Books

The Modern Natural Dyer Winner!!!

November 6, 2015 by Mary Jane 1 Comment

Congratulations Katie Emma! You have won a copy of Kristine Vejar’s new book The Modern Natural Dyer, and the indigo dyeing kit you asked for. Yippee! Please email me with your mailing address.

Look at the kit Katie Emma got – I really want to have a go at this project too!

From A Verb for Keeping Warm’s website:

Waves Bandana Indigo Kit

The Waves Bandana is one of the many projects from Kristine’s book, The Modern Natural Dyer. This kit is designed to make it easier for you to create the Waves Bandana and to dye with indigo. All materials have been pre-measured. Simply use the contents of the jar at each designated step. The instructions for this kit are found The Modern Natural Dyer.

This kit contains the materials to make your very own indigo vat. The bandanas in this kit make a great canvas to explore the world of solid blue, or use the thread included to make wave-like patterns. There is enough dye in this kit to dye many more items – like t-shirts, pillowcases, dresses, etc.

Inside this kit:

Two white bandanas (approx. 72g)
Scour
Indigo
All agents to create an indigo vat
pH strips
Whisk
Gloves
Button + craft thread

There are more chances to win, be sure to continue following the blog tour:

Nov 9 Heather Ross

Nov 11 Tolt Yarn and Wool

Nov 16 Made by Katrina

Nov 18 Ysolda Teague

Nov 20 Jen Hewett

If you’re just joining us read my entry about this essential new book here, where I use the Northwoods Hat kit and dye yarn with madder!

the Modern Natural Dyer

October 30, 2015 by Mary Jane

Have I got a treat for you! A giveaway – a chance to win the sensational new book The Modern Natural Dyer and a natural dyeing KIT of your choice to go along with it!!

I’ve been patiently waiting for this book to come out. Kristine Vejar is such a wonderful warm sharing person – I knew her book would be the natural dyeing book we all want. She’s been studying natural dyeing for years, since she was first bitten by the bug while studying in India years ago. Passionate and curious about the art, she’s got endless interesting stories to tell. In 2007 Kristine started A Verb for Keeping Warm in Oakland California, a gorgeous retail shop with with indoor and outdoor studio workshop spaces and her garden for growing dye plants. Destination!!! It’s where she conducted the research for this book.

The book is fantastic. Of course it is. The pictures are so gorgeous, you really don’t need any interest at all in dyeing to want the book. The first two chapters introduce us to different dyes derived from nature, followed by a look at various fibers and how and why they react to dyestuffs. Chapter three, Dyeing 101, is one you’ll refer to over and over again in your future dyeing projects, because …. once bitten you won’t want to stop!

After that the book is broken down into 4 sections, dyeing with whole dyestuffs, dyeing with extracts, dyeing with indigo, and surface design.

The subjects themselves are project based, which at first I wasn’t sure about. I thought … oh right … publishers always insist on projects…. I found myself being like one of those people I complain about who say “but I don’t want a red sweater” when they look at a pattern, oblivious to the fact that it could be knit in a different color. But reading through the projects, I realized that it is a perfect way to introduce the topics covered, instead of a lonely generic way. Take the first project dyeing a 100% cotton onesie (43g) with tea… ok I have no babies (wait my nephew has two – count ’em 2 new ones!)… but you don’t have to dye a onesie, you could take any cotton of similar weight, and follow the same recipe. At the end of each project Kristine has a little TRY section with ways you can further explore the technique covered, in this case, your pantry.

Kristine generously supplied me with not only a book but a kit. I chose the Northwoods Hat Kit with madder as the dyestuff, which means I would be following the Dyeing With Extracts section. This section has my favorite four pages of the whole book, the shade cards for protein based-fibers and cellulose-based fibers….dream of the possibilities!!!

The Northwoods Hat Kit comes in 3 colors red (madder), yellow (weld), and purple (logwood). I love madder. I love the idea of madder. I want to take a madder-adventure traveling to where madder grows wild! Cloth dyed with madder was found in Tutankhamun’s tomb, it has been cultivated in Central Asia since 1500 BC – the Vikings used it!

