For sleeve knitting, similar to the cake stand, I plop my sweater in a big aluminum mixing bowl to spin in my lap. Super quick, easy to grab, and a game changer!
I've used rit dye on wool yarn, both the cotton and the synthetic versions just add vinegar and heat. I'd recommend the ChemKnits channel if you want to see it done before you try. I'd also recommend if you want even color to start cool, soak the yarn 30 misn, add dye, soak another 30 mins add heat then finally add vinegar. Don't add any dye after heating/vinegar as it can absorb unevenly.
Bonjour, je viens de découvrir tes patrons grâce au site bleu de Toiles qui les traduits en Français, je crois que j'en ai acheté 10. Du coup on va passer l'année 2023 ensemble et peut-être plus. Je tricote en circulaire que depuis un an. J'adore ta sensibilité et ton monde. alors je m'abonne, mais je ne parle pas ta langue, merci le traducteur
Two more tips regarding sleeves: 1. knitting sleeves before finishing the body, so you have less weight dangling from the sleeve-to-be. This really makes it less cumbersome. I usually knit the body until I run out of that particular skein (or until ~5-10cm if I just attached a new one), then knit the sleeves. This also adds the benefit that you know you're not going to run out of yarn while working your second sleeve; rather you can just knit the body until you run out. 2. knitting bottom up. If you really like top-down sweaters but really hate this sleeve situation, you could even do the rest of the sweater top-down, knit the sleeves bottom up and then graft the sleeve and the yoke stitches together.
I was once given a gorgeous handknit wool sweater, cables everywhere, that was fluorescent pink. Not my color. I dyed it in a bathtub using rit dye and the resultant plum was beautiful. This was 50 years ago…
For sleeves after the sweater body, I fold the sweater body up fairly small, grab big claw clips for hair, and clip the body together so it is all one compact piece. It helps finagle it so much better!
Love the tattoos!! I have several too,which surprises people since I'm 65,! 😉 I also have a sheep....but it's a black sheep, because, well, ya know. 😁 On that one it's all about "placement '! 😂 I always knit sleeves before the body because I always fear I'm going to run out of yarn and have one sleeve shorter than the other.
One other thought on the color bleed question: I've had a lot of issues with profuse dye bleeding, even from bigger name dyers like Neighborhood Fiber Co and Madelintosh. Prewashing the yarn can help if your swatch bleeds ahead of time. If you know you have a yarn thats bleeding but it's too late to prerinse the yarn, definitely block in *cold* water and monitor it closely, rinsing it thoroughly whenever you see color leaking. As long as the water is cold and you're rinsing it off right away it shouldn't have a chance to stain your garment - it's heat (and time) that really causes dye to set.
I am so jealous right now. I live in Kansas and we haven’t had a big snow in years!! I miss that feeling when everything is so quiet and the world is covered in magical, glittery snow! 😢
i put my sweater in a salad spinner or other light, big bowl. Pull the sleeve out to work on it and then rotate the bowl instead of the bulk of the sweater. Great episode Andrea!
I’m fond of knitting the sleeves before I work the body. There is less weight and bulk to shift. When I go back to work the body, I tuck the sleeves to the inside of the sweater and carry on!
For the line where the difference in yarns is obvious, depending on the knitted pattern, a person could embroider a design covering the line. Probably not a good choice here. Another option would be doing several rows of duplicate stitch offsetting the stitches in each row (like eye of partridge) using one of the colors creating a marling effect. A third option would to be to make a strip a few inches wide of some design like a lace edging or a cabled strip (or other design) in a completely different color and applique it over the line. In the case of the Pink Fizz you might be able to blur the differences in the stockinette areas with the duplicate stitch patterning and see if the line gets lost in the patterned sections. This is the choice I would try - do either front or back, reblock and then assess. My choice would be the back first.
I have a love/dislike relationship with sleeves. Happy to be near the end of the project- but dislike the tangling and constant turning, will try these tips! 💖
Hi Andrea just wanted to let you know the Annie Rowden pattern you mentioned is called Morning Mist. Thank you for all the beautiful designs and inspiration you provide.
Just popping in to say I have also followed the ChemKnits tutorials on dying yarn. She has such a scientific approach to dying and explains what she's doing as well as the why behind it. She definitely has tutorials on overdyeing.
I agree with you about sleeves especially when I’m knitting down towards the cuff. It feels like I am almost finished even though I might still have 1/3 - 1/2 of the knitting left on the sweater. I also turn the sleeve back and forth and it avoids twisting the fabric and yarn.
