Grey – Page 3 – Hopefully Creative

New Year’s Dyeing

Experimenting with yarn and different methods of heat setting, resulting in three different colourways!

After not sleeping enough with the fireworks still going for hours beyond midnight, completing the puzzle I started in 2021 and finishing up the last oliebol, I got to work on new years day. I’d been thinking about dyeing yarn all holiday week, and just.. didn’t get up to actually do it. I’d decided I wanted to try a few different things, oven dyeing, speckles and partial dip. I used three different yarns, all from World of Wool in the UK.

The one that I started with was some 56’s English Superwash Aran Weight, I have six skeins and decided to dye five of them. I kept one spare in case the sweater I want to make with this requires more than 5 skeins. I decided to try and oven dye some yellow and orange speckles citric acid speckles on it. The oven dyeing initially came from a blog post by Needles on the Move found here. The citric acid speckles from ChemKnits Tutorials on YouTube. I mixed soft yellow dye in a little pot with citric acid, and in another pot I mixed soft yellow dye and red dye with the citric acid. The yarn was put in a second hand roasting tin and the dye mixes sprinkled on top. Unfortunately, due to the water that needed to be added, this batch turned out a little bit runny, so the colours are not as defined as I would have liked them. Afterwards, I found a blogpost by The Impatient Dyer here, that talks about how to solve that problem.

I wasn’t going to wait for quite some time for the roasting pan to be free again to dye the other skeins, so I just used my dyeing pots for those. One has a steamer insert on which you can drape the yarn and then add the colour. The other has a steaming section for doing the same thing. These speckles turned out a bit clearer. You can maybe make out some small hue differences in the skeins that are hanging above. The two right most ones are more muted with speckles that were less clear.

The next type of yarn was sock weight, Merino Superwash / Bamboo Sock Weight. I decided to go for some blue and turquoise but with lots of white. The dye was mixed with citric acid, put onto the yarn and then the wool went into the steamer pans. I think it looks cute and I am looking forward to see what it looks like knit up into a project. In case that project will be socks, I ball them up into two ~50 gram balls that are still connected to each other, so that I know for sure how long my sock can be without running out of yarn.

This last yarn was an experiment. The base is Merino Superwash Sock Weight Singles. I wanted to dye a skein partly grey with some speckles of orange. So I dumped an amount of grey dye in the water and partly hung the skein in that dye water. The remainder of the skein was draped over a steamer inset and speckles were applied. Some grey with citric acid and to create the orange I mixed some red and yellow dyes in the citric acid.

When this skein was rolled into two ~50 gram balls, it changed the look a lot. The skein has a dark section whereas you can’t really see that in the balls. I’m really curious to see it knit up. To turn the yarn into balls, I use this weird contraption that I got from a secondhand store for 3.50 euro – maybe used for spinning? In combination with a small empty bottle to allow for a centre pull ball. While it takes forever to wind up over a kilometer of yarn, I was very happy once it was all completed. The yellow/orange yarn is already being knit up into a project that’s about 90% complete, so I hope to finish that soon. There are no intentions for the two sock weights as of yet.

Road Maps

Making some felt roads for a kids adventure.

As explained at the Play Mat, I had my heart set on roads. So eventually, I decided to make felt roads sections that could be placed any which way. While looking around, I found some templates for paper/laminated roads and decided those were a good starting point. Of course, I made some changes. First, I wanted all the roads to be 10 cm wide, the ones in the template were just about not 10 cm, so this meant some readjusting. Then I decided I wanted everything to be in increments of 10-20-30, so I cut off pieces here and added some there to achieve that. With the shapes decided, I cut them out of my felt. The result is 1 roundabout, 1 crossing, 2 t-splits, 4 bends, 2 long curvy roads, 4 long straight roads, 4 short straight roads, and one.. parking lot? An end bit that I felt would be stupid to waste.

When they were cut out, I really wanted to add road markers too. I first tried by fusing some felt to the top, but it was easily pluck-off-able and I decided that wasn’t good for a young person. So I turned to the next option, fabric paint. Since the Netherlands was still in lockdown, it had to be ordered online and I just hoped it would work. Turns out, it does. I made some more templates, cut out the sections where I wanted markings to be and got to painting. Every section then needed to be ironed for 5 minutes. This seems like a long time and my iron has an auto-off function so I don’t know if they have been ironed ‘enough’. However, I also test painted some numbers onto a shirt and popped it in the laundry and they didn’t come off, so I called it good. I hope that they will be useful for some time to come.

Toothy Shark

Because a shark can never have small teeth.

While finishing up the hamster, I also finished up the shark. The shark is again a free pattern from Sew Desu Ne / CholyKnight. This mighty sea creature was an even easier sew than most other plushies, just sew two darts, stitch together three fins, align them in place, and sew 4 seams (back, two belly and a tail) and it’s done.

The only thing that caused a little bit of trouble was his giant mouth. The iron on teeth are formed from a moon shaped piece with triangle sewing. I wanted to stitch the teeth before I put the mouth piece on, but at the first try the thread managed to catch and pull. So I switched tactics and put some paper under the mouth so I could sew beyond the edge without difficulties. This solved the problem and the mouth was soon affixed to his underside.

