Striped
Sock Yarn Using a Skeining Board
There are many attractive
self-striping yarns in the market place, so many that it can be difficult to
choose from the numerous colour ways and stripe patterns. It is interesting and
relaxing just to sit and knit, watching the patterns growing on your needles,
but for a hand-spinner, what could be even more satisfying and exciting than to
choose your fibre mix, spin your own yarn, dye it to produce your chosen
pattern in your favourite colour way and ending up with a unique pair of very
comfortable footwear.
I first used this method of creating
self striping sock yarn, with very definite, well defined stripes, several
years ago. This led me to preparing a workshop for Bedfordshire Guild WSD.
The first, most important, piece of information
that I gleaned is that an average sock size – ladies shoe size 6 – takes 30cm
of commercial 4ply yarn to knit one row using 2.5/2.75mm needles. Armed with
this fact, my husband helped me design and make adjustable skeining boards.
There is now a deal of information and advice
online describing methods of producing self striping yarn, but many of them
make use of chairs and other pieces of furniture around which the yarn is
wound. Some, more sensible, more practical methods use weaver’s warping frames.
(See Ashford’s site www.ashford.co.nz).
I have long wondered if a niddy noddy could be
used to produce yarn with 2 to 4 stripes.
There are three horizontal rows of holes in the
board that give the possibility of up to six skeins, each of which begins at
one of the six positions in the centre of the board.
Depending on the length of yarn needed to knit
one sock row, up to another six posts can be positioned in the relevant
positions on the board by being screwed from underneath with longish
countersunk screws. The distance between the posts, from skein to skein, is as
short as workably possible.
N.B. The length/circumference
of a skein is measured around the outside of both posts, not just between the
centre points of the post positions.
Now the big
decisions…
a.
Colour scheme,
b.
Number of colours,
c.
Number of stripes,
d.
Colour sequence repeat. Is this to be continuous – red,
blue, green, red, blue green or mirrored i.e. Red,
yellow, blue, green,
blue, yellow, red, yellow, blue?
e.
Are all the stripes to be the same width?
I
find coloured pencils and lined paper useful in planning and making these decisions.
Decisions
made, you can get the board ready.
Winding the
skeins
It is a good idea to ‘plan your route’
on the board and whether you want a different number of rows of any colour in
your sequence, then it is a good idea to make a note/list of the sequence so
you can cross it off as you progress.
Always start your skeins at a post
in the centre of the board. This ensures economic use of the yarn and the
shortest distance between skeins.
I start with a slip knot at post A, *, and take
the yarn below and around post B anti-clockwise to above post A for skein 1.Then
down under C anticlockwise around D to the top of C to make skein 2. Then taking
the yarn down below E to F and back to the top of E is gives the pathway for
the third skein.
For the next three skeins, the yarn travels
from E above G, anticlockwise around H, back to G, up to and around I, over to
and under J, back to I and up to and around the top of K, over the top of L and
back to K, *, – a complete circuit of 6 skeins.
The next ‘move’ depends on whether you want to
repeat the same colour sequence or mirror them.
To continue the same colour sequence, whether
or not the number of knitted rows is to be the same, the yarn continues from
below K, over to A to repeat the above instructions from * to *
To mirror/reverse your colour sequence, *1, wind
the yarn as described above, from * to *, but you then have to wind the yarn
completely around the last post, K, taking it to the right of I and wind the
next skein clockwise around I and J. After the desired number of circuits/rows
you take the yarn down to below G and again wind the skein clockwise. Moving to
the right side of the board the next skeins at positions 3, 2 and 1 are wound
clockwise and the yarn has to be wound completely around post A, (*2) to repeat
the above sequence * to *, followed again by *1 to *2 and so on, until all the
yarn is used.
As a weaver, when warping, I am used to putting
a length of crossed yarn between each group of threads, depending on the number
required in an inch or cm. of warp width. This can be useful when counting the
number of rows of sock yarn laid down for each colour. It also helps, after
dyeing, to know which way up the skeins should be placed on the posts so they
can be easily unwound.
For my 4 ply yarn, I decided upon a mirrored
sequence with 6 colours. I began the skeins at post A, as described above. I
continued winding my yarn in this way until it was all used, then tied it off
at the nearest post. I repeated the sequence for the second 50g. yarn. Then I tied
each skein with figure of eight ties in four places, i.e. at each post and on
each side of the skein. I also put ties around the yarn leading from one skein
to another. I left the cross ties in place and knotted them loosely.
Dyeing.
Once the skeins were tied and taken off the
board I put them to soak in warm water. When thoroughly wetted, the dyes mixed
and work surface prepared, they were squeezed to remove excess water and laid
on cling film. Before putting any dye on the skeins I wrapped each one in cling
film to protect them from any splashing of unwanted colour. I also used plastic
bag grips, on the yarn that ran between skeins, to prevent dye from migrating
to adjacent skeins.
After the acid dye was applied I
wrapped them again in a second layer of cling film and steamed them for 45
minutes. Once cooled and rinsed I put the yarn to dry hanging it on a broom
handle which went through each skein. When dry I replaced the skeins on the
frame to remove the ties and then unwind the yarn. As you can see, the skeins
don’t easily go back onto the posts but this can be rectified by moving the
outer posts in one position on the board. The cross ties in the centre of the
skeins were a useful way of showing whether the skeins are the same way up as
before. I also checked that there were no twists between the skeins and,
thankfully they unwound easily.
This shows the six
colours of 4 ply yarn dyed for the second pair of socks. Again I used acid dyes
but either project could have been dyed with natural dye extracts.
Knitting the socks.
The
socks with 4ply yarn my preferred way of cuff down using the basic
‘Regia’ yarn pattern which can be found at
www.coatscrafts.co.uk.
The Ashford website – www.ashford.co.nz – also has a basic
sock pattern, along with a ‘Spiral Sock Pattern’ and funky pattern for
‘Dreadlock Socks’, all of which are freely downloadable. You can see from the
photo that a lace or indeed any textured stitch tends to distort the stripes.