Thank you for all the great info I always learn something. Am looking forward to the kal just have to decide sweater or shawl have a great week I am in michigan so we are getting bad weather later today be safe and enjoy mother nature
For skeins in more than one dyelot, I would lean into the color block concept and treat them like two different colors. If you catch it soon enough you could add a line of another color between the skeins.
I recently spilled tea on some beautiful Wandering Flock Cosmic Tye Dye and it permanently stained it! Now I'm having to over dye the whole shirt, but this was to say that tea easily stains (dyes) yarn without prep. I would definitely test first!
RIT dyes are generally for cotton, linen, rayon and other plant or woody fibers. For wool and silk you need dyes designed for protein fibers. Better to do some research on this before dying a valuable project. Also do some tests on some swatches. I have dyed lots of things as a costume designer and it is not hard but really important to know the fiber you are dealing with and the best way to achieve color with that. We all know wonderful folks dying yarn. They might even be willing to help you in a situation like this.
I like to stop and do the sleeves before finishing the body of the sweater. It's a nice break, I can manage the yarn amounts better, and I don't get stuck on sleeve island.
To the person asking about a tea bath for her sweater: Tea will absolutely stain wool, but it might fade a little bit over time. I’d try a swatch. Black tea (usually orange pekoe) has tannins, a natural mordant, but you can add alum at 6 Tbsp per pound of wool if you want to REALLY set the color.
Wow great idea....going to use my lazy susan from my spices in my kitchen cabinet! Amazing how many items we have in our homes that have dual uses. Thanks Andrea!
Great tip on knitting the sleeve, I'll try that next time. In addition I usually knit the sleeves before I've finished the body. I knit till I ran out of yarn for the body then I knit the sleeves (usually about 5-10 cm/2-4 inches). Less bulk and it goes faster
I knit sleeves with a lazy Susan bowl in my lap for the body. It’s amazing, not only because it rotates, but in the summer, it keeps the heat off your skin! I sometimes also knit the sleeves before finishing the body for the same reason, and to miss it up, and avoid sleeve island.
Look forward to your podcasts every Friday and rewatch the past during the week. Tattoos are beautiful, actually thought perhaps a few were copied from your children's artwork. Thanks so much for sharing.
Once I used some food colouring with citric acid to dye some yarn successfully. I followed a video that I found on RUclips. The video was made by a very well known yarn dyer. She had used commercial dyes. But liquid food colours worked as well for me
I'm so excited to join your kal! I have not too much left on my first birds of a feather shawl and I might cast on next one, because I enjoy it so much! (and I have just the perfect yarn for it!)
I really hope I'll be able to finish up the sweater I'm swatching for right now for the MTMKAL! Either way, the Gib II is coming to my husband's wardrobe this year! 😁
Great suggestion to use reverse stockinette on the bottom part of the sock. I'm like the princess and the pea when it comes to wearing handmade socks. I haven't made one pair that I can wear because my feet are so sensitive. Thanks Andrea, I will give that a try.
I found your podcasts recently and I'm really enjoying them - thank you. I'm currently having fun knitting your DRK Everyday Socks. Now going to take a peak at the KAL.
I also love knitting sleeves! They can sometimes take a while, but usually I'm excited to be almost done with my sweater and can get the sleeves done in less than four days. If I'm on a time crunch, I'll knit them two at a time to speed it up a little
I’m so excited to be doing the KAL! I have a Wool and Honey WIP and I cast on a new Ramble! I found the Big Cozy KAL kept me on track to actually FINISH a sweater quickly (for me), so I’m hoping this one will do the same for my Wool and Honey because it’s been languishing since December
I don’t think you actually need to do anything special with tea! It has a ton of tannins in it which is one of the things you can use to prep fiber. I recently looked into this out of curiosity because I spilled tea on my (cotton) tree skirt at Christmas, washed it immediately after and it stained SO badly. Tannins are anything that bind to proteins I believe. Anyways, tea is incredibly staining. I don’t know if there is any special prep for wool though.. I’d assume since it’s a protein fiber it should work?
I rarely knee toe up socks because of the cast on. I have tried several methods. What Am I doing wrong. I have purchased the DRK everyday socks and now I am stumped. Is the whole, entire sock knit knit from the bottom needle of the magic loop? Am I wrapping it wrong. Pulling the needle out wrong? 🤷
I believe you can use RIT dyes for wool, though I haven't personally tried this, also the Wilton's food coloring dyes seem to be popular as well; I have used kool aid and did soak my fiber in vinegar/water first.
