Yes, I do knit, why do you ask?

It’s hard to believe this started life as a knitting blog. I dare not even check when I last mentioned knitting on these pages, let alone talked about something I made myself.

But there are a couple of “advantages” in being too ill to do much. The greatest advantage, of course, is quiet time. And quiet time, for me, means reading and knitting.

My last post talked about my reading so I’m here to talk about knitting!

Yes, you know, sticks (albeit very short sticks joined by a plastic cable) and yarn.

On Christmas Eve, in response to the horrific bushfires (not far from here) that destroyed 200 homes and damaged at least another 200, I began another knitted blanket. I quite often have a knitted blanket on the go – there are many charities that will take them, especially at this time of year. The blankets most often called for around here are 70” x 40” so I chose to design my own. It is inspired by the Moderne Baby Blanket (Ravelry link) from Mason-Dixon Knitting (Ann Shayne and Kay Gardiner) which I had just finished a few weeks before. I particularly like the two rows of white yarn I have used to do the first part of each section.

The knitting is finished but I have lots of ends to sew in. There’s also a safety pin hanging from the large brown section to the right where I dropped a stitch more than 40 rows back and didn't notice. I will use a crochet hook to deal with that! when I crochet a border around the whole thing. I tried to use yarn from my stash to complete this blanket, hence the different shades of brown and green. Speaking of green, the colour here is way off: the green across the top is bottle green; the other green is a deep forest green! I tried to adjust the colour but this is the best I could get.

In retrospect, I don’t think I would cast off each section then pick up the stitches on the next round – I think I’d leave the stitches live on some waste yarn (or a spare “cable”). For some reason, my blanket won’t lie flat – I think it’s a combination of tension problems (caused by casting off then picking up the stitches) and using different brands of DK weight acrylic yarn – they all knit up to a different gauge even though they’re supposed to be the same ‘weight’. Fortunately, bodies are not flat so blankets with a bit of ”curvature” aren’t too much of a drama and I may be able to block it (if it bothers me too much – all that mucking around with the steam iron to block acrylic is not my favourite activity!)

I have also knitted a very basic beanie – it’s DK weight (tencel/acrylic) yarn knitted on 4mm needles using 120 stitches – it will fit somebody with a very big head (you can see that it is way too big for me)! What was I thinking when I cast on? The tencel blend (now discontinued Moda Vera “Jaclyn”) is such a soft yarn; I’m sure the new owner will find it warm and comfortable! The colour should be cream not the soft grey shown here; what is it with taking photos outside on a sunny Sydney winter’s day?

 

Although I gave some yarn away before we moved, the amount of yarn that moved with us had shocked me and goaded me into some knitting action’', even before I got sick. While I was away at my mother’s, I worked on and almost completed the first of two scarves; the second I finished last night. Both are knitted in a (now discontinued) DK weight, 50% tencel/acrylic blend (Moda Vera “Cynthia”), in a simple, slipped-stitch pattern on a garter-stitch base making them quick to knit, and ideal for conversation, listening to audio books or watching television in low-light levels.

I knew three 50g balls of black yarn wasn't enough to knit a scarf but I wasn’t sure how far one ball would go so I started with a provisional cast on and knitted one ball. This resulted in 152 rows, so I then planned 30-row stripes from the remaining two balls plus the two balls of ‘forest’ green I also had in stash. The result is a scarf of a good length and the combination could be worn by either a man or a woman. Come to think of it, I’m sure I saw it around a certain man’s neck on Saturday when he realised he was coming down with something (which the doctor confirmed yesterday was likely to be bronchitis!).

 

The black and green scarf was knitted on 41 stitches using nearly 250g of yarn and came out at 7.5” x 75”. I had only 200g of grey yarn but still wanted a scarf of a reasonable length so made it slightly narrower – 37 stitches. The resulting scarf is 6” x 70”.

Unfortunately, that is almost the end of my stash of Moda Vera “Cynthia”; I have just six balls of ‘brown’ and one ball of a “natural mix” left; plus some leftover from the green and black scarf. I say unfortunately because it was a lovely soft yarn, both on my hands while knitting and in the final product. I still have several balls of Moda Vera Jaclyn (same DK weight, 50% tencel/acrylic blend) but I’m not overly fond of the boring cream colour. I think I’ll wait until summer and see how it takes dye; it’s not like I have no yarn to work with in the meantime! Meanwhile, the boring cream will be used as a background for a stranded colour-work hat using the leftover green, black and a small amount of the brown.

