Red and blue stripes

Self-striping BFL sock yarn gives you funky, colour-ful socks!
Thanks for sharing Jo! More pics on her blog here.

Pink socks from blank

Oh – it's so exciting to see how the socks knit up with the yarn from the sock blanks!
I see so many cool possibilities with this new adventure!

Here is the sock:

And here was the blank:

Isn't it just soo cool!!
Thanks to my lovely sis MiA who helps me knitting the samples.
More cool photos of the socks from sock blanks here on her blog.

A cotton rainbow

I dyed some 100% cotton the other day and here are some of the skeins!
Yummy!

Note that my roman salad is growing really well. :)

More yarn blanks

I have dyed all the blanks that I pulled up on my knitting machine last week.
It was a lot of fun!

First out are the four single thread 4ply BFL blanks.

Pretty cool, eh!

And here are the wound up balls. I'm very pleased! I guess the gradient burgundy yarn could have had a more noticeable gradient, but I think these will be very nice knitted up as shawls!

4ply 100% BFL wool, 100grams/400 meters – $38 + shipping

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I had also made seven blanks of 4ply merino/silk/nylon that I knitted double so that it can be used for two identical socks.

 

As you can see, some of them have the first 3-4 meters in a different colour so that it will give a thin edge at the top of the sock.

I was happy with the blanks but got very disappointed when I unraveled them to dry... The dye has not penetrated the yarn properly so it looks quite mottled... There are even white spots... I guess they will still look ok knitted but it's not the way I wanted my sock blank yarn to look!

Is anyone keen to knit some 4ply merino/silk/nylon socks for a discounted price?  
2 balls = 100grams/360 meters (enough for 1 pair of socks)
1 x 100grams – $20 + postage
2 x 100grams – $30 + postage     All sock blanks are sold.

First I thought my blanks had been to tight. But they really weren't so I think it's the blend of the yarn. I think the silk made the two threads stick to each other.

Next time I will knit the merino/silk single thread for shawls and knit the BFL double for socks. It actually makes sense since the BFL is so fantastic for socks and the merino/silk is great for shawls! Lesson learned!

Summer on a plate

Pineapple, rock melon, strawberries, plums, blueberries and pomegranate with a sprinkle of basil. Yum!

Pink stripy socks

The lovely Alice has knitted a pair of socks from Happy-go-knitty self-striping BFL sock yarn. I think they look fab!

You can see the skein here.

And here is the sock!

Here is a sneak peek of the nearly finished sock! Pretty cool eh!?

 

The colour difference in the yarn is due to my sister having taken the photo of the sock. She is my beloved test sock knitter because ...eeeehh... I don't knit socks myself... Embarrassing – I know...

Yarn blanks

A few weeks ago I heard about yarn blanks for the first time. If you haven't heard of it
– it's a technique where you first knit the yarn into a rectangular piece (a blank), then you dye the knitted piece and then you unravel it again and knit it into something new.

Why?

Well, if you knit a sock yarn double and then dye it in say a gradient, you can then knit two identical socks that go from light to dark along the sock! Or you can dye it in different colours so that the sock changes in colour from cuff to toe.

But the amazing thing is that the socks will always be identical! Cool eh?

You can also knit the yarn in a single thread, dye it and it can be used for an amazing shawl that changes in colour. Or dye a pattern that will give interesting colour effects when knitted.The possibilities are endless!

I had to give it a go. Knitting a blank is pretty boring and even though I knitted it on 10mm needles it still took soooo long.

Here are my hand-knitted blanks. Unfortunately I was so excited that I forgot to take a photo of the blue/green/teal blank before I unraveled it...

It was dyed teal at the top with a bright turquoise the first 3 meters to give an edge on the top. The middle part of the blank was dyed in emerald and lime. And the bottom part of the blank was the blue.

This is exciting! Photos of the socks coming soon!

But to be able to make lots of blanks I really need a knitting machine. After lots
of research I managed to get in contact with a lovely lady called Jo. I went to see her a couple of days ago and not only did she give me the machine and a custom made table for free – she also spent 3 hours showing me how to put it up and down and taught me everything I need to know to get started. Then she sent me home with my bag full of lemons, a jar of freshly made pickles and an oregano root to plant 
in my garden! 

Love it!

Yesterday I put up the knitting machine and it's amazing how many blanks you can knit up in a couple of hours! I made 7 double knitted blanks for socks of the merino/silk/nylon sock yarn and 4 single blanks for shawls of the 100% BFL. Now the fun part will begin!

I can see that this will be a great tool for me!

Lots of colour changing yarn to come in the near future!