today's ka dyed yarn

[xantha]

This was my first experience with dyeing multiple colors in one hank. I used four flavors/colors of KA per hank of LB fisherman's wool. I'm happier with the first hank (purples+reds) than the second (pinks+greens).

Not sure what I'll do with it yet! Possibly a couple of felted bags or hats -- anyone else have any ideas? Each one is about 2.5 oz, 150yd.

I may use the same reds+purples and dye some of my romney roving, pre-spinning. <img border=0 src="http://img28.photobucket.com/albums/v84/crochetville/sheepjump.gif" />

<img width=375 border=0 src="http://www.xantha.org/gallery/albums/craft/DSC_0906.sized.jpg" />

<img width=375 border=0 src="http://www.xantha.org/gallery/albums/craft/DSC_0914.sized.jpg" />

[MiCountess]

:bounce Wow that is so neat. I picked up some fisherman's wool the other day to try koolaid dying I really like the red and the purple one.
Michelle:wink

[threeolivemartini]

i am gonna have to try that.. it looks really cool .. i LIKE the green/pink one best

[MarvieN]

very nice! Love em both =)

[rebeccav]

alright, i'm in! my 50% off coupon for joann's just came in... think i'll go get some fisherman's wool!!

how did you do several colors on one skein???????:thinking2

[MommaChelle]

I really like them both!!

[xantha]

Rebecca --

<a href="http://gfwsheep.com/rov.inst/rov.inst.html" target="_new">here's a good resource</a> (this is for roving, but the same idea applies for already spun yarn)

Basically what I did was pull off a length of yarn from the yarn and wrap it around two chair backs (you could use a swift). Just like if you were making a hank. It was about three feet long from end to end. I wrapped the two ends around it to hold it and then used two piece of scrap yarn to tie around at two other places just because I was paranoid about it coming apart and getting tangled.

I put plastic wrap down on my dining room table (a craft table or vinyl tablecloth would work well, too) and then put another layer of plastic wrap down and set the pre-soaked and drained yarn down on it with room on all four sides of the yarn to allow me to wrap it up after painting.

I mixed up the dyes in separate containers and used a turkey baster (I have one specially for dyeing; it gets dyed itself, so you don't want to use a cooking one, hee) to squirt dye on the yarn. Once it was all saturated the way I wanted it, I folded the plastic wrap over the yarn and rolled it into a small ball and microwaved it in a glass container until the water coming out of it was clear, not colored.

I soaked it a little, carefully wrung it out, and let it dry.

Hope that helps. There's so much you can do with it! You can vary so much on the hand painting, by using longer or shorter lengths of yarn/roving or whatever.

I really like the fisherman's wool for dyeing! Have fun with it! <img border=0 src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v84/crochetville/dance.gif" />

[rebeccav]

YAY! thank you so much for that link!!:)h :bounce :computer