I weighed my sockette and the remaining yarn and found i will get *almost* a pair out of the light fingering weight ball (230 yards/50 grams/1.76 ounces = 130 ypo). I have two skeins of this inherited yarn. I can stretch the self striping yarn if i do heels and toes out of some solid sock-weight yarn.

One of the lessons about yarn craft that surprised me is the design importance of the weight and behavior of the yarn itself. It’s obvious once you think about it, but the incredible variation in material still surprises me. Each step introduces a different behavior: the source fiber, the spinning, the plying. It drives me mildly nuts that there isn’t a very standardized yarn description. The fiber content is usually pretty clear. The weight of the yarn can be deduced, the ply is some times reported. There is a metric, wraps per inch, that would give the sense of bulk of the yarn, but that’s rarely reported. One could have a loosely spun and tightly spun yarn which has the same yardage per ounce.

Then there are often a knitters gauge reported (n stitches per some swatch size on some sort of needle) which is maddening: i don’t knit, and even if i did, stitch per inch can be so variable. I suppose this is an attempt to get at wpi — but why not just report wpi?

Why do i care? Well, i’d like to buy some heel and toe yarn, now that i’ve determined i can do this sock thing. Heel and toe yarn could be neutral, and the pretty pretty hand dyed sock yarns make the visible bits. So i begin shopping: it turns out the yarn i have is a little lighter than your average sock weight (130 yards per oz compared to 106 yards per oz). EBay has destashed sock yarn available: what’s a fair price?

Well, first i have to find what i’d be likely to buy at retail. It seems Knit Picks carries a light fingering weight at roughly $2 per oz in a good blend.

A regular sockweight yarn, undyed, at Dharma would be $2.43/oz.

I’m tempted by a silk noil sock yarn at Dharma because i could dye it myself with the fiber reactive dyes i like. It would be unsuitable, i believe, for heels and toes. Noil is a short fiber, and i suspect it would wear poorly on the heels.

I did read about a luxury sock yarn Lang Jawoll, that comes with “a bonus spool of matching reinforcement yarn to carry along when knitting the toes & heels, the parts that get the most wear.” I wonder about adding plain nylon threads to carry along in toes and heels. It seems like a straightforward solution.

What i’d like to figure out is how to cover the bottom of the sock with something like hemp to make slippers with a rugged base but soft and pretty top. I suppose i could just sew a hemp sole to a sock. The silk noil yarn could make the top and foot facing sole. And there’s the fun of uppers for the mohops (although i’ve bought silk ribbon from Dharma with the intention of using that for mohop uppers.

Knit Picks: Stroll Sock Yarn 231 yards/50 gram ball/1.76 oz $3.50 = 1.98 $po

YARNDEX: Lang Jawoll 206 yds./50g/1.76 $8.00 = 4.55 $po

Dharma:

#YARN53 Happy Feet: 90% Superwash Merino Wool, 10% Nylon, ~9 oz., ~960 yds, $21.95 = 106 ypo, 2.43 $po

#YARN25 Monty: 100% merino wool, ~8 oz., 850 yds., $15.48 = 106 ypo, 1.94 $po

#YARN22 Sole Naturelle: 100% noil silk, ~8 oz., 900 yds., $13.89 = 112 ypo, 1.74 $po

#YARN18 Wildefoote Luxury Sock: 75% wool, 25% nylon, ~8 oz., 860 yds., $20.39 = 107 ypo, 2.55 $po

#YARN45 110 Hemp 3: 100% Hemp, ~16 oz., 1569 yds., $44.79 = 2.80 $po

Over the past few weeks i’ve tied my shiburi/tie-die patterns in the rayon dresses and have been winding up skeins of crochet yarn on my experimental swift.

I hesitated this weekend to mix the dyes: it’s a very demanding week coming up and i don’t quite think i can be sure i can dye next Saturday as well. I need to make some decisions about dye intensities, quantities, and recipes, and i think i’m about ready to go.

I did get a pleasant bit of cooking in. I’m glad i hadn’t yet cooked the baby artichokes i received in my organic box on Wednesday, because it wasn’t until yesterday morning that this recipe for a artichoke and orange salad with mint and saffron showed up in my reading list. I didn’t want to wait until i had slivered almonds and the right olives, so i made it anyway. I was in the mood for a warm dish, and couldn’t bear the thought of just draining off the saffron infused water the artichokes had been cooked in, so i added a bit of corn starch to thicken it and poured the warm dish over rice. Delicious.

