Becker Brigade Hats

Earlier this month I posted about my sons dyeing yarn with Kool Aid and food coloring using the sunshine and heat for solar energy. I told them when they picked out their colors that I would knit them hats. I just finished today!

Name: Becker Brigade Hats

Pattern: Slip Stitch Stash Hat by Renee Rico

Yarn: Knit Picks Bare Peruvian Highland Wool

Weight: Worsted

Modifications: See my Ravelry page for more info.

Sadie Slimy Stitches for Slug Queen

Tomorrow, I will be one of six competitors to run for Slug Queen 2012. My Queenly name is Sadie Slimy Stitches. I've been campaigning and working towards this title since April 2011. I love Eugene, love its people and want to help encourage community art. In the competition tomorrow, I will be judged on my costume, 3 minute talent and my answer to whatever wacky question I get asked. My costume is my crowning achievement. I thought I'd break it down for you.

I started knitting my gown in May of 2011. I was inspired by the Emerald City gowns in the Broadway musical Wicked. Wicked had toured Eugene in April and I thought those Emerald City gowns would make great Slug Queen costumes. Being a textural knitter, or an unconventional knitter to say the least I had the idea to knit a gown. Thus the creation of Sadie Slimy Stitches.

My gown took 418 days to knit using 43 different green yarns. I made the pattern myself. Just knitting and fitting it as I went. A couple of friends of mine donated green tshirts that I cut into "yarn" and knit myself a train. Christina knit me a bunch of little slugs. I sewed 30 onto my train to represent the 30th year of Slug Queens-  one for every queen! I added silver organza ribbon as 'slime trails.'

My little top hat fascinator was knitted by one of my Slugettes, Vicki. It's knit and felted. She also make a beautiful sparkly green veil to go with it. I finished it off with sparkly ribbon and a peacock feather.

My leggings are one of a kind by Allihalla. Alli makes the best swimsuits and I commissioned her to make me some Slug Queen leggings. I bought the spandex online and told her surprise me. They're perfect!

My shoes are Vans slip-ons that I commissioned my friend Candice to paint. What a great job! Yarn, a royal slug, knitted stitches and slime? Perfect!

I knit my purse as part of the Ravellenic Games on Ravelry. I knit then felted it. I needle felted for the first time to create the image of a slug carrying a bouquet of heart balloons.

Lastly, my parasol. Hands down the most difficult thing I've ever knit. An Herbert Niebling pattern, I knit it with lace weight and stretched it to fit over a parasol frame. You can read more about it on my past post.

To finish it all off, Sarah Clifford created my hair and make-up. Curled and teased and sprayed, my hair is HUGE! Sparkly eyes, bow lips... She did an amazing job of helping me to create Sadie's character.

Melissa Mankins at Paper Moon Studio took these amazing photos of me. I wanted photos as a keepsake. I've worked so hard to get here I want to remember it always. I couldn't have done any of this without the help and support of so many people. Thank you all. ♥

More Kool Aid Popsicle Dyeing

Remember my tutorial from last summer? Yesterday, my two sons did some more dyeing using this method. They chose their colors, helped make the ice cubes. They arranged their popsicles on the yarn and waited not so patiently for the sun to dye it. I told them I would use their yarn to knit them new winter hats.

NOTE: This technique will NOT work on cotton. Kool Aid and food coloring will only successfully dye on wool, silk and other animal fibers/hairs.

My son Bailey chose McCormick yellow food coloring, Kool Aid Mixed Berry, Kool Aid Cherry and Kool Aid Black Cherry for his yarn colors.

My son Silas chose McCormick green food coloring, Kool Aid Lemon Lime, Kool Aid Mixed Berry and Kool Aid Peach Mango for his yarn.

Here are some things that I did differently from last time.