Hello. Can anyone help me with the uploading of the photo onto the Ravelry KAL forum. I joined the EXTRAS and take the photo and choose it but it only inserts a text into the box…no picture. I want to show my Inclinations shawl, I love knitting it and the squishy nature of the shawl.
Unfortunately overdying doesn’t always solve the issue either as the different dye lots absorb diff. amounts of the new dye. Overdyed a cream pair of fingerless mitts that didn’t show until after washing. Overdyed with grey and had an even more serious colour difference. Overdyed with blk and had grey blk and blk. So, perhaps a sample with some leftovers from both lots would be helpful.
![Baby Kia - GLOVES & DRACS (BLACK AF1s) [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ajm8LeB0qQk/mqdefault.jpg)
For sleeve knitting, similar to the cake stand, I plop my sweater in a big aluminum mixing bowl to spin in my lap. Super quick, easy to grab, and a game changer!
Or a lazy susan.
Perfect timing. I’m just getting ready to start sleeves on a WIP. 👍🏻
That’s brilliant!!
Ok that sounds genius!
🤯
In Tennessee, where I currently live, there's a saying about cardinals. "When cardinals appear, angels are near!" Love your videos!
I've used rit dye on wool yarn, both the cotton and the synthetic versions just add vinegar and heat. I'd recommend the ChemKnits channel if you want to see it done before you try. I'd also recommend if you want even color to start cool, soak the yarn 30 misn, add dye, soak another 30 mins add heat then finally add vinegar. Don't add any dye after heating/vinegar as it can absorb unevenly.
Bonjour, je viens de découvrir tes patrons grâce au site bleu de Toiles qui les traduits en Français, je crois que j'en ai acheté 10. Du coup on va passer l'année 2023 ensemble et peut-être plus. Je tricote en circulaire que depuis un an. J'adore ta sensibilité et ton monde. alors je m'abonne, mais je ne parle pas ta langue, merci le traducteur
Two more tips regarding sleeves:
1. knitting sleeves before finishing the body, so you have less weight dangling from the sleeve-to-be. This really makes it less cumbersome. I usually knit the body until I run out of that particular skein (or until ~5-10cm if I just attached a new one), then knit the sleeves. This also adds the benefit that you know you're not going to run out of yarn while working your second sleeve; rather you can just knit the body until you run out.
2. knitting bottom up. If you really like top-down sweaters but really hate this sleeve situation, you could even do the rest of the sweater top-down, knit the sleeves bottom up and then graft the sleeve and the yoke stitches together.
I was once given a gorgeous handknit wool sweater, cables everywhere, that was fluorescent pink. Not my color. I dyed it in a bathtub using rit dye and the resultant plum was beautiful. This was 50 years ago…
For sleeves after the sweater body, I fold the sweater body up fairly small, grab big claw clips for hair, and clip the body together so it is all one compact piece. It helps finagle it so much better!
Love the tattoos!! I have several too,which surprises people since I'm 65,! 😉
I also have a sheep....but it's a black sheep, because, well, ya know. 😁
On that one it's all about "placement '! 😂
I always knit sleeves before the body because I always fear I'm going to run out of yarn and have one sleeve shorter than the other.
One other thought on the color bleed question: I've had a lot of issues with profuse dye bleeding, even from bigger name dyers like Neighborhood Fiber Co and Madelintosh. Prewashing the yarn can help if your swatch bleeds ahead of time. If you know you have a yarn thats bleeding but it's too late to prerinse the yarn, definitely block in *cold* water and monitor it closely, rinsing it thoroughly whenever you see color leaking. As long as the water is cold and you're rinsing it off right away it shouldn't have a chance to stain your garment - it's heat (and time) that really causes dye to set.
I am so jealous right now. I live in Kansas and we haven’t had a big snow in years!! I miss that feeling when everything is so quiet and the world is covered in magical, glittery snow! 😢
Same here.. it’s already starting to warm up. 😭
i put my sweater in a salad spinner or other light, big bowl. Pull the sleeve out to work on it and then rotate the bowl instead of the bulk of the sweater. Great episode Andrea!
A salad spinner works for turning your work around as you knit your sleeves, too!
I’m fond of knitting the sleeves before I work the body. There is less weight and bulk to shift. When I go back to work the body, I tuck the sleeves to the inside of the sweater and carry on!
the cake stand idea for sleeves is genius!!
For the line where the difference in yarns is obvious, depending on the knitted pattern, a person could embroider a design covering the line. Probably not a good choice here.
