Eskimimi Knits knitting blog

I have been working until past midnight these past couple of days, so I haven’t had time to knit a single row or stitch and I am aching like a bear after  a marathon, but all the while I have been considering how we use yarn when we knit or crochet.

A few days ago I had the first request for an order of yarn to be wound into Jumbo Balls (and asking if I would be using the now semi-famous Jumbo Ball Winder).  I confirmed that the ball winder would indeed be immediately pressed into action and set about turning the skeins into perfectly formed and ready-to-knit centre-pull balls.  Then I decided that I wanted labels, because labels always make things cute, right?

Pre-wound and ready to use

I decided to offer this free ball-winding service as it is no trouble for me at all to run the yarn through my Jumbo Ball Winder (for *bang* arrrgghhh) though I know that there are some folks out there that enjoy casting on a project right away, or find it cumbersome or even uncomfortable to have to keep untangled a 400m or 800m skein of yarn whilst they hand wind it into a ball without the use of a swift (I know, because before I made my own swift I would have to sit with my yarn looped around my feet, worried it would turn into a big birds-nest of yarn should I dare leave it to make a cup of tea at any point).

Ready-wound balls or wind your own?

But maybe people prefer their yarn in twisted hanks?  Perhaps it is easier to store, perhaps there is just something that makes twisted hanks look more appealing to some?  Maybe winding the yarn is part of the knitting process for  some people? I do not know, and it is hard for me to judge as I have never really had a preference.

Perhaps people don’t actually care as yarn makes them happy however it is presented, but I thought I would appeal to readers here for their thoughts and opinions on the matter.  In what form do you prefer (if you have a preference) to buy your yarn, and why that might be? (if you can grasp your reason – I know that sometimes ‘I just do’ doesn’t seem like a very satisfactory answer, but I also know that sometimes we find it hard to give reason to our preference when we are talking about something we enjoy).  So, as a very small-scale appeal by the way of market research, if anyone has any thoughts on teh matter which they might like to share with me I am definitely all-ears!

For the meantime I have snuck in a pre-wound ball into the shop, photographed al labelled-up and ready-to-knit, though I won’t really be able to draw any conclusions as I don’t have a like-for-like comparison, so I thought I would ask those that love yarn for their opinions directly.

So, over to you!

Casting on for a Citron

Last night I decided to cast on the popular Citron Shawlette.  It wasn’t so much of a whim, I have fancied making one for a long time now, but have always had other projects on the go, or not quite the right yarn.  The other day though I happened upon someone having a de-stash on Ravelry, amongst which was a skein of Angel Lace from Bluefaced, a 2-ply blend of 70% Baby Alpaca, 20% Silk and 10% Cashmere for £6 including delivery.  It was a natural of-white shade, but I thought it would be perfect to dye up into my dream Citron colour – a rich, almost acidic green.

Angel Lace, self-dyed

It is true that the lace yarn could have been a very pretty and intricate shawl, but I love the simplicity of Citron and would have knit one before now if I had been able to find the perfect yarn.  I think that this is the perfect yarn and I could hardly wait for it to dry before giving it a spin through the Jumbo Ball Winder (for winding Jumbo Balls – still hasn’t got old) and casting on.

I have mentioned before that my most-used knit to date is my Regnbue Scarf (Baktus).  It’s such a simple knit – nothing but garter stitch and minimal shaping along one edge to give the triangular shape, but it is so versatile.  I wear it twice wrapped around my neck and tied at the front, but I also wear it wrapped around my hair when it is blustery out, or to keep my hair from bothering me whilst I work.  I hope that Citron will be called into action as often and as usefully, as casually and as prettily as my Regnbue.

Simples.

Over the last couple of days my kitchen has turned into an occasional dye studio whilst I don rubber gloves and play with yarn and colour – possibly my two favourite things, and now I get to combine them. I blame Kismet’s Companion who started me down the path to Kool Aid dyeing, which led to experiments with food dyes and citric acid and now on to professional dyes.

As well as my first experience with professional dyes, I now have my first experience with laceweight yarn:

Satsuma Lace yarn, dyed by Eskimimi

This solid-dyed 100g of fine lace-weight yarn was actually completed five days ago, but it has taken me that long to hand-wind it into a ball.  Ok, I haven’t been winding constantly all that time of course, but it seems like I have been winding it forever, and I breathed a sigh of long relief when I wound the last 200 yards or so this afternoon.  If it takes that long to wind into a ball, how long will it take to knit? I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

The other yarn I dyed was a fingering weight sock yarn of 75% wool and 25% nylon – my favourite hard-wearing fibre combination for soft yet strong socks.  This is a super-saturated, rich semi-solid range of greens.  It’s a vibrant, rich green and I absolutely love it.

Broccoli Sockoli, dyed by Eskimimi

I’m going to be dyeing a few more skeins for friends over the next few days, but I am also thinking of listing a few yarns on Etsy if I am able to part with them. Every time I look at the rich colours I think of all that I could knit with them, and my mind is alive with all of the colours and combinations, variations and techniques I want to try out on the next skein of yarn.

Of course, it is time-consuming, requires patience, time and concentration, but I realise now why people love hand-dyed yarn – there is just an extra liveliness in a hand-dyed skein that is hard to explain but easy to appreciate.

Hand-dyed