Warping Board Birthday Pressie & Dyeing

My darling hubby Paul made me warping board for my birthday. Woohoo!

He worked off the pattern on Scout's site.

I really love it. It was cool of him to make it. He did a great job on it.

Though it is funny, I was talking with him about ways I think I would want to modify a warping board to make it more adjustable. Of course, this was *after* he had already started this one. Oops. He did mention he would still be willing to do that which is very sweet of him.

I did a batch of dyeing this weekend with the board. The board makes skeining the yarn for dyeing so much easier. It took longer to layout. But it also meant things where all measured out and tying off sections was faster. So I think it worked out well. I also suspect I will get faster as I get use to it.

With the first batch, I had to wind it between 2 chairs to create a 40" loop! It also meant that the yarn stretched a lot. So the socks I am currently knitting do not line up right. Some of the areas are longer than others. I still love the yarn and it was great for my first time. I also don't think anyone but me and fellow knitters will notice the dyeing issue.

I dyed two batches on Saturday. I did the second batch of the Elann Esprit which is nearly identical to Cascade Fixation. It is cotton with 2% elastic.

I really like it for dyeing. It takes the color really well. The first batch was kinda stiff after I dyed it though. So this time I used Milsoft from Dharma Dyes. I think that really might have helped.

The new batch is red & black. Going to my gothy roots. *grin*

The second batch is the 100% bamboo yarn from Sarah's Yarns. I decided that I wanted something less formal with this batch. I am not sure if the yarn will have enough stretch for socks. So I decided to go with a pattern that was not self striping. So I just did different colors. Red, purple, deep blue. Though there are pieces that aren't so deep. I am very curious how it will knit up.

I need to take some pics of the yarn. I didn't take them yesterday. I will wait til it dyes. It should be dry tonight.

And I got a ball winder! It arrived today. So I should take pics tonight and make some balls.