Friday, October 10, 2008

Dyeing Yarn

I found some yarn yesterday that was 50% off and since I can't resist a sale, I bought 2 skeins (although I wish I bought more-oh well). As soon as I saw them, I thought "Ooohh, I can't wait to dye this." I dyed some yarn before but it was a solid color. I wanted to try for variegated yarn this go around. I took pictures to document today's adventure. **that means that this post is going to be long :)** **also means this may be boring, but I wanted to document the process**

Starting point- Loft Classic Yarn by Zitron

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Unwound on the swift

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Soaking in the sink-it kept creeping out from under the plates

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The dyes ready and waiting. I use Wilton Cake Icing in the following colors:

Teal, Royal Blue, Sky Blue, Black, Kelly Green

I mixed up different colors until I came up with something I liked

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The measuring cup that looks the fullest will be to color the white parts sticking down below

Sittin' in the pot

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Sittin in the pot to cover up the white

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Drying (in my awesome guest bath shower)

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Reskeined to show the stripes

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Wound into a ball

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Once I figure out what on earth to do with it, I will post a picture of the FO (Finished object)

Things I learned during this dyeing lesson:

1. Wet yarn really really stinks (I knew this but had apparently forgotten)

2. I tried to make navy blue with the Wilton's cake dye. I thought, oh I will put some of the royal blue and added some black. Only the black Wilton's cake dye turns everything PINK. like hot pink. So the Dark blue parts of the yarn actually have like pink fuzzies. My kitchen sponge is pink, the gloves were pink, and even the stainless steel to hold the handle to the pan is pink!

3. If you don't completely wash the dye out, when you hang it up to dry it will drip turquoise water in the bathtub.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm impressed by your crafty-ness!!! I have taken up knitting now, and enjoy it some much better than crocheting. You'll have to show me some new tricks! I've completed two scarfs but am ready to tackle something a little more difficult!
-Leigh

kate said...

That turned out great!

Debbie said...

that's awesome!!! i love the combination of colors together! just the skein of yarn looks like it could be a really cool scarf! :)