Worsted Weight Yarn Blanks

I had a fantastic time at the North Country Spinners Fibre Fallout. I'll do a post just on the weekend later, but I wanted to show you all the worsted weight socks I dyed after my class (we had some extra time and a few extra blanks, so we played with color and design), using the blanks that Kim Haibeck (Yarnsanity) made specially for the weekend. I have another blank, dyed in just stripes that I will cast on soon. The dye pattern was inspired by Kim's sock blank, which I also worked on over the weekend (and finished at my motel in Newark the night before I flew home).

The blank was 100 gr of superwash worsted weight yarn, which is not quite enough to knit an entire pair of adult socks. I dyed a contrasting 50 gr ball of plain yarn for the cuff/heel/toe. These are size 8 1/2, with a couple of inches of blank left, and slightly less than half of the 50 gr ball left over. The combo would be enough to knit pretty much any size adult socks.

My generic worsted weight pattern uses 48 sts on size 5 needles.

Oh, I didn't really try to match the stripes (it was a single-strand blank), but man, they came out beautifully anyway.

Kim sent me one of her dyed fingering weight sock blanks (2-strand). Everyone was fascinated with the colors and style, and they all oohed and aahed all weekend (I did too- I absolutely love this).

I cast on the mate last night. Most of my knitted things end up as gifts, but these two pairs? Mine mine mine.

Wordless dyeing of contrast yarn for the Blue Willow Shawl

Workshop Samples

I'll be heading to Hope, NJ in a few weeks, to teach a series of dyeing workshops at the North Country Spinner's Fibre Fallout. This will be my second appearance there, and I'm really looking forward to it.

In addition to teaching my graduated color band class

and the spiral dyeing class

I've added two new workshops. A Watermelon Sock Blank class

and a class on dyeing worsted weight blanks (which I had knitted up specially for the class by my friend Kim Haibeck of Yarnsanity).

It's going to be such fun!

Ty Dy, Sock Blanks, and a Serious Request

The Ty Dy socks are finished, and ready to send to Dee in North Carolina. I love how they came out, though I rather wish that the long streak of dark color at the heel had been livened up a bit with some lime green. This is the first time I've knit with Ty Dy (from Knit One Crochet Too)- it's very soft. I wonder how well it's going to hold up.

Remember back in August when I dyed SAFF class sample yarns and sock blanks with my 8 year old helper? Well, the dyed sock blanks had been hanging over the drying rack in my bathroom ever since (three months, if you're counting). Last night, after finishing the Ty Dys, I decided it was finally time to do something with them.

For those who don't know, Knit Picks Sock Blanks differ from some of the other undyed pre-knit sock yarns in that they're knit with a double strand, which makes dyeing identical pairs as easy as it can be. It also makes knitting two socks at a time a snap. Unfortunately, I don't knit two socks at a time. I'm a confirmed dpn-er, and while I can cast on two socks on separate sets of dpns, it's a pain to work them that way from a single ball of yarn (I'll do it if it's the only way to divide yarn, but otherwise... bleh).

So, I unraveled the blanks, and wound the strands into 2 identical balls. That took a bit of time, but was otherwise not a complicated procedure. Helper had requested that her yarn be knit into a scarf, rather than socks. I'll make her some sort of easy lace scarf, and will have plenty enough left over to knit a pair of fingerless mittens to match. I decided to make Christmas socks for the youngest Honorary Granddaughter with my yarn.

We'd been dyeing yarn for my SAFF class samples, none of which was pre-wet (dry yarn is needed for the that process), when we decided to use up the rest of the dye on the sock blanks. We painted (sprinkled, dabbed, spattered) dye on dry blanks (as opposed to the instructions which clearly state to wet the fabric in advance) so the colors didn't blend and soak through quite as well as they should have. On the other hand, I like heathery, mottled yarns, so I'm loving how my blank is knitting up. I thought I was going to be bothered by the curly yarn, but it's not an issue.

I'm using my generic sock pattern, with the addition of 4 rows of beads (added as I knit, with a little length of 28 gauge wire instead of a crochet hook). I think they're going to be adorable.

And now for something totally serious: Blog Friend and Frequent Poster Teklady27, is dealing with some serious health issues. Please send your prayers, wishes, and strong thoughts her way.