Playing with Dyes (CMYK) - Preview

I'm studying using Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black to make dye colors. Think CMYK color printing percentages.

Some of my samples as I work on particular colorways. The oranges and blue were from a different colorway.

If you're not familiar with CMYK its from modern color theory (using cyan, magenta, yellow and black - instead of red, green and yellow) and I'll get into that more in a later post. 

Using this color below for an example: (info from colorhexa.com)  It has 0% cyan, 71% magenta, 100% yellow and 12% black. Not totaling the percentages for the color, but how much of each color you'd use out of a possible 100%. Say 1 teaspoon dye stock is 100%. Then for this color 71% would be about 3/4 of a teaspoon of dye stock.

Some of the obstacles I'm finding to creating my colors are:

• Some colors are "stronger" than others in dye brands. Take yellow for instance with the dyes I have (a mix of Jaquard and Dharma acid dyes): magenta is ~2 times as strong as it is and cyan is ~3-4 times as strong. So I have to adjust recipes. This is giving me successes with purples, oranges and greens. (Above you can tell I was working on greens for a color way.)
• Figuring out how to measure very small amounts of dye stock so I don't waste it. (I found some very cool measuring spoons with a drop, dash, smidgen, etc. Who knew these were real measurements? I had to measure them against a teaspoon because I'd seen differing opinions on the measurements of the really small ones.) Helpful for reproducibility. 
• Figuring out how to quickly adjust the color of a sample mix. Having 5-6 samples to tinker with at a time and a paper to note what you added each time is helpful.
• Color conversion is very much an art and not an exact science. Photoshop and say colorhexa.com have different "recipes" for CMYK. I think this has to do with "color spaces" (adobe rgb, vs srgb, etc.) which are a heavy graphics topic. Not sure how much I want to dive into graphics terminology when I'd rather be playing with dyes.
• Some dye heating methods may change the over all dye effect. (I've read that some fast heating methods like the microwave may not let some dyes attach as well and I may need to heat longer or try steaming or putting my samples in a crockpot. Which makes me sad - because I liked the quick fix of seeing the color in a few minutes.)
• Some colors bond more quickly to the wool. So when playing with more than 2 dyes at a time I don't always get the colors I want. Browns are really a challenge and may require a 2 step dye process. (I'll report back when I figure out what works and what doesn't. So far mixing all 4 dyes colors makes a yucky colored mess, not a pretty chocolate brown.)

So there's your preview.  I'll have more pictures, details, and hopefully more success with browns next time I report in.

I've only seen two other bloggers attempting this but not in as much detail as I'm trying. Have you played with using CMYK for mixing your colors? If so, would you care to care to share your results?

Von Karman Vortices Inspiration #1 + Green Camel Craft Retreat Report

This morning I finished my first project inspired by the beauty of the Von Karman vortices in nature. Who would have thought fluid dynamics could be so pretty! With the blues it made me think of river eddies so I present to you the Karman River Whirls Scarf.

Nalbound in Finnish 2+2 for a stable chain of Cascade Eco+ in Lake Chelan Heather colorway.

I hope to write up the pattern for this. I've not seen ANYTHING like it done in nalbinding yet and I'm just giddy about the possibility of having 'invented' something!

Background info for those who aren't familiar with Von Karman Vortices: They're swirls in a fluid when the fluid has to move around an object. When I worked at a satellite receiving station as a programmer for the Landsat 7 project, there were many images I saw that just blew me away. This was one of them - Von Karman vortices from the Juan Fernandez Islands sticking up into the clouds. I remember when this image made the front cover of ASPRS magazine in 1999.

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Green Camel Report
Last weekend my daughter, one of my dear friends - Johanna, and I drove to the delightful little town of Tyler, MN and attended the Green Camel Gathering crafting weekend at the old Danebod Folk School. It was wonderful to catch up with so many of my fiber arts friends from around the area. Though, feel free to laugh - just three of us filled my SUV to capacity with the crafts we brought to work on.

I hosted a group indigo dye experiment on Saturday. (I can't call it a class, it was just us having fun tossing stuff into the dye vat.) Sunday morning, I was able to take the "Reverse Knitting" class by my friend Miranda. Knitting left handed was doable. Perling - well I'm not sure I have my mind wrapped around that yet. Much chatting, spinning, and nalbinding were done. My daughter was able to try several new crafts including needle felting and kumihimo. Now, I think I have my daughter and Johanna hooked, and should be able to expect more Green Camel trips with them in the future. Yipee!

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What's your inspiration lately?

More Tinkering with Knotwork - Study in Which Knots Work Well with Nalbinding

Yesterday I found my Danish friend Maria is working with knotwork too for the Nalbinding Festival in Denmark. So there's 3 of us now, that I know of.  Oh I wish I could go to the festival!  Maybe next year...

Last night I attempted 3 more knots as I work through my old knotwork book. Two of which were good.

The first one was my "fail" for the evening. But it was worth trying. I learned I'll have to tack down the looser shapes like the "s" or "z" so they stay put. I won't just be able to make a chain of stitches and make this knot. It will have to be more planned and after so many stitches I'll have to attach it to the other chain of stitches. Otherwise, it won't hold together well.

This knot was tricky to "tie". But once completed and tightened, it was so pleasing. (I may have to make a photocopy of the knots I work on and highlight each strand in a different color. My eyes kept getting lost when tying this one.)

And this one really surprised me, I thought it wouldn't work with the longer loops to the next knot. But when tightened it worked out well.

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In project news, the "vest that never ends" might actually be nearing completion. It was very close last Sunday when I took it to coffee with friends. (No the vest did not get to drink coffee.  I suspect it wanted to though. It kept being difficult to work on, as if it was trying to tell me something.)

What in your projects and experiments has surprised you?

Experiments: Nalbinding as an Edge on Crochet

During thoughts on planning for fall classes, I had one of those ideas that wouldn't let me go until I tried it. One of the classes I'm thinking about submitting is on pretty nalbound edgings and it occurred to me that nalbinding would make a lovely solid edge on other crafts.

So a sample whipped itself up while dinner was in the oven. I eyeballed the number of stitches of nalbinding I'd need per double crochet stitch - 2 nalbinding stitches to 1 crochet stitch. So far I'm really liking the effect.

Crossing my fingers for more time to experiment tomorrow, for edging knitting with nalbinding.

Have you ever edged another yarn craft with nalbinding?

More Knotwork Experiments and Progress on "The Vest that Never Ends"

The nalbinding knotwork bug is still biting. Just after the cowl was finished, I dug out my trusty old (20+ years old) copy of Celtic Art: The Methods of Construction. I tried several different knots.  The ones with large gaps do not seem to work nicely with my attempts. But tight close together knots like the ones below seem to look good after they are created.

The second one is the one that caught my interest for a fashion scarf (too many holes to be a practical scarf) done in Finnish 2+2 stitch. With these knots I haven't been counting stitches obsessively like I did with the pretzel knot cowl. I just work long chains of the yarns and make the knots. I'll keep going with the knots (below) until I run out of green.  I suspect these knots could be done in rows and be a fabric by themselves.  But I don't have enough green to test that theory. So I'll edge it in blue to make the scarf a tad wider.

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The circle vest I've been working on officially has been given the nickname "The Vest that Never Ends". It's taking quite a while to finish the project, but I also thought it fit because the colors spiral out from the center into what looks like infinity and they get lost in the stripe effect.

 Only 2-4 more inches?  Maybe there is an end after all...