Dye It

I took the cue from my yarn reclaimer, dyeing friends and bought some Paas Easter egg dye kits at the after Easter clearance. I know from reading in the dye-it forums on Ravelry that animal fiber takes food coloring dyes better than man-made fibers, but I still wanted to try it with what I had. 

First some reclaimed nylon, angora, rayon, wool from this child's XL hoodie. I frogged the sweater front to the skein winder.

It's was a pale blue and I like saturated color so I thought I'd try to over dye it a darker blue.

lt's easy, just dissolve the food coloring tablets in 1-3 tablespoons of white vinegar.

This is two tablets of blue, not dark enough.

This is two tablets of blue and two of denim.

I soaked the yarn in cool water, submerged it in the dye and added enough water to cover the yarn. Since I'm using food coloring dyes, it's okay to put it in cookware I use normally.

 

The yarn is absorbing the color, but not as much as I'd hoped. Well it's mostly man-made fibers, what did I expect? So I decided to try again, this time with a gray cotton, nylon, wool. It's all an experiment, that's where the fun is, so if it doesn't turn out, nothing's lost.

Before, a pale gray.

After the Paas denim blue. Yuk.

I decided while I was at it I would try over dyeing it with Berry Blue Kool-aid. 

Much better!

The one on the left is the nylon, angora, rayon, wool. It turned out a pretty turquoise, nicer than the pale blue it was in the beginning. The one on the right is the cotton, nylon, wool. I think I'll make hats for donation. The blue is so cheerful. For more information about Easter egg dyeing for yarn visit Wool Festival.