In case you’re wondering why I have to wait for summer (apart from the fact that downstairs is not completely unpacked and sorted yet), my “dyeing studio” is in a room under the house – it’s freezing down there in winter, it’s like a cool room without the need for electricity! No wonder the previous owner used some of the area down there as a cellar!

In sewing news, I’ve had a huge hiccough in my progress with the Country Houses quilt which was (but, sadly is no longer) on track to be finished by the end of the month. There’ll be a post about it soon; but right now I’m off to cast on for that stranded colour-work hat!

What are you working on at the moment?

of sticks and stringsand related things

Late last Monday night, I cast off this scarf. I could have used another ball of yarn to make it longer but I've had enough of it! Seven weeks to knit one scarf - bah humbug!

Although there were no purl stitches in this scarf, it knitted like there were; all that moving the yarn forward as if to purl in order to slip stitches was just as slow as actually purling the stitch. The pattern is the Corrugator Scarf (designer's Rav link) and is, after all, a variation of a rib pattern.



There has been some progress on these toe-up socks but knitting sock yarn on 2.25mm (Size 1) needles is always going to be slow. I have knitted the one short row heel (no holes - yay) and am working up the foot. I haven't yet turned the second heel because I need to concentrate to do it and my house has been populated by DD and GS#1 for the last three days.



Add caption

Last week, the postman delivered these:

This is a reprint of the original; not the updated version (I didn't realise that when I ordered it)

I bought this for DD - she wants to make some money while she is a SAHM

A couple of weeks ago, I dyed this acrylic 8ply (DK) with Australian made Landscape (acid) dyes. Don't ever let anyone tell you it can't be done!


Much to my dismay, it took me two hours to untangle the yarn and wind it into a ball. I wish I knew why some of my dyeing projects become so tangled!

So, there it is: proof that I do still knit, read about knitting and dye some of my own knitting yarn! LOL

FO Friday

In my post on 1st March I said I would come back with photos of finished objects. I also said on Wednesday that there were items in my knitting corner that were awaiting photography! DD visited on Wednesday so photos were taken and I have some goodies to show you.

Firstly, a hat knitted by DD - her first foray into slip stitch patterns; we are both very proud of her results.


As for me (specs on my Ravelry project pages if you want them; listed here in italics):


Lime Spider and Coconut Ice beanie
pattern: Fourth Grade Hat (Rav link)

I said the striping of the yarn looked like lime and pink coconut ice; DD said Lime Spider (or icecream soda) and Coconut Ice, hence the name.

This is an attempt at conventional entrelac - I'm not in a hurry to try this style of knitting again, it's slow and seems to use more yarn than a conventional beanie would. The hat designed by Abby Franquemont looks great, mine less so. Not quite sure why - perhaps the fact that it's knitted in a hand-dyed acrylic and therefore can't be blocked is part of the answer.

Why did I choose to knit this in my handpainted acrylic? I wanted to see what the shortish colour repeats would do in shorter rows of stocking (stockinette) stitch.

I also tried to modify the pattern because it was getting too big - my modifications were not as successful as I would have liked!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Socks for Someone #1 - a fraternal pair
pattern from the ball band of Moda Vera Noir sock yarn

My first attempt, following the pattern exactly, gave big, baggy socks that were enormous on WM! I ripped the 3/4 finished sock out completely and started again.

I have never done this kind of heel before and was reasonably happy with it, except for the hole where the short rows of the heel joined the foot. If I knitted it again I would slip the first stitch of every row while knitting the heel gussett - it is so much easier to pick up stitches along the gussett if I do that!

These took so long - Second Sock Syndrome plus no record of modifications on the first sock = pain in the knitting needles! I am determined that in future I will knit two socks at the same time; I have enough dpns to do that!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DD and I dyed 400m (200g) of yarn in this beautiful colourway. While I was winding it into a ball, I started singing "Sunshine Lollipops" so that became the name of the yarn!

