Last Saturday I took a class called “Dyeing with Kool-Aid” at Harmony yarn store in Provo.
Strawberry, Pina, and Lemonade Kool-Aid combined on this 4 oz. skein of Lamb’s Pride yarn.
Dyeing yarn was so much fun and the results were so amazing, I had to try it again . . .
Monday. Several colors of Kool-Aid combined to make these colorways.
. . . and again.
Tuesday: These skeins were dyed by my visiting teachers and me. From L: Cheryl Jean’s, mine, and Tawny’s.
I dyed one more skein on Tuesday, but neglected to take a photo while it was drying. I used a weird pearly-looking Easter egg dye on it–one envelope of pink, one of yellow–but there wasn’t much dye, so added pink and yellow Kool-Aid too.
On Friday I wound all the dry skeins into these little cakes of yarn:
The pinky-orangey yarn is the last one I dyed Tuesday.
New motto: “Having a crummy day? Dye some yarn.” Dyeing was probably the best part of my day today. The first skein I worked on, I over-dyed a Kool-Aid skein from Monday. The olive green one wasn’t green enough for me, so I dyed it again, adding more Lemon-Lime and Black Cherry. I like the result. I also tried Wilton gel food coloring on three other skeins. That was pretty cool.
At L is the over-dyed Kool-Aid skein from Monday. Wilton food coloring skeins—from L: delphinium blue, juniper, and pink mauve/delphinium blue. The color breaks up and looks like I hand-painted the yarn.
It’s been a hectic week. I’ve got a lot of projects underway, but I also managed to finish some. Case in point: 8 oz. of gray wool. I finished spinning it a couple of weeks ago. Finally got it all plied. The small bobbin of two-ply yarn was leftover from the three-ply; I’m going to try over-dyeing it.
Gray wool: 3-ply on the large bobbin, 2-ply on the smaller one.
I wove some squares with some of my hand-dyed yarn. It will be a while before I have enough of them to make something, so it will just be an on-going thing.
Pretty little squares.
I’ve been working on this comparison weaving: two-layer warp vs. overshot-alike (I’m told this technique is not true overshot weaving).
Three samples–two on the Loomette, one on the Weave-it.
I didn’t love the color combination in the top left sample–the white was my second attempt; my first choice actually looked worse. This pattern has been giving me a lot of trouble, but I have to admit it looks good in the photos. I also learned how to evenly distribute rows using the two-layer warp method on the Loomette. I feel empowered! I had to re-write the pattern for the dark green overshot-alike sample. In person, I think that’s the prettiest one.
Lastly, I’ve got my “Peasant Girl” doll skirt ready to sew the two tiers together. This photo doesn’t do justice to what I hope will be a stunning final outcome. I feel a little nervous about sewing the tiers together–all that work: 11 squares carefully sewn together with their ends all woven in. I don’t usually go to so much effort when I make a square.
The top tier is on the inside, so it doesn’t show in the photo.
“I have to say it now, it’s been a good life all in all,” but this hasn’t been my best day.
“Tomorrow is another day.” And spring is officially here. That means winter’s officially over.
Maybe that’s why I’m sad.
What was the yarn/wool you . Started with??
Lamb’s Pride by Brown Sheep Company. This was a batch of seconds I got for pretty cheap. I would prefer plied yarn because I think that will be easier to weave on the pin loom, so I will have to get busy spinning some of my own. I think I’d prefer to dye the yarn after it’s spun for more color control.