The process went quickly, much more quickly than I anticipated. I gathered up all my dying equipment and my packages of Kool-Aid and my giant bottle of vinegar and went to town! The colors I used? Orange, Lemonade, Cherry-Watermelon, and Black Cherry. The results? Beautiful!
I have a plethora of grey heathery Shetland wool that I bought two years ago (see left) and I was wondering what on earth I could do with it. I had already spun some into a heavy worsted weight 3-ply that I used to knit a shrug. But I still had a pound of it left! So I wound of four sets of fourteen strips (I don't know how much each section weighed, but they were a yard and a half each strip) and started dying, mixing four packets of each color into a pot of almost boiling water with some vinegar.
Once the water was clear of color, I drained the wool in the sink, then hung the strips outside in the wind to dry.
It didn't take very long to dry the strips and by Saturday evening I was already spinning it. I spun several lengths of one color before switching to the next, then Navajo plied it to create sections of color that will stripe when knitted up.
I'm really excited to start knitting this, but I already have so many projects going!
Update on Mary T. She is knitting socks from some gorgeous Romeldale she bought and spun awhile ago. She's also done spinning the Carribbean Delight (which she actually calls Monet's Garden, my bad!) and has only one bobbin left to ply. She says hello to all our spinner and knitter friends! :D
3 comments:
better to dye than to die :D
Sarah, I LOVE the colors, and drying outside was a great idea. (I'll have to try that next time in our good old Ellensburg wind!) Can't wait to see what it looks like knit up. What will you make?
How much vinegar? Do you use white vinegar?
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