Because I am me, I had to try and get two colors with my madder. I wound my yarn into one large skein and one small skein. The small one being about 8 yards…from right shoulder to left finger tips is about a yard – that’s how I measure.

Then I went through the steps in the book.

Scouring (1 ½ hours)

Mordanting (1 ½ hours)

…and finally dyeing…for me 3 hours because I wanted two colors. I deviated from the instructions here. Looking at the shade card, I decided I wanted the small skein to be a light pink, so I only used an eighth of a teaspoon of madder extract. I felt like a mad scientist measuring it out. Then I followed the directions, using both skeins, heating slowly and stirring as long as called for and I got the most delicious pink…coral…salmon? An amazing color and an amazing feeling – energizing! I helped madder make that color! I took out the small skein and cooled it, rinsed it and set it to dry. Then I added the rest of the vial of madder to the dyepot with the large skein still in it. It immediately sucked up the new dye! I processed it as before, only now I was having a hard time keeping a low enough temperature on my wee stove top. To my dismay after I let my mind wander, I found the dyebath simmering! Ghastly! So beware – my yarn was slightly felted in a couple of places.

When the yarn was dried I quickly knit up the Northwoods hat. I shortened the ribbing by an inch and inserted a small simple fair isle pattern (#75 in my 200 Fair Isle Motifs book). I also made the body an inch longer before I started to decrease. I have enough yarn left over to make a big pompom if I wanted. I only wish I’d used a more solid fair isle pattern because I like the pink so much. I think if I filled the pattern, instead of just the outline of diamonds…I’m tempted to rip it out…but hey…I could always get a kit and make another!

The color in real life is more like the image of just the yarn – not the silly selfie.

So dear readers…you’ve got the chance to win The Modern Natural Dyer and your choice of a natural dyeing kit.

Clockwise from top left:

Flowers At My Fingertips : Dyeing with Whole Dyestuffs – you dye both cotton and wool fabric directly with flower blossoms, and then sew the fabric into a sewing kit. Includes seeds to grow your own dye plants.

Northwoods Hat Kit : Extract Dyeing Protein-based fibers – you dye Quince & Co Puffin wool yarn which you knit into a hat.

Sock Hop Kit : Extract Dyeing Cellulose-based fibers – you dye ready made organic cotton socks.

Waves Bandana Indigo Kit : Indigo Dyeing – you dye two white cotton bandanas, trying bound resist dying to create a pattern.

Click on the links to read more about each kit.

If you’d like to be in the running for this fantastic prize, comment below which kit you’d like and why. In a week, Friday November 6th, I’ll be randomly choosing a winner.

The Modern Natural Dyer and the series of natural dyeing kits which accompany the book – are all available through the A Verb for Keeping Warm website.

You’ll have other chances to win, follow the blog tour!

Oct 20 STC Craft

Oct 23 DIY Network

Oct 26 Mason Dixon Knitting

Oct 28 Leethal

Oct 30 me!!!

Nov 2 Very Shannon

Nov 4 Make Something Blog

Nov 9 Heather Ross

Nov 11 Tolt Yarn and Wool

Nov 16 Made by Katrina

Nov 18 Ysolda Teague

Nov 20 Jen Hewett

Thanks everyone!!! The comments are now closed.

Congratulations to Katie Emma who got the book and the indigo kit@

Traveling Home

October 28, 2015 by Mary Jane 1 Comment

2015 has been an amazing year for me. I’m fortunate to be asked to teach all over the world – and I just can’t seem to say no – the result being, 165 days away from home. My home is a relatively new one for me, so even it doesn’t feel quite real … I’m beginning to accept that I just might be a nomad.

You can catch up with some of my adventures on Instagram, and I’ll be using this space to tell bits and pieces of my stories from the year and share new things I’m exploring.

