Sunday, August 14, 2016

Decisions and Calculations

I've decided that for my crochet mandala cushion, I'm going to use Janie Crow's Lily Pond Flower for the centre and Dedri Uys's Sophie's Mandala outside that. I hope I can integrate the two successfully.

I finished spinning cotton for the project but had absolutely no idea how much of each colour to dye. I crocheted 10 trebles, undid them, measured the thread and then used that as a basis. Eventually I decided to make each skein 10 times round the niddy noddy for both the handspun and the commercial cotton. That was simpler than working out a different length for each colour. Then I got out my dye pot (an old coffee tin!) and dyed the little skeins. Where the colours are related, I could dye them together - put one skein in to absorb most dye, then add another that comes out paler, and then a third. It worked excellently for the blues, but the pink shades are a bit closer than I intended.
Now to begin.

5 comments:

  1. Looking forward to seeing this come alive.

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  2. I am sure it will be fabulous!!! :)

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  3. Nice choices !!! Now to watch your stepwise progress :-)

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  4. What is it about seeing the fresh dyed yarn that makes me want it and I don't even knit often at all :)

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  5. I don't think I"ll ever get in to dyeing thread, but I do love the look of the hand-dyed colors. How nice that you can imagine and produce your own yarns for projects!

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