handmade by stefanie

After all of my adventures with overdyeing finished knits, I was tempted once again to break out the dye pots for this year's Tour de Fleece event. One of my colleagues hosts a team each year, and for the 2019 TDF, Brown Sheep Company provided us with some spinning fiber....and when I say "some" spinning fiber I actually mean quite a bit - here's a photo of what arrived on my doorstep with my cat Tilly for scale. Now THAT'S a lot of spinning fiber! As lovely as all this fiber is (it's a blend of Rambouillet and Columbia wool - heavenly!), I thought it could use a bit of color. To be totally honest, I've been on a real dyeing kick, so any excuse to break out the dyepots is a good one in my book....and this giant ball o' spinning fiber had me feeling particularly inspired to step outside of my regular color scheme of murky shades and greens and blues. But first, I had to separate it out into smaller bundles so that each one would fit in my dyeing c...

Even after just a few years of knitting or crocheting, you're bound to have some finished projects lying around that never get worn or used. After 10+ years of crafting, I have more than just "some" or "a few"....and with my ongoing quest to declutter my house this year, I've become obsessed with going through these forlorn projects and making some Big Decisions. Sometimes, they are perfectly fine and just need a new and loving home. Other projects may have not turned out quite right: there might have been some mistakes in the knitting that I thought I could live with, or the yarn was gorgeous but not well-matched to the pattern, or my  taste has drastically changed since I finished making the project...in any case, why on earth did I keep knitting?! Who knows, but I don't feel good about gifting anything that falls into this category to someone else. These projects have been relegated to the "frog pile" (or should I say, frog pond?), to b...

It's been a while since I've broken out the easter egg dyes, but when a lovely box of alpaca/merino blend spinning fiber arrive on my doorstep a few Fridays ago, I knew how I was going to spend the upcoming weekend. I should probably say this now: if you are into precision and repeatable results, this may not be the instructional post that you are looking for! When I dyed yarn for Lorna's Laces, precision and repeatability was the name of the game (and rightfully so!); now that I am dyeing for fun in the comfort of my house, I really enjoy experimenting to see what results I get, even if I can never replicate them again. I strongly encourage you to try the "fun" and "unscientific" approach to dyeing as a stepping stone to the more technical aspects. There can be a lot of costly supplies to get started dyeing, whether you choose to try natural dyeing or use commercially-made chemical dyes; however, an easter egg dye kit is cheap and easy to, and I c...

Over the weekend, I decided to put some of our expired coffee to good use overdyeing some of my handspun yarn. After doing a little research* into the specifics of coffee dyeing, I combined this reconnaissance with my general dye knowledge from the 4 years I was a dyer with Lorna's Laces and dove headfirst into the Great Experiment. First, I added extra ties on the skeins to keep them neat and tidy during the dye process, then soaked them in a tub of tepid water and vinegar for 30 minutes.  While the skeins were soaking, I prepared my dye. I'd been collecting small quantities of coffee beans over the last several months; my husband works at a local coffee roaster, so we always have an overabundance of coffee beans in the house. Since they are no longer considered "brew-worthy" a few weeks after their roast date, I decided to use them for dyestuffs before sending them to their ultimate resting place, the compost heap.  I can't say I was terribly scienti...

Hooray, the Mountain Moss shawl is finally done - happy FO Friday indeed! Yesterday I removed all of the pins and wove in the ends; after a rainy start to the day, the sun came out and I was able to get a few shots of my pretty new shawl. I love it! Pattern: Mountain Moss Shawl by Beth Kling from the Summer 2013 issue of Pom Pom Quarterly Yarn: The Wool Dispensary Deadly Restorative in Vortex Shawl Pin: Knitter's Pride Exotica Series  - "Dittany" style Needles: Knitter's Pride Karbonz Interchangeables I've got more handspun goodness to share today, but this time it's a double whammy: hand-dyed skeins of handspun yarn! Last weekend, my pal Lauren and I embarked on some natural dyeing adventures using some sumac and marigolds Lauren had collected for the purposes of our experiments. I had some navajo plied Finn skeins and a couple of 2-ply Polwarth skeins ready to dye. First, I soaked them in water to prepare for their mordant bath. After mordantin...