Pretty colors

Today I dyed the yarn Swan sent me, using KoolAid and a microwave. Fun stuff, let me tell you! First, I had to find KoolAid...



Publix only had 5 flavors. I was so pissed, I took a picture so I could appropriately display my disbelief. I went to two different 24-Walmarts in search of more, and finally got to a Winn Dixie this morning, where they had about a bajillion flavors. Including the Pineapple Swan told me would come out a lovely, vivid yellow... you'll see that later. Thanks, Winn Dixie!!






Here's all the yarn and KoolAid, posing for it's photo op. I was sad to realize, the large skein of the Maine wool Swan sent me would take about 20 - 30 packs of KoolAid, which I wasn't prepared for. I will just have to dye it another day. But, the Knit Picks Dye-your-own is all skeined out, about 100 yards to a skein, and I used plastic zip ties to secure it. They did create a little resistance, but you'll see how that can be a good thing...







First skein: dyed Pina, allowed a bit of cooling, then zip ties everywhere (can you see?). Then, I dyed it with a very strong concentration of Berry Blue. The resists worked out great, but were a bit difficult to cut out. I hope I didn't fray the wool too badly; we'll know when it is all dry and I am ready to ball it up.







This is the method Swan recommended for two-color dyeing. I folded the skein in half, put each half in a glass coffee cup and both cups in a Pyrex pie plate, and got the cuteness on the left here. That's Berry Blue and Wild Watermelon Kiwi, which is a really intense neon green. I asked Yoshi to pick some colors, and this is what he wanted. I really like it...









Half Grape and half Pink Lemonade, dyed in the same method as the blue/green. It looks very girly as it drains itself in the sink. Grape is very intense and takes no shit. It crawled up the skein, invaded the Pink Lemonade, and dulled it down a bit. Some people are like that.









Black Cherry in the 'wave. I think this made my favorite color. It is a deep and soulful red, not represented well here. It is much better in person.












And here we are, hanging out to dry. I named my colors myself, so I don't have to tell anyone that I'm making something out of Blast-a-Berry-Cherry or some crap like that, because really, who needs that aggravation? We've got I Love Unicorns (pink/purple), Flaming (red), Don't Make Me Angry (Bruce Banner calm blue and Hulk insane green), and Mermaid Hair (blue-green with yellow peeking through). I feel very clever.




I wonder what to make out of these? Crap, I had so much fun just getting them dyed, I didn't really consider a finished product... Crappity crap crap. Any suggestions? I almost wanted to make harlequin socks, but these soooo don't ever go together. I'll just have to (oh, no!) buy more yarn. Thanks, Swan, for this awesome test run, and all the great advice. I had lots of fun!

Ooooohhh. I wish I had been there. It is quite fulfulling for me to see that I've infected you with the dyeing fever. You do realize that since I sent you a skein of mine, you have to send me one of yours? Don't forget that I sent you my favorite, ok? Right.