The work of Laura Militzer Bryant, founder of Prism Yarns, has been recognized with grants from both the National Endowment for the Arts andt he state of Florida. She has published more than 35 pattern books and writes a column for Cast On magazine. Laura is a past president of the National NeedleArts Association.
Spring 14 I have to confess, when I wanted to knit with a hand-dyed
skein of yarn I would cast on a simple stitch pattern and hope.
Sometimes it looked OK, but sometimes not as inspiring as the skein
itself. No longer! Laura is quite a bit more scientific. In order
to get the colours of a hand-dyed skein to fall predictably, she
knits or crochets a multiple or fraction of the original dye repeat
length, or magic number. An exact repeat gives colour stacking. One
or two stitches difference from the magic number produces diagonal
stripes or a diamond Argyle effect. Different stitch patterns and
different placement of colour on the yarn also give surprising
results. A limitation of this technique is that you can’t increase
and decrease stitches for shaping, but the author includes some
example patterns showing how these straight widths can be joined
into garments with panels of toning solids. If want something truly
random or less bold – without any pooling or patterns, this also
cannot be left to chance – Laura details different techniques for
achieving ‘randomness’ such as slip-stitch patterns, floats, and
knitting into the row below. She combines handdyed yarns and solids
on different rows and within the same stitch. The fabric that
results is more homogeneous, but still retains the proportions of
the original colours. Laura illustrates the various effects using
case studies with commercially dyed yarn in different repeat sizes
and colour configurations, showing her experimentation samples and
the final garment. Hand-dyed yarn can also be used to achieve these
effects. Before dyeing, yarn can be skeined to the correct size to
achieve the fabric width that you want. Just to prove it worked, I
had to dig out a hand-dyed skein from my stash immediately and cast
on a cowl. Gretchen Roth, Online Guild
*Journal for Weavers, Spinners & Dyers*
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
