The Blue Dreambird

I have finished my blue Dreambird shawl and I’m so pleased with it!
It’s knitted with my hand-dyed 4ply merino/silk/nylon.
I like the feel of it, it’s quite firm and it's got a nice weight to it.

I LOVE my new shawl!

I'm so naughty...

When I decided to knit a Dreambird shawl I asked my sister MiA if she could dye and spin some green/blue yarn for me. She happily said yes! MiA spins some amazingly beautiful yarn. But for those of you who don't know, MiA lives in Sweden and dyeing, drying, spinning, skeining, shipping, well it just took so long and I could....not....wait...

That's why I dyed some of my base and started the blue Dreambird and – yay – it's coming out so beautifully!

And then THE YARN arrived! And it's just divine! It's a mix of 50% BFL wool, 25% baby alpaca and 25% Tussah silk. Say no more... It's soft and squishy and just stunning.



And now I can...not...wait...
I'm so naughty but I have to start...

I will combine it with a black alpaca from Kaipara farm outside Auckland. Now that the green yarn is wound into a ball, you can see that there will be interesting things happening to the feathers!



But I'm not giving up the blue Dreambird – oh no! I have knitted 10 feathers now and I love the way they shade. I'm just going to – you know – knit both at the same time!

 

Progress

My Dreambird shawl is growing and I'm very pleased with the shading of the feathers!

I can recommend this pattern, the shawl is so much fun to knit! I just wish there were more hours in a day...

Blue Dreambird

Remember the beautiful Dreambird shawl my sister MiA sent me a month ago? I'm not really a shawl knitter myself but I am so fascinated by that beautiful shawl! I have never done any short row knitting before and decided it was time to make something new. I bought the pattern from Ravelry and knitted a test feather. It was much easier and even more fun than I had imagined so I decided to give it a go!

I dyed some merino/silk sock yarn in two denim blue shades – one darker, slightly variegated for the background and a lighter with a quite long gradient for the feathers. And then I started knitting.

I have just finished two feathers and funnily enough the lightest shade have ended up right in the middle of the feathers! I'm not sure how much it will move as I go, I just have to knit and see what happens.

The shift in colour in the feathers is not as noticeable as I had anticipated and I'm slightly worried that the shawl will not end up as exciting as I thought... Will a whole shawl like this look beautiful but boring...?

I'm also trying some new needles – Cubics from KnitPro. Yes, they are square and I have to say that I really like them!

Wow – photos

Wonders of Wool was such a busy market, I didn't have time to take photos until half-way through so lots of goodies are already missing here.

Still – here are some photos from Happy-go-knitty's stall at Wonders of Wool, Wellington Underground market.

Enjoy!

Happy-go-knitty stall

Merino/silk lace weight

BFL sock yarn

Merino/silk sock yarn

Cotton skeins and kits

Kid's cotton beanies and kits for flower brooch

Bead-knitted merino cuffs, stripy cuffs, tangle-free earphones (on stand)
and Knit Kits: earphones, stripy cuffs and bead-knitted cuffs.

New stripy wool

I have dyed new self-striping merino/silk/nylon sock yarn. These beauties are coming with me to the new market in Browns Bay this Saturday. I hope the weather picks up cause it's outdoors!

Beautiful blues

I received an email from Mia, who has knitted both self-striping and colour changing socks with Happy-go-knitty yarn. Pretty cool, I reckon!

Tadaah!

In the holidays I did my first experiments with yarn blanks. I sent the yarn to my sister who knitted some sock samples for me and here they are!

Two examples of the very cool effects you can get when dyeing blanks. The blank was double thread which means you get identical socks! And as you can see, 100grams is enough for a pair of socks and you can make them longer if you like.

Pretty neat, eh?

Stay tuned for my next dye lot, this time it's 100% BFL sock yarn and it came out just amazing!! I'm winding it up now and will post photos very soon.


 

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.

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

- • - • – • - • – • – • – • – • – • – • - • – • - • – • – • – • – • – • – • –

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!

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!

Market weekend

I’m very excited about my busy weekend ahead – 

you can find me at markets both Saturday and Sunday!

Saturday 3 November

Michael Park Steiner School

9.30–3.30

55 Amy Street, Ellerslie

Sunday 4 November

Devonport Craft market

10–3

Devonport Community House

32 Clarence Street, Devonport

I will have lots of hand-dyed yarn and knitted goodies – 

bead-knitted merino cuffs, cotton beanies for kids 

and various knit kits if you would like to make your own crafts.

Below are some samples of what I will bring.

Kid’s beanies made of hand-dyed cotton

Bead-knitted merino cuffs

Knit kit for stripy cuffs

Knit kit for tangle-free earphones

 100% cotton

self-striping BFL sock yarn

merino/silk/nylon sock yarn

silk/merino lace weight

Finished socks

Jo has finished her stripy socks now.

They are knitted with Happy-go-knitty self-striping 

BFL sock yarn and I think they look fab!

I know she made them as a gift 

so someone’s is very lucky.

Jo is an avid sock knitter and before she had finished the socks above 

she had already laid her hands on the next skein.

Looking forward to more photos, Jo!