Mystic Bat Makes

Welcome to the side blog! This will have a more concentrated collection of my projects, products and stuff I'm up to. Main blog is more of a collection of what I'm inspired by. Check out my shop on Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/mysticbat/shop

[disgruntled-lifeform]

Dyeing on the stovetop for the first time and all the online info assumes acid dyes or some form of powder dye whereas I'm using food colouring.

I decided that I should use 15ml of dye for the 15g but idk if that is the proper method for a 100% saturation

In dot dyeing you do a percentage of the weight of fibre so I just assume that applies here also

[disgruntled-lifeform]

Oddly, the fibre seems to be taking on more of the green from my dye and choosing to leave the blue mostly just in the pot.

The goal was teal and when I dot dye with this dye mix, it works fine so there is some strange alchemy afoot

[disgruntled-lifeform]

WHY WON'T YOU DRINK THE BLUE?!

I do not understand, no do I know when to give up and accept that it's absorbed all the dye it can

[primitivedisaster]

A Biochemist's Knitting Perspective

Out of the dyers I am actually familiar with, chemknits does the most food coloring. MAYBE there will be something useful in one of these blog posts for you? She also has a pretty extensive YouTube

[littlebirdinagarden]

I second checking out chemknits, especially on YouTube. Rebecca taught me everything I know

But also, there is just something about blue/turquoise dye pigments. You will learn to hate them as a dyer because they hate being in fibre/yarn

If you get to a point where it’s taking a very long time to fully absorb the dye, just take it out. You could leave it in there and the water will clear eventually, but that last bit of dye you will just be washing out of the fibre for a very long time. And you really don’t want to spend too long washing fibre because of the felting risk

[mysticbatmakes]

A lot of my first dye experiments and successes were all food dye. I think you might have better luck dyeing teals in layers by doing multiple baths of blue and green and yellow.

I had a lot of success when dyeing cold with food coloring, and steaming or doing a hot bath at the end. I have a bunch on wide, flat/shallow food tubs that I lay yarn/fibre in, add the water and colors and let it sit. So I can set up a project the night before. I check it in the morning before work and make any adjustments I want. Then after work I can wrap up and steam set it.

I also learned most everything I know by watching Chemknits youtube. She explains some of the science behind it and I found that both fascinating and helpful!

[mysticbatmakes]

Dyed these as an experiment/attempt at galaxy yarn. Been noodling on what to use them for, and realized they are close enough they can be a fade!

Had also seen this sweater video on YT and wanted to make it, but didn't have a solid plan or idea for it.

Had a few false starts, changed to this yarn, a few more false starts...

I figured out how to do it after nearly completing the first panel, started a second one and then realized I needed to frog the first side.

Luckily, this works up super fast and has been fun to work on!!

Almost done with the body, gotta figureout the sleeves!!

[juney-blues]

heartbreaking:

girl has sooooooo many ambitions and ideas for projects but can only get 1.5 basic tasks done per day

[itsnickha]

[i-am-mysticbat]

HaHA! Sunlight!? Better photo that shows the color right?????

Put this sweater down for a bit, and was reminded just how much I love these colors~

[mysticbatmakes]

Very slight sweater update!!

[mysticbatmakes]

Juniper WIP update:

Been having some struggles with the scallops/increases and decreases... mostly being picky about it, also didn't notice the part where it tells me special instructions for how to inc/dec...

The first two are sloppy but the last 3 seem to be consistent. I'll take that as a win!!

I have been having some hand pain struggles (which are new to me) from all the pinching I end up doing with my left hand.

This is likely the combo of holding double and doing a slip stitch with extra steps. So I end up pinching everything still so I can grab all the strands without losing one when pulling through a loop.

I'm testing out some of my different hook types, to see if one helps with the struggle lol.

I also had to redraw a diagram from the pattern so my brain could follow it better and it's been working much smoother now.

All in all I'm really excited for how this is working up!!

Pattern by Noman Stitches :

Juniper Sweater pattern by Nomad Stitches

Juniper evokes memories of best friends, picking flowers on a field, baking cookies with mom. A comfy, flattering, and feminine sweater tha

[mac-n-cheese-art]

Artists:

what's your favorite part of drawing?

sketching!!!

doing line art!!!

coloring!!!

rendering!!!

something else!!!

Voting ended onDec 8, 2023

I'm just so curious. For me it'd really be a tie between line art and coloring

[mysticbatmakes]

WIP update for my pastel sweater project:

I am making the Juniper Sweater by Nomad Stitches!!

Juniper Sweater pattern by Nomad Stitches

Juniper evokes memories of best friends, picking flowers on a field, baking cookies with mom. A comfy, flattering, and feminine sweater tha

It is a crochet sweater that is made in 3 pieces, has a lace like feature on the (raglan!) sleeves, and a scalloped hem. It is a paid pattern, so I will do my best to talk about the process without too many details that would spoil the pattern...

