I used KoolAid dye (well it's a drink powder from America) to dye the yarn. It's a good start for beginners because it contains Citric Acid, so you don't need to add a fixer. It's really easy to use and not very messy. However, the only drawback is your yarn does seem to come out candy colours (it's like being in a sweet shop!) AND it won't dye plant fibres, such as cotton, only animal fibres. If you want to try it I purchased it from DT Crafts. Recently I've been using acid dyes and Sugarflair food colouring, the world's your oyster - dyeing is so much fun!
This morning I received my lovely new 9" HiyaHiya circular needles from Sarah at Brownberry Yarns. Whatever did I do without these needles?! They are perfect for sock knitting and so light they just glide along. I've found the steel ones much nicer to use than bamboo. They are like gold dust here in the UK and I think Brownberry Yarns are the only UK supplier at the moment - get them while you can.
The teeny weeny needles are pictured here on one of my latest sock projects (Cookie A's Glynis, from her book Sock Innovation). Ooooh I just love them!
How do you find the 9" circulars to work with? From the pic, it looks like you are using only one needle? Is this something that will make my sock knitting much easier?!
ReplyDeleteYes the photo isn't playing tricks! It is just one needle, teeny weeny it is too. No need for dpns, Magic Loop or two circs (apart from if you're doing top down socks then you need to use ML for the toe shaping). They have made my sock knitting so much easier. I just love them to bits:)
ReplyDeleteI was sitting here knitting a hat on one well fitting circular and then I realised, this is exactly how you are knitting your socks!
ReplyDeleteI know it's obvious but I think I've been conditioned using DPN's, then two circulars. Of course it makes sense with one!! Duh!
Thank you for making the obvious penny drop:-)Now, where can I get some......brownberry yarns!