In the end, it was very easy to create the shark and I do like him a lot. You can’t necessarily see his teeth when he’s just laying down, but that just means he’s got a fun surprise when you pick him up, right?

Baby Bear Wear

Tiny sweater that probably will not fit.

This post was written on September 9, 2020 as I’d finished the project by then but couldn’t gift it because.. I had to wait for the baby. It’s since been gifted and therefore this post can go live.

Friends of mine are having a baby in December (turns out it was January), so I wanted to make some things. This is the first in what might just become a series. Baby things need very little yarn and fabric because they are so small, so that is quite handy.

I decided that I wanted to knit some sort of sweater, so off to Ravelry I went. The pattern that I went with is called Teddy Bear Sweater by Marta Porcel. The yarn was Zeeman Sophia in the Antra colourway. I used 62 grams of it to finish this little sweater. It was quite a quick knit too, started at 9:30 and finished all the knitting at 4:00. Then I assembled it the next day and embroidered the face onto the front. I’m debating whether it will actually fit because I have 0 sense of how big babies are and the sleeves look quite tight. If it doesn’t fit, that would be a little sad. However, I still enjoyed myself creating it which I think is an important aspect.

Baby stuff part 1 (wrong, seems it’s part 4), completed!

Scrap Nelly

Using leftovers to make a one-pocket sweater.

So I told you a little about Nelly in a previous post (here), but never showed you what I used the original Nelly for. Nelly is reason that I discovered Pattydoo patterns. I found the assymmetry in the sweater so much fun, that I wanted to have it. I apparently bought it in December 2019, printed it, stuck it together and then forgot about it. When rummaging around the sewing room the other week, I found the box of leftover bits of sweater fabric that I still had. This included a small bit of Flamingo and a bit of grey from this sweater. These two fabrics together were precisely enough to make the body and sleeves of the sweater. The neck was about half as tall as it was supposed to be, due to the fact that I didn’t have more fabric.

Now, you might notice that there are a few differences between my sweater and the original. For one, I use only two fabric while there are three in the pattern – I didn’t have a third coordinating fabric, so problem solved by taping two pattern pieces together. Its also a mirror image of the original, that’s because I put the pieces (single layer) on the back of my grey fabric. I was EXTREMELY lucky that I figured out that I had them on the front of the flamingoes before cutting the fabric, and could turn them around. This project would have been a disaster otherwise. The cuffs are also a little shorter, made from some grey jersey in the hoard, mainly because it was already a little large so I didn’t need more length. And lastly, it’s more fitted through the armholes, since I took in the armhole and a bit of the side and sleeve by 3 cm at the widest point. It just looked too baggy. I think it should’ve cut a size smaller.

However, I am happy with it. Fabrics from my stash, nearly using it all up so it’s effectively a nearly free second project, especially as I’m planning on using the pattern more than once. It has the option to make a sweater with a kangaroo pocket or a hood too. I have found that the one pocket is not deep enough for my phone if I bend over, so that might be something to fix in another version.

Brian the Big Brained Derpy Kraken

Making a little stuffed kraken that turned out more adorable than angry.

Way back when I purchased the dragon backpack pattern from CholyKnight, I also got a pattern for a Kraken plush and an Octopus/Animal plush. On Friday, I finally decided to make the adorable little Kraken.

I’d already purchased some dotted minky while getting the dragon fabrics precisely for the purpose of making something octopus-related. I thought the dots could perfectly represent suckers. So I got my grey fabric and some of the yellow dotted stuff and set out to make a Kraken with ‘angry eyes’. When I sent a picture of the finished plush to a friend of mine, he immediately suggested to name him ‘Brian’. Or even better, ‘Brian the bigbrained bracken’ [sic]. He also told me that mine is a little more derpy than the original, with which I totally agree. The pattern does not specify placement for the angry eyes so I sort of.. guessed based on where the regular eyes were positioned. Turns out that I put them a little too close together and now he looks derpy instead of angry.

He’s still magnificent and really soft. The eyes and spots are made of felt and stuck on with some vliesofix. Then I handstitched around them to secure in place permanently. The handstitching was done in a few hours while watching/listening to some old climbing competitions on YouTube, very relaxing. I may need to make another Kraken because I have some more dotted stuff hanging out in my fabric hoard.

Plaid Skort

Sometimes you see something that just inspires you to recreate it for yourself. This is the result.

I’ve been pining over a few pins I found on Pinterest of miniskorts (this is my board). Short shorts with a flap over the front to look like a skirt. So last weekend, I figured I’d finally get started. Got out my regular pants pattern, added some flare to the side seam and set to work. The plan was to have mine based on this pin, with a pocket on one side in a sort of welt type situation. After a bit of fiddling, it turns out that I added too much flare, so I took some out again. I had to take out the waistband and try again because it was too big, but apart from that it was mostly plain sailing.

