Jason Knits

Dyeing, that’s another thing that I didn’t see myself doing until, oh, maybe when we move to a larger place. But I thought it would be good to learn the process, to get some hands-on experience, to gain understanding of another aspect of the fiber art. So when I saw that John was teaching a class, I signed up.

The method that John taught is super easy and quick to do. It is less precise but it produces the kind of result that I am looking for. I am quite surprised and very happy. I won’t go into the instructions since John is still teaching these classes. I don’t want to be the one to put up his class details on the internet. That wouldn’t be nice to him. But I am sure that some of you will know exactly the process once you see the photos.

This is Sandy. One of the partners of “the place”. I don’t want to come right out and tell you where it is because I am still weary of certain someone that might nab the info and use it for whatever.

Here’s the sample that John created to show the process to the class. I am sure that some of you can figure out what that process is. I love it.

My partner in crime. Sorry, I didn’t try to remember names. *blush*

John and Jill standing next to each other, and a very nice lady. Again, sorry, I didn’t try to remember names.

Class in action.

Testing the PH level in the water.

This nice lady took a spinning class right after the dye class. I think she was hooked.

This is my creation. About 3 oz. of superwash merino. It’s nice, but not the colors that I wanted. I wanted the dominant color to be dark burgundy, with a little bit of orange yellow and navy blue mixed in. Darker colors. But, I decided to share my dye pan with another, and this is the result we agreed on. I might tweak it a little more later or I might spin it and ply the singles with something different.

The dye also sets really fast with superwash fiber. John warned me about this. I cut down the amount of the fiber I wanted to dye from 6 oz to 3 oz so there’s less for the dye to work through. But then I agreed to share my pan and more fiber was added, making it difficut to get an even result. But I think I like the look.

I like dyeing un-spun fiber. I can have variety of ways to change the look of the final product.

Ummm… I think I am going to be dyeing more soon. LOL

Marianne and Kerry both wanted to know what kind of tree this is. Took a while to find it on Google. It is called Floss Silk Tree (Chorisia speciosa). The reason why it’s called floss silk is that the fruits contain fluffy fiber. According to Wayne’s Word (scroll down to Fibers From Seeds and Seed Pods) this fiber is difficult to spin and mainly used as waterproof filler for mattresses, softballs, life preservers, etc.

As you can see, the trunks and limbs of the trees are filled with thorns. They do not say “hug me”. But there is a thornless relative, Chorisia speciosa “Majestic Beauty“, that’s suppose to flower as much.

The parrots that come to feed on the fruits are Yellow-Chevroned Parakeets.

Here are some more hummingbird pics:

The brown pods in the picture are old fruits. They don’t show the white cottony fluff. I will have to remember to take photos of the new fruits and the parakeets in winter.

Here’s a surprise. Well, at least a surprise to me. This common household plant bloomed! I’ve never seen this happened before.

I had a tough time trying take a decent picture of the sample I knitted with “mahogany”. This is the best that I can do. I think it looks OK. The fabric is a little stiff. Oh well. It’s only a swatch. I’ll use larger needles when I am ready to knit something with it.

The neighborhood is filled with these trees. They are in bloom now.

Hummingbirds love them! You can hear the cute chirping all day. They chase each other around. I am not sure if it is to claim the tree or just being playful. Soon these trees will be filled with fruits, and the parrots will be here. They love breaking them open and eat what’s inside.

What a mess! Wouldn’t you agree?

But not from last week’s accident! hehehe Did I have you going there? This is from earlier attempt. I don’t know why I kept it on my desk. But it came in handy for a little fun. Now it’s time to leave them outside for the birds.

This is what I got from that spindleful of singles…

Spindle spun singles. Navajo plied on the wheel. I’d say a heavy fingering weight. The brown also looks better than the 2-ply. It has a little extra shine to it too. Interesting. I am going to knit a swatch with cable pattern to see how it does.