After the cut, the dye kit inventory.

Dye Kit

To get or experiment with

• Tablespoon sized scoop
• Need to repair the glove which i snipped the tip of the finger off
• Salt

Containers

2010 Pet Depot: Cat litter trays really are the best deal, especially since one doesn’t need lids. Two trays for ~$2.50 and some tray liners for the aluminum pans.

2010 Dharma: a pair of 4 oz squeeze bottles, yorker tips, and caps, duplicating, somewhat the purchase immediately below.

2009 At Michaels: purchased a kit with two bottles (2 oz & 4 oz) with a set of four metal tips, cleaning wires, and storage caps. I think these can be used for very small dyezones, probably better than the dabbing i did with the wood stirrer on the Meadow Tank Top. (Loew Cornell #724, in the fabric paint section.)

2009 At OSH/hardware store: paint supply section had paper buckets that i’ve used to hold the large freezer bags up. ($1.09/ea) “Three-in-one” measuring buckets had lids and were useful for storing dye (in the smallest) and holding water for various purposes.

Safety

Had safety goggles

[OSH] AOSafety R2000 #95190 – Woodworker’s Respirator for sanding, drywall, fiberglas. N95. Replacement filter 95191. ($21.96) Replacement filters. ($6.96)

Misc

I’m renewing my use of a large storage tub that had been holding neglected furniture staining equipments and paints.

From OSH, the hardware store:

• Set of funnels (2.19)
• wooden paint stirrers from near the paint service desk
• 4 oz measuring glass ($2.49/ea)
• latex gloves (1.49) (also had some in the furniture paint kit)
• “comfort gloves” — the green ones with long sleeves ($2.95) (also had some in the furniture paint kit)

On Sunday i stopped at the hardware store to pick up Escutcheon pins ($1.79 for 1.5 oz). These were sharp enough to insert into a bit of balsa wood by hand at quarter inch intervals. I experimented with an e-wrap cast-on using #10 crochet thread. I now have an experiential understanding of the warnings about tension: getting the tension loose enough that one can move all the loops is a challenge when using thread. I’ll try some light yarn next. (If any alpaca is left over, that might be suitably springy, too.)

While at the hardware store, the issue of the swift and my more concrete need for an efficient way to create skeins for dyeing was in mind. It turns out that one can buy the ball bearing case for a lazy susan. I have the Shepherd Hardware Products Lazy Susan [product 9547 4" diameter, 100 mm ball bearings, 300 lb load, $4.49].

To make a swift (which turns as one pulls the yarn off) i just need four of the 6-32×2″ machine screws (I’d have called it a bolt), but a fifth for the center will allow me to install a crank (rigged out of a sixth bolt). (15 bolts: $2.04; 3 sets of six nits at $0.54 each.) The cross bars for the first draft of the swift are yardsticks ($0.99 each). The wood is soft enough that i was able to make the bolt holes with an awl. This is a sign that the yardsticks may not be durable. However, it remains to be seen if they are good enough for casual work.

My plan is to make four “C” shaped hooks from two wire hangers, and then use binder clips to hold those to the yardsticks. Figuring out the circumference of skeins should be a pleasant bit of geometry.

This leaves the challenge of *mounting* the lazy susan base. At the moment, it’s duct taped on two corners to a microphone stand. This is probably less durable than the yardsticks. I want to see if a standard broom handle fits in the mike holder: if so, wood screws into the mike holder and the mike holder on the stand might be satisfactory (although the mike holders were probably not designed to hold something undergoing torque.

While in the hardware store i bought two 2″ spring clamps ($2.99). I imagined extending the lazy susan base and clamping that to a table or chair back, but once home the thought of duct taping the thing to a five gallon cubic water bottle came to mind: for safety’s sake we should have water bottles around at all times, and the temporary solution is all i need. I suspect that people with wall space and workshops could mount the thing onto walls or tables for a permanent solution. Christine just happens to have two mike stands on which i stub my toe occasionally. The audio recording job she got them for never repeated, so she’ll let me use one. (Who knows, that might just be enough for someone to enquire after her recording skills again.)

I’m just left with the challenge of making a crank. The balsa i have was too fragile and did not survive the awl-piercing. A third hanger might provide another rigged solution. The next step, when i next have time, is to experiment with a mike-stand mount.

Also, oh my heavens, it is softer than an angel’s kiss. I just hugged it for a while until i started panicking about how tangled it was going to get.

