July 10, 2005
The evolution of UM pt.1
Here starts the slow growth of the Union Market Sweater that's on the cover of the new IK. I plan to meticulously document every detail so that future generation (or at least y'all) look back and see exactly where it all went straight to hell. Alright, it starts with 16 oz, or 450 grams of (happy, 'cause as a vegan, my wool's gotta come from the happy sheep) merino wool for the main color. The pattern calls for only 400 grams but I'm covering my ass. This will be dark greens with a little of the lighter green for matchiness, and hopefully spin up to a whopping 1400 yards. The contrast color is lighter greens with a bit of the darker and starts as 3.5 oz or 100 grams which will (fingers crossed) spin up to 400 yards.
First I dyed the roving, using the oven method I learned from Hello yarn. I like this method for colors you want to mix and meld and get all cuddly-wuddly with each other. For the MC I used 6 different colors of dark greens, 2 light greens from the CC roving, a bit of yellow and a bit of blue for contrast. I actually measured my dye out and shit. Went for a dos (depth of shade) of 2, taking a total of 6 cups of dye and 3 cups of water (though I let the water in the wool from soaking count for that). The CC took only 7 oz of dye and a cup of water to reach a dos of 1, this was split up between 5 light greens, 2 dark greens, yellow, and a bit of light blue for contrast. Then I washed, rinsed, and spun it dry-ish in my thrift-store salad spinner.
After it dried, and I quit freaking out by the though of my giant camoflauge sweater, I split the rovings into 3 foot sections and then split them length-wise into thin strips so the color mishes instead of pools. Each roving roving was split in half and each half into 7 pieces, making 7 piles.
It took a long time.
Finally I made balls out of each pile, making sure to mix the tones up so that there's not a long patch of one or the other.
Tomorrow I'll spin a bit and see if I can get the guage right, 27 st to 4". WTF, it's a sweater, not socks!
Damn, girl, you're so organized! That sweater's gonna rock!
Posted by: Adrian at July 11, 2005 08:28 AMyou've got beautiful taste! love da greens!
Posted by: delia at July 11, 2005 10:16 AMit seems so overwhelming. i didn't have to measure with koolaid. although i was told to. screw that! i'll do it one thing at a time. i got some incredibly colors of dye that i am really excited about. it is an awesome feeling that you can make it WHATEVER COLOR MIX YOU WANT!! yellow and pink? sure, maybe some green, too. whatever. fuschia? ok! i cannot wait!
Posted by: natasha fialkov at July 11, 2005 12:02 PMit seems so overwhelming. i didn't have to measure with koolaid. although i was told to. screw that! i'll do it one thing at a time. i got some incredibly colors of dye that i am really excited about. it is an awesome feeling that you can make it WHATEVER COLOR MIX YOU WANT!! yellow and pink? sure, maybe some green, too. whatever. fuschia? ok! i cannot wait!
Posted by: natasha fialkov at July 11, 2005 12:02 PMjust recently ran across your blog. very fun! curious about the comment about merino wool, as i am vegan. could you post more about what makes certain wools better for vegans? thank you!
jan
hey jan, I wrote up a big ole e-mail for ya but it bounced, hit me with your e-mail again!
thanks!
Posted by: jacey at July 11, 2005 02:23 PMsorry, jacey! i have a few email accounts for posting (to avoid the spam), but i guess yahoo deleted that one. please try this one -- should work!