How To Dye Yarn with Tea

Thanks to everyone who has supported TEA+WOOL thus far. As you know, each purchase makes a difference for the shelters in India, and we really appreciate each purchase. Today I want to share my WIP pictures of the tea-dying process.

When the bare yarn came to me from India, it was in quite a state, and took up a full three Ikea-bags. Each big skein of yarn was actually made up of three smaller skeins, each around 100g (you can see the small skeins on top of the pile). There were about 250 skeins waiting to be dyed. 

After the yarn was separated, it went into a mordant bath. Mordant is a chemical that helps the yarn absorb the dye. You can use a few different chemicals depending on the fiber, the dye, and your desired results - I used Alum. The Alum and the yarn went into a crock pot and cooked on low for about two hours. 

Mmmm, looks yummy!

After the mordant, I drained the crock pots, and refilled them with fresh water and tea. Each of the yarns were dyed with their namesake teas (Chamomile, Lemon Grass & Darjeeling). These also cooked on low until it was bed time, at which point I turned off the crock pot and let them cool overnight, still soaking in the tea. 

All this crock pot cooking made my apartment smell like a cooked sheep! Needless to say, we didn't host many parties while I was dyeing. 

In the morning the yarn was rinsed in fresh water and hung to dry in the bathroom. Check out that tile! After drying for a day or two, each skein was twisted and put into a fancy W+S label, and that's where you'll find them today. 

WORK+SHELTER Cowl Kits!

Don't pout, now you can make this cowl, too!

After receiving great response* to this striped version of the Chevron Sunshine Cowl, I've made kits available in the shop! 

Each kit comes with a PDF pattern and yarn, so go snap one up before the 5th so you can be entered in the giveaway!

*From one friend, Tara, but I'm sure there are other stripe-lovers out there, right!?

WORK + SHELTER tea-dyed yarn!

Today I am excited to announce the launch of a project I've been working on for awhile now: 

WORK + SHELTER hand dyed yarn! 

A few weeks ago I gave you a sneak peek of some yarn I had dyed using teas from India as part of the WORK + SHELTER project, and this lovely yarn is now for up for sale! 

W+S is an awesome organization started by Theresa VanderMeer, a friend of Allyson Dykhuizen's. A few months ago, Allyson &Theresa approached me about joining their project, and I've been tea-dying yarn ever since. 

According to Theresa:

"WORK+SHELTER creates safe spaces across India where women in need can come to live and work. W+S encourages self-reliance amongst its female stakeholders by promoting hands-on training and capacity building, emphasizing the creation of naturally dyed fibers and hand-crafted knitwear."

Read more about it here. 

After a few experiments with Indian teas, I developed three lovely colors of fingering weight, 100% wool yarn. From left to right, they are Darjeeling (a warm, variegated brown), Lemon Grass (a cool, greenish brown) and Chamomile (a warm light yellow). Each was hand dyed using its namesake tea, and each skein is unique. They are now available in the W+S etsy shop, and the profits go to the W+S shelter.

*To celebrate our launch, we are giving away a free W+S pattern, designed by Allyson Dykhuizen, with every purchase made today. Just enter the code LAUNCHMONDAY in the Notes to Seller box, along with the name of the pattern of your choice, and your free pattern will be emailed to you in PDF form within 24 hours. The patterns are also for sale in the W+S etsy shop. If you buy two skeins, you get two patterns; three skeins, three patterns! But only for today, so happy Monday!*

inside a knitting kit

It's been a pretty lazy weekend over here. As I mentioned yesterday - it's really sunny in Chicago right now, but it's also freezing. Like 33 degrees freezing. Way too cold to consider leaving the house or, say, putting on real clothes. 

So Chris and I have been catching up on movies - Winter's Bone and The Kids Are Alright - and I've been knitting socks from my Knit Picks sock kit. 

knitting in my pj's

I wanted to experiment a bit with my iphone camera, so I took some pictures of my supplies. Yarn, pattern & mini knitting kit.