I spent some time (over thirty minutes on the phone, plus) winding it into a 0.5 oz ball — and then discovered my tight wind was bad for the yarn. That bit of yarn is probably OK for the time being — that’s all i’ll need, i suspect, to make alpaca angels. But what about the rest? Apparently $100 is the average price for a swift and a ball winder. Maybe i want the swift? Would that do the same thing my careful winding around my sewing board does to make skeins for dyeing? Ah, apparently i should have a niddy noddy for that. I almost think i could construct my own niddy noddy.

$40 + $25 for wooden swift and plastic winder

http://www.stanwoodimports.com/servlet/Detail?no=58


http://www.stanwoodimports.com/servlet/Detail?no=43

This is apparently a Good Deal. Suddenly the 2000 yards of alpaca got more expensive. On the other hand, dying yarn takes skeins, and skein management is time consuming.

Also, the tiny angel ornament i began crocheting lets me know that this is not as easy to crochet as crochet thread.

I am fantasizing about making a crochet and loom knit kimono-like jacket out of it. (See this design, but not a long kimono as diagrammed but hip length.) Not much shaping. I suspect i’ll be using this yarn in about ten years when my skill begins to reach the yarn.

Oh, and if i did that, the yarn could be dyed in multiple colors: first creating a long strip, weighing it, calculating numbers of strips to make the kimono panels….Brainstorming about a kimono “jacket”

See this design.

The author basically uses six panels here. The four body panels could be half as long each for a “jacket,” so only four panels are needed. That means dividing the yarn (8 oz) into four 500 yard/2 oz bundles (more or less).

A shawl/capelet pattern for ~ 500 yards laceweight mohair is at ravelry here.

And if the panels were done in some motif like this one at ravelry, even more yardage would be stretched out — but think of a back in that motif…

if 8 oz = 2000 yds, 1 oz = 250 yds

I also figure the time involved in this much crochet will mean that i’ll likely be finishing this in retirement.

I haven’t used my fire red dye yet. Hmmm. On the other hand, this angel pattern [Ravelry] is perfect for white yarn. But then there will be over a thousand yards left, surely.

Iowa weaver’s notes about dying wool with procion dyes got my attention. She links to this PDF instruction sheet, skipping the same mysterious special wool ingredient, using vinegar as i would. Dharma’s method is altogether different.

I also think i could stand to experiment with the silk ribbon and the mohops. Perhaps it will be a mistake, but i’m going to give the bias cut ribbon a try first. (Will it pull apart under the tension?)

Links to shibori sites after the cut.
Shibori web notes:

• beans
• Some good reference books via DyeCandy
• Kaizen Journey’s shibori notes
• Samples of four types of shibori: Karamatsu Shibori (Japanese Larch)[circle], Mokume Shibori (Woodgrain) [straight line], Arashi Shibori (Storm) [the pole scrunching?], Ori-Nui Shibori [double outline line]

It’s fascinating to see how two pigments that seem so similar at full strength can look so different when blended.

Oh, and now there’s a YouTube Channel.

I know i have too many hobbies, but painting still remains a playground for me, a place where i can experiment and delight in color. I’ve no expectation that i’m going to produce anything anyone is going to admire. Having the resources of Golden to illustrate how the paint works keeps me from getting frustrated. Is it my skill? Or do i need to look for a paint with better tinting strength or more transparency or? And now i understand some more subtleties even more!

Began making up dye on Friday and dyed off and on on Saturday.

After the cut, reports on the yarn & thread experiment and the glue resist experiment.

Making Concentrate

I made the concentrate for the Emerald, Orchid, & Azure following the notes from Color by Accident, using the 4 tbsp of urea, and 4 tbsp of both the blue and green. The Langers juice concentrate bottle is a perfect size for the cup-plus of concentrate. Given the ratio “1 gal hot water to 9 tbsp ash” i used 4.5 tbsp of ash in the 2 liter jug.

Next time:

• Need a tablespoon *spoon* measure. The small cup was very convenient, but a tbsp sized scoop would be less likely to stir up the dye powder.
• A whole cup of concentrate is more than i likely need. These measurements can easily be cut in half.
• Don’t use the funnel with powder, especially if the funnel tip is going to be in the urea solution.

General Practice

I did not pay that much attention between the time of the dye and the time of the ash solution. I did not take the ten minutes recommended in Color by Accident.

The orchid and emerald were kept in the dye for about an hour. The full azure dye-bath was at least forty minutes plus the time to watch the movie Jaws.

