• Crochet - trial and error

    Dyeing Experiment early 2023

    March 11, 2023 - By 

    Every year or so I have the urge to dye some yarn. Usually, I will buy some Easter Egg dye kits at the end of the season and make some interesting creations. I have a large bag of expired food coloring that was being tossed out from an office move, as well as specifically purchased drink mix packages for dyeing. I still had a couple of hanks of yarn that I had purchased to dye as well as several undyed hanks that I received as part of a mystery box. The goal was to dye at least enough for a couple of scarves to donate to one of my special groups in the fall.

    I started out with bare yarn, soaked it in water and added several containers of food coloring and the red drink mix to the dye pot with water and some vinegar. Then I let the yarn simmer. For this larger amount of yarn, I got out the dye pot that is only used for non-food/craft items. Think tie dying a shirt, not just yarn. The yarn simmered and took most of the dye and became a lovely darker coral-ish color. I wanted a deeper red for one of the hanks, so I purchased some RIT dye and then overdyed one hank and it took on a glorious, lovely deep red shade with darker sections where it was darker in the first dyeing.

    The results are great and both dyeing experiments for early 2023 turned out well. For the future, I think I will use more food coloring, and less water to make the color more concentrated. Either way, it’s for fun and I enjoyed the process and like the results. Most of the yarn is really a mystery because I received it unbanded from a mystery box from a company that I’m not familiar with, so the yarn will truly be one of a kind and will make a special gift.

    Since I have no plans to use it right away, I will wait to wind it and start a project, But for now, I’m just happy admiring my handiwork.

    Happy crocheting!

  • Crochet - Dyeing

    Another May Dye Pot

    June 23, 2021 - By 

    There is nothing like getting your hands a little messy. When Easter egg dye was on clearance, I bought a few packages and used some of the colors. Since I had purchased several kits, I put the similar colors together, wrapped in plastic so that they would stay dry. Three colors that I thought would be in the red/orange/purple family weren’t. The colors ended up being orange, yellow and blue. After adding the vinegar and water, there was no turning back. My lovely assistant, my mother, selected the order of the colors before the tablets were dissolved based on what we thought they were. After they were dissolved, we changed the placement of the colors and put the blue between the yellow and orange then the dyeing adventure began. I used rubber bands to separate the hanks in approximate thirds, then soaked them a little to help the colors bond with the wool better.

    The hanks were soaked, doused with all the dye for the particular section and massaged to ensure better coverage. Once the dye was exhausted, the hanks were wrapped in plastic and micro waved in two minute intervals until the water ran clear. The hanks were allowed to sit for a little to cool.

    The yellow and orange were much more vibrant than I anticipated, the blue color ended up being a periwinkle color. Everything turned out well. I like the Swish Worsted base which is a superwash and can be machine washed and dried. I don’t know what it will be like in the future or how much it will pill since it is a Merino base but it’s soft and worked up well. I only dyed two hanks and for the future, for a hat and scarf set, I would dye three which would give me 660 yards and would be less limiting for projects that require more yardage. The previous dye project had a similar yardage but I’m planning to make a scarf with those two cakes.

    There are still some dye tablets left and some bare hanks. Next time, I might go for a speckled look or “paint” several colors on to the hanks for a riot of color.

    The yarn was used to for the 60th hat and scarf set, officially completing the hat and scarf goal for the year. I’ve continued making hat and scarf sets, but wanted to make something special to meet the goal. More hats and scarves = more people who will be warm this winter.

    Happy crocheting!