Madder Root as a Dye

Someone posted a message on my blog and Blogger sent me an email about it.

Well guess I should do some visiting and start some typing. 

 Life has been very busy. Intense.

 

 Above is a picture of the madder root. Which the plants grew for 4 years in the garden.

 

 This picture shows off the deep orange reddish color. I like it. I just threw a bunch of roots into the pot keeping in mind I would need space for about 4 oz of fiber. Poured water to cover the roots, set the pot outside in the sun and left it sit overnight. Next day in another pot I did 1 3/4 teaspoon alum for the mordant along with 1 1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter with my wool and simmered about 45 minutes. Moved wool to dye pot and put on low heat. Brought to real low simmer and cooked all day. Also before adding the fiber I added about 1/4 cup of calcium carbonate. Also know as ice melt. Yes, really. You can also add ammonia when the dye pot is cool but please look this up. It can harm wool. BUT it clears the orange and brings out the red. Just saying.

This market bag held the roots to keep them separate from the fiber and got dyed a good color. Happy accident. Below are some skeins which dyed up very differently. You can see some of the colors are very soft.

In the picture below this color was the first root soak which I though was nice enough to dye with. Most instructions say to pour that first soak off. Naa. I most definitely used it for a dye and ....

 ....knit up this pretty shawl with the yarn.

The bottom picture is a close up.

Which by the way this pattern was a tough little beast. It was a YouTube knit along with a lady from Russia. I loved her accent. My problem was the chart for the border and its repeat. I had to make up some stitches. I don't love charts but I wanted this shawl!
 The Gail Shawl part 1 

The Gail Shawl part 2

Note 1: I guess if anyone does give Gail a chance I would suggest to use markers to separate the repeats on both charts.
Note 2: I located the charts through the Wayback Machine
I think I put in her name, Dina Nugusheva.

I hope this was interesting enough and useful for the natural dyer enthusiast!
Happy fiber adventures!  

Poncho Shawl: A Free Knit Pattern

This takes about one pound of yarn.
Could include crazy additions of fun fur, loopy stuff, thick and thin and so on.
A long circular needle a couple sizes bigger than you'd usually use.
I use a 13 or 15.
If you mix different sized yarns you'll want the shawl to have lots of bounce and a bigger needle will keep the yarns evened out.
2 round markers. 1 clip marker a different color for the increase side.
This poncho or shawl (or Ponchawl!) has 4 increases with 1 at each edge and 2 at center.

                                                Poncho Shawl


Begin:  cast on 3 sts
Row 1: knit 3, turn
Row 2: knit 1, yarn over (yo), knit 1, yo, knit 1, turn. 5 stitches
Row 3: k2, place marker (pm), k1, pm, k2, turn.
Row 4: k1, yo, k to marker, slip marker (sm), k center stitch, sm, k to last stitch, yo, k1. Mark this side with clip marker. You can move it up as the work progresses.
Row 5: k across.

Repeat rows 4 and 5 until out of yarn or it reaches your calves in back.

I will then make a yarn rope. How? Take about 8 or 10 feet of your regular yarn, fold over a door knob, tie a knot on the other end and spin. When nice and tight have someone hold the middle with tension while you make another fold. It'll spin up onto itself and become a nice tie for your poncho shawl. Just run back and forth through the front and tie. You've now got yourself a "Ponchawl".

I've used 3 different yarns knitting one row each dropping at the edge as I come to the yarn below. 3 works great because the edges look more even than with only 2 yarns. 2 has only one side with the yarn running along the edge but with the 3 both sides are the same. I like using a hairlash, a thick boucle (like Lion Brand's), and a regular yarn. It's pretty fun. You can see a picture of one under the lable Ponchawl. Scroll to the bottom.
Enjoy.

Free Knit Pattern

Recently joined Ravelry and lordy lordy there sure is some talent there.

Have tested a pattern or two for some amazing designers. It's always a pleasure to help out. Course I like how this makes me a better knitter. If you hang with those who do stuff better than you it helps sharpen your brain. Or not. I wanna be smart. Har...

If I actually ever sell patterns I'll probably be great for beginners. Har Har...

My way of creating is to discover a stitch and run it into the ground working it into as many different things as I can. And I do not like gauge. Yar Mate...