Yarns & threads

The cotton yarn is Sugar’n Cream, cotton worsted 4 ply, white, 120 yds. I made six skeins roughly 16 yards each.
The thread is J&PCoats #10 Royale Classic Crochet Thread, Mercerized cotton from the “over 1.5 miles” super ball. Two skeins of roughly 50 yards (0.4 oz) and six skeins of roughly 26 yards (.2 oz each for roughly six motifs.)

The first yarns were not exactly well thought out as i was still giddy with actually doing the dying. I think the timings below for the green and orchid are right, but there could be some variation. I was so stunned with how dark the mercerized cotton thread was, i sued a reduced strength dye from concentrate (2 tbsp to 1/2 c water and 1/2 c ash solution). I’d also noted the inconsistent dye of some of the earlier yarns, so i was much more careful with the blue and i agitated those more than with the earlier orchid and emerald.

• A: cotton yarn, emerald, essentially T=0
• B: cotton yarn, T=10 min . The emerald yarns and threads were in with the tank top and may not have gotten the agitation needed. Note the irregularity in the color.
• C: cotton yarn, orchid, essentially T=0.
• D: cotton yarn, orchid, T=10. Orchid yarns were in their own dyebath.
• E: cotton yarn, azure, T=0. The azure *yarns* were in the same dybath as the tank top, with much agitation. They were left in the dye much longer than the orchid and emerald, as well.
• F: cotton yarn, azure, T=10. (Had timer present for azure dyebath.)
• G: mercerized cotton thread, emerald, T=0. The tight acrylic tyes and the tight twist of the skein, plus low agitation kept this yarn from a consistent dye.



• H: mercerized cotton thread, orchid, T=0.
• I: mercerized cotton thread, orchid, T=10.
• J: mercerized cotton thread, orchid, T=20.
• K: mercerized cotton thread, orchid, T=30.
• L: mercerized cotton thread, orchid, T=40.
• M: mercerized cotton thread, orchid, T=50.

A, B, E, F (click link to see before) ecru crochet thread; C , D (link to before) white. D also has black accent.

I think the pairs ecru green & purple motifs were staggered by ten minutes, and we can say they started at essentially T=0. The blue was in the full strength dyebath at T=0. I’m not sure when the white-to-orchid motif went in. Visually, it seems it must have been after T=0.

Next time:

• Continue to weaken the dyebath – 1 tbsp to 1/2 c water, or 1 tbsp to 1 c water – and also try shortening the duration to less than the full hour.
• Don’t tie skeins tightly.

Meadow Resistance

"Meadow Tank Top" experiment in using "Elmer’s Washable Clear School Glue" as a resist. Emerald and Azure over thrift store white tank top. Attempt to use hairspray as a resist seemed to have failed. Glue was good though!

Next time:

• Let glue dry a whole day or more.

I found a second recipe that looked interesting, and i used up the last of the gelatin making it. (I was intrigued by the pineapple-gelatin combination, but then read that the problem is with *fresh* pineapple.)

Since i’d wanted to replace the gelatin with a vegetable gelling agent, i gave tapioca a try in a berry variation. I used ratios more like the new recipe, which did not call for cream cheese. I’m not sure i prepared the MINUTE® tapioca appropriately: it said it could be microwaved on high for ten minutes, stirring every three minutes. I think this may have overcooked it. It seemed very gelled when done, but when mixed in with the yogurt i think it did not reset. I poured it over blueberries and laid out stripes of sliced strawberries across the top.

The first “pie” provided a good control case to compare to the tapioca-yogurt mix. It certainly gelled and could be cut with a knife, leaving solid bar shapes. The tapioca-yogurt mix retained some definition, but couldn’t be served retaining shape. Since i was leaving out crusts in both cases, if the texture doesn’t change much it begs the question of why not just flavor the yogurt and be done.

Both were yummy though!

Quick research this afternoon suggest that cornstarch may set up more firm, but needs a higher gelatinization temperature.

Mixing yogurt with something hot deserves two points of attention. one is that the active cultures die above 120° F, the other is that non-fat yogurt will curdle.

More about gelling agents, and pineapple & gelling agents, after the cut.

