Why are there two "tries" in the expression "if at first you don't succeed"? Poetic effect I guess. I prefer one try. We'll get to the second try if the need arises.
I've been inspired by gawking at the sold-out Vesper Sock Yarn at Kpixie to give self-striping kool-aid dyeing one more go. I didn't take photos of Sarah's Crimson-Sweet Potato-Cream combo yarn, but it actually turned out quite lovely, despite the breaking stuff and staining stuff. It's a grey and rainy day, so I thought I might start the process again to see if I could cut out the breakage and soilage. This time I'm going to try a simpler stripe pattern - just three colors of two rows each. Above you see a 168" skein all set to go. Making the large skein was easier this time. I have a system now, in which my yarn swift is put to use holding the skein. It went faster, even though it was just one person doing the winding. Tomorrow I plan to dye the skein in a cherry-blue-brown scheme.
Aside from pacing endless circles to wind sock yarn, I spent a good part of the morning drooling over Japanese craft books at Crafting Japanese. A number of these volumes have wound up on my wishlist (click "Japanese"). We have a friend living in Japan right now who's agreed to keep an eye out for them, but I'm sorely tempted just to order them all from YesAsia. If only I actually had positive income to spend on such lovelies. Sigh.
Aah, vacation! Hmmm. What else? I finished The Kite Runner (I love how amazon pulls out "General Sahib" as the name of a character in the book) and ordered The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. Dena and I saw The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which apparently is rarely required reading for any child outside of Indiana. We read it in Grade 4, but upon reflection it does seem a rather Christified selection for public school. And there has been a lot of sitting on asses. All in all, a decent break.
I hope to post some more dyeing photos tomorrow, provided ambition doesn't desert me. Until then...
Posted by jess at January 3, 2006 1:20 PM
Want some more inspiration for Koolaid dyeing? I just did a couple and am very pleased with the results! Mind you they aren't "self-striping" but they are fun nonetheless! Can't wait to see what you get too!
Posted by: Roxanne at January 3, 2006 2:08 PMoooh, yeah, i have that i love knitting @ home japanese book. there are some cute patterns in there. sigh.. i love japan.
Posted by: gleek at January 3, 2006 2:28 PMYou know they have all of those Japanese craft books at Amazon Japan for quite a bit less than Yesasia.
They charge an initial shipping fee of $12 and after that it is just $2.50 more per book.
If you buy a large enough quantity of books then you can completely offset the initial shipping fee.
I just ordered five books from them, and ended up saving a total of $20 (compared to Yesasia prices,) for example the glove dog book was only $10.
So really the only financially responsible thing to do is to order lots books.
Looking forward to seeing how your dyeing turns out!
Have you ever tried Wilton's Cake Dyes? You can get some great colors. You have a bit more control than KoolAid because the dyes are paste and not liquid. My knitting friend Jeanne dyed samples of a lot of the colors - I should get her to scan them in...
You can also make a PVC niddy noddy for getting yarn out of a ball and into a dyeable hank.
http://www.doctordirt.com/blog/niddy.html
May or may not be faster than the swift.
Sounds fun, can't wait to see the results.
Posted by: Julia at January 3, 2006 2:54 PMYou went forth with the Joan Didion book? I haven't made it past the introduction. I'm similarly stalled on "Life Interrupted", the final work of Spalding Gray.
Posted by: Gina at January 3, 2006 3:01 PMOhh Self Striping yarn is fun even if it's a pain to make! I've done it once and I'm over due to make some more...can't wait to see how yours come out
Posted by: Marie at January 3, 2006 3:50 PMAh, vacation. I'm jealous. Good luck with the dyeing. It's on my to-do list and I swear I'll get to it one of these days!
Posted by: Stephanie at January 3, 2006 3:51 PMSo what did you think of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe? I read the book on my own in grade school and I have my 4th grader currently reading it. Hey have you seen the Crossing in Translation at YesAsia int the New Style of Heirloom Knitting? There's even a KAL for it...http://www.crossedintranslation.com/. Perhaps like Laura suggested it might be on Amazon too!
Posted by: Phoebe at January 3, 2006 7:14 PMOh my gosh, those Japanese crafting books! I just bought Kokoro No Te: Handmade Treasure from the Heart -- have you seen it? It's a really beautiful book, and now that I've looked at those, I want more! And Happy New Year, by the way!
Posted by: Michelle at January 4, 2006 4:57 PM