• As soon as my boys were done arranging their ice cubes on the yarn, I covered the glass dish with saran wrap. I didn't wait like last time.
• We did this in the morning when it was 68 degrees out. We laid the covered yarn in the shade. After a couple of hours (we ran errands) we came home and saw that the ice cubes were all melted but the yarn was still in the shade and still relatively cool.
• Once I saw that the dye was all melted, I peeled back the saran wrap and gently flipped the  yarn over. A lot of the dye was on the bottom and now it's on the top and will slowly drip its way through the rest of the yarn.
• I recovered the yarn and put it in direct sunlight (It got up to the high 80s in the afternoon.) We went to the park after this for a few hours. When we got back, the saran wrap was all steamy and the glass was hot to touch! I brought it inside and pulled the yarn out. It was really hot too. Perfect! The water dripping off the yarn was clear, all the dye was absorbed into the yarn.

Including shade and sunlight time, the yarn was outside for about 6 hours. I thought by letting the ice cubes melt in the shade, it would melt slower. Giving it a less spotty, polka dot look. I also think turning the yarn over was a good idea. Their yarn is more uniform. Yay success!  Feel free to ask me any questions below.

UPDATE!! See the hats that I knit for them on this post here.

Mayhem Giveaway

It's my first freebie giveaway! Today this blog has reached over 10,000 hits. In the grand scheme of thing, that's nothing. But for me, it's huge! Since a lot of the hits came from my tutorial on Kool Aid ice cube yarn I thought I would give away that same yarn!

How do you enter?

1- Follow this blog if you haven't already.

2- Leave a comment on this post.

If you do those two things, I'll enter your name for a chance to win my Summer Popsicle yarn. For greater odds, post this competition on your blog or tumblr (just let me know where and follow me on tumblr). I'll enter your name twice.

Sorry!  This contest has now been closed and the yarn has been gifted.  Thanks to everyone who entered.  Continue to follow me for a chance to win more prizes in the future!

Yarn details:

Name: Summer Popsicle

Yarn: Knit Picks Bare Peruvian Highland Wool

Weight: Bulky

Yards: 137 yards

Kool Aid Popsicle Dyeing

I came across a DIY post on Tumblr that showed how you can freeze watercolor paints in ice cube trays and then use the frozen paints to "draw" on fabric or paper. I instantly thought I could do that with Kool Aid and yarn! I just had to wait for my Oregon "summer" to cooperate. I needed it to get sunny and warm enough to melt the ice cubes.

NOTE: This technique will NOT work on cotton. Kool Aid and food coloring will only dye wool, silk or other animal fiber/hair.

Remember to wear your gloves! I took one packet of Kool Aid and mixed it with just enough water to fill 3 ice cube sections (do not add sugar! Just KA and water.) Then I froze them.

I used:

Kool Aid grape

Kool Aid strawberry

Klass brand pineapple

Klass brand hibiscus

Klass is a Mexican version of Kool Aid that I picked up at a Latino grocery store.

I soaked my WOOL yarn in warm water and vinegar for about a half an hour. I gently squeezed out the water and then laid it into a glass 9x13 baking pan. I put the frozen dye cubes on top and set it outside in direct sunlight.

When I first put the dye cubes on the yarn.

After an hour in the sun.

Once it was completely melted- in my case about an hour and a half- I covered it with saran wrap to help raise the heat and incubate the yarn. In hindsight, I could have just covered it when I first put it outside to melt. You need the yarn to reach about 180 degrees Fahrenheit (really, you just need it to be HOT!) to set the dye in the yarn. You could also cook the yarn in your oven or microwave it for a few minutes but I wanted this to be a solar project. So I covered it and left it outside all day.

Yarn steaming in the sun.

You'll know it's done when your baking dish is hot and the liquid in the yarn is clear- that means that the yarn has absorbed all of the dye. Bring yarn inside and let it cool down to room temperature. I then gently washed the yarn in warm water with some Eucalan (again there should be no dye washing off- your yarn bath should be clear. If it is running color, stop washing immediately and put back outside to cook some more. Or wrap it in saran wrap and nuke it in the microwave for a few minutes.) Gently squeeze the water out and then allowed it to air dry.

I'd say this was a total success!

Name: Summer Popsicle

Yarn: Knit Picks Bare Peruvian Highland Wool

Weight: Bulky

Yards: 137 yards

Update! See more Kool Aid Popsicle yarn that I dyed with notes and tips on this post.

