Adventures in Yarn Dye

Ok - so yesterday was wonderful.

Some (3) of my knitting friends came over and we dyed yarn. It was a great time.

We made bacon-wrapped dates, and bacon wrapped green beans.
(I think there was a slight theme).

I reskeined a large hank of yarn and put some lace weight in the crock pot to dye.
And that was it!! (while everyone was there)

My friends were there for about 4 hours! I was busy and on my feet the whole time too!

I don't know what else I was doing.
(Although the yarn I reskeined was about 1400 yards -
I had to ball-wind it and then reskein it on my swift
after I had to untangle the HUGE ball from the bottom of my ball winder -
I am guessing I need a bigger ball-winder for some (MOST) things).


After everyone left - I dyed with the leftover colors - and that yarn is absolutely beautiful.

I love, love, love it. I think that is the best little trick in the world.
Everytime I have seen someone dye with all the 'leftover bits'
of color - whatever they dye comes out soo cool and unexpected.
You have to come up with a creative way to use all the colors
that were used that day - and it looks sooo different.

Not like anything you would have done yourself

and it is always pretty!!

I also dyed with some blue & purple that was leftover.

The girls told me it was blue and purple,

but no - I didn't believe them.

You see it really LOOKED like the same color.

Since I didn't believe them - I put a piece of paper towel in each color and there was only a SLIGHT difference in the shade - so I did two skeins of sock yarn and did one with one color and one with the other - and guess what?

I got one blue and one purple sock.
So yeah - one was blue and one was purple.

DRAT - soooooo I went ahead and redyed both again with purple - now they are this really cool blue purple thing.

I am going to call them 'wisteria' because they look so much

like the blossoms outside my backdoor.

It was a happy accident.

Trust me these really are the same color - they have some

blue splotches in them and they are soo cool.


Here is the crockpot yarn - it is not this orange - it is really coppery with lovely heavy bits of copper in it. I love the color - it will make a beautiful shawl.

I decided I wanted to soak everything in Downy to make it all smell better. Sooooo - I re-wet all the yarn and

ALL of it ran!!

So I put the yarn in pure vinegar baths to 'set'. I left it for an hour. I 'cooked' it in the microwave again too - just to be safe in case I didn't get it

hot enough the first time.

and....

it still RAN!!!

Soooooo, I rinsed all of it AGAIN. it was FOR-EVER!

*I swear I rinsed the copper stuff alone for over 30 minutes.

Really. I know this because the Big Texan and

Betty Boop were watching a TV show and I was rinsing

the whole time and part of the next show.

I rinsed everything again and it took a LONG time

(at least one hour TV show and a 30 minute show

- gee can you see how I tell time at my house?).

Then I put them all in Downy rinses

(in different dishpans -

which the Big Texan went and got for me -cuz he is a doll).

And they RAN in THERE!!!

Soooooo - I rinsed them AGAIN!!
(another hour show)

Then I put them all in pots of water and let them sit
and they didn't run that time.

I think there towards the end -

I was rinsing the color out of the cotton ties on the yarn.


So I am hoping I wont be getting blue/purple feet with the sock yarn or multi-colored feet with the 'Leftover' sock colors. The copper I am not worried about -

It is going to be a shawl & I just won't wear

the shawl with a white dress -

(which I wouldn't anyway)

but if I wear with something that has

bare shoulders it will just give me a tan.

I then hung it all up outside again to dry and waited to see what would happen.

I think I am going to stick to Kool Aid dyes though - the citric acid in the KoolAid makes it hold onto the yarn better and I didn't have this rinsing problem the last time I dyed. Since I did the crockpot and microwave and

even set the stupid yarn in PURE VINEGAR to set

- I think the big difference is the citric acid in the KoolAid.

I like the way Kool Aid smells anyway.

I reskeined all the yarn that I had sitting on the table - OMG it is sooo pretty!

Here is 'Algae' on the left, and 'Roses and Vines' on the right.

And here is Algae reskeined.


Here is Roses and Vines reskeined. I must say - I think this is the prettiest yarn EVER!! Neither of these were dyed by me - they were done by Liz - she is AWESOME with color.


Here is 'Confetti' - she was not dyed by me - but gifted

and I needed to see how much yardage she had -

so I reskeined her.


Even the stuff that I dyed last time

(that I didn't really like)

came out BEAUTIFUL.


I have now named her 'Easter Basket'

Here is everything reskeined!!




By the way - I found out that I am a goody two shoes.

The Big Texan says he likes that I am innocent that way.

(that is the way he put it)

- I guess it is ok. I just never knew it before.

I feel rejuvenated and relaxed. I am looking forward to more days like that.

It was a good yarn day.

I should be able to post a picture by the end of the day!!

Here are the END OF DAY PICS!!

This is the Leftover Yarn Dye

- it is 'Leftovers':

Here it is re-skeined

- WOW


What a difference re-skeining makes.



Here is the Dye Day Crop!