I always love to see "what's in my bag" posts, so here's the mini knitting kit version:

From top left: stitch holders, needles for weaving in ends, safety pins, tiny scissors, waste yarn, Emergency Fix Keychain, row counter on a big safety pin, measuring tape and coin purse from h&m. 

Despite appearances, I swear this post is not sponsored by Knit Picks! But maybe it should be... 

The Provincial Sweater Vest

Oh, this sweater. This dumb, dumb sweater.

I thought this was going to be an easy project to use up two skeins of Cascade 220 I had laying around. I certainly used up the yarn (to the last 3 feet or so), but I cannot give this pattern a shining review. 

The pattern is Provincial Waistcoat (Rav link) from Interweave Knits Winter 2006, and it did not live up to expectations. The fit is kinda terrible, but I probably only have myself to blame for that - I was worried I was going to run out of yarn, so I knit the size medium while following the length for the size small. So, yeah, if it was longer, it might be more flattering on me. It just makes me look a bit chubby as is.

In general, this pattern is not well written. It's vague, and assumes you can magically infer shaping from photos or something. Also, the pattern on the back does not line up for any of the sizes larger than small. I was extremely confused while comparing the magazine photo to what I was knitting. After reading a few reviews on Ravelry, I know I'm not alone. Frustrating.

And I did run out of yarn, hence the edging in a nice grey. Not the worst thing to happen to the sweater. Luckily I had the perfect matching vintage buttons, which pulled the whole thing together nicely.

Check out my snappy photos! Rae - who also lives in the Midwest and suffers from perpetual darkness from September to May - posted these great tips for taking photos, and they have totally changed my life. 

At least it looks nice laid out!

Stash Busting :: Knitting Squares (plus an easy pattern)

If you haven't noticed, lately I'm all about knitting my way through my yarn stash. Taking left overs and making something better out of them. But what do you do when your left overs are just kind of... icky? Like when someone gifted you a skein of acrylic yarn in a garish color, or you bought a ball of yarn that you later realized was made out of plastic bag?

Robyn, from Minimalist Knitter, has the answer. Knit squares and donate them!

After reading Robyn's post on knitting for worthwhile charities, I picked up my needles, picked out some garish yarn, and started knitting. My friends - this is the perfect take-along project - simple and small. 

And then something awesome happened: I took my knitting to a rehearsal for the play I'm in, and another actor asked me what I was knitting. When I told her, she told me that her mother gathers squares to make blankets that will go to people here in Chicago! So I switched it up, and told her I would donate all the squares I made to her mom and her group, which is run through St. Edward Parish in Chicago (the little section called "Yarn Works" towards the bottom). If you're located in Chicago and would like to knit squares as well, comment below or send me an email and I'll give you all the info. 

Here's a quick pattern:

Diagonal Knit Square

Skills needed: knit stitch (k1), make 1 (m1), knit 2 together (k2tog), cast on (CO), bind off (BO)

CO 3 stitches, leaving a tail of at least 12"

Row 1: knit across

Row 2: k1, m1, knit to end

Repeat "Row 2" until you have 35 stitches on the needle. It will grow like a little triangle, and look like this:

After your triangle is 35 stitches wide, begin decreasing.
Row 3: k1, k2tog, knit to end
It should look like this now:

Repeat "Row 3" until you only have 3 stitches on the needle

BO the last 3 stitches, leaving a tail of at least 12"

You can then use your tails to sew the squares together into a blanket. I knit this on size 10.5 needles using worsted weight yarn, and it made a 7" square. You can experiment with different needle sizes, yarn weights and total stitches (instead of the 35 stitches) to make bigger or smaller squares.  You could also knit this pattern in a cotton and use it as a washcloth! 

a new sweater vest - maybe.

After I sorted through my knitting magazine stash, there were a few patterns that I decided to knit right then and there (the first being the winter hat). The other pattern that caught my eye was the Provincial Waistcoat, from Interweave Winter 2006. I had about enough yarn in my stash, so I cast on with fingers crossed. 

