Launching Into Hand-Dyed
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Launching into Hand-Dyed A basic guide to knitting and crocheting with hand-dyed yarns f r o m Launching into Hand-Dyed A basic guide to knitting and crocheting with hand-dyed yarns by SpaceCadet® Creations © 2011 edited & designed by Carrie J. Keplinger cjkeplinger.com Launching into Hand-Dyed - Page 2 Chapters 1. Contributors 2. Introduction 3. Understanding The Colour Changes in Hand-Dyed Yarns (by Stephanie Alford) 4. Using Variegated Yarns (by Stephanie Alford) 5. How I Choose the Right Knitting Pattern for My Hand-Dyed Yarn (by Abigail Horsfall) 6. Crocheting with Hand-Dyed Yarn (by Sharon Silverman) 7. Washing Hand-Dyed Textiles (by Christine Maurhoff) 8. About SpaceCadet® Creations Launching into Hand-Dyed - Page 3 Contributors Abigail Horsfall is a member of TAAT Designs, with whom she created the winning sock design in the 2011 Sock Summit “Design For Glory” competition. Her knitting patterns have been featured in several publications, including Vampire Knits: Projects to Keep You Knitting from Twilight to Dawn. Abigail lives and knits in Seattle. Christine Maurhoff is a professional conservator, trained in the conservation of a broad range of textiles and related materials. She holds undergraduate degrees in Chemistry, History of Art and Architecture and Studio Art in addition to a Masters of Art degree in Textile Conservation from the Textile Conservation Centre (TCC), University of Southampton (UK). Christine has worked at the Carnegie Museum of Art and The Andy Warhol Museum, and now works independently in the Pittsburgh area at Maurhoff Textile Conservation. She is available for examinations, treatments, collection surveys, as well as consultation on textile storage, display, handling, pest management and museum quality mounts. She is also available for lectures on a variety of conservation related topics. Launching into Hand-Dyed - Page 4 Sharon Hernes Silverman is a crochet designer, author, and instructor based in West Chester, Pennsylvania. She has written four crochet books including Tunisian Crochet: The Look of Knitting with the Ease of Crocheting and Crochet Pillows with Tunisian and Traditional Techniques. Her next crochet title will be published in fall 2012. Sharon also has a private line of patterns available at her website and via Ravelry. You are cordially invited to visit Sharon's website, look her up on Ravelry (CrochetSharon) and join her on Facebook (Sharon Silverman Contemporary Crochet). Stephanie Alford is the SpaceCadet®. She has been fascinated by fiber ever since she first took spinning lessons at the age of 11. She taught herself to knit at 19, went back to spinning (and actually got the hang of it) ten years later and, along the way, picked up a bit of experience in weaving, a smidge of crochet, and a degree in Textiles and Clothing. But it was when she began dyeing that she felt she’d really found her calling. She has lived half her life in the US and the other half in the UK, which explains her spelling. Stephanie’s hand-dyed yarns and fibers can be found at SpaceCadet® Creations. Launching into Hand-Dyed - Page 5 Introduction Those first few steps into knitting or crochet often start small – “I just want to try it” – but quickly bloom into something much bigger, a journey of crafting that inspires us to move on to ever more challenging fiber arts. It begins with casting on or a foundation chain, which usually leads to a simple scarf (and we all have a wonky garter stitch scarf hiding in a closet somewhere, don’t we?). And from there, it goes on to hats, mitts, shawls, and sweaters. We discover knitting and crochet magazines, and our skill levels grow. We experiment with novelty yarn, or discover the joys of luxury fibers. For some of us, the siren call leads us to try spinning, weaving, dyeing. And one day, we discover the wealth of fiber arts resources on the web... Once the bug has bitten, there is no going back. But one thing that often proves a stumbling block on this journey of fiber arts discovery is taking the leap into hand-dyed yarn. It is a very special kind of yarn, and taking that first step requires a certain sense of adventure. The colours can be amazing, with depths and tones that are breathtaking and variegations that can be downright intimidating. Many times knitters and Launching into Hand-Dyed - Page 6 crocheters shy away, but that would be missing out on some of the best parts of the fiber arts journey. So I put together this guide in order to make the move into hand-dyed yarns a little easier. It explains the basic types of hand-dyed yarns, how to identify them and understand their colour changes, and how to choose patterns for them. We look at it from the points of view of both knitting and crochet, and also how best to care for finished objects made with