Tying Up Loose Ends in July

by Christine Weiss

As we do, many of us find a month here and there where we go back to projects that need our attention. I did this once my family abandoned me post July 4th. Here are my notes:

Of Course I Did Not Quit
A few months ago I blogged about my failed experiments with indigo vat dyeing. I had thrown in the towel. But I took it back out again because I was not about to allow nine 100g skeins of pure 100% organic merino fingering weight yarn be ruined. I put my thinking cap on and threw all that I had learned from plant dyeing over the years right at those skeins.

Here is what happened. Five of them I put in vinegar because all the (wrong) blogs about home dyeing tell you to do that, even though I know it is not a good answer to my problem and would very likely cause more issues. Surprise (not), it shifted colors. The happy part is that some green popped out (you know, yellow and green make blue), the unhappy part a lot of dull yellow came out in some of them. So I pulled three of these and because I had added a tiny bit of madder in a pot with these I got some pretty pinky shades too and nice skeins. After soaking 7 of them in a cool bucket of Alum Sulfate for days (really too many), I pulled out the chafing dish and did some spot dyeing. This is much trickier with plant dyes than it is with acid dyes. Plant dyes just don’t get grabbed in the spots you want like acid dyes, they sort of seep in and wash into general locations of the yarn. So, knowing that, I used a very strong solution and was conservative where I placed it. I did sprinkle some dry ground sappenwood at the other end of the dish. I did not get the fun speckles so popular nowadays in hand dyed skeins, but I did get some results. I pulled three of these and washed and dried them. A few had some ugly brown splotches I was not fond of, so I took the remaining four and created a madder root dye pot into which I dipped the (ugly brown) ends of these skeins. I then washed and dried these. Looking at all of them, I am pleased. Not only are these much more colorfast than the original indigo skeins, they are soft, colorful and retain the earthiness that characterizes plant based dyes, and have some character. You know, skeins people would actually use.

​Another note about indigo. I had been told that one can also get blues with a plant called false indigo or wild indigo. Apparently Americans native to this land had used it to achieve various color results for weaving and cloth making. I found next to nothing about using this plant in my dye books nor on the internet. But I had a lot of it, so I gave it a try. I got yellow. It was pretty, but there are a lot of ways to get yellow and most require less work. I will keep my eye out for successful results by others, but this one will be left in the garden.

Revisiting Adventure Calendar Minis (and other minis you may have in your stash)
Until recently, I was never a mini person. But, I have a number of mini skeins that I dyed for the ADVENTure Calendar at the store this year and with these, I am getting ready to embark on another crazy intricate crochet blanket.  As I wind and prep them, I am always thinking of other ways they can be used. Lo and behold into my inbox came Laine’s new pattern for a scrap yarn project called The Colour As You Go scarf. Basically you hold your beloved minis with mohair or something similar like alpaca silk and knit small squares choosing your colors as you go and attaching them to each other working in the ends so you don’t have to do this at the end (can you imagine?). As we are not all that far from the Great Yarn Discovery Tour 2025, and some of us are stash busting in preparation, I thought you may want to check that pattern out for your current mini collection (it is in their book and on Ravelry). If you don’t have a mini stash this type of pattern may be just the answer when you grab some of those beautiful minis calling to you on the tour even though you don’t have a clear plan. (Oh, I would never do that…) 

​My sister used her minis all up. Here is her finished crochet scarf/wrap from the ADVENTure calendar. I really like it. I had finished one section, but never completed the whole thing. Now that I see hers, I will have to. She likes that, even as it folds on itself, you can see the circle shapes. So even though I really am a full skein kind of gal, having dyed minis, knitted minis and crocheted minis I may just have to keep them in my minds eye as I shop in September. But for now - August.