Monday, October 04, 2010

KOOL AID DYEING, MULTICOLORS

I've been dyeing Heart & Sole sock yarn with Kool Aid to make Wendy D. Johnson's Pi Shawl (see future post), but decided to try some I Love This Wool "Winter White" and several colors at once, but not mixed. When I wound the wool in a skein, I tied it in 4 separate equal-ish parts so when it was in the bowl each section was sort of in its own corner. The yarn soaked for several hours, then it went in the square bowl just barely covered with hot tap water. I made 4 solutions of Kool Aid and 3/4 cup hot tap water--lemonade, lemon-lime, Berry Blue, and Cherry. I poured each solution in a different corner, plus some kitty-corner (or where ever I thought to do it)--no stirring. After microwaving for the first (of three) 4 minutes and resting 4 minutes, I did stir a teeny bit because some colors seemed trapped. The yellow disappeared, the other colors overwhelmed it.
Yarn in the bowl:

Yarn on shower rod drying--4 sections evident:

Better picture of colors before winding into new skein

To show the colors better, I rewound the yarn, spreading the sections out, so the color sections could be seen more easily (reverse order of picture above):

Here it is in a twisted skein--the colors are not really this bright:

Finally in a center-pull ball--still doesn't really show the muted colors, tho:


I may try this again. Now, what should I make with it? A hat? gloves? shawl? purse? felted bag? Hmmmmm...