Here's some pictures of the sweater from the creator of the pattern!

The pattern calls for DK/3 so I am holding 2 fingering weight yarns that I dyed specially for this project. They are single ply and are working up a really interesting texture so far.

Theres a bunch of increases and decreases in the pattern and I have been struggling a little bit (I'm being overly picky about how/where to work the increases) but I think once it starts really building bulk, it will be easier.

I do LOVE how the colors are working up!! They are being soft and kinda glow-y in a way that I love, but am apparently bad at photographing... but it won't stop me from trying!!

[mysticbatmakes]

I decided to dye some yarn for a crochet sweater I want to make. This is the single ply super wash wool base I use. It's fingering weight, so I need to hold double for the pattern's DK.

I did my best to try and plan how I dyed the yarn to work well for holding the two colors. (Because I guess just dyeing 6 of the same color was too boring? Idk) I've never tried to dye for a speciffic project or pattern before, so it was a bit of a challenge.

I had to re-do half of it because I made it too dark. (As in, I grabbed 3 undyed and started over to replace the darker 3 skeins)

I know these look almost the same, and the photos make it even more so... but one is mostly blueish green with some purple and the other is mostly purple with some blue. I promise. Lol

Caked up there is a more obvious difference, one looking aqua ish and the other purple.

I can't wait to share progress on this project, as they look so pretty together!!!

[mysticbatmakes]

Because I have gotten more questions about it than I expected to... I am looking into offering international shipping!

I have some questions if you are outside the US:

Which shipping service is most reliable in your area?

What would you be willing to pay to have yarn shipped to you?

Is there something the shop (me ;) ) could do to soften the blow of double-digit shipping costs?

[mysticbatmakes]

Finally picked a project to make with my Haunted colorway, so I had an excuse to cake them.

And then also broke down/remembered to buy a black light to take pictures...

Did I mention that Haunted is UV reactive??

[mysticbatmakes]

[mysticbatmakes]

This color is special to me, as it's an attempt to recreate one of the first intentional dyes that I did with my step mom ♡

I messed up some of the technique a bunch, but its still so pretty (and I know what to correct in future batches). So I only have this color on 2 bases, sparkle and single ply, which are both sock weight. The other two bases for this one turned out so different that I had to give them a different name...

This is Neophyte.

In my mind the name is for a novice or apprentice mage of some sort, learning how to magic. I imagine someone new to magic would be likely to put too much into their work, and still miss some spots.

Visit Mystic Bat Studio's Ko-fi Shop!

A crafty tale of hooks and yarn.

[mysticbatmakes]

This was my initial thought for how to dye the Batty colorway, but decided it needed it's own space.

Say hi to Mystic.

It's really difficult to capture this one on camera!

Mystic is a mix of a cool pastel purple, and a cool minty color. It turns this really pleasant grey where they overlap and mix. It's really subtle compared to all the other things I have dyed, and I really find it to fit it's name sake!

I feel like this would make some really pretty garments, or something lacey. I will likely be visiting this color again later, even if only to dye up a sweater's quantity for myself ;)

Currently, I have 10 skeins available on a 100g sock base.

Visit Mystic Bat Studio's Ko-fi Shop!

A crafty tale of hooks and yarn.

[mysticbatmakes]

The warmest colorway I've made so far?

Love Potion~

This was fun to blend the colors out! I mostly work with blues and greens, so it can be a real challenge for me to find colorways that really inspire me without blue...

These are up for grabs on my Ko-Fi shop!

https://ko-fi.com/mysticbat/shop

[i-am-mysticbat]

Hi, I'm Kat.

I like yarn, and I make stuff.

I started learning to dye yarn a tear or two ago, and have become obsessed with it. Look at this color I made for spooky season that I have named "Haunted".

[heaven428]

oh my god that is gorgeous😍. the name matches perfectly!!!

[i-am-mysticbat]

Thank you so much! I started with the name and struggled with changing how I wanted to dye it because I had too many ideas. I'm glad you think the name/color combo match :3

[i-am-mysticbat]

Wanted to share more of the process that lead to Haunted. There are accidentally two versions, one being super neon-vibrant green, and one with more somber swampy green. They both turned out really cool, but have *slightly* different vibes.

These are 50g mini skeins, dyed for spooky season and paired with a contrasting mini.

[i-am-mysticbat]

I dyed this to pair with Haunted, and named it Batty.

I dyed these as they were twisted up, so the black and grey would not get to everything... I originally wanted to dye pastels into the white spots, but liked how smokey this felt.

50g sock yarn mini.