Kaylas new longies!

Kaylas new Fairy Ribbons longies! A marathon effort, took nearly 2 months, yikes! Just haven't had time each night to knit as I've been dyeing instead :) Gorgeous Ladybug Loops organic Aran, and the pattern is Ladybug Loops Longies. I just love how they turned out. They haven't been blocked or lanolised yet, definitely need to get onto that this week. I've knitted this pattern so many times and keep going to try a different one, but this one works so well!

I've now done a couple of tension swatches with some divine new yarn from Celias Basket its so soft and luscious. Next project is In Threes a cardigan for Kayla... lets hope its ready before summer hehe.

Finally my own space!

Finally my own little dyeing nook!

Ok, a work in progress but at least I don't need to pack up and down at the kitchen table anymore, and what a relief that is! This is my new "studio" (its not much of a studio yet but its a start lol). I plan on taking over most of the garage and setting up a little display and packing area as well, plus setting up my sewing machine and overlocker so I can get back to sewing. At the moment I'm settling for functional, and child safe with the safety gate keeping Kayla out of there, I can keep it set up all the time.

My dyeing table (I'm hoping to get a bigger, longer table but for now theres no room so the old outside table has been claimed) Its so good to leave everything set up ready to go, and I can duck out there at any time

The only place I have to put my long flat items at the moment is the top of the chest freezer, but its better than trying to keep them in the laundry lol. These stockings are nearly all destined for Swings and Roundabouts!

I can't wait to do more yarn dyeing but that has to wait until the current orders are completed! Oh and sewing well thats a bit hard atm, I'm afraid theres no more sewing challenges for me for a few months at least.

The last couple of weeks have been enough of a challenge (on top of a lot of orders to dye/pack/send, and dyeing some rainbow stockings for Swings and Roundabouts, a local shop which I'm really excited about stocking in hehe!). I've also been trying to work out how to dye a hat! Perhaps I should have dyed some fabric and tried to sew it up, but having never attempted to make a hat before I went for an already made one.

My first effort with one of Ellies old preschool hats didn't go so well although Kayla loves it, because its not flat, the dye just ran everywhere and mingled too much. So this week I've been playing with thickening dyes to see if that would help and I think thats the way to go :)

So I've been busy :P

I haven't blogged for a few weeks, I began to a couple of times but got sidetracked again :) Very busy dyeing my little fingers off but have also been knitting, sewing and dyeing for a swap I was involved in on Rav!

unfortunately I was rushing to the PO to get the express deadline and didn't take a pic before I posted it all off, but the pic up above is the Travelling Woman shawl I knitted for my recipient Vanessa! I also hand dyed some Quilters cotton in shades of deep blue and jade and sewed a wee project bag for her. I hope she likes it all and can use it. Its in a gorgeous BFL Evoke sock yarn called Depth from the Yarn Cafe.

Amazingly my swapee also knitted the same shawl for me in almost identical yarn, in fact yarn that I almost bought for Vanessas shawl, which I absolutely LOVE! So I'm very spoilt :) here is a piccy of my lovely shawl and I also recieved an awesome scarf, some amazing buttons and gorgeous fabric from my swap, plus some goodies for the kids! I really need to take another pic of this gorgeous shawl, its so lovely to have received one back the same that I knitted :D

Then I played with some more dyes, who needs boring white socks anyway :P Kayla loved her new "shoes" lol. Though she does know them as socks now, she loves them. Wore them all over the yard so I had to then scrub them clean again :) I've just dyed a heap more for us, my SIL and gorgeous nieces and a friends daughter too. I love dyeing socks! I 've also dyed a heap more shirts too but you'll have to head over to the FB page to check those out, if you haven't already.

I've also been experimenting with bleach tie dyeing, and overdying with bright colours, a good result but unfortunately the colours did wash out a little too much (could have been I left it soaking too long too). I'm not sure whether the dyes weren't strong enough or the bleach stopped them reacting with the fabric properly, but its fun and will investigate further and get some more ingredients for a better go next time.

Next up is a shibori experiment, I'm having so much fun exploring the realm of fabric dyeing, I definitely need to dye some more quilters cotton too and make myself another project bag or two. 

anyway, enough for now, Happy Mothers Day to you all! Thanks for listening :)

Some explosions of colour

I've been flat out with some orders and some fabric experimenting. I love the way they turned out and hope I get to dye some more and get sewing soon :)

Dyeing with large pieces of fabric is much more time consuming, depending on technique used. These pics were taken in the shade so are a little darker than how they are, but in direct sunlight they were washed out. I need to find the perfect time and place for photos, the clothesline will do this time however!

This was a test on some cotton drill, several different techniques but using just mulberry, fuschia and violet dye, I did another test on some cheesecloth (not pictured) with more colours and that turned out well. It will become a rainbow skirt for one or both of the girls :)

These are also cotton drill, a custom for Maggie Made Pop over and check out her site, she has some awesome 3 in 1 baby bags that convert to a playmat and sleeping bag for on the go with baby! I can't wait to see the end result! You can also find Maggie Made on Facebook and Made It and get sneak peeks of whats coming :)

A sneaky peek at whats coming

These aren't all for me, in fact maybe only one. I am exhuasted, and there are even more hiding in the wash, the dyeing bucket and on the drying rack lol

Hoping they are something yummy for everyone, I love them, in fact I'd keep nearly all of them! Trying to dye boy colours is proving challenging but I made up some more colours tonight to make it more interesting. Will need to order more dyes next week too, running out of supplies and some colours.

Plenty more white shirts are awaiting me too, all prepped ready for dyeing but I think I'll take a day or two off and just finish off the ones curing and washing now.

Having a fantastic time with it all though. My facebook page Rainbows and Ringlets is at Rainbows and Ringlets drop by sometime! I'll be doing a giveaway soon when I reach 100 fans :)

Creation central

I am really pleased with these items, have been trying a few more techniques and dye combos, some good some need work. But very happy all the same.

Have been thinking of opening a store or similar for some time now, well nearly a year, but wasn't sure what to make or sell. At this stage I'll be selling dyed items, but I'm pretty keen to sew some things too. Will see whats in the wind.

Just a couple of my favs from this last dyeup...I bought some more shirts today so back to dyeing again tomorrow!

A Spring Garden Tee

Finally another knit finished, I have so many things I want to make and so little time to do so!

Love the top its pretty, although the pattern could have been explained a lot better. Thankfully I had others previous questions to look up on Ravelry, and they were exactly what I was wondering, so it wasn't just me lol. I made a size 2 so it will fit her better in spring but I'd rather that than it fit her well now and not in spring :)