hand-dyed yarn. For their contributions, I owe a debt of gratitude to Abigail Horsfall of TAAT Designs, Sharon Silverman of Sharon Silverman Crochet, and Christine Maurhoff of Maurhoff Textile Conservation. And for her help in putting together this ebook, I am deeply grateful to Carrie Keplinger of cjkeplinger.com. I sincerely hope this guide helps you on your fiber arts journey and gives you that sense of adventure that allows you freely to explore the amazing world of hand-dyed yarns. Because once that bug bites? There really is no going back! Stephanie SpaceCadet® Creations Launching into Hand-Dyed - Page 7 Understanding the Colour Changes in Hand-Dyed Yarns by Stephanie Alford © SpaceCadet® Creations Walking up to a wall of hand-dyed yarns at a fiber festival or yarn show can be daunting. There are just so many colours! And they are all swirling about one another in crazy, delicious, delirious combinations. Many knitters and crocheters dive right in, but many others hang back. “What’s it going to knit up like?” they ask nervously. “What will it look like?” There are several things to take into consideration when first using hand-dyed, but the best place to start is by understanding what type of hand-dyed yarn it is. Whether a yarn is dyed in gently Launching into Hand-Dyed - Page 8 undulating shades of the same hue or with wild changes from one colour to another makes a big difference to the type of pattern that will suit it. And understanding these differences will help you choose a stitch that will really show off both the pattern and the yarn. Hand-dyed yarns can be generally put into three categories. I tend to call them “Semi-Solids,” “Gently Variegated,” and “Wildly Variegated.” Carol J. Sulcoski, in her wonderful book Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarns, calls them “Nearly Solids,” “Muted Multis,” and “Wild Multis.” Either way, the distinctions are the same. Launching into Hand-Dyed - Page 9 Semi-solids gently move through different shades of a single colour. The transitions from lighter to darker are usually subtle and gradual, giving the colour more life than if it had been dyed in a single shade. Because the colour changes in Semi-solids aren’t very attention-seeking, they don’t draw the eye away from intricate stitch work. And for that reason, Semi-solid yarns are a wonderful choice for complicated patterns and delicate lace work. Examples of Semi-solids are SpaceCadet’s Celeste yarn in Torment and Lucina yarn in Clandestine. Launching into Hand-Dyed - Page 10 Gently Variegated yarns contain more than one colour but the overall effect is still subtle and gentle. The colours are all closely related in either hue or value, so the changes don’t pop out too much. Gently Variegated yarns can be used for textured stitchwork, but they work best where the patterns are simpler so the colour changes don’t compete with the stitches. The kind of intricate patterns that work so beautifully with Semi- solids would be overwhelmed by Gently Variegated yarns, but choosing a simpler pattern lets their colours sing. SpaceCadet’s Luna Laceweight in Resplendence and Lucina yarn in Translucence are good examples of Gently Variegated yarns. Launching into Hand-Dyed - Page 11 And finally, there are Wildly Variegated yarns. These are the yarns that grab everyone’s eye, the ones that seem to jump right out of the yarn basket and yell, “Look at meeee!” They contain multiple colours of wildly differing hues and values, and their colour changes are distinct and eye-catching. With colour as commanding as that, the key is to choose a knitting pattern that will make the colours the feature and not compete with them. So, with Wildly Variegated yarns, the best patterns use simple stitches that really let the yarn show itself off. Good examples of Wildly Variegated yarns are SpaceCadet’s Celeste yarn in Submerge and Estelle yarn in Cold Flame. Launching into Hand-Dyed - Page 12 So, there we have it. Three categories of hand-dyed yarns — Semi-Solid, Gently Variegated, and Wildly Variegated — and one simple rule to start out with: When the yarn has wild colour changes, go for simpler stitchwork. Conversely, when the colour changes are gentler, the yarn can handle more complicated pattern work. Just keeping that in mind when you match your yarns to patterns will help ensure you end up with finished objects in which both your yarn and your stitches shine. Launching into Hand-Dyed - Page 13 Using Variegated Yarns by Stephanie Alford © SpaceCadet® Creations Sometimes, when I'm talking to a customer at a show or yarn festival and she's holding a crazy- coloured yarn in her hands, she'll look down at it and say, "It's beautiful, but what do I make with it?!" And I totally understand where she's coming from: hand-dyed yarn can be quite intimidating, especially if it's full of wildly variegated colours.