Sunshine Lollipops Scarf pattern detail

Sunshine Lollipops scarf
pattern: Drop Stitch Scarf by Christine Vogel (Rav link)

I just love, love, love this pattern - so quick to knit, so bright and cheerful (well, in the yarn I chose and in the yarn on the Ravelry pattern page). How many other patterns give you an eight feet scarf (2.4 metres) in just three days?

I knitted this one in wool. I knitted till it was 1.8 metres long. I usually knit in acrylic and forgot the magic of blocking - voila! eight feet of scarf! I will definitely be knitting this pattern again!

And I'm in good company, more than 5,000 people have this in their projects list, and another 5,000+ in their queue!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I had some yarn left over from the scarf so I knitted a hat:

Sunshine Lollipops beanie
pattern: Slip Stitch Stash Hat by Renee Rico

If I had not been using a slip stitch pattern, I may have had enough to knit a child size hat but I decided to incorporate some scrap yarn (as the pattern suggests).

The lower third of the hat contains only the Sunshine Lollipops yarn - variegated yarns make interesting slip stitch patterns without the need to join in new colours.

slip stitch pattern detail

crown detail (a slip stitch modification on the original design)

Dyeing Days

Dyeing is an activity that takes place on our back verandah/patio. It can get very hot out there so dyeing can only be done on cooler days. Since the weather here has been well over 30*C (86*F) lately, there haven't been many cooler days!

Also, as many of you would know, dyeing is not a "spur of the moment" activity - yarn has to be wound into skeins and soaked for several hours.

Nonetheless, there has been some dyeing done here in the last few weeks.

Firstly - acrylic. I started this skein about two years ago and never finished it. With my method of dyeing acrylic, one colour is dyed then the whole skein rinsed and dried before the next colour applied. This skein had waited for two years, one section dyed mauve, the rest still white. The mauve and the pink are done using Ozepol (dyes made for synthetics) but the blue was done using Landscape dyes (Australian made acid dyes for protein based fibres).
There are two other partly dyed skeins waiting for my attention: one is finished but I'm not happy with it - I got two pastel colours and one bright yellow! Eek! The other skein has been started but needs more colours added.

Then came my low immersion experiments. With both yarns, I crammed the ball (unskeined, as it came from the manufacturer) into a jar and poured dye over it. The first one I then topped up with water. The result is pretty but not as variegated as I would have liked. With the second, I stuffed a 100g ball into a very tight space, and soaked in like that overnight. The next day I poured blue dye on it, let it stand for a couple of hours then "cooked it". I let it cool overnight. I rinsed it then put it back in the jar (up the other way) and poured cerise dye over it, let it stand for a couple of hours then "cooked it" again. I let it cool and rinsed it. I was not at all happy with the result - the two colours did not work together. I left it for a couple of days then decided to overdye it. I used a fairly weak purple solution (didn't want to obliterate my previous colours) and this is the result. I am very happy with the result of the overdyeing. Try to imagine the cerise without the mauve overtones and you can see it didn't work with the marine blue!

Finally, the handpainted. DD and I have no expectations and no goals in mind, apart from having fun, when we dye these yarns. We keep no records, we just play. The results speak for themselves - some work well, others not so well.

It will be interesting to see how this one knits up - there is much more brown in it than appears in this photo.
This is very subtle, there are four or five shades of green in this yarn which DD has christened "seaweed". DD did this one on her own - it's a lovely blend of purples and pinks not oranges as it appears here. My personal favourite - I have nicknamed this one "Sunshine Lollipops". I am hoping DD will let me use it to knit the Drop Stitch Scarf which is currently #1 in my Ravelry queue.

in which I speak of hand-dyed yarn and frogged Waving Lace socks

In the week before mum arrived, I dyed some yarn. The acrylic that I dyed softened tremendously so I wondered if dyeing wool would do the same. DD and I bought a kilo (2.2 pounds) of white 8ply (DK) wool in Bendigo in 2008. I tried to knit with it but it was scratchy - certainly not soft enough to knit pilchers (soakers) for GS#1. It didn't really soften after being dyed and I am left with 200g of this. Wound up like that, I thought it looked like tartan so I'm calling it "Tartan Royale" (purple being the colour of royalty). On my monitor the colours are not as rich as they are in reality. The purple is very dark and the green not so bright. I think I'm going to knit a bag and felt it. Possibbly this one from my Ravelry queue. Of course, mine won't be striped like the one in the pattern. I'm just not sure what use I have for such a bag.