I decided to take Jane’s advice and just push whatever I could back up the shaft of the spindle and continued spinning. (Thank you all for the pointers. They will be needed in the future!) After I was done, I carefully made a Andean bracelet, then I plied it on the wheel. I didn’t have to sacrifce anything. Yay! However, my Navajo plying skill leaves much to be desired. I have to find someone to demonstrate it for me in person.

I have to start spinning thicker to see what that’s like.

What you see here is the result of an accident. I was spinning away with the rest of the mahogany fiber. I was very eager to have it done so I could try my hands at Navajo plying. Did I lose concentration? Too rushed? I dropped the spindle. The singles popped off the spindle a third of the way. Yuck! I can’t slide it back up. I can’t continue to spin with it. I guess I’ll have to take it off and ply with what I have. Will I have a tangled mess? Ugh!

Note to self: must get “yarn stopper”. I have to get a bag of rubber bands.

No, I haven’t forgotten the book meme. I usually avoid memes. (Don’t believe me? Check the whole blog! hehe) This one I am inclined to do. Maybe because it would involve one of my favorite topics, Buddhist Teachings. Like I stated in a previous post, I read mostly Buddhist materials. So, some of you might not find this interesting. Oh yeah, thanks Ken and Knit Picking for tagging!

1. One book that changed your life: I have to give two answers. There was a little Chinese book on the introduction of the philosophies of “Mind Only” Buddhist tradition. The teaching broke down human experiences layer by layer. It is my nature to get to the bottom of things so it suited me really well. I started to look deeper within myself and was able to find sustainable peace for quite some time. Unfortunately I didn’t keep up the practice. But I gained a clearer picture of what it meant to practice “the ending of suffering & stress.” This also started me searching for a temple that focus on mediation.

Then a few years ago I went to a local Thai Forest Tradition Temple to be a monk for seven days (I got picture to prove it), I took along “The First Discourse of the Buddha” by Ven. Rewata Dhamma. He gave a clear teaching of the Four Noble Truths and the steps of Buddhist meditation practice. With the book and the opportunity to practice sincerely, I was able to say that I finally understood the path. I left the temple with a clear direction. I also realized that I “knew” very little. Meaning that I lacked direct experiences. I could not claim that I “knew” without “seeing”. I was humbled. Practice is the path. And I am walking surely on the path again.

2. One book that you’ve read more than once: “Venerable Acariya Mun Bhuridatta Thera – A Spiritual Biography” by Acariya Maha Boowa. Ven. Mun did not write a biography himself. Using stories told my his students, Ven. Maha Boowa was able to put together his life story. It gives a good picture of the practice of a forest monk. It contains some stories that usually do not get passed beyond the monks’ circle, which makes it a very interesting read. But the important part is how it shows Ven. Mun as a fine example for Buddhist practictioners. He’s the founder of the Thai Forest Tradition after all.

3. One book you’d want on a desert island: Oh, I dunno. Something like “How to Build a Boat”? I would prabably spend more time meditating. Hmmm… Maybe something like “How to Build a Hut”? I will want a hut to meditate in.

4. One book that made you laugh: Well… considering the kind of books that I’ve been reading in recent years, I can’t think of any. LOL (Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung?: Inspiring Stories for Welcoming Life’s Difficulties” by Ajahn Brahm. I haven’t read it. But I have listened to Ajahn Brahm’s audio talks. Ajahn Brahm is a British monk in Australia. He is very clear and super funny. I imagine that the book would be very funny and inspirational too. Just look at the book title!

5. One book that made you cry: This is a tough one. Nothing recent. Maybe “The Heritage of Hastur“, a Darkover novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley, with a big question mark. I read this book 20 years ago. Not sure if I cried. But the Darkover series sure have a lot of tortured souls in them.

6. One book that you wish had been written: Another tough one for me. I think there are enough written down. People just have to want to read it. Also, there are stuff that need to be experienced and not read about.

7. One book you wish had never been written: Any book that distorts truth that eventually causes harm to people.

8. One book you’re currently reading: “Patipada: Venerable Acariya Mun’s Path of Practice” by Acariya Maha Boowa. Deeper exploration of Ven. Acariya Mun’s practice. I’ve been reading this book on and off. (Off at the moment.) Slowly digesting the information.