                     Skinny Summer Scarf: Free Knit Pattern

                                                                    sorry about the date. i swear i'll fix it. someday

Stitch: An even multiple of 3 plus 1.
Yarn: One 100 gram hank of Cascade Ultra Pima color #3742. A lovely shade of light green.
Tools: Straight knitting needles size 4; crochet hook size F or G; scrap yarn for provisional cast on.
Talents: Able to jump tall buildings in a single bound. No. Just a bit of crochet.

You will cast on 25 sts by way of a crocheted chain and use the bumps located on the bottom of chain. Go ahead and make the chain 27 or 28 with the scrap yarn. Turn chain over and with the Ultra Pima and a knitting needle, pick up the 25 sts. 8x3=24+1=25. Even multi of 3 plus 1.

Begin: *k3, p3* repeating across ending with the last stitch as k1.

Now repeat this row (over and over and over) until you have a small ball of yarn left, about 6 grams. Don't cast off. This left over yarn will be for the crocheted off edging. Though I actually forgot how much yarn I saved for the trim. But it really doesn't take much.

I am bad for not writing down the instrux as I go. Shame on me.

Now the Edging: You have not cast off and sts are still on needle. Grab the crochet hook in your right hand (course if you're a south paw...) and knitting needle in the left (...you'd probably do the opposite) and prepare to crochet the sts off the needle. Simply slip first 3 sts onto hook, yo and pull through these 3sts, chain 8; *slip next 3 sts to hook, yo, pull thru the 3 sts, chain 8*; repeat this until you have 4 sts left. Just (catch 2 sts, yo, pull thru and ch 8) twice. One end complete.

Working Opposite End: Carefully remove the crochet chain, one st at a time, picking up each st with the knitting needle. 25 sts. Repeat as for other edging.

Weave in ends. You're done.

Free Knit Felted Beanie Pattern

One thing I love to fool with is simple machine wash felting. This pattern is not an exact science. And for me that's the fun part. Just winging it.

my first fedora

This came out a bit small, reason being, it wasn't watched properly while felting. Made with Lion Brand Landscapes which felted very fast. This color seems to be discontinued.

these were also made with a yarn by Lion Brand but I forgot what it's called...

Not seeing it on their web site. Probably discontinued. This yarn did not want to felt.

these...

...and this were made free form

After making a few felted hats I decided to wing it and use up some wool I had laying around.

this, a knit pattern....   ...and this, a crochet pattern, began it all for me

My version

I start by casting on 4 or 5 sts and joining to work in the round. Knit one round, place a clip-on marker and slip on each rnd.

Next rnd:  increase in each st.

Knit one round.

Next rnd:  k1, inc nxt st and repeat.

Knit one rnd.

Next rnd:  k2, inc nxt st and repeat.

Knit one rnd.

To make a long story short, on every other round continue in this way: next increase rnd, inc into 4th st (k3, inc nxt st); next inc rnd, inc into 5th st (k4, inc nxt st); next inc rnd, inc into 6th st (k5, inc nxt st) and so on, until you have about 10 or 11 inches across entire crown. Believe me, you might need this much for the felting.

Now simply continue knitting even (no increases) until the sides of your beanie reaches your chin. That should about do it. The blue beanie with the fold at the brim was the first one that I free formed. I had knit well beyond my chin and this was the result. Which turned out OK.

3 above are actually striped various different ways.

you can barely see the different hues in the one on the right

I like how those colors almost blended together

I made a cute hat that also came out kinda small, pink and green stripes with a pink flower and green leaves, all felted, which I gave to my tiny sister-in-law. She is 4' 9". Something like that. Little tinky head. There is always someone who can use what we make. Will put up a picture soon, hopefully with her wearing it.

Hope you can use this pattern for your left over wool yarn. If the felting is watched carefully and you keep trying it on for size your beanie should turn out a-OK.

I should note that wool does felt at different speeds. I kinda like how this can come out though I make it a point not to mix a single ply, roving type wool with any regular spun type wool. Other than that I say go for it. I have worked with different thickness and again I kinda like how that comes out. My free form beanies are all made with mystery wool yarn. Not sure if your yarn is wool? Burn an end and give a whiff. It should smell like burned hair. And the fire will probably go out on it's own. Acrylic will melt pretty fast. Watch out! 

Enjoy.