Year of the sock, July- Show socks

This is the only time I am letting myself repeat a patterned stitch sock as I have a lot of them in my favourites and will never get them done if I keep repeating patterns.
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For my knitted garment show entry I wanted a pattern I knew came out will so I did the 9 to 5 sock pattern again using some handpainted yarn (calling the colourway currants at the minute). I switched down to a 2.25mm needle and added an extra two pattern repeats. They were well recieved- the comments card said "perfection" (that's all the self trumpeting I promise).
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Unfortunately the dark yarn is not the easiest to photograph, but here they are:
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A close up of the pattern stitch, shows the colourway better.
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On the feets:

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The first pair I made to this pattern are my absolute favourite socks, so hopefully I will get a lot of wear out of these too.

Greenhouse dyeing

At knit group a while back we were talking about how some people dye yarn in their car on hot days and every time I have got in the car for the last two or three weeks I have thought about it, but not got round to organising some.

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On Monday I had a bit of a dyeing session (photos to come on FO Friday), as I was handpainting roving I thought I would try a small sample. The car was at work with my OH so I decided to use my mini greenhouse instead. I have tried it for rising bread dough in the past, which worked well so I thought it had potential.

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The handpainting and wrapping clingfilm was done in the usual way, then I sat it on a roof tile that was hanging around the garden and put it in to cook.

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To show you it really is a greenhouse (the dye parcel is the slightly sad looking bundle top left):

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Dye parcel in close up, I closed the door and left it for about 24 hours, with just occasional prodings and temperature checks.

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Since it did not puff up in the way of a stove top steamed parcel I put a thermometer in with it to have an idea of how hot it got. Not that I know how hot it needed to be.
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The moment of truth was the next morning when I unwrapped it. To be honest I was expecting a lot of mess with dye running everywhere but was pleasantly suprised to find very little residual dye, a little more than a typical steamed parcel, but still not much and the colours stayed nice and strong.
Even when I gave it a wool wash soak only a little extra came out:
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The weather was good yesterday, so I dried it outside without any trouble.
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There's about 10g there, not sure what it will be, but that is for another day. I am keen to get spinning it but am trying to resist as I already have a spinning project on the go.

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I will definitely be giving greenhouse dyeing another go, it seems to work and after all its free heat, better for the environment and gives something to talk about.

Book review- The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook

This week I am going with a book review. I am a HUGE fan of crafty books, so have plenty of material for these.

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I mentioned The Twisted Sister's Sock Workbook by Lynne Vogel in my handpainting post last week. I bought it for info about dyeing and spinning mainly, with the bonus of some sock patterns thrown in.

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The section on dyeing has been excellent, it is where I have got most of my handpainting knowledge from. There's a decent amount about different colours and mixing as well as techniques for hot and cold pour dyeing. The methods deal with fibre, but work just as well for yarn. It is an American book, but the dyes can either be substituted for other brands of acid dyes (or in fact any dye) or the ones used in the book can be ordered online.

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The section on spinning is good, although not what I was hoping for. Details about organising fibre to get the best from the colours are given but no actual details on how to spin.

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The final section deals with knitting socks in a brilliant way. A simple sock pattern is given, then followed up with ways each section (cast on, bind off, ribbing, heel, toes) can be done differently to enable you to get socks exactly how you want them to be. Instructions for knitting socks flat are also given.

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This is a book that has already had quite a lot of use, and is one that I go back to. It would be a good choice for someone wanting to have a go at dyeing or wanting to start making socks without following a specific pattern, maybe as a basis for designing socks. Definately worth the money.

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I wanted to post a photo of the book, but I was not sure about the issues with taking a picture as it is coprighted material. A quick google suggested it would be ok, but in the interest of not getting in trouble I thought I would stick with an Amazon link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Twisted-Sisters-Sock-Workbook-Designing/dp/1931499160/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276585546&sr=8-1

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To brighten up the post, a picture of some hand dyed, hand spun, hand knit socks which owe a lot to the book:

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Techniques- Handpainting yarn

For this week's technique post I thought I would try my hand at writing one myself. As promised yesterday there are a lot of photos. The method I use comes from a combination of The Twisted Sister's Sock Workbook by Lynne Vogel and The yarn lover's guide to hand dyeing by Linda La Belle.

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The example here was the merino and silk laceweight yarn, dyed with Jacquard acid dyes.

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First you need some yarn to dye, it can be undyed as here, or you can overdye a paler colour with darker ones.

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Untwist the skein and check the number of ties, you need at least four, more is better as it reduces tangling during the dyeing. If there are only a few add some more by looping undyed yarn in a figure of eight pattern across the width of the skein (avoid dyed yarn as some colour may transfer, I used blue ties in this example as I was dyeing the yarn blue anyway).

Put the yarn to soak in a large bowl of water, it will need to be fully saturated before you start dyeing so will need at least an hour, longer for silk.

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Mix up your dyes according to the instructions, these vary by dye type so will not cover them here. The acid dyes need to stand for an hour after mixing which corresponds nicely with the soaking yarn.

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Lay out a sheet of clingfilm on your work surface. Lift the yarn from the bowl of water and allow the excess to run away. Spread the wet yarn out on the clingfilm. Spread the yarn out as much as possible to make the dyeing easier.
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Start applying the dye to the yarn, I used sponges as you can see in the picture. How much you apply, colours, how you apply it etc all depend on the effect you want, experimenting is the best way to find out (although remember you can only overdye with a darker colour).
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When you are happy with the top you need to carefully turn the yarn over and apply more dye to the back as there will be patches that have not soaked through (unless that is the effect you are after).
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Once you are happy with the dye use a spray bottle to lightly spray vinegar (or other fixing acid) over the top surface of the yarn. There is no need to spray both sides. (I have forgotten this step a few times, and although fixable it tend to get very messy!).

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Place a second sheet of clingfilm over the top of the yarn and press together with the sheet below. Wrap the parcel with clingfilm a few times, I tend to do three wraps to minimise risk of leakage, do not make this too tight or the parcels will pop when steamed.
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For easier movement the yarn parcel can be folded into a small stack.
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Prepare your steamer. If you are not using food dyes this should be kept separate from food pans. The steamer needs to be lifted a few inches above the water level. I put about two inches of water in the base of the pan shown, stack up two glass ramekins (free ones from Gu souffles in the reduced section of the supermarket, nomnomnom) in the middle of the pan and balance the steamer on top of that.
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Arrange the yarn parcel on top of the steamer, try to avoid having parts sitting on top of other bits, a coil or an S shape work well.
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Set the heat going and steam for 20-30 minutes. The clingfilm will puff up, showing the yarn has got hot enough (if the clingfilm was not completely sealed this may not happen).
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Turn the heat off and leave to cool. This take a long time and is best done overnight. Letting it cool completely gives better colour and much less residual dye to wash out. It is difficult though as the parcels are so tempting but it is definitely worth it.

Once the parcel is cold unwrap it in the sick, bin the clingfilm and let running water flow gently through the yarn to wash away residual dye. This needs to be done very gently to avoid felting,-don't let the tap run straight on to the yarn, direct the flow down the side of the sink.

Once the water is running clear the yarn can be washed in a basin of water with a little wool wash (optional, a tiny bit of fairy liquid or shampoo can also be used).
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After soaking squeeze the excess water out by wrapping the yarn in a towel and squeezing it well. Hang the yarn up to dry. A little dye might still drip out so I usually put an old newspaper underneath if it is hanging over anything important like the bathtub. Once it is dry it is ready to use.
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