Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Adventures In Yarn Dyeing... Round 2

Well I ordered this yarn from knitpicks, so I could practice some more on some nice soft yarn that I actually want to use. This is Knit Picks bare merino wool in fingering weight, its very nice. It cost $5.99 for the superwash, but you get a lot of yarn for that, 462 yards. Well here begins my dyeing adventures

I attempted to make some self striping yarn, nothing fancy, no crazy measurements, I knit a few rows in the round and measured how much would make 5 rows, then wrapped that much around some chairs, no pictures sorry, but very similar to this person from craftster. Well the chairs I used unfortunately slanted out and as I finished wrapping, the yarn wouldnt come off, silly me, I always learn things the hard way. I almost ripped the yarn in half trying to get it off, pictures would have been funny. darn

So I chose, strawberry, lemon lime and lemonade "Kool-Aid" this time, I got a very nice pink color last time I used a very weak mixture of the stawberry, so I was going for a pink, yellow and green, well it didnt work out that way, I got these colors that reminded me of Rasta colors, thats cool and all but not what I wanted to wear on my socks or for my niece's socks

So I decided to overdye the yellow with blue, you see with Kool-Aid dyeing you can't get much other than these crazy neon colors, which is cool and cheap so Im having fun for now, but Im sure down the road Ill start using yarn dyes so I can get the colors I want, but for now here is what I have

I also re-dyed the other colors, The superwash doesnt pick up the colors as well, and I had a lot of splotches. Again, learning the hard way. See that yarn rinsing, I sure hope all my ties are still functioning cause that looks like one big mess

Yep here is that mess I was talking about, I almost had a heart attack, when I first started, but you know, my ties did well and it came off very easily (partialy dry because I have no patience) despite what you see :0)

Oh yeah, here are those stools I used, see how they slant out, woops, I almost couldn't get the yarn off

From the mess on the floor came this..ahh pretty

and all that hard work was so worth it, I absolutely love this and can't wait to try out that striping pattern, until then.....

8 comments:

  1. That is lovely. Can't wait to see the socks!

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  2. I love the colors. It's amazing how it works out.

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  3. Turned out so pretty. Isn't it fun?

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  4. love it! you put me in a dyeing mood! that link is very helpful. i think i might have to try that.

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  5. I love the way your yarn turned out and can not wait to see what the socks look like. Those colors are perfect if you where scrubs to work. I wonder if you could dye it with tea or like rasberry ice chrystal light. Those drinks have different colors. It would be worth finding out. I can't wait til next easter to dye with the left over easter dye. Good job.

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  6. You did such a good job and the yarn is yummy looking...I think I might try this yarn dying thing...all though my family already thinks I am nuts with my knitting thing! Thanks for the inspiration! Isn't it fun to blog and have people visit. I am glad I found your blog.

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  7. OOOOO, that came out very well! I love the colors!

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