elliebelly – Page 9 – Elliebelly Knit & Dye Works

Knitting with Silk Hankies. Who Wants to Try It?

Posted on February 4, 2011 by Joyce Makes Art

Silk hankies anyone?

I've had so many conversations with people about knitting with silk hankies since my original post on the topic, which piggy-backed on Stephanie McPhee's project, that I decided to share some of my hand-dyed hankies with a lucky reader. Post in the comments below (make sure I have an email address so I can contact you if you win) and I'll pick a winner next Friday night.

To get everyone started, here's a YouTube video that's very helpful. It has very cute cats as an added plus.

The Knitted Rug

Posted on January 30, 2011 by Joyce Makes Art

Kimberly R has finished the rug she made for me, and was nice enough to provide pictures in advance of its arrival. It looks beautiful. I'm planning on using it as the perfect splash of color in our playroom, although it has occurred to me that it's so beautiful that I may be forced to redo our bedroom around it.

I sent Kimberly a big box full of Elliebelly yarn, dyed on a bulky superwash Merino base. In case you missed that post and want to see the yarn, it's located here. The idea was to put all those different colorways to use — I'm planning on using the leftovers to do scrappy sweaters for Ollie (and Ellie if the leftovers holdout).

This rug has to be one of the most innovative patterns I've ever seen. Thanks Kim!

New Year, New Yarn

Posted on January 1, 2011 by Joyce Makes Art

The winner of the skein of Wool 2 Dye 4's Sparkle, dyed in the Pink Love colorway, is Holly, who commented:

What a great way to start out the new year-knitting a pair of pink socks for my daughter!!

I can't think of a better way to start out the New Year either. I hope Holly's daughter enjoys her socks!

Blog Give Away: Some Yarn for the New Year

Posted on December 29, 2010 by Joyce Makes Art

If you need a little yarn inspiration to get the new year off to a good start, you've come to the right place! Leave a comment below and I'll have the kids draw a random name on New Year's Day to send this yarn on to. Make sure I've got an email contact for you, or come back to check and see if you've won! (My apologies, but I can only ship to a U.S. address)

This is a very special yarn from Sheila at Wool 2 Dye 4, one of my favorite places to buy luxurious, but well priced, undyed yarn. In addition to being incredibly nice, Sheila has the knack for sourcing some of the finest base yarns around, and she always seems to be first with new ideas. This yarn, Sheila's Sparkle, is a blend of Superwash Merino with just enough nylon so your knitted item will hold its shape, and a little bit of Stellina for sparkle. We aren't talking tinsel bright here — just enough sparkle to give your new pair of socks a little bit of whimsy. It's perfection and as an added plus, the yarn was lots of fun to dye. The give away skein is 438 yards of lovely sock weight yarn in Elliebelly's Pink Love colorway.

Thanks Sheila, for giving us another wonderful yarn to place with! In addition to the give away skein, I dyed a skein for myself, to use for Ellie's Barn Raising Quilt.

Knitting A Basic Hat

Posted on November 30, 2010 by Joyce Makes Art

Ollie, who is seven, is one of my favorite consumers of knitted goods because he is so appreciative. He tries to keep wearing them long after they are outgrown.

I decided on one last minute birthday gift for him-a basic hat. I'm using one skein of Elliebelly bulky Talia Merino in a paintbrush colorway. So far, it's all 2×2 rib. I haven't decided yet whether to do it like that the whole way up or switch to stockinette (or stripe? linen stitch, which looks great in the paintbrush colorways?) I'm fortunate this bulky yarn knits up quickly, as I've only got a few days left to finish it!

Easy Play Silk Gift Wrap — Naturally Dyed

Posted on November 24, 2010 by Joyce Makes Art

Who knew it could be this easy? I decided to do a quick experiment with Tumeric, a big piece of silk, and a little bit of time. Ignoring all of the directions I found on the web, which suggested I boil the Tumeric in my pot, let it sit for hours, then carefully strain the dye bath before immersing my silk, I dumped a 1/4 of a cup of Tumeric into my big boiling pot. I took some care to whisk it in until all was thoroughly dissolved. While all this was going on, my big square of silk was soaking in some water (to open up the fibers to accept the dye more readily and evenly). I plunged it in.

I spent several minutes gently stirring for even dye distribution. I pushed down the air pockets that formed. And then I left it to sit, walking by to stir it every few minutes while keeping the pot just below a simmer for 45 minutes. I turned off the pot and let it sit for a couple of hours to cool.

That lovely golden color is brighter than it will be when the silk is dry, but I had no runoff issues while rinsing it off (although my pot does seem to have taken on a permanent tinge of Tumeric, which is fine by me since it is one of those herbs that is medically beneficial). I did rinse carefully to get off the fine Tumeric powder I saw here and there on the silk, but the color is very even across the piece.

The possibilities from here on are unlimited:

overdye it with another color for a crackle effect
stamp holiday motifs on it with paint
sew on some beads or ribbon
applique
print out fabric gift tags on the computer and sew onto the silk

I haven't quite decided where I'm going from here, but I'm really happy to have an easy, naturally dyed gift wrap that can be used again and again (if the kids don't swipe it for a superhero cape or butterfly wings). Please let me know if the comments if you do your own reuseable gift wrap and have any ideas to share!

A Big Box of Yarn

Posted on November 14, 2010 by Joyce Makes Art

Last month, one of my favorite online vendors, Necessitate, did an auction to benefit a charity that works with the families of terminally ill infants. How could you not want to contribute?

I found a listing from KimberlyR for a "Scrappy Rug." She was offering to knit a big bulky I-Cord spiral rug, using the winning bidder's yarn scraps. Yarn love. So I am sending her this.

I know. It's not exactly scraps. But I decided it would be fun to have a rug done up in my favorite Elliebelly colorways. I had some bulky superwash yarn — an American produced yarn that had never been part of Elliebelly (its a sort of superwash cousin to the Talia bulky weight yarn I did), but that I had purchased a large amount of to do some knitting for my kids — and I seemed to have a lot of random skeins. Perfect!

From L-R, Top to bottom, that's Pallas, Agatha Wants to Win, Moulin Rouge, Nightingale, Farmhouse, and Alphabet Block. (They look different because the yarn hasn't been reskeined after dyeing to mix up the colors. This is something many dyers, including me, do because it gives a better idea of how the yarn will look knit up).

Marble Angel, Sacajawea, Sunflower, Retro-Kitchen, Pretty Kim, and Sakura.

And finally, Treasure, Peter Rabbit, Guppy Creek, Crayon, Urban Myth, Cleo and Baba Yaga.

I'm sending Kim 26 skeins in all — there are two each of Urban Myth, Baba Yaga, Cleo, Agatha, Sacajawea, Sunflower and Crayon. Each of these skeins comes in at 105 grams/3.7 ounces, so there is a lot of yarn goodness in the box. I thought she would enjoy having a lot to play with. I'll use her leftovers in scrappy hoodies I'm knitting for the kids.

The box will be on the way to her in the morning. I can't wait to see the results!