During that same week (the one where I visited the doctor because I had URTI again), I finally frogged those Waving Lace socks. You remember, the two socks I knitted several months apart when my gauge was completely different. Now they look like this:

Having already knitted this yarn twice (once into the socks shown here that were way too big) and the second time in two different gauges on the same needles, I am disinclined to cast on again. Maybe the onset of some cooler (less humid) weather will inspire me to knit socks! *sigh*

150g wool for $2!

Last week at Bendigo Woollen Mill I picked up six bags of 'scraps' for $6. I had no idea that scraps could mean pieces as short as 30cm [12 inches] or as long as 10m [40 feet]. I bought all the bags that contained white or cream yarn; we could use those for dyeing experiments.

On Monday we were looking through our recently acquired purchases. We discovered the short lengths of scraps. We weren't too perturbed because they were for 'practice'. I mentioned to DD that I once knew someone who spliced her yarn while knitting. DD, a beginner spinner, frayed the ends of two pieces, sucked the ends [I would have spat on my palms] and proceeded to join the ends together - first try, just like that! She went on to make a ball of yarn of mixed thicknesses and mixed colour [white and cream] that weighs 150g [approx. 5 ounces]! It is possibly even made of wool and wool blends [judging by the way it took colour].

On Wednesday we used that ball to have some dyeing fun with the Landscape dyes we bought at the Show. We used Cyclamen [purple], Marine [blue] and Grevillea [red] then we cooked it in the microwave for a total of 5 minutes [wrapped in cling wrap]. Here is the finished product, waiting to be knitted into something gorgeous for charity - a child's jumper [sweater] perhaps? Sure it has darker patches and lighter patches but we don't mind. It makes the yarn more interesting and unique. Can't wait to see how it knits up! The photo is less purple than the yarn actually is.

150g of yarn for $2 - no kidding!!

ETA: Some people's Bloglines may show that I posted yesterday; it was an accidental posting - I don't know what happened while I was writing this post! Sorry!!

I'm knitting again!

Using one of my original dyed skeins [a variegated straw colour] I cast on a scarf, knitted seven rows, pulled it out! I cast on three stitches for a turban, knit seven rows increasing in each row, pulled it out. Cast on for a scarf again, knit a few rows, pulled it out!

Finally I cast on for a pair of child-size mittens on my new [received for Christmas] Knitpick dpn's [gee, they're heavy]; I've never knitted mittens before. Knitted 26 rows and stopped - sore shoulder [the right not the recently injected left!]

I want to knit up one of my 'better' dye jobs but they're all 50g balls and I don't know what I can knit with 50g; I don't want to knit scarves or squares - how boring when I've just been given the go-ahead after 35 days of no-knitting! I'd like to knit something in stocking stitch because the smooth side will show up how the colours pool! I also want to knit the Baby Surprise Jacket and Tomten Jacket from EZ! Too many choices yet a limited choice!! Oh yeah, all my dyed yarns are pretty pastel ['gelato'] colours; not really suitable for knitting for the homeless which is one of the things I really want to do!

But, at last, I'm knitting again!!

three more skeins

This is what they looked like after dyeing [the yellow was almost fluoro!] and after skeining.

I have added a slideshow to the sidebar; I think everyone's seen enough of "Here is my new skein" [think infants/prep school "Show'n'Tell"] edited 17/1/08

Carnival of Colour

Some more of my yarn before it is re-skeined. You can see how strong the colours are much better when the colour is in bulk!

I've finished the first set of dyes that I bought a week before Christmas. Now I've figured out what works and what doesn't, I 'm getting down to the serious business of writing down my mixtures and recording colours by the simple method of keeping a small piece of yarn! First the dye colours straight [1 teaspoon to 1 cup], then 50/50 mix of each colour with every other. After those 45 colours, I 'll do the 3:1 blends; there'll be 72 of those!

Lookee here!

Nine skeins of hand dyed acrylic and they said it can't be done!

