A glut of FOs

This keeps happening to me, and I don't know why. All of a sudden, I finish projects at nearly the same time. Each time, there is a vacuum when I can't decide what to make next. I've started a Monkey sock to keep me going, after all, I have to have something to knit.

Kearsarge is done, and it fits well. This is Patons Diploma Gold DK yarn with 4mm needles, and I used less than 10 x 50g balls.

The bright kettle dyed socks are done too. These are my standard 72st 2.5mm needle socks and I like them. I won't be overdyeing them. Cold feet aren't an option wearing these!

Fulled woven bag

This is the start of a fulled bag using some Jojoland Rhythm yarn left over from a previous project and some coned wool yarn that has been vegetating in the stash for a loooong time. The Rhythm is a 4 ply with each ply changing colour along its length. I thought it would be ideal for trying the clasped weft technique. On the loom the fabric was very holey, but after fulling by hand, it closed up nicely...

and shrunk too. I just caught it at the size I wanted and then set about weaving a strap to match using the same yarns in a warp faced band.

This was also fulled and the next step was to bribe my sewing machine. One broken and two bent needles later, I had a bag. I turned under the edges of the flap and front top edge of the bag and instead of basting or pinning the raw edges before machining, I needle felted them to hold them in place. The lining has pockets and was sewed in by hand.

Put the kettle on

I've been wanting to try kettle dyeing for a while, and I'm nearly ready to start some more socks, so I had a go at kettle dyeing an undyed skein of sock yarn. It was fun but unpredictable. The first thing was to soak the yarn in a weak washing up liquid solution, while mixing up the dyes. I used five different shades of acid dyes in the red, pink and yellow part of the spectrum. Having given the yarn a rinse I squeezed out most of the water and put it in the pot with some hot water, (just enough to cover it) I added some vinegar at this point, to help the dye to stay where it was put. Then it's a case of adding one colour at a time, waiting until it's been soaked up before adding the next.





Afterwards it's a case of applying heat, in this case I brought it up to nearly boiling point for about 15 minutes. The results are a bit more pink than I wanted, but I like the randomness of it.


I'm just wondering if I should overdye the pinkest bits, because I don't know if I'm brave enough (I've never been someone who wears very bright colours) to wear socks made from this. But then you can't even see the socks when they're worn because they're covered by shoes and trouser legs. Oh well, if I don't like them, I can always dye the finished socks something darker. I'm really looking forward to finding out what they'll be like.