TheModerNaturalDyer — Image: Sara Remington from The Modern Natural Dyer

Check back on Friday for a THRILLING give-away!!!
I’ll be reviewing Kristine Vejar’s new book, and sharing my experiment with natural dyeing!

Top image: Double Rainbow, Burrastow House, Shetland, September 2015

Weston Beanie

September 18, 2015 by Mary Jane 1 Comment

Weston Beanie is my new hat pattern. I designed it a while back, for my nephew who was off to college in Montana. I made a few more, but they were always disappearing – popular I think. So now you can knit your own. You can find it in my Ravelry shop.

The sample is made with Dale of Norway Heilo, which is 100% Norwegian wool, that I had left over from knitting my Scandinavian book, 150 Scandinavian Motifs (called 150 Scandinavian Knitting Designs outside of North America). With a gauge of 5½ stitches to the inch over the fair isle pattern, I used almost an entire ball of the main color (1.76 oz [50g] balls, 109 yds [100 m]).

Estimated Yarn Amounts are about 106 yards (97 meters) for the Main Color and 30½ yards (27.9 meters) for the Contrast Color. You could mix things up here and even use a third or fourth color if you wanted to. I’ve made it with a variety of different yarns with great success getting a gauge of anywhere between 5 – 6 stitches to the inch, just remember, different gauges will use different amounts of yarn and the hats will be slightly different in size. Sadly I don’t have any of those beanies to show you…those were the ones that walked off to different parts of the world…even the sample pictured has been worn for a winter. I was lucky to get it back!

Kathy Cadigan took these wonderful photographs of my Weston Beanie modeled by her beautiful daughter Morgan (also an artist). They were both such troopers. It had to have been the hottest day of the summer, absolutely sweltering, and you would never know to look at these images. They did it all with good cheer and I can not thank them enough.

So please take a look at the pattern details on Ravelry, and check out the other projects that are starting to appear. One of my friends has already made four Weston Beanies using different yarns and they look great.

Jenny at the Fair

January 31, 2014 by Mary Jane 6 Comments

You didn’t see it here first – I’m about the last one to talk about my Rhinebeck Sweater
Jenny at the Fair!

MJ_Jenny_4395 — MJ wearing Jenny at the Fair while browsing the floors of Maine Salvage in Portland.

I’m sure you’ve all heard of Rhinebeck, that wonderful sheepy and wooly festival in New York State – the happy mecca for many knitters…and spinners…and fried artichoke enthusiasts?

And I’m certain most of you have already heard of our darling Ysolda’s book celebrating the fair, The Rhinebeck Sweater. Because, as you know, we all feverishly make sweaters especially to wear for the weekend. I usually start mine WAAAAAAAAAAY too late…so here’s a heads up folks – get started now!

Last year Ysolda organized a bunch of her friends and we’re all in the book together wearing our sweaters. She even came to Maine last summer, where we participated in a great downeast adventure on Nash Island, the home of the sheep who contribute the wool for Jani to spin and turn into yarn that became my Jenny at the Fair cardigan that you’ll find in the book!

JennyDypt — MJ explaining the virtue of secret colors inside your pockets. ©ysoldateague

Ysolda tells the story of the Nash Island sheep round-up in the book. That summer we also ventured to the very heart of Maine to visit Bartlett Yarns home of the oldest operating spinning mule in the country…another tale told in the book. Not only can the girl knit, she spins a good yarn too! The two of us also climbed the beehive in Acadia National Park.

Lately, others have been making Jenny at the Fair. Jani Estelle, mistress of Starcroft Fiber Mill, maker of the fine wool used in the original Jenny and knitter of fantastic garments tells the story of her Jennys. She couldn’t stop at just one. In her new year’s post Secret Revealed she shares how hard it was to keep the secret of the book and sweater for an entire year. What she doesn’t tell is how she talked me down off the ledge when I was going crazy trying to finish Jenny in time!

JennyTryp — Jani’s Jennys at left and center. Georgie’s simple, and simply beautiful version at right.

If you tool around Ravelry you’ll find even more. Georgie made a beautiful super – simplified version. With just two colors Jenny at the Fair becomes serene and sophisticated.