In the end, I’m still deciding whether I want to add any buttons. Right now I’m ok without them, but I haven’t cycled yet so I don’t know. Perhaps the flap flies up when going at speed and then I might want to get some buttons. It did turn out a little longer than my inspiration pictures, but I guess that’s ok. I’m probably not really one for short shorts anyway.

Mud Holes

After finishing the Snow Season sweater, I immediately cast on the same sweater (Mud Season by Elizabeth Smith) in grey. The plan was to create a sweater with holes in a wrap around pattern and fix the fit issue of the Snow Season.

I started out by plotting my holes in an excel sheet to figure out where I wanted them to be and how far apart they needed to go. Then I got on with the knitting. I got stuck just below the bottom holes on the front because I wasn’t sure how long the sweater needed to be and was too lazy to put it on and see how long it already was. It took me a few weeks to get myself back into action and determine that it was already long enough and just needed ribbing. I chose 1×1 twisted knits rib for the bottom and finished my skein with that.

The neckline is improvised, it’s a collar with 1×1 twisted knits rib with short rows to fill out the neckline. When I started on the sleeves, I decided they needed a spiral holes pattern too. It gave knitting the sleeves a little more interest and kept me motivated. I did have to rip out a quarter of a sleeve when I figured out that I’d miscounted at some point. However, that didn’t dampen my spirits since I was in the train (with the cactus facemask) and felt it was a good use of my time.

I enjoy wearing this sweater. Even if the holes are not very obvious from any form of distance, I know that they are there and that is the most important part. What I didn’t take into account when making all the holes, was that there would be one on each sleeve that would fall DIRECTLY on my elbow. When I first put my elbow down on the table and it was, cold, I was very shocked. Still, it doesn’t bother me really and I think it’s quite funny even. I look forward to wearing this one more often.

Linen Stitch

I’ve had my eye on a particular skein of yarn for quite a long while now. It was yellow moving into grey/purple and white every so often. I couldn’t figure out what to make from it, because doing a sweater would make another racoon. However, it was calling to me and calling to me and eventually I gave in. I bought it and sought a pattern that would fit. In the end, I turned to the Chickadee Cowl, a one-skein bulky linen stitch cowl.

Cast on using the drunken German cast on and got to work. It’s a very easy but satisfying stitch and can be worked quite fast. It took me about a week of rows here and there to finish it. I’m not entirely sure how to wear it, but it is quite nice and I really like the colours. I know it’s a little late in the season for something like this, as Spring is definitely here, but sometimes you just have to be anachronistic.

Taking a Dragon on a Walk

Now that I’m working from home, I need to see more friends on a daily basis. So I decided to make a friend who wouldn’t be influenced by quarantine. I bought the dragon backpack pattern from CholyKnight in December and never dared to actually start. It took until the stay-home-order and throwing the budget out the window to get going.

Getting the fabric was the biggest mental hurdle. Initially I wanted minky, which was what the pattern make advised. However, I was only able to find flat minky in Chinese webshops and not in any local-ish ones. There was some that had raised bumps, and I didn’t think a bumpy dragon would look good. In the end, I settled on something called wellness fleece and got a meter each of bright red, dark grey and black. Where the colours would go was to be the next hurdle. After some deliberation, the back was going to be grey, the belly red and the nails and horns black.

The pattern pieces were taped and cut from the fabric. My floor was COMPLETELY covered in fluff. Fluff everywhere. I only made two changes to the pattern and the first was to change the shape of the wings. There are four types of wings included in the pattern but none of them tickled my fancy. So I googled toothless wings and drafted a pattern based on that. I also decided that I wanted the wing-spine to be a different colour, so I cut that and figured out the order of operations. I was amazed that my sewing machine managed to get through 6 layers of fleece and a layer of foam.

I didn’t have many problems when sewing this new friend, although there were some. According to the pattern, an ‘advanced skill’ was to install a hidden tail pocket with an invisible zipper. This posed no problems. For some reason however, just basting on the bottom straps was the thing I had to rip out multiple times. Very frustrating.

The second change I made was to change the straps. The original pattern includes straps that are just webbing, but that isn’t very comfortable if you ask me. Therefore, I decided to draft some curved straps, based on the straps on my larp backpack. I even used the same fabric as I used for the bottom of those straps. The plan was originally to use back webbing and strap adjusters, but the local sewing shop only had 2 cm and 3 cm wide webbing and 2.5 cm adjusters so that wasn’t going to work. I was very happy to find 2.5 cm wide red webbing in some deep dark recesses of my hoard. That was sewn on top of the straps with some dense zigzag.

Finally, I managed to put the remainer of my new friend together – taking some extra care around the straps to make sure they weren’t sewn into the seam. Cursing a little here and there when there were lots of layers and finally handsewing the last details in place. Once he was done, I took him on an outing to the supermarket to show him life outside my house. He’s probably going to be quite useful since his main pocket is quite large, I can fit most of my underarm in there.

So far, he’s wonderful and I hope that I can show him around to more people.

Tag: Grey