Marquee html

If my moving text [marquee] - now in the sidebar - annoys you, please forgive me: I just learnt how to do it and I'm so proud of myself! LOL
I'm also proud of my dyeing efforts and I want to shout it to the world!
"It's my blog and I'll shout if I want to!" [sing it loud and proud]

A new development in dyeing acrylic

This afternoon I took my experiments a little further. What would happen if I heated the dye [minus the yarn] for longer? I tried two samples.

First, I tried an orange mix [3/4 teaspoon in a cup of water] heated for two minutes followed by 30 seconds with the yarn in the dye then left to cool. I did this one in an ice cream container. Result: a reasonable gelato orange and very little crinkle in the yarn [because it was not squashed into a tall, narrow jar].

The second experiment was a blue dye - 1 teaspoon in 1 cup of water. I heated the dye mix for 2 1/2 minutes, followed by 30 seconds with the yarn in - it was really hot, a rolling boil for several minutes after I took it out of the microwave.
Result a lovely rich sky blue but very crinkled yarn where it collapsed on it itself while cooling. I had put only 1/4 of the skein in the dye; by the time it had cooled there was about 2/3 of the skein in the dye! I'll have to find a way to weight the skein so that it can't collapse into the dye! The blues in the photo are not the same but you can see the extra depth of colour in the top half where the dye was boiled for longer.

Conclusion: the longer I heat the dye - that is, the hotter the dye mix - the better the result in terms of colour.

edited January 6 to add photo

Why do acid dyes not work on acrylic?

I'm no scientist so my knowledge, limited as it is, comes from my reading, talking to people and my experience.

Acrylic behaves differently to natural fibres, like wool and cotton, because it's not really a fibre - it's a form of plastic! When natural fibres are dyed, the colour penetrates to the core of the yarn. Acrylic doesn't allow the dye to penetrate - it just coats the surface. I'm told this is also true of nylon and polyester.

I have tried some acid based dyes on acrylic. Acid dyes - whether commercial dyeing products, or food products like jelly [jello], food colouring and Kool Aid - look great until the yarn is rinsed. The colour washes off immediately. The trick with acrylic is to find something that will stick to the acrylic but not make the yarn hard. Hence my earlier experiments [here and here] with acrylic paint. Heavily diluted paint gives very pale results. To get the bright colours I want, I'd have to use almost undiluted paint; which, of course, would stick but it would make the yarn stiff.

In a later post, I will tell you about the experiments DD and I have been making with fibre-reactive cold-water dyes on acrylic. Stay tuned!

Dyeing acrylic with Ozepol

I bought some Ozepol dyes from Starr Laces at Penrith Markets just before Christmas. I had seen them demonstrated on man-made laces and 'acrylic' buttons at the craft show at Rose Hill in August and wanted to try them on acrylic yarn. This is what Starr Laces has to say about Ozepol:

A dye designed for nylon and polyester lace, buttons, beaded fringe (composite) and pearls. Ozepol is for man-made trims only.

I began my first acrylic dyeing 'experiments' before Christmas using the following tools:

• Ozepol dyes - full range [9 colours]
• white Panda Carnival yarn 8 ply 100g skeins
• swift: for re-skeining and for turning finished skeins into balls
• plastic measuring jug and a set of measuring spoons
• for 'cooking': coffee jars, a microwave proof plastic dish, cling wrap and plastic shopping bags
• an old towel - for removing the hot jar from the microwave and cleaning up spills
• ice cream container - for carrying wet yarn to and from the laundry and for catching the excess dye when squeezed out of the yarn

NB all tools used only for dyeing

My first experiments were a bit 'hit and miss'. The yarn was often crinkled and, at first, I thought it was due to the application of heat. But not so!

Here [in chronological order] is what I have learnt so far:

• Heating the dye then leaving yarn to steep doesn't work - the yarn doesn't take up any dye at all by this method. The same also applies for the 'hot pour' method.


• Scrunching too much yarn into too little space in the heating vessel results in yarn with lots of kinks. These can be be stretched out somewhat but not successfully removed.


• Removing the yarn from the jar too soon results in thin, knobbly yarn. The yarn must be left in the dyeing liquid and allowed to cool to room temperature - this way it plumps up again as it sucks up a little more dye. Leaving it for several hours therefore results in a very slightly darker tint!
• Dye doesn't come off on your hands, therefore excess dye can be squeezed out of the cooled yarn without the use of gloves!


