Dyed!

This is the wool/dog hair scarf after dyeing. It took several tries to get the right system down. Next time I think I will try making the dye with less water. I knew there would be bleeding of the dye, but it was difficult to get the right syringe, with the right amount of pressure to expel the small amount of dye needed. I worked with a 60cc, 3cc, 10cc syringe. The winner was the 60cc which I thought would have been to big for the job, and too hard to control. I ended up dyeing both ends of the scarf solid for uniformity. The yarn fluffed up nicely during the dyeing process, and the scarf has a nice halo already softening the color blue.

A christmas Surprise.

Lisa's niece saw her scarf and hat from last Christmas, and mentioned that she wanted her own scarf from Neo and Rene'. To be exact a blue one with white poke-a-dots and beaded fringe like her sisters. I started out by making a garter stitch scarf like I had for her sister. The resulting scarfs were too light and wispy to attempt dying a pattern in. After several attempts with different size needles I went a different direction. This is a basket weave pattern using 2 strands of the lace weight 2ply yarn. The reason I am publishing this before it is done is to give everyone a chance to see a scarf in transition. The scarf will now be dyed with acid dyes. I will make a strong dye liquor and use the pattern and a syringe to (hopefully) control the color. With luck the result will be the requested blue and white pattern. I will post an updated photo after the dyeing process and then a final photo after Christmas

Lisa's 2007 Christmas Present.

Lisa's Dogs Neo (pictured) and Rene' (see "Dottie sweater") wanted to keep the tradition Dottie started. Lisa collected hair when she brushed both dogs and kept the hair in large zip lock bags. She had no idea that the "boys and I had a surprise in store for her on Christmas day. The hat and scarf are both knitted in a lace weight yarn. The yarn is 2ply one pure Border Leister the second a blend of Neo and Rene' hair. I wanted the mittens to be denser and able to stand up to frequent use, to achieve this I used 2 strands of the yarn. When the scarf is laid out you can see the bands of color from the dogs coats it creats a wonderful effect.