I finally got the courage to try dyeing and it was fun! I kind of combined the tutorial on this page with the tutorial for the crockpot method in the new knitty. Since we are packing for moving there were minimal supplies; no crockpots were in the house, we barely have any big bowls, and there was nary a glove to be found. That didn't stop me though, because I'm a craftyminx and we use our resources!
Yes I should have been knitting on one of my three UFO's but I needed to be creative and there was leftover laceweight from Bri's shawl beckoning me.
I'll try to do a summary of what I did to combine these two methods.
I soaked my yarn in hot tap water and vinegar ( 1 tbsp vinegar to 1 cup water) for 35 minutes.
While that soaked I mixed up my dye. I poured about a half a cup of water into a mug and microwaved it to boiling. I mixed about 14 oz of hot tap water with a few more tablespoons of vinegar and divided that between two glasses. Then, I put 1/4 Tbsp. of leaf green wilton dye into the boiling water and stirred until it dissolved. I poured that into one of the two glasses. I rinsed out the mug and 1/4 tsp. and repeated this process with the teal wilton dye. I let this set to cool for a bit so it would be about the same temp as the yarn (I used a candy thermometer).
Then, I squeezed out all the water from the yarn and poured the leftover water into a pitcher.
I put the yarn into a pyrex dish with a lid and just willy nilly poured the dyes over it. This is where I made my mistake or "design feature" ( I threw out some teal dye that I thought I didn't need!). I had used all of the green and half of the teal and thought I had covered all the yarn. I was wrong, but I didn't notice until the end.
(I'm apparently in a green mood this month. haha)
Once I poured in all my dye, I filled up the rest of the bowl with the leftover soak water until my yarn was covered.
I put on the lid and microwaved it for 2 minutes and then took it out for 2 minutes (like the tutorial said) a total of 5 times until my water was clear.
I let it set for a little bit. Then I poured off all the water and drained it with my tongs.
Once it drained and cooled for two minutes or so I was able to squeeze out water from top to bottom with my hands. I wouldn't recommend this though, for some reason my hands are unusually manly and burning hot water doesn't hurt them. I believe its all that time I worked as a short order cook for my dad's diner, they're just used to the heat. I was going to use the spin cycle on the washer, but there were clothes in there.
After it was done dripping, I took it to the bathroom and rolled it up in a towel to soak up any more water that was left. Then I hung it up on a hanger to continue drying.
Here it is...
Like I said there were some spots that didn't get any dye. But I do like it and now know that I can keep that left over dye and pour it in when I notice some white spots still in the pot. I can't wait to see it all balled up and then knitted up!
Not having any gloves didn't go so well. But it was only my right hand so its not that bad.
All in all it was a very good experience and I can't wait to do it again!