Another option would be doing several rows of duplicate stitch offsetting the stitches in each row (like eye of partridge) using one of the colors creating a marling effect.
A third option would to be to make a strip a few inches wide of some design like a lace edging or a cabled strip (or other design) in a completely different color and applique it over the line.
In the case of the Pink Fizz you might be able to blur the differences in the stockinette areas with the duplicate stitch patterning and see if the line gets lost in the patterned sections. This is the choice I would try - do either front or back, reblock and then assess. My choice would be the back first.
Two at a time sleeve knitter here. Love it and I am successful at it.
I use an acrylic lazy susan turn table with sides when I do sleeves. I just rest it on my lap or on a table and turn it. Game changer for me.
I have a love/dislike relationship with sleeves. Happy to be near the end of the project- but dislike the tangling and constant turning, will try these tips! 💖
Thanks for sharing your knitting tattoos! I am always looking at the yarn heart on your hand. So fun to get a close up look. I just love that one!
Super funny about the clear koolaide haha! Stay well! kimberly
Hi Andrea just wanted to let you know the Annie Rowden pattern you mentioned is called Morning Mist. Thank you for all the beautiful designs and inspiration you provide.
I was at Salvation Army with my sister and I always look for hand knitted items and I found the shift cowl and it came home with me, yeah!!
Just popping in to say I have also followed the ChemKnits tutorials on dying yarn. She has such a scientific approach to dying and explains what she's doing as well as the why behind it. She definitely has tutorials on overdyeing.
I agree with you about sleeves especially when I’m knitting down towards the cuff. It feels like I am almost finished even though I might still have 1/3 - 1/2 of the knitting left on the sweater. I also turn the sleeve back and forth and it avoids twisting the fabric and yarn.
Thank you for all the great info I always learn something. Am looking forward to the kal just have to decide sweater or shawl have a great week I am in michigan so we are getting bad weather later today be safe and enjoy mother nature
For skeins in more than one dyelot, I would lean into the color block concept and treat them like two different colors. If you catch it soon enough you could add a line of another color between the skeins.
I recently spilled tea on some beautiful Wandering Flock Cosmic Tye Dye and it permanently stained it! Now I'm having to over dye the whole shirt, but this was to say that tea easily stains (dyes) yarn without prep. I would definitely test first!
RIT dyes are generally for cotton, linen, rayon and other plant or woody fibers. For wool and silk you need dyes designed for protein fibers. Better to do some research on this before dying a valuable project. Also do some tests on some swatches. I have dyed lots of things as a costume designer and it is not hard but really important to know the fiber you are dealing with and the best way to achieve color with that. We all know wonderful folks dying yarn. They might even be willing to help you in a situation like this.
Aww fun--that was my question about the sleeves! 😂I love the cake stand idea, maybe I'll give that a try! Thanks again!
I like to stop and do the sleeves before finishing the body of the sweater. It's a nice break, I can manage the yarn amounts better, and I don't get stuck on sleeve island.
To the person asking about a tea bath for her sweater: Tea will absolutely stain wool, but it might fade a little bit over time. I’d try a swatch. Black tea (usually orange pekoe) has tannins, a natural mordant, but you can add alum at 6 Tbsp per pound of wool if you want to REALLY set the color.
Wow great idea....going to use my lazy susan from my spices in my kitchen cabinet! Amazing how many items we have in our homes that have dual uses. Thanks Andrea!
My first DRK sweater MAL. What a lovely chatty community on R. I look forward to your podcasts.
Great tip on knitting the sleeve, I'll try that next time. In addition I usually knit the sleeves before I've finished the body. I knit till I ran out of yarn for the body then I knit the sleeves (usually about 5-10 cm/2-4 inches). Less bulk and it goes faster
I didn't know that you lived in Austin! I did too from 2002-2008. And now I'm in New Hampshire and excited about tonight's snow too :)
What a timely discussion! Getting ready to pick up the sleeves for my daughter’s birthday sweater. I’m knitting her the Bean and Olive
I knit sleeves with a lazy Susan bowl in my lap for the body. It’s amazing, not only because it rotates, but in the summer, it keeps the heat off your skin! I sometimes also knit the sleeves before finishing the body for the same reason, and to miss it up, and avoid sleeve island.
When I first started making socks the purl bumps on the bottom of my feet drove me crazy so I made princess soles (reverse stockinette). 😂
Thanks for all the answers. How is your health now , hope you are feeling better, big hug
Look forward to your podcasts every Friday and rewatch the past during the week.
