Monday, November 24, 2008

Happy Weekend

Part of my happy weekend was spent overdyeing some of the lovely yarn out of the big box I received last year from the lovely Kristen.

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Center pull skeinsThe yarn, Plymouth Andean Alpaca, is wonderfully soft and fuzzy. Mint green is not my color, so overdyeing has been on my mind for some time.
HanksThe first task was to turn the center-pull balls into hanks using my niddy noddy. Some balls had a few knots.
Soaking yarnThe skeined yarn got a good soak in tepid water to eliminate air bubbles that could hinder dye absorption.
DyeingThe dye was nothing fancy, just Berry Blue Kool-Aid. It took two three-minute sessions in the microwave for the dye to exhaust.
Exhausted dye waterAnd exhaust it did. The dye water in the well of the saucer is hard to see – it's almost perfectly clear.
Before and afterBefore and after. I was hoping for robin's egg blue and that's pretty much what I got. I'm even more pleased the gentle process did not mar the fine hand of the yarn.

Emboldened by success, I'm ready to experiment further. Hm... it occurs to me that orange Kool-Aid on mint ought to yield a mellow pumpkin or saffron. Hm....

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

It looks beautiful! And don't you love the aroma of wet wool + Koolaid ;o)

Kelli said...

Cool stuff. Custom kool-aid colors. Must put on my list of things to try. ~ksp

Kim said...

What an improvement! Love the robin's egg blue. I'll be the yarn smells sweet too.

Jessica said...

It's always fun to see how and overdye will turn out. Looks great!

Kristen said...

The mint green was not for me either. Dying it was a great idea. (If I were ambitious, or skilled at it, the thought might have ocurred to me...) It is a lovely color now, and I wonder what you will make with it?

Bezzie said...

If you can find a store the specializes in Mexican foods--try some of their "kool aid." I've got some "tamarind" koolaid I've been dying to use. Horrible pun intended.

I love the way the new yarn color really goes nicely with the old yarn color too!