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read: “The Alden Amos Big Book of Handspinning“. I have taken it off the bookshelf since my last post, and will start reading it soon. People are tired of me asking spinning questions. LOL

10. Tag 6 people: Well, since I don’t like to do memes, I will not push this on anyone. But if you want to, do it, and consider yourself tagged!

My “Hearts” spindle from Woolly Designs was getting really full. The amount of singles had been steadily building up ever since I started spinning. I decided it was time to ply the singles and get it off the spindle, or I’d be dropping more than spinning.

Fiber: Ashland Bay Multi Mahogany Top
Spindle: “Hearts” from Woolly Designs
Spindle spun singles, spindle plied, 2-ply.

The color is a little “bleh” for me. I don’t dislike brown. But this one is not working for me. Not sure what I can knit/make with it.

The photo on the left shows (from left to right) KnitPicks’ “Shadow” lace weight, “Mahogany”, KnitPicks’ “Essential Tweed” fingering weight, and Trekking XXL fingering weight. So, I’d say that I have a fingering weight yarn here.

I took the photo to compare the thickness of the yarn. But I couldn’t help but notice the differences in the look of them. Do you see what I mean? The two on the left are 2-ply and the two on the right are 4-ply. 2-ply yarn looks more textured than the 4-ply yarn. This didn’t surprise me since I recently had discussions with Randall from the guild and Ted the Oracle about what kind of yarn is more suitable for textured knitting. (Don’t hit me, Ted. hehehe) But it was really interesting to see it with my eyes instead of just understanding it in my head.

If you take a bucketful of sand and a bucketful of gravel. Smooth out the top and look at them. The sand would have a smoother surface and the gravel a more textured surface. The reason is that sand is smaller and has less space in between each grain of sand. Gravel is larger and has more space in between. I hope this is making sense.

Now look at the yarn. Two yarn with the same weight, one 2-ply, one 4-ply. 2-ply yarn has two strands of larger singles, 4-ply has four strands of smaller singles. The 2-ply looks more textured because of the larger singles and the bigger space it has in between the singles when plied. It’s more bumpy. The 4-ply with samller singles have smaller space in between the singles. It’s a smoother look. Phew! I am really wordy. But I am not done. LOL Still make sense?

The amount of the twist can also affect the look. Look at KnitPicks’ “Shadow” and my “Mahogany”. I am not sure how to say this. “Shadow” has more twist. More twist seems to squeeze out more space and make the yarn appear to be less bumpy. Know what I mean? I look at my yarn and I know I will want to add more twist to my singles in the future, so there will be more twist when I ply them. That is if I want less bumpy yarn.

Another thing to consider when plying is that 2-ply yarn is more “flat”, 3-ply yarn is more “round” and 4-ply yarn is more “square”. But I am not so sure if it is correct to describe them as such. I must read “The Alden Amos Big Book of Handspinning” from cover to cover. I am sure all that stuff is in there.

So, if I want to do textured knitting like cables, I will want less textured yarn to show off the texture of the fabric. 3-ply or 4-ply will probably be better choices. Hmmm… I think I’ve convinced myself to try Navajo-plying ASAP! LOL

I untwisted some yarn to see how they were plied. I took photos of them. Here they are:

Yarn that I’ve used for textured knitting with success. 1) Plymouth “Encore Worsted”, 3-ply. 2) KnitPicks’ “Wool of the Andes”, 4-ply.

Yarn I have used or am using for lace shawl. 3) KnitPicks’ “Shadow”, 2-ply. 4) KnitPicks’ “Palette”, 2-ply.

Fingering weight sock yarn. 5) KnitPicks’ “Essential”, 4-ply. 6) KnitPicks’ “Essential Tweed”, 4-ply. 7) Trekking XXL, 4-ply.

Ted, I know I know. I’ve said that I didn’t want to get “technical” when I start spinning. Guess I just couldn’t help it. It’s fun to look at things this way.

Sylvia, you really know my brain better than I do. LOL