03.23.07

A Skein of Country Girl Yarn

Posted in Knitting at 9:23 am by Lynette

A while back I remember posting that I would show the process I go through to hand paint self patterning yarn.  I’ve been dying yarn for about a year and have almost completely converted to using my own product in my socks.  I still have a few skeins of commercial yarn to finish up though.

The process actually covers about 3 days.   The first day I measure the skeins then the’re wound on the peg board.  I didn’t take a photo of that, it is kind of boring.  Next is the dying and wraping using plastic wrap to keep all those mini skeins separate.  I’ve decided I should purchase stock in cling wrap.  I use a lot! After that is the steaming for 40 minutes to set the dye. 

Here you go, three skeins of dyed, wrapped and steamed yarn.

 Next they have to be unwrapped, rinsed and spun in the washer to remove as much water as possible.  Then they are hung, in this case, in my sunroom to dry. 

In the winter they hang in front of the Monitor Heater and usually dry over night this completed the 2nd day of the process.

Up until now I’ve kind of enjoyed the process.  But next comes the really tedious part, for me at least; the unwinding.  You see the yarn, after drying, has to be put back on the winding board and unwound into a skein.  Usually I can do a skein in about 15 minutes.  I put in a good movie, cross my fingers and hope that I didn’t get any knots during the previous steps. 

This is also the time I finally get to see what it might possibly look like when knit up.  I really don’t have a specific formula when I dye yarn but I do a test skein before I actually dye the lot of 10 skeins.  I keep a detailed dye sheet on each colorway so I can reproduce it.  After several months of doing this I have learned what will work and how it will look when knit, but it is always a surprise to see how a new skein will look. 

My DH makes these winding boards by the way.  They cost $20.  If you are interested email me here and I’ll send the specifics to you.

 After trudging through the unwinding process I rewind it into a ball so I can use it to make socks or skein for sale. 

Here is the finished ball of Country Girl Yarn. 

You really cannot truly see the finished patterning in any of these processes.   I really don’t know how the yarn will knit up until I make a pair of socks.  So, tomorrow, the finished socks.

Sure, this is a long process.  There are many steps but I do enjoy most of them.  As in most hand created items, the general public is usually not aware of  the time and effort that goes into, in this case, one skein of yarn.  So the next time you purchase a skein of hand paint yarn at your LYS, realize you are buying a work of art.  In my case, each skein is individual, a unique item and I sell them for $18.00. 

Since spring is officially here, I’m in the process of dying new colors.  You can visit here to see what is completed.  More to come.

If you would like to take a class from me and learn how to dye your own self-patterning yarn, the class will be offered at the Shaniko Wool Gathering in September.   Registration will start on April 1st.

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