Borrowing From Vintage (again)

Close up of the finished scarf with it's silk Shibori lining

I have always been drawn to the below shawl in my book Vogue Knitting's Vintage Collection. The pattern combines knitting and sewing, which probably explains the attraction.

Halfway into the “Purple Scarf”, I decided it was a good candidate for the lined option. There were two reasons. The yarn (Shetland that I hand painted) was in my opinion a tad bit scratchy. Choosing the pattern that I did, also contributed. I used the “Mock Cable Rib”* that is found on page 42 of Barbara G. Walker’s A Treasury of Knitting Patterns (this is her 1st Volume).

My first swatch was wonderful. But as the scarf progressed, it was obvious that it was going to be very heavy (especially at the length that my daughter wanted). I thought it could double as a small shawl if needed.

Out came the silk, dye, cut wood pieces, and clamps. It was Shibori time. I had a few lessons to learn about “off the bolt silk”. It shrinks big time. I ruined two linings because they were to short when I got finished. ** Finally, with the third try I got it right.

Cut wood pattern (wrapped in plastic to keep dye from soaking in) clamped to folded dyed silk

The Shibori piece that lines the scarf is a simple dye,resist, and over dye. I used the same dyes that I painted the yarn with. Now it is a double duty piece with some visual interest that it would not have had if I had just left it as a knitted piece.

*Mock Cable Rib

Multiple of 5 sts plus 2

Rows 1 and 3 (Wrong side)-K2, *p3, k2, rep from *

Row 2-P2* k3, p2, rep from*

Row 4-P2 * skip 2 sts and insert needle knit wise into front of 3^rd st then taking point of needle in front of the 2 skipped sts,past these sts and around to the right, catch yarn and knit; then sl the 3^rdst off left-hand needle over the 2 skipped sts, taking care not to let the skippedsts come off with it; k2, p2; rep from *.

**Sometimes mistakes turn into good things. I turned the botched linings into a scarf that I love wearing. A picture of it can be found here.

Seeing Purple (for quite a while now)

 

What started out as a small project for my newly adopted Poodle Sophia turned into a two-year marathon for my youngest daughter? 

I vaguely remember how all of this started.  In the beginning, I dyed some of my machine spun Shetland yarn to make a sweater for Sophia.  The people who spun it (some one in Colorado) really did a botched job and I didn’t think the yarn was fit for human use. I dyed the yarn Barbie pink*. In my hurry to dye, I forgot to loosen the factory ties, so ended up with pink yarn with white stripes. Needless to say, Sophia got a sweater out of some different yarn. 

The pink on the left was the original base color.  Using violet over-painting I created  light, medium, and dark yarns to work with.

 

So there it sat, for a few months, my ugly pink yarn with the white stripes.  I must have been bored one day because I got out my foam brush, spray bottle and purple dye** and started painting.  Rachelle saw the yarn and loved it.   When dyed multi hues, the yarn really didn’t look too bad.  The flaws just didn’t glare out at you anymore. I came up with three shades, light, mid-tone, and dark.  This was a good initial decision because over the next several months, I would have to come back and re-dye, re-dye, and re-dye.  In retrospect, this probably was not the best-planed project.  Coming up next, the gloves.   Stay tuned.

* I have been using the same pink dye forever. It is 608 Pink (Primary) from Jacquard. These are the dyes that I first started using.  It is an acid dye, good for protein fibers.  Jacquard is a good dye for beginners. Vinegar is it’s only requirement.  Although, I have changed over to a different brand, I keep this one around.  I just like the color.  Use intensely, it is a great deep red-violet. Used sparingly, it creates perfect ranges of pink.  I love it as an under-base for violet.

** My violet is Sabraset Violet 880. I pretty much use Sabraset exclusively. My opinion is that they are the best when it come to light fastness. They do take a little more work.  Auxiliaries such as citric acid (vinegar can be used, but it takes a lot more the c.a.), salt, sodium acetate, and Albegal SET need to be used with them.  For me, it is worth it.

2 Botched Linings=1 Scarf

There has been a hard and time consuming lesson this week. It is that the silk that I purchased shrinks. I decided to line a scarf that I had knitted for one of my daughters. After dying and doing Shibori resist on lining #1 it came up a good 4” to short. I chalked this up to me just not paying attention and cutting it too short.

So I start lining #2. I knew it was the right length so I go crazy on it with the Shibori. Started to pin it and again to short! OK, they say the third time is the charm. I cut the new lining way longer than I need and am still working on it.

So one of my commandments is. “Thou shall not waste silk.“ So one can always use more scarfs, right? I sewed the pieces together and decided to gather the ends. I can loop one end through the other and come with something that looks like the old fashioned quilting yoyo. I’m happy and no wasted silk. But I am still keeping my fingers crossed when I pin on the new lining!

                             Another way that I like to wear this scarf