Guess where I was today?

Maryland Sheep and wool festival. 

I stayed with old college friends and had a great time meeting ravelry friends, I missed the spin in because I was sooo tired. 

How to do the worlds best cast on!

This is my personal cast on that I "developed" a few years ago.  It is exactly as like all my knitting, crafting to be: straight foward, logical and easy to memorize.

Without further ado: The Kouture Crochet Double V Cast On.

You can purchase the yarn featured in the video from my shop.

(On my use of the word developed: In knitting and crochet, there are few new ideas, we reinvent the wheel many times and I am sure others have figured out this trick too, however, I have been using this method for 10 years and have never seen it written or published anywhere before.  This doesnt mean that it hasnt been, only that I have not seen it prior to this post)

who am i? Life with dandy walker.

I made a short video talking about my life with Dandy Walker Hydro.  That is all for today.

see my hansen in action!

So I wanted to share some videos of me spinning in action!

Enjoy!

Revisiting Jacquard Dyes - Dyeing fiber with Jacquard Acid Dyes

So it has been a long time since I first posted my dyeing results. Since that time I have been spinning yarn and last year I final started dyeing fiber. 

I wanted to share first one of my favorite how to s

She poured the dye directly onto the fiber.  I do not. instead I use a glass pyrex cup to take some hot water out and add the dye to the water.  I stir and then pour that water with the dye and a bit of acid to the fiber.  If I want at to do a kettle dye, I add the dye and acid first. Let cool and then add the wet fiber to the dyebath.

Now here is one dye job I recently did. 

Here is some white and brown Shetland. 

I now use citric acid instead of vinegar as the smell is much less intense for me. So the fiber is soaked in plain water. In the dyebath I add acid and a pinch of salt which slows down the speed of color absorption so that all the fibers get a more even amount color. 

 One of my favorite things is getting a more complex shade by adding lots of colors to get not colors. Here I added 4 colors to get this red. 

Fresh off the pot starting to dye

Almost dry. 

Totally dry compared to undyed Shetland. 

Hansen minispinner in maple

I had an mS in cherry but for some reasons I was never really happy with it so I sold it and got this in maple instead and I LOVE the grain. 

Starting a chain of crochet without a knot.

This is how I start my crochet chains every time. 

Step 1

This loop is normal. 

Pull now or later to tighten the loop also you can stop a few stitches before the loop and undo those extra stitches. 

 If you pull. 

If you undo.