great pattern. I make no appologies for them clearly not matching, I didn't even TRY.
I think this pattern would be better on a more variagated yarn. The thick stripes in this one don't work that well. I'm not a huge fan of this colourway at all to be honest.
I went a bit mad, I admit! The lovely forchette (on Ravelry and the CowShed) sent me some white sock yarn and some "easter egg dyes". These I presume are a bit like food colouring, but they come in tablets.
So I made the balls into skeins (not realising that 50g aint enough for a pair of socks and I'd have to dye the two the same, so they are different sizes). This bit is boring and tediuos and results in a painful arm.
Then you soak the yarn in luke-warm water for half an hour to open up the fibres. Meanwhile I prepared the dyes. I used 2 tablets of each colour and dissoved them in 250ml boiling water with 2 tablespoons of white vinegar. Obviosuly you let them cool before sticking your yarn in.
I laid out a bin liner and sqeezed most of the water out of the yarn and laid the skeins out. I put the smaller one inside the bigger one so they are vaguely similar. I had in mind a lovely subtle blue and purple colour scheme, but the colours you get are red, blue, green, orange and yellow. I wasn't quite sure if mixing the red and blue would create purple or not. So erm, I couldn't resist using ALL the colours.
I had bought a turkey baster for 90p in Sainsbury's, but it was rubbish and I had to stick my finger over the end or the dye came striaght out again.
Still, it was pretty easy and less messy than I expected as the yarn sucked up most of the liquid like a sponge.
Once I was happy I squeezed out most of the water (the dye sticks to the yarn and leaves a mostly clear water) and put the yarn in a deep baking tray, covered this in foil and baked in the oven for an hour at 80 degrees C. That bit would be much easier if you have a microwave.
After the heating, I squeezed out more water and hung them to dry overnight in the airing cupboard. The next day I rinsed them out, using a small amount of baby shampoo. Then they were left to dry again for 2 days.
Easy really! I think I am addicted though....
Look what I got!
I sent a lovely lady from the Cowshed forum a handbag clasp I got free with Simply Knitting as I knew I would never use it. In return she sent me some white sock wool and some easter egg dyes so I can have a go at some hand dying! How lovely is that? The easter egg dyes are similar to koolaid I think, and her results have been stunning. I don't have a microwave so setting the dye is going to be interesting. I have instructions on how to do it in the oven, but I don't want to dye my dishes! LOL I might see if I can get some of those large disposable tin foil trays.
So, I'm knitting Forever Green (Ravelry link) again for my sister, and thought I'd post about somthing that bugged me the last I did it, and is bugging me even more now I'm knitting it for someone else.