* Gelatin requires refrigeration to set while vegetable gums 
  will become firm at room temperature. 
* When a gelatin product is stirred it liquefies and then resets. 
* Vegetable gum products do not liquefy and do not reset. 
				From Dr Ken Burke

This site claims Agar agar has problems setting with acidic pineapple: http://www.vegsoc.org/info/gelling.html . I believe this to be a misconception: How Baking Works By Paula Figoni specifically calls out agar agar as replacement for gelatin when dealing with fresh pineapple. Note that the pineapple reaction is a particular characteristic of gelatin:

One of the major differences between gelatin and vegetable gum is the reaction to fresh pineapple. Fresh pineapple prevents gelatin from setting but has no effect on vegetable gum’s ability to set.

Dr. Burke pointed out that, “The action of fresh pineapple is due to its content of a protein-splitting enzyme, bromelin which is specific for collagen (from which gelatin is derived).”

From this examination of a fraudulent “vegetarian” gelatin.

Further reading:

*
How Baking Works By Paula Figoni, available from google books with a simple table outlining functions of various gelling agents

* Thickening and Gelling Agents for Food By Alan Imeson is available ing Google Books with extensive preview, particularly for agar agar & carrageen. Unfortunately the starch section (corn starch & tapioca) is very fragmentary.

General Preparation Process

UF = Unit is the weight of fabric; 1F = 1 lb of fabric

Prepare fiber

Scour in a hot wash of 15 min with Synthrapol (1/2 tsp to 1F) & soda ash (1/2 tsp to 1F)

Mix powders into concentrate; soda into solution

Powders are of some chemical concern as irritant. Mix up all needed in a batch session: They keep for roughly a week, refrigerate for longer.

1 cup of hot water + 2-4 tbsp urea 
cool to below 95°
add 2 tbsp dye (see below for specific adjustments)

Later, the concentrate is mixed with more water or with soda solution. Note that there are two times to relatively increase the amount of dye depending on the tinting properties: mixing the concentrate & mixing the solution. AJ notes doubling black at the concentrate stage.

1 gal hot water to 9 tbsp ash
cool to room temp (but later says use warm?)

Dye recipes

primaries: 8 tbsp/1c
light primaries: 1 tbsp/1c
some color mixes involved ratios like 
	5 tbsp/1c + 2tbsp/1c
	4 tbsp/.5-1c + 6 tbsp/.5-1c

Dye process summary from p 25

Wet fabric 1c water to 1 yard
	sometimes the water is left in the container
mix dye concentrate to 1c dye soln to 1 yard
pour over fabric
	value, color parfait added soda at this point
wait 15 min 
	manipulation may happen here if more dye involved
pour warm (?!) 1c soda soln to 1 yard  
	this may have second dye concentrate 
	make sure to distribute through fabric
allow hour to wait. more Movement, more distribution of color

Chemical additives

UF = Unit is the weight of fabric; 1F = 1 lb of fabric

PROCION^® MX DYE: reactive dyes loose strength at room temp over 5-7 days. Keep cool. Lose strength above 95° F. Dye at 70°F-110°F. [See here]

UREA: “moisturizing.” Allows more dye in the concentrate. Use hot water to dissolve: will cool the water.

SALT: used to “force” the dye from the water bath into the fiber. AJ doesn’t think it’s necessary in low water method. (Standard method uses UF salt in dye bath of 20 F water.)

SODA ASH (sodium carbonate): Cellulose fiber fixative. In solution with water, indefinite shelf life. Dissolve in hot water, use at room temp. Can dye silk with same method, dramatic color variation.

DYE+SODA: at full strength for 15 min.

Specific color notes

10 FIRE RED* – requires 2X as much dye

30A NEW EMERALD GREEN*(T) – requires 2X as much dye; contains #25 Turquoise: Requires more rinsing to remove the excess dye ; Warmer tap water (up to 130F) when vat dyeing, can yield deeper shades; Using Glauber’s salt instead of plain salt when vat dyeing can also improve results.

34 RUST BROWN* – requires 2X as much dye

56 AZURE BLUE* – requires 2X as much dye; yields deeper shades when vat dyed at a higher temperature (hot tap water (130 to 150F).

64 ORCHID – no notes.

Tools

plastic 2 cup measures
plastic measuring spoons
heavy duty plastic spoons
funnels
something for soda solution
something for mixing/shaking dyes

googles, dust mask, rubber gloves

She also had a good tip — reminder — about using glazes. The Golden website ranks the opacity of the pigments, a good clue in keeping translucency. In my palette, Naphthol Red Light (Op=4) and the Phthalo blue (gs) & green (bs) (Op=3) aren’t particularly translucent. I could get Quinacridone Red (Op=6) and Ultramarine Blue (Op=6), but there isn’t a more translucent fluid green.