A good day to Dye

You are already aware that I am addicted to yarn. Much like my previous addictions to rubber, paper and stickers, it has consumed every craft cell in my brain.


I spend much of my free time knitting, and when I am not knitting I am browsing knitting forums on the web looking for new patterns and techniques.


While browsing one day I started reading about people dying their own yarn with things like food coloring, Wilton cake dyes and Kool Aid. I was intrigued so I decided to give it a shot. I bought my yarn, got some food coloring and found a tutorial online. I even read *most* of the instructions!
I wound the yarn around two dining room chairs and tied string through to keep it from tangling during the dyeing process:
I then twisted it into a hank and let it soak overnight in a vinegar solution:

The next morning I put it into my crockpot with some water and mixed up the colors I wanted:


Then I poured them over the yarn in the crock pot. The tutorial I was using said it would take 1-2 hours then the water would be clear and my yarn would by beautiful. So I put the cover on and went to take my shower. I came down 30 minutes later to find all my colors had run together and my yarn was still cream colored. I assumed the kids stirred it or something, so I added new dye and waited. Again the water muddied, but I left it and let it cook in the crock pot for the better part of the day. I rinsed it, like instructed and watched ALL of the color rinse right off. I ended up with this:
I compained to one of my local knitting buddies, Charlotte, about my wasted day and wasted yarn. She asked what kind of wool I used...... WOOL? I used cotton, I said. That is when I learned that food based dyes only work on animal fibers. Plant fibers need acid dyes (like Rit dye). I reread my tutorial and that information was in the very last paragraph. Who reads the end of a tutorial before they start? Not me!

So I ordered myself some wool and started the process again. AMAZING! As I added each color it immediately soaked into the yarn! I had to remix dyes 4 times and stir the yarn in the crockpot to get as much coverage as possible. Four hours later I was rinsing my cooled yarn:



And wound my very colorful ball of sock yarn.... Now to learn to knit socks :)