Wednesday, January 10, 2007

adventures in self-striping

i tried my luck at self-striping yarn this last weekend using kool-aid and knitpicks color-your-own fingering weight merino. i first had to make a very very large skein.



i walked around two chairs a million times while the yarn unwound from the swift in the middle of the room. then i tied them off into approximate thirds, soaked the skein in water, then placed each third into its own jar of kool-aid. i put those jars into a pot half-full of water and slowly heated them up.



i turned off the heat and let the yarn cool. then i gave it a rinse with a little bit of wool wash.



i hung it up to dry in the shower then i put it back on the chairs and wound it back on the swift.



i plan on making some jaywalkers with it, but i'm trying to focus on some of my other projects right now, like forecast. (i'm working on the first sleeve right now.)



also, this package arrived and it is especially tempting.



seven skeins of peace fleece worsted in sea moss and two skeins of blue sky alpacas organic cotton. the peace fleece is for the Central Park Hoodie and the cotton is for a decorative pillow. my bedspread needs a little sprucing up.

i hope to have the beginnings of a jaywalker sock the next time i post.

till then, eat a peach from costco. it'll blow your mind.

8 Comments:

At 3:07 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why wasn't bear playing with the yarn while it was wound on the chairs? Seems like something he would get into... The multi colored yarn looks pretty cool.

 
At 3:16 PM, Blogger rachel iufer said...

bear DID play with the yarn, as did nessie. they got yelled at enough to finally leave it alone. i think the swift scares them a little too. MWAHAHA!!

 
At 3:37 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow, that is pretty impressive how you do all that stuff. I like the colors. You should do a TV show on YARN, coloring it, knitting it, wrapping it around chairs.
Good thing you have a house big enough to do that kinda stuff in.

Way cool Rachel!

 
At 5:29 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

fortune cookie says:
you are strange and awesome
your future is bright
you make neat yarn things
...in bed :)

 
At 6:50 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm so impressed withyour Martah Stewart like capapbilities. Your mom is a friend of mine and is oh so proud of you...my sister is a knitter...I've forwarded your ramblings to her. I think she'll be jealous!

Knit on!

Barbara

 
At 8:22 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Rachel:

Your Papa Bob would have cried over the beauty of your blog sight and the work you have done. He might have been a little envious. But, to tell the truth, when he was dying colors and spinning wool in Chico, we both knit hats with the yarn we created. And I think he might have gone on to knitting different things had we not moved to Mississippi. He knit a sweater for me that was gorgeous. Love you, Granny

 
At 10:00 AM, Blogger pamela said...

You're the bomb, Rachel! You inspire me to try new things.

That dye job is amazing, I can't wait to see what you do with it.

Cheers,
~Pam

 
At 3:50 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Cheekie, What are you doing with your creations?

 

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