Needles & Hooks

Like some 279 others, I joined , the swap where we each dye a skein of sock yarn and send it off to a secret partner. Well, we know who we’re sending to, the secret is who is sending to us (somehow, that parses oddly).

I’m aiming to do something self-striping and I want to have some control over how the stripes come out, so I experimented with a DIY warping board and Kool-Aid to make a mini-skein and swatch.

Here’s the short story…

After calculating my gauge and how much yarn would be needed to make stripes of the size I desired, I assembled my warping board and wound up a small amount of yarn:

I mixed up some small amounts of Kool-Aid dye in shades that would contrast strongly:

I dyed the various sections of yarn:

After it dried, I knit up my swatch. Happily, the size of the stripes came out just about exactly as I had planned:

And here’s a close-up:

Over the next few days, I’ll make a series of posts that describe:

• My fully adjustable, no power tools, $10 warping board
• How I planned the dye pattern I wanted for my test swatch
• The dyeing process itself
• A bunch of handy “household” tools that served double-duty as dyeing aids

Stay tuned!

p.s. to my secret dyer — if you haven’t already guessed, my favorite color is purple. I’m also a fan of darker jewel colors, blues, greens, reds. And I’m adventurous, so go nuts and have fun with what you dye!

A few things came up, I had to cancel my trip to Maryland Sheep and Wool. I guess I wasn’t meant to be there after all. I’ll be there with you in spirit.