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.