dyeing « Blonde Chicken Boutique

Welcome to Yarn Every Day Month!

By Tara, on April 2nd, 2010%

It’s time to make a little yarn everyday! . . . → Read More: Welcome to Yarn Every Day Month!

Undyed Hemp

By Tara, on March 9th, 2010%

I am loving all the entries to the Name-A-Color contest. But now that I read them, I realize I didn’t give ALL the information in that first hemp post.

You can’t come up with good colors, if you don’t know what you’re working with.

And what I’m working with is a naturally colored hemp.

Which is NOT white.

And that means that I can NOT get bright, crystal clear colors. What I can get are really deep and muted colors like this

(sneak peek of what’s coming Friday!)

If you have an idea for a muted, not-quite-bright color that I should dye, be sure to leave your suggestion in the comments of this post (and hey, you might just win a skein in that color!)

. . . → Read More: Undyed Hemp

Dyeing Self-Striping Yarn

By Tara, on March 8th, 2010%

I’m honoring National Craft Month by posting something crafty that catches my eye every weekday. Share your favorite crafty finds in the comments!

I don’t dye self-striping yarns.

In fact, I rarely dye nearly-solid yarns. (Those multi-color handspun skeins are made of dyed solids, spun together)

But when I first started dyeing, I played around with stripe patterns a lot. But the real challenge is getting the skein long enough to make your stripes long enough.

I did this by wrapping the yarn allll around my apartment. Yes, my apartment. Start at a kitchen chair, around the couch, around the TV, into the bedroom and around the chair in there and back to the kitchen. Yeah, it was a small space!

When I read Scout’s post on using a warping board, I realized I was crazy. And that I probably wasn’t going to be dyeing any more . . . → Read More: Dyeing Self-Striping Yarn

Fiber Friday – Confession

By Tara, on November 27th, 2009%

I usually love dyeing. (Note: that’s dyEing, not dying) Most mornings I get up, have a cup of tea and then put on a pot of dye. I add fiber or yarn, let it simmer, turn it off, let it cool, rinse it and then hang it out to dry on the porch.

But then the cold, wet weather came. And the porch wasn’t get the yarn dry fast enough.

And I wanted to get all the Organic Cotton dry for the Learn to Knit Kit. So I turned to my trusty washing machine. I’ve done this many times: Spin cycle for 2 minutes, take out the fiber, hang it out. It gets the drippy wetness out and it dries so much faster!

But…I stepped away.

And it got ugly. Agitation-cycle ugly. Here’s the proof: (avert your eyes, faint of heart!)

That’s 6 skeins of yarn, not just tangled, . . . → Read More: Fiber Friday – Confession

Learn to dye with Easter egg dyes!

By Tara, on June 12th, 2009%

Easy, non-toxic, totally safe for kids – dyeing fiber with Easter Egg dyes! Get everything you need right here! . . . → Read More: Learn to dye with Easter egg dyes!

Tea dyeing

By Tara, on April 16th, 2009%

Turning leftover tea leaves into beautiful tea-dyed yarn! . . . → Read More: Tea dyeing

Yarn Everday #8

By Tara, on April 14th, 2009%

Dogwoods inspire a pretty yarn . . . → Read More: Yarn Everday #8

Stovetop Dyeing

By Tara, on March 12th, 2009%

Ask Tara is a weekly-ish feature in which I attempt to answer your questions about spinning, dyeing or making videos in a tiny apartment. If you have a question, ask it in the comments and I’ll answer it here with either a post or a video!

When I posted my first video, on dyeing with Easter Egg dyes in the microwave, quite a few people asked: Can you dye on the stovetop?

Short answer: Yes!

Long answer: Here’s how:

Warning #1: You might want to wear gloves. I never do with these non-toxic dyes, but I don’t mind blue fingernails.

Warning #2: You probably don’t even want to use your hands! Get yourself a long poking stick (like a chopstick) and some tongs (so you can flip the fiber)

Warning #3: Don’t agitate the fiber! Add the dye, submerge the fiber and walk away! Let it cool completely . . . → Read More: Stovetop Dyeing

Merging

By Tara, on March 13th, 2008%

I started blogging in 2001, when it wasn’t called a blog, but a “online journal”. All throughout college, I updated it with musings, lists and ideas. After I started knitting, I started a knitting blog, which also included bits of my life: pictures of family, grocery lists, etc. I maintained it until last fall, when I felt that it was important to have a separate business blog, one that didn’t include too much personal information; a place to fully discuss my materials and methods. I didn’t link to my old blog, but I feel that without that great big archive a big part of what BCB is and who I am as a knitter and dyer is lost. To remedy the situation, I’m now importing some of my old posts into this blog, mostly the posts about finished knitted things. At each year’s end, I’ve done a recap of . . . → Read More: Merging

The beginning

By Tara, on March 13th, 2005%

3/13/08 Edited to add: this was my first post of my first knitting blog, I’ve moved it here for posterity’s sake!

But I did accomplish something today! I dyed yarn! I’m going to use it this for this Buttonholde bag (you might have to scroll down a bit to see the pictures on that site). Koolade dying yarn is officially my favorite new Sunday afternoon activity (so much more fun that trying to set up my blog!)