Success in yarn dying!

Good morning! 

I've been busy as of late with my personal life and real job. I apologize for not posting anything...

I wanted to share my success with dying my cotton yarn! 

I am pretty sure I'll be doing more of this!

 

First, I washed it. Making sure I had a clean "palette" to work with. 

Then I made certain to rinse it very well, leaving behind no soap residue. I used the blue Dawn dish detergent. I figured it works on oil covered ducks surely it won't harm my yarn. :)

Next, I filled a stainless pot with hot water and added the dye packet.

I wanted a variegated result so I only put a portion of the yarn into the pot.

Using a wooden spoon I slightly stirred the dye and yarn, making sure the yarn was completely saturated. I then left it to soak for about 30 mins. 

After rinsing in cold water for about 15 mins to make certain I got out any left over due I hung it over a clothes hanger and let it dry for about two days.

I was extremely pleased with the results!

The dye I used was Tulip fabric dye in the powder pouches. It's the same stuff you use to tye dye t-shirts. I have since dyed two more skeins and am using them for washcloths. :) 

Trial and error: Yarn Dyeing

Ok so I've been itching to dye my own yarn. I went out and bought four skeins of acrylic only to discover it's pretty difficult to hand dye. 

So, I dug out a cone of cotton that I've had for ages. 

I washed it.

I rinsed it.

Then I proceeded to dye it. Now, I'm using food coloring and the nice lady in the YouTube tutorial said use vinegar. You can imagine what my house smells like. However, ain't nere a soul eatin' greens up in here today. 

Apparently, you are only supposed to let it come to a boil. I did not. This my friends is what I ended up with...

It is a very pretty shade of green though right??

You'd think after it sat in dye over night the end result would be a lusicous shade of green...wrong.

The good thing is this was fun. I'm going to try again this weekend. It turns out cotton yarn only accepts fiber reactive dye. Like the stuff you use to tye dye tshirts. Animal fibers, like wool, alpaca and mohair, are the only yarns that accept food coloring and kool aide.

 As far as acrylic goes...well I probably won't be dying acrilyc. 😊

Blog Share!!!

I am so in love with everything she makes! Check out all of the precious amigirumi patterns!!! My "to do" list keeps getting longer....

And longer...

And longer...

www.littlemuggles.com

Blog Share! This dude is amazing!

You really need to check out his blog! He's amazing!

www.onemancrochet.blogspot.com

Enjoy!

Random photo of my Ginger Kitty! :)

Embellishments

This is the tutorial showing how I made the cutest bows for my Ladybug's shoes. 

She was given these flats that had snaps but nothing to snap to them. So me being the crafter I am had to fix that :)

I dug out some #10 crochet thread and a size 9 hook and got to work. I started by making little roses out of ecru but didn't like them. That's when I decided on bows. 

Here we go:

Chain 11. 

Row 1: 1 sc in second chain from hook. Repeat 9 x's. 10 sc.

Ch 1. Turn.

Row 2 - 35 repeat row 1.

Row 36:  Fold ends together so that stitches line up. Ch 1 and sc through BOTH ends 10x's forming a circle. Finished. This will be the wrong side. Leave a long length of thead when cutting, as this will be used to make the center of the bow. 

Now turn the circle right side out. Making sure your seam is moved to the center back of your bow. :)

Take the long length of thread and begin wrapping it around the center of your piece, being sure to pull it tight. This will create your "Tie" in the center of your bow. 

I forgot to take a picture of that step but this should be fairly simple to figure out. 😊

Next you will take the "male" piece of your snap and sew it in place on the back of your bow.

Sew in any lose ends and shape your bow as desired! There you go! Now make another one! 😀

I am in the process of making these in lots of colors! Ladybug has requested other designs as well. If you notice the ecru roses. ☺️

We'll get to that...

In the mean time have fun and please find my FB page and share with me! I would love to see them! They can be used for dresses or bags. Anything you would like to adorn with pretty bows! 

Sending Love & light! God Bless!

Lisa

The Tapestry

I promised I would post a picture of the completed project. 

I learned a few things during this process and I had a lot of fun. The finished product turned out nice but it was missing something ...

So I added some embellishments. I realized that my graph was somewhat "boxy" and discovered how to make this image look more fluid. I'll save that for next time. 

She needs a pillow to match I think!!😜

Have a great day everyone!!!

Independence Day

     

I sure hope everyone enjoyed their 4th! We didn't do the traditional fireworks and BBQ. Instead my family hit the river!

We caught a few bream (better known in these parts as red bellies)...

Then we pulled out the good bait! Y'all ever heard of Catawba worms... 

This here is the best catfishing bait you can find! Best part is, they are free! They literally grow on trees. They work too...

Caught a mess of fish! ( sorry 'bout my dish towel but I don't handle those jokers bare handed!)

We enjoyed the weather. It wasn't humid or insanely hot.

It was nice not hearing any vehicles or phones ringing.

We fished and rode the river until the sun started going down.

Today, after church, I got busy canning the veggies from my garden and making me some "pepper sauce". I'll have good food all year now.

For not being a traditional 4th of July for us, it turned out to be one of the best ones yet!! 

Now...back to crocheting and the real world! 😜