Luck of the Draw

...March Dye Along

This months dye along in Ravelry group What a Kool Way to Dye is called Luck of the Draw. The description says, "The idea is to toss all the colors you own into a bag and then randomly choose three colors for the dyeing. You can use those three colors in any way you choose, so long as you use all three and only those three." Sounds like fun!

The three colors I wound up with is Kool Aid Grape, Kool Aid Lemon Lime and Kool Aid Orange. And this is what I did.

I soaked my skeined yarn in warm water for about 30 minutes. With Kool Aid you don't need to add any vinegar since the citric acid in it allows the color to set.

I placed my yarn in a large pot and added enough hot water that it just barely covered the yarn. You don't want any extra water for this look. If you were to add more water, the color distribution wouldn't be as spotty- they would have blended more. I turned my stove burner on low heat and waited until the water and yarn were hot.

I opened up the orange Kool Aid packet and sprinkled the entire amount all over the yarn. I tried to get as much of the surface as possible. Then I used a spoon and very gently pushed the color down onto the yarn. I left it alone for a few minutes then used a spoon to carefully lift up the yarn. Good, the color was all set.

I pulled the yarn out of the pot and carefully flipped it over and laid it back in the pot. So now I see mostly undyed yarn- the orange part being on the bottom. I took the lemon lime Kool Aid and did the same thing- sprinkled it all over, pushed the yarn down and let it sit for a few minutes.

When the green color had set I pulled the yarn out again and arranged the yarn back in the pot so that any parts of undyed yarn were at the top. I had to use the spoon and my gloved hands to pull apart and situate the yarn. I then only used half the packet of grape Kool Aid and sprinkled it on top. Once that set, I pulled the yarn out again and rearranged it once more trying to get all the undyed parts on the top. I sprinkled the rest of the purple dye and let it set.

I pulled the yarn out, set it on a plate and let it cool. Once it was room temperature, I gently squeeze out the water (it's clear- all the color and dye are in the yarn not the water) and hung it to dry.

At first I wasn't too thrilled about the colors and look. But as it I kept looking at it while it was drying, it sort of grew on me. And then when I reskeined it and wound it into the cake, I fell in love! The yarn reminds me of the African batik fabric I used to see. I haven't come up with a name for it, any suggestions?

Name: Luck of the Draw

Yarn: Art Yarns Ultramerino 4

Weight: fingering

Yardage: 382 yards

Dream Cowl

...everything I thought it could be and more.

Recently I dyed some yarn with food coloring. You can read all about the process here in Turquoise Dreams. I searched high and low for a project that would really show off the gradient colors. A shawl made the most sense but I already have a turquoise shawl. And I'm currently knitting a dark blue one. Too much of a good thing. My friend Angie had made this cowl that I found stunning. It changes stitch patterns so you don't get bored easily. Perfect!

Name: Turquoise Dreams

Yarn: Art Yarns Ultramerino 4

Weight: fingering

Pattern: Eternity Scarf by Michele Wang

Modifications: I wanted to be able to see the color gradients so instead of knitting straight stockinette stitch, I used seed stitch instead.

Turquoise Dreams

...dreams really do come true.

There is a group on Ravelry called What a Kool Way to Dye. This group is for yarn dyeing enthusiasts who prefer to dye with Kool Aid and food coloring. I love this group. It provides great inspiration as well as techniques. Every month, they have a DAL- Dye A-Long. You can choose to participate or not, but there is a theme that you use to dye your yarn with. This February the theme is gradients. I tried to dye some socks I knit last year in a gradient style and failed miserably. I know now that I had the wrong technique, not enough dye and I didn't allow for enough time. This time, HUGE success. I freakin' love this yarn. Here's a Knitty tutorial showing how to do it. I followed it, mostly, but will explain what I did precisely so you can try it too!

In Knitty's tutorial, they wound the yarn into a really long skein. I did not. I weighed my yarn and then divided it into 5 mini skeins of equal weight. I did not cut or separate the mini skeins- they were all attached to each other by one strand of yarn. I then soaked this in lukewarm water while I prepared the dye bath.

In my crock pot, I poured in 8 cups hot water and 3/4 cup white vinegar. I added 1 teaspoon McCormick's blue food coloring and 1/4 teaspoon green food coloring. Stirred it in, put the lid on and turned it onto high. I waited until it was nice and hot and there was steam on the lid.

