Friday, May 16, 2008

Dyed Yarn

Yarn stored away
This is my yarn stash of the hand dyed wool I use for my crochet flowers. I use a simple but messy process with Kool-aid packets, food coloring droplets, vinegar, and the microwave. Later on I use bleach to get the mess of stray color off the white counter top.

All my hand dyed wool yarn
Isn't it yummy? I want to work on getting some very light pastels and lavender. Lavender is very hard to do and I haven't achieved it yet.

Pink is a little tricky. It wants to come out really bright like the one in the center. You have to add a little bit of watered down blue to get it toned down.
Pink and Rose Wool Yarn

Brown is red and green mixed together with a little bit of blue too. I just wing it without a recipe. That large ball was too reddish, so I overdyed it yesterday and got a better shade. I haven't perfected orange, but it helps to use a little bit of blue to tone it down or it looks really like neon. That orange is my Chicago Bears orange. Red is really easy.
Red, Orange, and Brown Wool Yarn

These make me feel happy. Green is easy. The yellow on the right is very very bright, I use a bit of pink to get a warmer color.
Green and Yellow Wool Yarn

The turquoise is the easiest. (Would you call that cyan?) It's just the regular Kool-aid for blue or the regular blue food coloring droplets. Blue doesn't soak in as easily so it needs to cook longer. I use grape flavored Kool-Aid packets with blue and red food coloring to get the dark blue. The grape flavor is really dark, so it is trickier. I love the way the dark blue has all the rosy mottled effect.
Blue wool yarn

5 comments:

Lily Boot said...

I am so impressed that you dye your own wool! The pinks and blues are especially beautiful! Now I'll need one with those lovely soft pinks, one with the lovely variegated blue, one with red and brown ..... ;-) btw, I've worn my existing one every day this week on my plain black cotton cardigan and EVERYONE has complimented me - and I have to say, no, no, no, no, not me - SUSIE in America!

ana lilia said...

i have tried kool-aid dyeing once or twice, but it never occurred to me to play with the colors to get different shades. i don't know why, but it didn't! anyway, you've really impressed me with all those beautiful colors! i can't wait to try it again!

Carina said...

Oh. My. God. Susie! Those colours are amazing. And curse England for not having that Kool Aid stuff readily available! You must, must, must write a tutorial for this. Please, please, please! :-)

Anonymous said...

Beautiful colors! :)

Mom O Matic said...

Super yummy! I would be happy to just put those pretty colors in a bowl.