Jill Draper’s mom was wearing a beautiful Jenny at Vogue Knitting Live NYC, and I was without my camera wouldn’t you know… SAD…but here’s the one Jill is making for herself. Read her post “New Year, New Sweater” on Jill Draper Makes Stuff.

Go on and make your own, I dare you!

What colors would you choose? Let us know!

Here are the details for the original:

Worked from the bottom up, the lower body ribbing is worked back and forth in rows, and then joined with centre front steek stitches for working in the round, making the colourwork sections easy and fun to knit. Sleeves are knit in the round up to where they are joined with the sweater body. Then the yoke is worked in the round. V-neck shaping and raglan armhole shaping are worked simultaneously. When the body is complete, the steek is reinforced with a line of slip-stitch crochet, and cut down the centre … not to fear! This is a great first project for steeking. The sweater is finished with a ribbed button band.

Yarns
A non-superwash woolly wool yarn that blooms well.

Starcroft Nash Island Light (175yds / 160m, 3.5 oz. / 100g) shown in MC: pine cone, CC1: lobster bake, CC2: acorn, CC3: finch and CC4: cove.

MC: 750850, 900, 1000150, 1250)yds / 700800, 850, 900050, 1150)m
CC1: 110[110, 110, 120] (120, 120, 120)yds / 100[100, 100, 110] (110, 110, 110)m
CC2: 75[75, 80, 80] (80, 85, 85)yds / 70[70, 75, 75] (75, 80, 80)m
CC3: 45[50, 50, 55] (60, 65, 70)yds / 45[50, 50, 55] (60, 65, 70)m
CC4: 45[45, 45, 50] (50, 50, 50)yds / 45[45, 45, 50] (50, 50, 50)m

Gauge
18 stitches and 22 rows = 4” / 10cm in colourwork and peerie patterns; use the needles necessary to match gauge for each.

Sizes
Finished chest circumference: 33[36½, 40, 43½] (47½, 51, 54½)” / 84[93, 103, 111] (121, 130, 139)cm.

Shown in size 36½” with 2” / 5cm of positive ease.

Bressay Dress

January 6, 2014 by Mary Jane 6 Comments

It’s fun to poke around Ravelry and see different versions of favorite patterns. I love the dress Gudrun Johnston designed for my book Fair Isle Style, Bressay Dress.

This yoke really caught my eye. Don’t you love the color choices that Stacie made? She used Rowan Felted Tweed which gives a nice fuzzy halo. Take a look at her Ravelry page (she’s njstacie) for all the details. She’s got some more really cute happy-making shots of the dress. Kick up your heels!

Denise Bell of Lost City Knits is still working on her Bressay Dress. She used five colors from her own yarn, Foothills Fingering. The body color is River Mud and the colorwork uses Rumplestilskin, Vintage, and Burnt Earth. Don’t you love the great color names? She’s got a wonderful blogpost about the making of her dress. Be sure to check out the rest of her website and all the other lovely yarns she makes while you’re visiting.

Ravelry’s motherbunch of the Enchanted Bobbin Blog is participating in an Instagram Bressay Dress KAL. She’s using scrumptious Madeline Tosh Merino Light using silver fox, logwood, victorian gothic and well water. Don’t you like the use of a dark dark main color? Jennifer’s planning to make hers long-sleeved, so be sure to watch her progress.

Here’s Gudrun herself modeling the original sample a year and a half before publication – that is how long it takes to make a book! Having braved frigid temperatures in Scotland to take pictures of it before it was sent off on it’s journey to the world of publishing, she was chagrined to find one of the sleeve cuffs was rolled up and it was way too cold to go back out and take more shots. I love how cute it looks with her furry boots.

Finally here is that same sample on our beautiful local model Sunny, who admitted that she wouldn’t mind taking the dress home with her. I have to say I wanted to keep it myself. I think I should make it and hop on the Instagram Bressay Dress KAL! #bressaydress

But lets see … what colors would I choose….