Tattoos are beautiful, actually thought perhaps a few were copied from your children's artwork.
Thanks so much for sharing.
Once I used some food colouring with citric acid to dye some yarn successfully. I followed a video that I found on RUclips. The video was made by a very well known yarn dyer. She had used commercial dyes. But liquid food colours worked as well for me
I’m swatching for my Big Cozy Cardi as I watch this. I’m looking forward to my first MTMKAL 😊
Haha I laughed out loud when you said your mom accidentally sent “invisible” ink to dye your yarn 😂 too funny and such a sweet mistake!
I'm so excited to join your kal! I have not too much left on my first birds of a feather shawl and I might cast on next one, because I enjoy it so much! (and I have just the perfect yarn for it!)
Ahhhh - you totally said it right! 😁 I’m so glad you like the cake stand / lazy susan idea. (It does work!) Thanks for the shout out. 😂💕
(also, so funny - I mentioned you in my video today too.) 👯♀️
I really hope I'll be able to finish up the sweater I'm swatching for right now for the MTMKAL! Either way, the Gib II is coming to my husband's wardrobe this year! 😁
Great podcast thank you ☕️🧶☺️
Great suggestion to use reverse stockinette on the bottom part of the sock. I'm like the princess and the pea when it comes to wearing handmade socks. I haven't made one pair that I can wear because my feet are so sensitive. Thanks Andrea, I will give that a try.
I found your podcasts recently and I'm really enjoying them - thank you. I'm currently having fun knitting your DRK Everyday Socks. Now going to take a peak at the KAL.
I also love knitting sleeves! They can sometimes take a while, but usually I'm excited to be almost done with my sweater and can get the sleeves done in less than four days. If I'm on a time crunch, I'll knit them two at a time to speed it up a little
I love the DRK socks. Fit perfectly!
Thanks so much Andrea! Great advice and tips! Have a terrific weekend :)
Since I’m working on my Nightshift shawl while watching, I now have a goal to finish it for the KAL,
How about using a Lazy Susan to hold the sweater bulk as you work on sleeves?
That’s what I use. Works perfectly!
Ive used rit dye to overdye a sweater :) and to dye skeins too. You have to be mindful of which one you get but it works
I’m so excited to be doing the KAL! I have a Wool and Honey WIP and I cast on a new Ramble! I found the Big Cozy KAL kept me on track to actually FINISH a sweater quickly (for me), so I’m hoping this one will do the same for my Wool and Honey because it’s been languishing since December
What about incorporating embroidery/stitiching into the garment to distract from the colour difference?
Chem knits has a lot of videos on the tube about dying, look for kool aid and food colorant videos . Those would be good options
I don’t think you actually need to do anything special with tea! It has a ton of tannins in it which is one of the things you can use to prep fiber. I recently looked into this out of curiosity because I spilled tea on my (cotton) tree skirt at Christmas, washed it immediately after and it stained SO badly. Tannins are anything that bind to proteins I believe. Anyways, tea is incredibly staining. I don’t know if there is any special prep for wool though.. I’d assume since it’s a protein fiber it should work?
I got my first tattoo last week!!!!!
I rarely knee toe up socks because of the cast on. I have tried several methods. What Am I doing wrong. I have purchased the DRK everyday socks and now I am stumped. Is the whole, entire sock knit knit from the bottom needle of the magic loop? Am I wrapping it wrong. Pulling the needle out wrong? 🤷
Is there any way to fix a dropped brkyobrk? I can't find any information on whether it's even possible! Thank you.
I tried to log into march to may kal shawl but it went directly to sweater.
I believe you can use RIT dyes for wool, though I haven't personally tried this, also the Wilton's food coloring dyes seem to be popular as well; I have used kool aid and did soak my fiber in vinegar/water first.
I traded a bunch of knit hats for a beetle tattoo recently
Hello. Can anyone help me with the uploading of the photo onto the Ravelry KAL forum. I joined the EXTRAS and take the photo and choose it but it only inserts a text into the box…no picture. I want to show my Inclinations shawl, I love knitting it and the squishy nature of the shawl.
Unfortunately overdying doesn’t always solve the issue either as the different dye lots absorb diff. amounts of the new dye. Overdyed a cream pair of fingerless mitts that didn’t show until after washing. Overdyed with grey and had an even more serious colour difference. Overdyed with blk and had grey blk and blk. So, perhaps a sample with some leftovers from both lots would be helpful.