I have managed to post this before chasing the darling boys into shower and cooking dinner.
The above are some Californian Giant Petunias that I beheaded to coax some more flowers,couldn't bear to throw them in the bin so they were table decoration for New Years Day!They are huge( though DH didn't appreciate the smell,I mean, perfume......)
Well I finally made it to trying the food dye method of dyeing as in Yarns Magazine!
I think it worked pretty well,considering that 4 boys suddenly appeared and were keen to help.With infinite patience I was able to guide them through the process with only one blunder which was more my fault.I had left one skein(small) cooling in a basin of water, while the next lot was cooling and in the flurry of fiddling, loaded the washing machine which emptied straight into the basin.I have sneaking suspicion that either the kids overloaded the wool with dye or the soap from the machine made the colours run together.It is a lovely green but started yellow and blue.I had trouble with micowave dyeing fabric some time ago and it reacted in a similiar way.I am hoping that the food colouring is set this time and we followed the directions to the point!( though I am very worried I may not be able to use wool wash when yarn is eventually made into little socks!!!!!)
I have two of the blue green one and one green(not photoed) and a red yellow mix. I 'm quite happy with this experiment! Now to order some white wool from Bendigo Mills ( this lot above, came from some baby knitting years ago ) ,I want some bright sock wool ,maybe the cream patonyle I scored off ebay may keep urge at bay until Xmas is paid off!!!!!!!
it's gorgeous! did you use enough vinegar to prepare it? because mine sucked up all the dye and is now pretty fast and i soaked in so much vingegar my microwave smells like saerkraut...
ReplyDeleteWow, I'm really amazed the colours are so vibrant. Did I read that you were using jelly?
ReplyDeleteHi, I soaked the wool overnight in vinegar( it was floating, 200g in 4litres of the smelly stuff,the kids kept saying "what thats smell mum")
ReplyDeleteand I followed the directions for 2 lots of 5 mins in Microwave (cooled between) but I'm tempted to cook an extra 5. I washed the skein ties in soap etc to test for colour fastness and think that although dye did bleed out that it didn't change the overall colours(white patches stayed that way!) As for the microwave ,,,it makes funny noises when I use for more than ten mins, shhhhhhhhh..
This blogging is better than penpals!!!!! Stayed tuned...........Cathy
WOW intriguing,.....no I've got to many hobbies and unfinished projects as it is.
ReplyDeleteI might have to take myself off to the next Agricultural fest to watch someone spin and dye wool, I'm sure I'd enjoy it.
Oh psst I've linked you on my site!
Nice to meet you, Cathy! Love the dyeing efforts. It is so much fun dyeing yarn!
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure we passed through Kambalda about 15 months ago on our honeymoon. I think there were wildflowers growing madly in a culvert and we stopped to take pictures. (We're wildflower nuts and after two or three days on the Nullarbor....)