Dyeing, Again

We seem to be addicted to yarn dyeing in my house.  I decided to try for some colors I’ve seen while shopping for spring clothes: a deep navy blue with dusty rose and light lemon-yellow.  I decided to use the Wilton’s dyes.  The navy was tricky, as I kept adding more and more blue because I wanted to be sure to get a saturated color.  I added some of the black as well, and a few drops of blue food coloring.  I used food coloring for the yellow, and Wilton’s paste in burgundy for the pink.  I didn’t want a bubblegum pink, and since that’s what the pink paste looked like, I decided to go for a lighter concentration of the burgundy.

I think it ended up being very pretty.  I’m having trouble finding a pattern I’d like to use it for.  I want it to be a more serious, grown-up something (maybe a scarf?) with some multidirectional elements or something to show off the variegation.  I’ve been scouring Ravelry, and have some options.  I’ll probably just have to cast on a few and decide which I like the best.

My daughter chose four Kool-Aid colors for her yarn, which turned out vibrant and very nice.

Dyeing, Second Attempt

On Friday my daughter and I made another go at dyeing our own yarn.  We each had a skein of Patons Classic Wool and were ready to go.  I decided to try a method I vaguely remembered seeing somewhere online: laying yarn over plastic wrap, “painting” it with the dye, then wrapping it up and heating by some means.  After we went through all the trouble, I unearthed Knitty’s detailed instructions.  Ah well, such is life. We’ll have them for next time.

My daughter (who is three) decided she wanted purple, blue and green yarn.  I used quart-size jars filled with water and a melange of Kool-Aid and food coloring.  The purple we made with a packet of Blue Raspberry and a packet of Strawberry.  The green and blue were made with food coloring and a few tablespoons of vinegar (I know now this isn’t enough to get a saturated color).  We ended up having much too much water, nonetheless hers turned out pastel, muted – and really beautiful.

Feeling pretty pleased with myself, I set out with my own skein.  I decided I wanted watermelon-y colors: a nice deep red, a fruity pink, a lime green and maybe a lemonade yellow.  I  mixed (with much less water this time), began to pour – and was horrified as the red ran and bled and turned my yarn into a bloody mess.  Actually, I exaggerate.  It looked alright except for the green parts.  They looked greenish brown and not at all lovely.We hung our yarns in the bathroom to dry.  I sighed as I looked at my preschool-aged daughter’s lovely yarn and my messy, ugly stuff.  Disgusted, I took it back into the kitchen.  Time to overdye it.  I mixed a pot of water, red food coloring and plenty of vinegar.  Plopped the yarn in, let it almost come to a boil then let it sit, covered for about half an hour.  After letting it cool and hang to dry, I still wasn’t very pleased with the results.  It wasn’t until I wound it into a ball that I realized it did, in fact, turn out pretty nicely – for an almost-disaster.

It’s hard to tell here, but it’s red, pink, purple (those are the green sections), yellow and light orange.

Some things I’ve learned:

1.  Wet wool smells like wet dog.
2. Red dye almost never will remove itself from your fingernails.
3. I need a ball winder and swift.

Kool-Aid Dyeing, First Attempt

I attempted to dye a skein of white yarn with Kool-Aid yesterday.  It was a fun experiment, even if it didn’t turn out as well as I hoped.  But that’s my fault.  I thought I had a skein of Lion Wool, and it turned out to be Wool-Ease.  As we know, acrylic doesn’t take dye, so the colors are muted – but still pretty.

I looked up several different methods of dyeing and combined them.  For instructions, check out:
Knitty’s Instructions
More Instructions from Knitty
Wool Festival’s Instructions
Color Chart 

I used Mandarina Tangerine, Lemon Lime, and Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade.  I wanted a variegated skein of yarn, and getting this using the microwave method was a little tricky.

I unwound the skein around the backs of two chairs to form a long loop.  I tied the skein in three places so it wouldn’t tangle.  After soaking in a little soap, I rinsed the yarn in cool water.  I used one packet of Kool-Aid per jar of water, but next time I think I will try two packets for a rich, saturated color.  I mixed the Kool-Aid with a little water in the jars, divided the yarn between them, and added enough water to fill them.  Stirring the yarn in the jars this way was a little tricky.  I think next time I want variegated yarn I will try the stovetop method or hand-painting. 

I had to carefully rotate the yarn between 2-minute stints in the microwave to dye all of it.  The sections that were exposed did develop a different texture, but it’s not noticeable now that it’s all wound in a ball.

Then I let the yarn soak and absorb all the color.  The water ended up nearly clear once it was cool.  Then it’s time to let it dry!

  

The yarn dried a little lighter than it was when it came out of the rinse.  It’s very pretty, though.  My daughter has requested that I make a purse for her out of it.