A PPaola to dye for - a tutorial

     I know...it's been a long time since I last wrote here.  I was busy with a very welcome commission and then nursing a cold - such a bad one I didn't even want to knit!

     Anyway, I had promised the test knitters that once we were done with PPaola, I'd post a tutorial on how to dye the finished stole.  The photos were taken some time ago, but like I said, I was busy doing some other (not so fun) things.
    

     Here is the image of the second PPaola I knit.  It was done with Franklin sock yarn, using AB beads instead of nupps. (I tried everything I could think of, but blogger insists on placing the image sideways).  You can find the specs for this one here.

     This was my first time "painting" a knit item and I probably made a bunch of mistakes, but it was fun and easy to do.

  


     Since it was the dead of winter (and I don't have much space outside anyway), I did all the dyeing on my dinning room table.
     You'll need old newspapers and some plastic (I used the real big grocery bags).  There were two colors used to get the result you see above - Evergreen and Blue Spruce.  I used Country Classic Wool Dyes, but you can use anything you got handy.  You'll also need a few jars to put the dyes in and one or two foam brushes.

     We'll start by soaking the item in water for at least half an hour.  A few tips here:  if you used coned yarn to knit your item, you'll probably need to take whatever sizing the used on the yarn off - so, first soak it in very hot water (DO NOT AGITATE!!!).  I used a few drops of dish detergent on the water as I wanted the colors to "run" a bit - soap lower the surface tension.
     After letting the stole soak for a good time, I made my first mistake: I took the excess water out by using the spinning cycle of my washer...because of that the yarn didn't quite work as a wicker as I wanted it to.  If I were to do it again, I'd just squeeze the excess water out with my hands.
On the other hand, by spinning it on the washer I didn't get a big mess of puddles in the carpet ;)

Time flies even if you don't have fun

I finally managed to release the pattern for PPaola.   The test knitting took way longer than what I've imagined and since (sadly) I can't turn off life when I have other things to do, it wasn't all fun and games.

So, after a few personal crisis averted and/or solved, the holidays, the pursue of a personal goal (still on going) you can finally buy it here.

I've done a second one using Franklin sock yarn and beads instead of nupps.  Working on the second one I had at least one aha moment, which will become another post.  I used undyed yarn on the second stole and took pictures of the dyeing process (to become a tutorial).
I haven't taken pics of the second version yet, as I'm waiting for a good day to take photos of the finished stole.

Luiza

I've been working on this pattern for the last two months and I have (finally) published it.

This is an advanced pattern. The shawl is knit from the neck down and can be done with any yarn from cobweb to fingering.

The one on the picture was done with sock yarn. If you have access to Ravelry, you can see another one knit with handspun lace weight - here.

You can find a link to purchase the pattern on the side bar.