Little miss rainbow

Another little cardigan for little H

Pattern Demoiselle arc-en-ciel

Top down really easy, 

Nicely stripped

I decided to add strippes on the pocket too

Dyed my own yarn, kit only avaible in Europe

Main color was Dharma Sand Dune

Yarn De Rerum Natura Gilliat

Little sunny dress

For my little H

Pattern Sunny Lou dress by Annie Rowden

Yarn Wool2dye4 bfl merino SW sport weight

Color Irish green, Jade Dharma dye

Dyeing recycled yarn

Got a few samples of the yarn for the 2 sewater, enough to play around with dye

Now I am experimenting with dye not nowing how the yarn will appear after dyeing

With the light grey yarn

With the off white yarn

Well it is interesting colors are not the same as indicated on the label

On the right the original color from label

On the left the color with the grey yarn

On the right the original color from label

On the left the color with the off white yarn

Well now let's untangle the unravelled yarn

2 sweaters into plenty of yarn to unravel, dye and knit again

Went shopping and brough back 2 very large sweaters, none of them I would even wear.

WHAT!!!!

Yes, I don't buy any sweater any more, only if I can reuse the yarn later.

I like to buy sweaters from expensive stores at 80% off and unravel the yarn.

I look for 

- good quality sweaters

- dk weight yarn are my favorite 

- no surger finish, like in this picture otherwise it will be a torture to unravel

- merino blend, 100% is the best but it is hard to find so the highest % is the best

Once you have the right sweater, you just have to find the right threat and pull. 

It will easily separate all parts of the sweater

Once you have your sweater in a few pieces, you can star to unravel

Note thar you usually start to unravel at the top of each pieces not at the ribbing

Little by little make it into a ball

And soon you will a few balls of great yarn

Next we will see how to color, untangle and finally knit it in a new project...

✿ New baby blanket ✿ . . . ♥ with my own colors ♥

I confess I really like making baby blankets, it is so cute ant it makes people feel so happy!!

So I always find a way to reinvent it one way or another 

while browsing stores, magazines, blogs, Pinterest and Instagram

But every time I was attracted on a particular color combination, 

I could never find the perfect yarn for it. 

Then I started to experiment dyeing yarn here and there for the past few years and 

I am finally coming up with colors I really like.

With the same recipe found here, I have came up with a dozen new colors,

Some nice, some less nice...

✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿

I started with a few soft baby girl colors:

pale pink, mauve, chestnut, beige, and sand grey

but once finished the blanket was to small 

so I am probably going to add another color for the next one.

The pattern is really simple as it is all knit rows.

It gives the blanket a rich texture and a ultra soft feeling, 

perfect combination for a baby blanket.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Size: 60 x 70 cm

Yarn: Cashmere/Merino wool blend

Weight: worsted/aran

I hope other people will like the colors too as I plan to have the baby blankets for sale soon.

I selected a nice worsted cashmere blend for a luxury soft baby blanket ♥, 

and plenty of yarn to continue experimenting.

Playing with colors and small skeins

I just love playing with colors and yarn dyeing

this time I had

✏ 14 colors (Jacquard acid dye)

✏ 16 small skeins of fingering yarn

superwash is preferred

(BFL, MCN, Knit picks, 25 g each)

1. Tools are needed

✏ a small scale 

✏ a small measurement tool

✏ water (100 ml per 1g dye)

✏ small labelled cups

✏ large jars if you decide to use the microwave

2. Experimenting

✏ small tissue paper can be useful to see what color I will look like at the end

✏ prepare the jars with filling with hot water half way

✏ add 10ml of vinegar in each jar

✏ add dyed water from cup

✏ stir the mix

✏ add yarn

3. Heating

✏ I put the jar in microwave for 2 minutes non stop, 

then 4 times 30 seconds,

checking each time to make sure yarn is not boiling,

if you yarn boils it is felting.

4. Drying

Once microwaved, let the yarn rest in jar until water cool (overnight if needed),

it helps the yarn to better absorb the dye.

Water must be transparent.

Then rinse and let it dry.

5. Proudly take a picture and Instagram it ☺

✏ Salmon and ecru

✏ Brown and ecru

✏ Teal

✏  Vermillion

✏ Royal blue

✏ Aztec gold

6. 2nd experiment 

✏ take some of the colors I didn't like and

dye it over with Kool-aid 

(Same process 24 hours later)

Look at these gorgeous colors!!!

✏ Brown and peach mango

✏  Sky blue and silver grey

✏ Chestnut and Grape

✏  Salmon and orange

✏ Pumpkin orange and grape

✏ Ecru and IBR lemonade

✏ Silver grey and strawberry-kiwi

✏ Gun metal and navy

✏ Gold ochre, pina and grape

✏ Chartreuse, lemonade and ecru

Comments on the experience

✏ preferred yarn superwash BFL, MCN DK, fingering was too thin

✏ some colors like silver grey mixes well with pink and blue

✏ don't forget the vinegar or the dye won't stay on yarn
✏ use stock solution of dye if small quantity dyed
✏ a good set of measuring tools are essential
✏ understanding DOS (depth of shade)
✏ take notes . . . lots of it

Yarn Dyeing

Today my friends and I met at the local cafe , hopped in the car and drove to Oakland for a private class at A Verb for Keeping warm. It was a lot of fun learning about dyeing with Kristine. Expert in natural dyeing, she showed us how to prepare the yarn with mordant, mix the dyes for beautiful colors. 


Kristine made the class extra special by preparing indigo dye and showing us how to make a our own design on silk fabric. We left with a bag of all the yarn we dyed and a silk scarf for each of us.


Anyone in the Bay area, if you are looking for a great class where you want to learn about natural dyeing, don't look further, this is the class for you!!

A few pictures of our day.