~ Angela
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Hand dyed worsted...
...weight anyone? I'm seriously considering bringing a 100 percent superwash worsted weight to my line up of yarns. I'm wondering if there would be much interest for it. If you are going to spend the money on it how do you like a hand dyed worsted weight to be dyed; solid, semi-solid, variegated, etc. How many skeins would you buy in one colorway? How about the price tag? Leave me your comments, I'd love to hear what you think and the reasons why or why not. Thanks, your feedback is the greatest tool and I'm grateful for it!
~ Angela
This is a photo of one skein I did a while back, the one and only. It's not the greatest photo, but all I have.
~ Angela
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I'm not really a sock knitter so I'm always excited to find a superwash in worsted!
ReplyDeleteI'm always a little sketchy of the "hand dyed." I don't know how well it is dyed, if the colors are prone to excessive bleeding, and often the coloration themes are a little over done for my taste. Also, I don't know what quality fiber it is that they (usually) purchased off some company or another, and the price is always sky high no matter where it came from or what it is made from.
ReplyDeleteI think out of the hand dyed yarns I have purchased, I have only really been happy with one and even that did not resemble its picture.
I'm not into self striping yarn because the stripes might not run perfectly for a project I am doing and always look a little off. I do enjoy when people wind multiple yarns of different size or color together to create a colorful effect that is consistent throughout the skein. I am more apt to drool over that than some tie dyed bundle. Alas, once in a while I will see a yarn that I really like which more harmonious in its random color scheme, though.
SovereignCrux, I understand you might be sketchy about the hand dyed, there are so many people who are doing it. I can assure you that my yarns are of the highest quality, I have never knit with anything less myself even before I started dyeing yarn. Your concern about the hand dyed yarns being prone to excessive bleeding: All my yarns and fiber are treated with great care to ensure that they are light and wash-fast. They are heated to a certain temperature for a certain length of time to ensure this quality. If they are cared for as recommended on the label they will last just as long as commercially dyed yarns, some of which are hand dyed as well. They are essentially dyed the same way, with professional acid dyes. I cannot speak of other dyers, but I do know several that have these very same high standards. I hope this might ease your mind about the hand dyed, at least mine anyway.
ReplyDelete~ Angela
I see gorgeous fingering weight yarns all over the internet all the time. My biggest wish has been that I could get that same beautiful smoothness and radiant color in a worsted weight. I buy and knit with lots of hand dyed yarns, but I guarantee that some of these indie dyers would be patronized a lot more often (by me, I can only speak for myself) if they did offer the same beautiful yarn in worsted weight. Having said that, I encourage you to give it a go! When the yarn budget comes back from a strike, I'd love to see what it can do! I love the thought and care that goes into making yarn for fiber lovers, and that ranks in the very top of reasons why I buy it.
ReplyDeleteI would guess that most people would need 2-3 hanks for virtually any project if the yarn came in 50 gram hanks. There are a lot of not-so-hot superwash wools in worsted out there that I have been a victim of. EEK! But these tend to be of the craft store variety (however, I'm not knocking that type of yarn, there are times when that's what I can get if I like knitting well enough).
Also, I have seen a very small handful of worsted hand dyed on places like Etsy, but sometimes 100+/- yards of it will cost just as much as a 100g hank of fingering! I know I can't afford $25-$32 for ONE hank of just over 100 yards. So, that's only one woman's opinion, but I claim it!
Oops! Forgot to mention that as far as color goes, I personally think you can never go wrong with a semi-solid. It's classic and I believe it works for ANYTHING. I am the biggest fan of semi-solids though. Anything with too severe color changes might be a turn off as far as worsted weight goes.
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ReplyDeleteThe reason it costs the same as fingering is that the yarn, at least with my suppliers, they charge the same for the undyed yarn no matter what the weight, fingering, dk, worsted, etc. I think approximately 100g/200 yard put ups would be nice.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your input!
~Angela
I use Cascade 220 for small projects, e.g a hat or a pair of mittens. I always have yarn left--so I'd think that 200 or 175 yards would be an ideal amount. Hat-sized, basically (for a large-headed adult). I would probably only buy one skein to try it. Plus I don't knit many sweaters, so one-two skeins would be "it" for me. I really like the look of the one skein you posted.
ReplyDeleteAs a yarn dyer myself I got the dye bug when my middle child was a baby. I cloth diapered him and just learned to knit covers and longies and never could find a boy colorway I liked. So I started my own store and I would say 80% of my customers use worsted weight for cloth diapers where as the other 20% use it as tops and sweaters. I offer both sock worsted and DK weight since there are tons of patterns out there that call for all different weights. I have found that Etsy has mostly DK and sock & fiber where Hyena Cart is where most of the worsted weight colorways are as well as some solids and semi solids.
ReplyDeleteRight now I am loving dyeing and knitting up semi solids for both a Sock and Worsted weight. I find that in the colder months I like worsted and bulkier yarns for hats, scarves mittens etc and the warmer months I prefer DK and some fingering yarns to knit tops and light sweaters with.
I would love to see some of the colorways on sock yarn also on a DK or heavier weight yarn.