Adventures In Dyeing – A Hooker's World

Over The Rainbow Shawl

Over The Rainbow Shawl | USD $183.56

About The Project Name

Over The Rainbow by Judy Garland from The Wizard of Oz

I just watched the video and started crying all over again. This song makes me so emotional for it’s lyrics, melody, performer’s tragic life, and it was the first thing I thought of when I saw the results of my own hand-dye job.

About The Over The Rainbow

Dimensions: 88-inch wingspan x 24-inch height
Price: USD $183.56

This has been quite a process and the race to finish only minorly screwed up my knitting on this shawl, most notably in the lace, which I had to learn how to knit from charts…AIYAA!

At first, the whole shawl was going to be the knit from the Knit Picks yarn, but after only one repeat of lace, I did not like how the lace design got lost in the yarn color. This is a known tenet that I thought might make and exception in my case – apparently not! :D At this realization, and after cofirming I could knit the stockinette field ad infinitum as long as I maintained a multiple of six, I decided to use the entire skein of Knit Picks for the stockinette field.

This left me with the dilemma of coming up with a complementary second color. I was fortunate enough to go shopping with Ms. Tia at Jennifer Knits and then to Needlepoints West. At Jennifer Knits, the yarn I loved was a celery but at USD $60.00/skein, that was not going to fly, as I haven’t even sold half of what I’ve made over the years and probably because of that, I am not rich. At Needlepoints West, it was the last skein I saw that fit my desired effect: I had seen the multicolor as a garden – perhaps Munchkinland – and the tonal brown yarn I found would resemble the garden trellis.

About The Yarn

Knit Picks Bare Stroll Fingering

Care: Machine wash gentle, tumble dry low
Color: Leonardo
Content: 75% Superwash Merino Wool, 25% Nylon
Weight: 1, Fingering

Alexandra’s Crafts Black Butte

Care: No laundry care provided; consult a professional dry cleaner
Color: Olive
Content: 60% Superwash Merino Wool, 20% Silk, 20% Yak
Weight: 1, Fingering

Mr. Blue Sky: Ready, Set…

Mr. Blue Sky ready, set…

…just waiting for the gun to go!

While the yarn was still wet, after dyeing and still in a ball, I started wrapping around my thumb and elbow. That got tiring very fast and I recruited mother to stand in while I wrapped around her spread apart hands. She got tired and I ended up wrapping around the bottom of the dye pot.

I now need a niddy-noddy! :D

My hank was very small – too small to fit on my swift. Fortunately, I had a coffee can that was the same circumference as the pot. I put the yarn around the pot on the floor and wound it on to the swift. When I came across knots – as this was pieced together from several balls Ana had created for her dye class – I untied them and felted them together. As the yarn was still damp in some spots, I left if on the swift over night with a fan on it.

Today, in an effort to maintain an organized household, I decided to wind Mr. Blue Sky up in a cake. During the process, I had about four to five breaks. I just knotted them – frustrated. I can always try to felt later.

I only used blue food color and I am so happy that I got a lighter shade of blue than expected as I am not a true blue fan. The yarn is from Newton’s Yarn Country and I some of their DK wool.

Mr. Blue Sky: Inception

Look what I can do!

Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra has been born with the creation of my first hand dyed ombre yarn. I don’t know what it will be and whether or not I will combine with another yarn for something spectacular, though on its own, I think the shade of blue I obtained is right on! I am not exactly sure of the yarn name, but I think it’s from Newton’s Yarn Country. It is definitely wool, per a burn test , and i think the yarn weight is DK.

Newton’s Yarn Country DK Wool hand dyed Mr. Blue Sky by Hooker Leo, A Hooker’s World

Over The Rainbow: Update

Older New Project: Over The Rainbow Shawl

Avoiding the issue for two days, I finally set forth to tinking what I thought would be over two hundred stitches over five rows. Turned out it was only three rows down, having already knocked out two rows while waiting on computer, internet connection and FarmVille.

Yay! I will knock this out after this post and then hopefully knit until I reach the lace section.

Oh, and I have named this project: Over The Rainbow by Judy Garland. Being gay and having named the yarn after me, I couldn’t have thought of a more appropriate name and am lucky that I had not used it already.

The yarn pictured is the yarn I dyed during My First Guild Workshop: Knit Picks Stroll Fingering Bare (Fiber Contetn: 75% Superwash Merino Wool, 25% Nylon; Yarn Color: Leonardo; Yarn Weight: 1, Fingering)

My First Guild Workshop

Was made possible by luck.

I did not have the $10 fee back in October when the class was being announced at the El Segundo Slipt Stitchers. Fortunately for me and at least one other member, there were enough supplies to participate: A skein of Knit Picks Stroll Fingering Bare (75% Superwash Merino Wool, 25% Nylon) and a mason jar.

I thought I was being clever by folding the hank into the mason jar and applying color on top of each fold; it might have worked better if I had followed the rainbow. Upon completion of the workshop, I was THRILLED with my outcome, née colorway: Leonardo.

When I got home, my impatience got the best of me and I put my yarn in the microwave for three minutes on high to set the color. Guess what? My beautiful orange got muddled with the green above and created a brown…aiyaa! I presume – for ego sake – that had I left the jar in the sun for a week, as instructed, it still would have muddled, but not as much. My other complaint is that the colors don’t seem as saturated now that the yarn has dried. Finally, the outcome is very similar to my Adventures in Dyeing back in May 2015.

Yesterday, I searched for a pattern and could not find one for the amount of yarn I have (462 yards). I am considering purchasing a second skein (Total Yardage: 924), preferring a black/white ombre – make my own? – to alternate with Leonardo. Now that I think about it, maybe I should use a solid with Leonardo, which already is very colorful, reminiscent to me of a garden.

Which color do you think complements Leonardo?

Adventures in Dying — Adventures in Dyeing

Adventures in Dyeing: Stage 2

Adventures in Dying: Stage 2 — ©A Hooker’s World

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Disappointed that the spots expanded so much
Probably could have done with less or a finer dispensation of the food coloring
Confirmed microwave instruction
Hoping that slow-cooking may wash out expansion
- currently line drying
- noticed more intense color inside
WHAT IS THIS GOING TO LOOK LIKE KNITTED UP?

Adventures in Dying: Stage 2a — ©A Hooker’s World

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