Here’s another thing I accomplished on vacation:
I’ve taken up dyeing!
Here are my supplies. The spray bottle is full of vinegar, which I forgot to use! You can see the book I used in the background – Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook.
These skeins are Knit Picks Bare, fingering weight. The skein that ended up with purple in it is merino and silk (it’s the yellowish skein in this picture), and the blue is superwash merino. I made up stock solutions of a few colors (1/4 or 1/2 tsp per cup of water – I wrote this down but I don’t remember right now). I didn’t dilute them further before dyeing, because I wanted to keep my first attempt at this pretty simple. I laid each skein across saran wrap, and squirted the dyes right on. I had rubber gloves on, so I just squished the dye around with my fingers to get it exactly where I wanted it. Then I wrapped the skeins up and steamed them on the stovetop.
I couldn’t find a rack that fit inside my pan, but this set up worked pretty well (I put the lid on it and the corners of the rack stuck out a bit). I let everything cool for an hour or so, then unwrapped the skeins and rinsed them. I rinsed by running water in the sink opposite from the skeins and squooshed water out of the skeins by hand. The brown, purple, and blue rinsed clear right away, but the green bled quite a bit. The final color is still really vibrant, so I’m willing to bet I put too much dye on.
I left the skeins on the deck like this for a little while, but then hung them from a shepard’s hook by the cotton “handles” I had put on the skeins before I dyed. I am really happy with the results!
I reskeined the blue, but not the purple. I am unhappy with how messy the blue skein looks now. I think it is because I rewound it on a niddy-noddy instead of a skeinwinder. Any opinions?
I’m also considering selling these, for say, $18 each plus shipping? I can get the detailed specs of the yarn if anyone is interested.
