Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Adventures in Koolaid Dyeing, take two!

My second Koolaid dyeing adventure (minus dyeing solids, which I don't count-that's a lot easier and not as fussy) turned out okay. It's growing on me, anyway. This is Riverstone worsted weight wool yarn from Louet, from a recent co-op. It really did NOT want to absorb the dye (even after soaking in a vinegar bath), so there are lots of mistakes...erm, variations in the dyeing. :) I dyed the red trim to match; this will be shorties for Logan (third on the list, after the two in progress, LOL)! Honestly? I think I'm going to leave the yarn dyeing to the pros. While I love the idea of it, I love knitting with beautiful yarns more. I love winding, by hand, a beautiful skein of yarn that the "master dyers" have created, seeing the color variations... I don't like standing over a casserole dish, praying that the red doesn't bleed into the blue AGAIN, and cursing at the yarn for having white spots. So yarn dyers, fear not... I am definitely NO competition, LOL!!! Though I think the shorties are going to turn out cute; it's VERY vibrant. I should have an in-progress pic for you tomorrow; I've got about an inch done into the body.

Oh, and did I mention that I HATE PURLING?? It's my mantra every time I do a waistband! It's almost what the name of this blog was, but I decided against it. I should look at purling as an essential part of knitting, not as a thing to be dreaded every third/fourth stitch in a waistband. :D At any rate, the dyeing mistakes do indeed look like they're deliberate, and are turning out rather nice, in my very humble opinion! While I still think I'll leave the dyeing to the experts, it is a fun thing to knit something with yarn you dyed up yourself. Very rewarding.

Re-skeined with trim...



And a knitted-up swatch...


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