Colour it with nature!

Yeah, that's what I did this summer at work! We dyed yarn using natural colours, mostly different plants. I already gave you a sneak peak in my previous post, but here comes some more pictures!

First we started with aluna salt to make the wool ready for the colours. Then, here's also a picture of our first "soup", i.e. onion.

During the summer we tried a lot of different plants etc. This was the first time I tried to dye wool, and I have to say I'm really amazed by the wonderful, beautiful colours I got. I mean, look at them!! Wow!

From the left to the right:

- cochineal, second round (kokenilli, jälkiliemi), on white Novita Wool

- cochineal + madder (kokenilli + krappi), on white Novita Wool

- madder (krappi), on beige DROPS Nepal

- onion (keltasipuli), on white DROPS Karisma

- onion, second round (keltasipuli, jälkiliemi), on white DROPS Karisma

- tansy (pietaryrtti), on white Novita Wool

- birch, second round + onion, third round (koivu, jälkiliemi + sipuli, kolmas liemi), on white DROPS Karisma

- birch (koivu), on white DROPS Karisma

- onion, second round (keltasipuli, jälkiliemi), on grey DROPS Alaska

- first birch + onion, third round (koivu + keltasipuli, kolmas liemi). Then later dipped in woad (morsinko), on white L.O.O.Y. Ekologsk ull

- red onion, second round (punasipuli, jälkiliemi), on white DROPS Karisma

- red onion, (punasipuli), on white DROPS Karisma

- first birch (koivu), then later in cochineal (kokenilli), and then a third round in woad (morsinko), on white L.O.O.Y. Ekologisk ull

- woad, very late dip (morsinko, hyvin myöhäinen kasto), on grey DROPS Alaska

- woad (morsinko), on grey DROPS Alaska

And here's a close up of what you can get by using mostly onions (easy to do at home): onion: first round, onion: second round, onion: on grey yarn, onion + birch: third round, red onion: first round, red onion: second round

I found it really interesting that the yellow from onion turned green when the yarn was grey. Then I also liked the woad very much, since it gave a blue colour, which you normally only get from indigo. It also was the magic key for my favourite dyed yarn from this summer: the bright green. First it had a rather dull yellow colour from the birch leaves, but then - voilà - dip it in blue and you have an almost sparkling, delicious green colour!

I only used superwash yarns, like DROPS Karisma and Novita Wool, so that of course also helped to make the colours really bright. But still, everyone told me I succeded very well with this for a first-timer. Maybe it was beginners luck? :)

However, I have one skein that didn't turn out that well. Or at least not as it was supposed to, but I guess it's quite funny like this too :) First it also had a dull yellow colour, then I tried to save it by adding cochineal to it, but something went wrong and the colour I got was an ugly violet-brownish shade of grey. With really dark violet spots. Then I tried to save it once more by dipping it into the blue woad, and this is the result:

I really hope I may continue experimenting with natural dyes next summer again at work, because this was really a lot of fun! The only problem is that now I have like 15 different coloured skeins, all of them only 50-100 g. But I'm sure I'll come up with something to do with all of them! :) One skein was actually already used for baby socks, but more about that later... ;)

Truly, deeply black

Last spring I had time for a few courses from the handicraft teaching program. One of the compulsory ones was a basic course in knitting and crotcheting :) Sounds like fun, doesn't it? We just sat in a class knitting and/or crotcheting during the lessons. Talk about a fun way to get some credits for studying!

Anyway, I have a lot of smaller projects I finished during that course, but I decided to begin with the biggest one: a black sweater.

Pattern: partly my own, partly Tubey by Cassie Rovitti 

Yarn: Novita Kelo

Needles: 8 mm

In Ravelry 

I think I will have to do the Tubey-sweater again sometime, with different yarn. I'm not at all satisfied with the way this yarn looks in this sweater. The main reason for why I chose it, was that a) I already had some of it in my stash, and b) I didn't have enough time to knit a whole sweater with thinner yarn. 

I like the Tubey design, though. With the graphical, a little bit Snow-Whitey neckline. But next time I think I'll try to do a similar neckline without dividing the sweater in two peaces. Although that, too, makes the design a bit special.

Anyway, it doesn't fit that well and the thick yarn and big loops in the stitches makes it rather compulsory to wear a black t-shirt underneath. But at least it's quite warm, yet not too warm. The idea was to make a sweater that I could use during the winter on slightly more convival occasions. Like when you need to be kind of elegant, but still a bit cosy. I still do thing the design suits that purpose very well, however the thick yarn maybe doesn't.

So, in other words, this is the first project in a while that I'm not that happy with. Haven't actually used it at all yet, eventhough I finished it already in May. ...Although, it hasn't perhaps been cold enough just yet... :) 

And YES, I, once again, used that same textured pattern! :D But now I promise it'll take a while before you see it again!

Then, s small sneak peak of what's coming up next time on this blog:

Socks for a diving suit!

Well hello again! What have I been up to this autumn, you might think. Well, quite a lot actually. That's why it's been a bit quiet in this blog for a while. But the good thing with the fact that I've been busy is that I'll soon have a lot of nice stuff to show you! :)

First, a project where the deadline was coming up very, very fast:

My colleague at work needed a pair of almost kneehigh, tight socks to wear underneath her diving suit now that the waters are getting chilly up here in the North. I had three days time to finish them. And I did! :D

Pattern: from my head

Needles: 3,5 mm

Yarn: wool mixed with dog hair

The yarn was very interesting. My colleague asked me to use some of her own yarn. Most of it was wool from one of her own sheep and the rest of it was hair from her own dog. Together the white and the yellow turned into a lovely, pale beige colour. And since it contained some dog hair, it was really, really warm. I've tried one of her stoles knitted with this same yarn, and if you compare it with a regular stole made of 100% wool, the difference is huge! Too bad they don't sell yarns like this in shops... I'd use it for all my winter clothing!

