Thursday, February 14, 2008

Happy Valentines Dye!

I tried my hand at something new today. Kool-aide dyed yarn. Here’s what I did.
I used instructions that were given out at last year's Knit Out at Mall of America (which is coming up this weekend again, *whoo* but no road trip to MN for me *sigh, sniff*). Anyhow, the instructions were published by Leisure Arts, but I could not find an online version of them, but I did find this one and another one with slightly different instructions.

The yarn specified was Patons Classic Wool Merino (Aran #0202). I had some in Winter White; 1 package of Kool-Aide per ounce of yarn, a microwave safe dish, dishwashing detergent and microwave. The skein was 3.5 oz, but I only used 2 packs of kool-aide. I used grape and fruit punch. Here’s how it went:

First I prepared the yarn by soaking it in warm water with a little dishwashing detergent – this opens the "scales" of the yarn (according to the directions).

So I let it soak and waited:

Good time to catch up on the internet…

Then I mixed the "dye"...







Once the yarn soaked for about 30 minutes, I rinsed it, squeezed it to get out all the excess water and then the real fun began:

I put the yarn back in the microwave safe dish, and spooned on the dye.
After all the dye was on and the yarn absorbed most of it; I put it in the microwave for 2 minutes on high; let it rest for 2 more minutes and repeated until the water was clear... which means the yarn has sucked up all the dye.
Then I let it cool and rinsed it again, squeezed out the excess water and hung it up to dry.

Voila… pretty hand-dyed yarn (oh, and it smells nice too!). (hee, hee). Once it’s completely dry I’ll post some pictures of the finished product!

Too fun! I might have to try again with another flavor… um color!

Oh, and lest I forget it is Valentines Day…. I have to show off what my sweetie got me:

Behold:


Yummy, yum, yum... a huge box of chocolate ..... He spoils me!

3 comments:

Marguerite said...

First time to visit your blog, but I'll be back again to check on how that dyed yarn is knitting up.

Do you suppose your finished product is going to smell like fruit? Not all bad unless it attacts the moths.

Most of the mid-west is a little - or a lot - tired of the snow by now. But, guess what it's doing here in SW Michigan this evening. It's only supposed to be an inch or two. Hardly worth shoveling. Because someday it's all going to melt. Right?

SciFiTVFanGirl said...

I look forward to seeing the project you use this yarn for. :o) Hee hee, that for some reason reminds me of tie-dying tshirts as a kid. Fun stuff. *hugs*

Hope you're staying warm!

sharon said...

You got it right on the first try - nice yarn!!!