Here's a progress shot, and I have to tell you - I don't think I'm going to make it. I think I'm going to run out of yarn before I'm done. A knitter's. worst. nightmare.

I'm hoping I will at least get through all the knitting, and then I can do the i-cord finishing in another yarn. Since - you know - the point of stash-busting is the whole not buying yarn part. Wish me luck!

ps. I hit up the Renegade Craft Fair yesterday - I'll give you a full report tomorrow!

stash busting - a winter hat of strange color

Oh, don't mind me. 

I'm just rolling around on the floor, trying to find good light in my house. Really - it is bad news to live on the first floor. 

But on to the hat!

About two weeks ago I looked through my knitting magazine collection, which is not much to brag about - 12 magazines total. And I pulled out patterns that I actually thought I would knit, then I further narrowed it down into patterns that I had yarn for in my stash. This won - "#07 Trapper Hat" from Vogue Knitting Winter 2005/2006.

And guess what? I didn't actually have the yarn for it. 

Once I had completed the back flap in that yellow color, I realized there was no way I was going to get through the entire hat with it, so I pulled out some orange yarn. The orange yarn - ahem - was not enough. Luckily this thing is knit on size 13 needles - I ripped it and used white. Even then, I took out an entire repeat of the cable pattern and started decreasing about 10 rows early. 

Folks - using up yarn is hard. 

Of course, the minute I lay on the floor, Sir Thomas More has to come over and check things out. Good thing he's so cute. 

It's almost August - which means it's sweater time

I don't know why - but about two weeks ago I got a hankering to start a sweater...

It makes no sense. It's almost 90 degrees every day here, and yet I wanted to knit a thick, wintery sweater. Maybe I'm already dreaming of Autumn?

So yesterday I cast on Owls by Kate Davies. I have been meaning to knit this (and all of Kate's other designs) for about 83739283 years. So I finally pulled myself together and ordered some Cascade Yarns Ecological Wool. Let me tell you something about this Ecological Wool....

The skeins are huge, as you can see it displayed above next to my head for scale. I was afraid that the yarn would be really rough, but I'm happy with it. It's wool, so it's not as soft as a baby's bottom, but I don't think it will irritate my skin either. Looking at that picture with the yarn next to my face, I think I picked a pretty flattering color!

Do you have a Ravelry account? If so, here's my link to this project. Let's be Rav friends!

a sweet baby sweater for a sweet baby girl

My brother and sister-in-law went and had themselves a baby girl last Tuesday. So I went home to Michigan to welcome her into this world... with a sweater!

Don't worry, it's about 3 times the size of her, so she will not be able to wear it until this winter. I must say - I'm terrible with sizing for babies, so hopefully I got it right this time. The pattern is the Little Luxury Kimono, a free pattern from LionBrand.com. The yarn is Rowan's Soft Baby, which worked out perfectly. It is sooo soft.

I used i-cord for the ties instead of the recommended 53 cast-on stitches. It is absolutely as light as a cloud, and perfect for a tiny body.

baby on the way...

I've been sick. It started last week as a little tickle in my throat and turned into a full-blown cold, congestion and all. That's bad at any time of the year, but when it's 90 degrees outside, it is extra miserable.

However, Chris and I did make it to Michigan on Saturday to surprise my parents for their 30th wedding anniversary. My very pregnant sister in law put it all together, so I rewarded her with new baby gifts. My niece, Madigan, decided that we will all call her new sister "Cutie Patootie," so lets call these "Cutie Patootie's Booties." Hahahha... that is cracking me up....

The pattern is Saartje's Booties, which I absolutely love. It's been awhile since this pattern was popular, but I think it is so unique and pretty. The yarn is some stash yarn I inherited. I also made her a little baby blanket that I forgot to capture on film. Hopefully the next post about the new baby will feature her modeling it.

Giftee!

I got a ball winder for Christmas! So I spent some quality time this weekend winding my entire stash of yarn into lovely little yarn cakes. Mmmm... looks like an ice cream cone.