Out of the Dye Pot!

OK, so I officially have the dyeing bug! After playing around with Kool Aid, I thought that I'd play around with some more dyes - in this case, Wilton's. I'm really pleased with the way that these have come out and wanted to share them! i used the microwave to 'cure' these yarns. The first is a Knit Picks Merino Bare and violet dye. I love the way that the dye 'broke' and the component colors, the pinks and blues, look lovely.


I am totally in love with this colorway, and will be replicating it in the future under the name of 'Kingfisher'. it consists of a number of blues/teals and copper for that contrast. Love it, love it, love it!



This is from a kit that I bought about a year ago from Gina Brown's in Calgary. The kit is by Louet and consisted of three 50gm skeins. Hubby loves the color way, so it looks as though there will be a pair here for him!


And finally, this is an experiment that went (a little!!) wrong, but I rather like the result! The plan was to have light green, yellow and lilac stripes. The green turned brown (it looks khaki in this picture, but is truly a lovely warm brown), but still looks pretty good! To me it seems as though the dyes know what they want to be and do rather than wanting me to impose my designs on them. . . . more practice required before I become the 'yarn listener'.


My next step will be to make a color wheel comprising of 12 colors. I've got one last ball of Patons left, so will probably use that to make mini skeins to practice with! Once I've done that, I think I will be making up yarn for my Etsy Shop. Woo hoo!

For the Love of Dyeing . . .

To me, yarn is manna from heaven. I love the touch, the smell but most of all . . . . the color. I'm like a magpie when it comes to collecting the colors - I'm particularly fond of a green/yellow/lilac combination, and have one or two skeins in my stash that meet that criteria. I also see combinations day-to-day; you know the type, a beautiful sunrise, waves and sand on a beach, a wildflower blooming in a grassy field and those are just the obvious ones! So, I thought it would be fun to try out some yarn dyeing - and oh boy, I'm hooked! My first two experiments involved the use of Kool Aid. There have been many tutorials written on the subject, so I'm just going to give you the links! This Knitty article was very useful, as is this article from KnittyOtter.

So, after a trip to the supermarket, I was armed with some Kool Aid in Cherry, Orange and Lemon/Lime. I had some Patons Kroys sock yarn in Ecru sitting by, waiting for an opportunity to show how lovely it could be! I re-skeined the yarn and then soaked it in mild soapy water for 30 mins, meanwhile I dissolved one sachet of Kool Aid in two cups of water - three bowls, one color in each. After squeezing out the yarn and rolling it in a towel to dry a little more, I dipped a third of the yarn in each of the bowls, being careful not to mix the colors. I left a bare patch between each of the color joins and carefully squeezed the dye to fill the gaps. The yarn was then coiled into one of the baskets of my steamer, and left to steam for 30 minutes.

Once cooled, it was given a good rinse and left to dye. A quick twist . . . and it looked like this!Pretty cool huh? I need to re-skein it, but I proudly present to you, Neon Punch (1201).

I loved the effect the cherry had, so I mixed a second packet with the dissolved dye and dropped two more prepared skeins in to get Cherry Love (1202).

It must be love, love, love . . . .