Monday, May 22, 2006

Back on the Dye

After the dyeing/wrapping debacle of last week, I felt I needed to redeem myself. Friday afternoon while S slept, I took my opportunity. This time, I wanted to try the Kool-Aid method but not so pastel like it turned out the first time. Didn't love that. I took my 100g of yarn and wrapped it into a somewhat longer hank and cut it in half (well almost half; forgot to use the scale and ended up with a 40 g/ 60 g split, but whatever). Then I mixed up my Kool Aid with some warm water and some vinegar (mind you, no scientific amounts). I used lemonade, cherry and mountain berry as one color, and then orange. I also revved up the yellow with some yellow food coloring and the orange with a couple of drops of yellow and a couple of drops of red food coloring and voila! I was ready for the microwave:

I confess this part wasn't very scientific either because I was ironing some shirt in between. But, basically, I would heat the jars for 2 minutes, let them cool for about 2 minutes and then repeat. I did this at least five times, but the real indicator was that when I started to lift the yarn out of the jars the water was heading towards clear (love what a great fixative vinegar is). I also made sure to use a small syringe to fill in the color where it didn't seem dark enough (the parts that were out of each jar and still receiving color) because I didn't want there to be too abrupt color changes. And the result is what I am calling Sunfire.
Sorry for the gratuitous picture of my azalea, but since it is the healthiest one in the garden right now, I couldn't resist. I have azaleas in all stages of bloom right now, many with blooms and no leaves (damn, those deer!). And the lily of the valley are in full bloom now, unbelievable fragrance, but I digress.



I have to figure out now which skein to send to my dye-o-rama pal. I was thinking maybe the first skein in the blues and greens, but since she likes bright colors, I am thinking that though this is an undersized skein by 10 g, maybe I will send this and a little something else. Thoughts?

7 comments:

jaqic said...

I really like it. You have to show me how to dye the wool. I would love to try it.

Eleni said...

It reminded me a little of the Cherry Tree Hill Sock Yarn that I used for my mom's socks. I just finished a skein I am either calling Jerry Garcia's Irises or Jerry's eyes. More on that with a picture later.

Anonymous said...

I really like the results that you got with both types of dye! You and Linda have inspired me to try to dye my own yarn. I'll take any pointers that you are willing to give.

Holly in CT said...

BEAUTIFUL. Holy Knit Batman you inspired me to knit socks and now you may inspire me to dye my yarn!! The color you came out with (at least on my monitor) is very similar to the sock yarn I purchased at Sit 'N Knit last week. We could end up with fraternal twin socks!

Eleni said...

Holly in CT--it's actually brighter by a bit than the sock yarn you bought. Closer to the stuff I knit with for my mom's socks (in a previous post somewhere). Holly from Bristol--I'm going to post my amateur pointers just as soon as I finish writing them. I cannot stand how fun this is, though it is definitely taking time away from my knitting. Argghh!!

Craftybernie said...

Love the yarn. The colours are great. I don't think I could part with it if I made it. Then again I do have separation issues.

I would love to have a go dying my own yarn but I think that would be pushing things too far. Maybe in the future when I trim my crafts/hobbies to about ten (a day) I will give it a go. Thanks for visiting my blog.

BW......Bernie

Anonymous said...

ZOWIE! My favorite color combination of all time...FIRE! Love it!!!!!