I found a 1970s Kmart pattern book in an op shop for 12ply woollen yarn. Xavier really loved the vest on the cover, so I decided to knit it for her.
I decided to use 16ply rather than 12ply. We are off to the Snowy Mountains next week and I wanted to knit up some really thick vests to keep the children warm while they are in the snow. Also, the 16ply is super quick to knit with.
The pattern called for the entire garment to be knitted in plain stitch, but I decided to break it up a bit and knit the body section alternating between rows of pearl and plain, reverting back to plain for the bottom section. It was knitted in two pieces and was very simple – good for a beginner. It turned out much better than I thought it would.
I cast on 42 stitches decreasing every eight rows until I had about a 10cm band - the garment knits from the bottom up. Then I knitted the torso section with rows of pearl and plain until I reached under the armpit. Then I switched back to plain, increasing every 5th row for 18cm. For the front section I did the same but split the work to allow for the opening at the front and also decreased a bit for the neck section. It took me a weekend to make it. It’s about a child’s size 10.
The top section is knitted with Hands, Head & Heart in flower, the bottom section is the same yarn, but hand dyed.
Hand dyeing is so simple even a child can do it
My six-year-old son, Jude, was keen to try some hand dyeing. So I mixed up some colours for him and off he went. We used acid milling dye which can be bought online from the lovely people at
www.kraftkolour.com.auThe hanks have to be soaked in Texacid Eco for about an hour before dyeing – instructions are on the bottle and can also be bought at Kraftkolour.We put the yarns in a baking tray (one we use only for dyeing and not food) Then it was just a matter of applying to colours I had mixed for him with a syringe, you can also use a turkey baster. He didn’t wear gloves because I didn’t have any small enough, but it is a pretty good idea to cover up their hands somehow, exspecially if they are messy types. Anyway, Jude was very carefull and managed to not get any dye on him.He had a great time sploshing it on and experiementing with colours. Once he had finished, I went through the yarns to make sure he had not missed any spots.We covered the yarn with aluminium foil and put it in the over on 220 for about an hour. All ovens are different, so the idea is to cook it until it steams. It is possible to overcook it, so keep your eye on it.Once the yarns cooled, we hung them out to dry, then balled them up and I got busy knitting. I had shrunk his last Milo vest in the washing machine, so I promised I would knit him another one. The Milo vest is a Tikki Love design, it is knitted in the round and is good for beginners. It can be purchased on Ravelry (www.ravelry.com). Jude was pretty happy with the finished product.
Eco Dye Pot
Hand dyeing yarn is fun and a bit addictive. And you need go no further than your own garden to find a rich and vibrant palette of colour with which to experiment. I recently had some fun with raw beetroot and got great results. Here is what to do:
- Tie off your hanks. Tie your hank with wool in four places, this will stop the hank from becoming knotty during the dyeing process.
- Soak hanks in a bucket of luke warm water with alum ( you can buy it at any chemist and can also be used for making play dough). Use one tablespoon of alum per 200gm hank. Dissolve the alum in a cup of hot water before adding it to the bucket. Alum is a chemical compound which is used in cooking. It is one of the few mordants which is not a poison. It can be disposed of by pouring it into the garden, and for all these reasons it is the perfect choice for hand dyeing wool, especially if children are going to be wearing the finished product.
- Mash up your ingredients in a blender with water or chop by hand – the mushier, the better, because it lets the colour release more quickly. If you are using a 200gm hank, use at least the same weight of ingredients, although the more ingredients you use the deeper the colour.
- Boil your ingredients, separately, in water. You are boiling out the colour and the liquid will become your dye. Within an hour most plants will have released as much colour as they can.
- Strain the pulp from the dye. I used a piece of muslin inside a colander inside a mixing bowl. Once the pulp has cooled down, you can wrap it in the muslin and wring out extra dye.
- Remove hank from the soaking bucket and wring it out, then place it into a baking dish – use a dish into which the hank fits snugly.
- Pour your dyes directly onto the hank so it is covered in dye and wet with colour. Pour one colour onto one end of the hank and the other colour onto the opposite end, this will help stop the colours blending into one muddy colour. Cover the dish with aluminium foil and place it in an oven. The objective is to steam rather than boil the hank, this will reduce felting and will also keep the colours from blending together too much. Set the temperature to 220 degrees Celsius (Fahrenheit 430). Remove from the oven once it reaches boiling point. It doesn’t matter if it boils a little, but it is better to try and get it out of the oven just as it reaches boiling point.
- Once the hanks have cooled, wring them out and hang in the shade to dry, this will probably take a day or two, depending on the weather.
Notes: The mordant can be added at any stage -pre-mordant, co-mordant and post-mordant – and can alter the final colour, so it is worth experimenting to see what can be achieved.You can buy hanks suitable for hand dyeing in our yarn shop: : Visit the Yarn Shop