I took my yarn out of the water and gently squeezed the water out of it. I lowered all but one mini skein into the pot (make sure that the one you leave out is one of the ends.) I then quickly plunged the end mini skein into the hot dye bath and pulled it right out (please DO NOT forget your rubber gloves!!) I layed the mini skein into a bowl next to the crock pot, put the lid on the rest of the dye bath and set the timer for 10 minutes.

After the 10 minutes, I gently squeezed the water out of the first mini skein that was in the bowl. I now placed it onto a plate next to the bowl. I reached into the dye bath and took out the next mini skein- #2. I laid it in the bowl. I took a 2 cup measuring cup and scooped out at least a cup of water/vinegar solution from the dye bath (the liquid was nearly clear- the dye was all used up.) I microwaved the liquid until it was boiling and added 1/2 teaspoon of blue food coloring and 1/8 teaspoon green food coloring. I poured it into the crock pot dye bath and gently stirred it. I replaced the lid and set the timer for 20 minutes.

After the 20 minutes, I again gently squeezed out the water from mini skein #2 and put it on the plate with #1. Pulled out mini skein #3 and placed in the bowl. Got more water from the dye bath, heated it until boiling and added 1/2 teaspoon blue coloring and 1/8 teaspoon green coloring. Stirred it into the dye bath, replaced lid, set timer for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, do the same thing with mini skeins #3 and #4. With the last skein in the crock pot, I set the timer for 40 minutes but checked on it at 30 minutes and saw that the dye bath water/vinegar solution was already mostly clear. I went ahead and pulled it out at that time.

After the skeins were all cooled, I gently washed them in lukewarm water with some wool wash. Then just hang to dry and skein or wind it up and enjoy! In the end it took about an hour and a half of dyeing time and 2.5 teaspoons of blue food coloring and 5/8 teaspoons of green food coloring.

Later this month I plan on doing another gradient dye with a friend. I haven't decided what color to do but I'm extremely excited. Let me know if you have any questions on what I did.

Name: Turquoise Dreams

Yarn: Art Yarns Ultramerino 4

Weight: fingering

Yardage: 382 yards

Callista and Sabrina

Two sweet girls, two sweet hats.

I'm finally getting around to doing something I've wanted to do for awhile. Concentrate on producing more adult knits. I've also been wanting to design and sell patterns. I started this week! I bought some of Knit Picks City Tweed yarn and fell in love. It's soft and the texture is amazing. The two yarns inspired these two hats. I love collections that are named after people (I'm looking at you John Fluevog) so I named these two hats after my darling nieces.

Callista was made from colorway Tahitian Pearl. Pattern for sale here.

Sabrina was made from colorway Morning Glory. Pattern for sale here.

Both hat patterns are also available for purchase on Ravelry. I purchased the ribbon from The Tangled Lair.

I didn't have a bandit hat...

...So I modified this tube sock.

I love the Fantastic Mr. Fox. Even more, I love the character Ash (really, let's be honest. I love Jason Schwartzman.) Back on topic, my dear friend Mary made a joke about us needing bandit hats during our last yarn bombing. She joked that we needed tube sock bandit hats like Asher wore in the movie. A fleeting thought. A simple joke. I, of course, couldn't get the damn idea out of my head. I needed to make that hat. Already have my Halloween costume planned. Getting to be warm- no need for winter-like face masks. I really had no functional use for this mask. But still, I needed to make it.

After watching the movie, again I started to cast on. I've been asked for the pattern. I rarely write down my patterns. My patterns are more like recipes. I just knit a bandit hat with a mouth. Make sure to stripe the collar (I had to frog this part back. I was done with the ribbing, I looked at a picture of Ash and realized I had the striping part all wrong.) And when you start decreasing down the crown, stop when you have a good sized tube and start knitting a sock. Then knit some fox ears and sew them on. I stuffed the sock a bit with some polyester toy stuffing to help it keep shape.

It fits me and my husband Brandon better, I had made it adult size. But Bailey, my 3 year old pretty much has claimed it as his own. It looks like he has his Halloween costume squared away.