Since I had to finish these socks very quickly, I didn't have time to do anything else than basic socks, without any fuss like cables or something similar. But once I reached the tip of the toe, I couldn't help myself. They just looked so dull and boring. I simpy had to add this small stripe made using the same textured stitch than in my grey scarf. And at least my colleague thought they looked cute. And she also said she'd never had socks that fit her feet so perfectly before. So I guess she was pretty pleased with my superfast work :)

Lace, lace and lace

Remember the small doily I made not so long ago? That I decided was too small for my coffee table and became a lace doily for my lamp in stead. Well, now I'm proud to present the biggest lace doily I have ever made:

Pattern: Mantilla Doily

Yarn: Marks & Kattens Anemone

Hook: 3

It did take a while to finish crotcheting this one. I have to admit I almost felt like quiting when I came to the last few rows that were so long it felt they would never end. And at that point it also seemed like I somehow had managed to add too many stiches on the go, since it didn't turn flat agains the table, no matter how I tried. I also used much thicker yarn and a bigger hook than suggested, so I was afraid that was a problem too. But fortunately it turned out ok once I blocked it!

But in the end I'm very happy I managed to motivate myself to continue and finish this. Even though it gives me more of those granny points, it looks great on my coffee table. And just the right size! Not too big nor too small. And it's just the right colour. Good thing I already "happened" to have exactly the right kind of yarn, this way I once again used up a tiny bit of that huge stash of mine... ;) Perhaps I will some day be able to allow myself to buy some more yarn again...

Before the summer is over...

...here's a few pictures to help you remember how it's been :)

 

Package from the US

Sometime during last spring I joined a group in Ravelry called International Yarn and Candy Swap. In June I participated in the first swap. My swapmate was from the US, more exactly from Oregon, and here's what she sent me:

The package had soooo much candy in it! Wow! Don't know when I'll manage to eat all of it! But so far, as for the candy I've already tasted, they taste really, really good! Yummy!

Although the candy was great, the best part is still the one skein of yarn I got. Madelinetosh! Hand dyed yarn, colour Iris. Really beautiful! The colour shifts from dark blue to dark violet. I bet it'll look great when knitted! This is actually my first yarn by Madelinetosh so I really look forward to trying it. Perhaps I'll never want to knit anything else after this ;) (although I hope not, since I really don't think I could afford it in the long run...)

Then I also got this wonderful card that she had made out of fabric used in a Shakespeare play. Nice, isn't it? :)

It by the way feels like this summer has passed so, so quickly... I had a lot of half-finished projects lying around and I had planned to finish all of them already in the beginning of the summer. That way I thought I'd have a lot of time left to start new, wonderful projects. But here I am, in the middle of August, still with a tiny mountain of small projects yet to be finished. The biggest problem is perhaps that there keeps coming new, small but high-priority projects all the time! Almost feel stressed! ...but only almost... Fortunately knitting itself is so relaxing... :)

Lace under a lamp

I've finally overcome my fear of crotcheting! And now I have a lace doily in my home! That gives me some granny-points, doesn't it? ;)

Pattern: DROPS Place mats

Yarn: Marks & Kattens Anemone

Hook: 3 mm
In Ravelry

I followed the pattern for the first nine rounds, but as it was still pretty small after that, I just made up a few more rounds as I went on. I originally intended to make this big enough for my coffee table, but as I'm still not that good at crotcheting, I decided to let this one be small and chose another (bigger) pattern for the coffee table doily in stead (more about that later).

This turned out quite perfect for a small, round table that I have next to my sofa! Now the white lamp has something to stand on. It also brings some more colour to the table. So I guess this was a success after all! :)

Phone covers

I, too, suddenly jumped into the smart-age this spring, after I had changed my old phone for a brand new pink Nokia Lumia 800. Really great phone, by the way! I love it! And especially love the girly colour :)

Anyway, I didn't want it to get scratched, so I knitted this cover for it:

Pattern: my own

Needles: 2 mm

Yarn: Novita Tennessee

Then, a friend of mine who also bought the same phone (but in blue), wanted to have some covers too. So here's what I made for him: 

Two different ones so that he can change it once in a while (and maybe wash it). These are also knitted with 2 mm needles using cotton yarn.

I actually plan to write down a pattern for this, as I've already promised to knit yet another one of these for a third Lumia phone. The cover-thingy isn't actually at all difficult to make, but perhaps there's someone out there who would still want to have it written down. So maybe you'll hear more about that later this summer!

Easter ornaments

I am very sorry for how quiet this blog has been all spring. What can I say? Something came up :) But even though I haven't felt like updating here, it doesn't mean I haven't done anything. Quite the countrary! I actually have so much to show you that I don't know where to start. But perhaps it's best to start at the beginning, i.e. with my oldest stuff. So therefor: an Easter post in June!

For Easter one of my colleagues at work had found yet another ornament pattern by Arne and Carlos, you know those knitting guys from Norway. This time it was a pattern for Easter eggs and balls. And since our museum is a very handicraft-orientated museum, I was asked to knit a few ornaments to decorate our porch. So I did.

Pattern: Påskeegg by Arne & Carlos (found in Finnish in Suuri Käsityölehti 3/2012)

Yarn: random cotton yarn from my stash

Needles: 2 mm

I actually knit five of these, but only four of them is shown in the picture. The last one was a blue round ball with a red Easter flower on it.

Then, last but not least, a photo a little bit more appropriate for this time of the year:

And this time, I'll be back soon! Promise!

Spring is here!

Sorry, this blog has been very quiet for a while. But now I'm back! First with some spring-photos I took the other day.