• Using wet yarn only results in the dye solution being weakened and potential damage to the wet yarn outside the solution - I only dye part of a skein at a time as I'm making variegated yarns.


• Using a shallow container, such as a dish, results in the yarn at the base taking up much more dye than the yarn at the top. This might be solved by making up more dye solution but I found it easier just to go back to my coffee jar!


• Cooking acrylic yarn in the microwave results in the smell of molten plastic and may also give off toxic fumes - I'm waiting for a comment from the yarn manufacturers on this.


• Most successful methodology:
  1. mix dye solution [5ml dye:250ml water] in coffee jar
  2. place jar in plastic shopping bag, tie off loosely
  3. heat 1 min in microwave - i.e just short of boiling point; this will vary from microwave to microwave
  4. untie plastic bag carefully; insert dry yarn - push it down with a plastic spoon
  5. tie bag off
  6. heat in microwave another 30 seconds
  7. remove carefully from microwave and remove plastic bag
  8. allow to stand until dye 'solution' is at room temperature
  9. rinse yarn, spin in washing machine, hang to dry naturally - don't use the dryer!
  This method results in the least amount of time possible [in my microwave] that the yarn needs to take up the dye and may result in less damage to the yarn and less toxic fumes but since I have no way to test this....

I have only obtained pastel tints at this stage. Doubling the strength of the solution would probably work, but Ozepol isn't cheap [48ml - $5.75]. I've nearly run out of dyes and I'm still experimenting. Click on the image for a full screen view - the colours obtained are fairly accurate. The green yarn in the top left is my first attempt at hand winding a centre pull ball around the handle of a wooden spoon!

My opinion at this stage: As long as I remember that I will only get pastel tints, results for effort = 6/10

I'm allowed to dye!

Not much happening here. Apologies to all visitors who've found this site a little boring of late!

I've been diagnosed with frozen shoulder and my specialist has told me not to knit! I'm so fed up - I'm also not allowed to crochet, embroider, draw, write, paint or do anything else that causes pain to my left arm! This explains my silence on this blog - no knitting, no news!

However, I am allowed to dye - it puts little stress on the muscles. I will continue with my experiments in dyeing acrylic yarn which were put on hold over Christmas while my parents were visiting. Mum and dad left yesterday and I am able to return to dyeing. This knitting blog will become a dyeing journal - at least for a little while! I hope and pray that I soon will be able to knit the yarns I'm dyeing!

More experimentation in acrylic dyeing

Yesterday DD and I decided to try dyeing with food colouring. Although this may be very successful with natural fibres it doesn't work at all with acrylic!

Following my success last week, I decided to try again, this time with 'red' paint (Cadmium Red Medium to be exact). I dyed some cream, some off-white and some grey. All coloured well. After dyeing, I tried three different approaches.

1. With the 'grey', I decided to see if the colour held without heat-setting (I'm wary about heating acrylic, which is, after all, plastic). It doesn't hold its colour - it just washed right out! Not a surprise, really.

2. I put the 'cream' wrapped in cling film in the microwave on full-power, 15 secs, turned, 10 secs, turned, 5 secs - it crinkled badly. The crinkles do not rinse out or dry out! The yarn is still usable, it just has a crinkly look which is not too noticeable when knitted in garter stitch.

3. I put the 'off-white' wrapped in cling film in the microwave on 20% power - 20 secs, turned, 15 secs, turned, 10 secs, turned, 5 secs. No crinkling - a lovely finish!

I'm having so much fun, I'll have to use one of Stashalong free days to buy some light coloured woollen yarns to play with!

Acrylic Dyeing Experiment - it worked!

I have been interested in dyeing for some time but have never tried it.

Acrylic paint is pigment held in an acrylic binder - acrylic yarn is made of the same basic substance. "Could acrylic yarn be dyed with acrylic paint?" I asked myself. Only one way to find out.

So I soaked a half-skein of cream acrylic in clean water in a plastic tray. I removed the yarn and stirred in small amounts of acrylic colour to the intensity I thought would be right (it's just an experiment!). I soaked the acrylic yarn in the mixture - and soaked it - and soaked it - and soaked it. It took up a little colour but I wasn't impressed.

Hmm! I'd read somewhere about adding vinegar to the water to make it acidic - so I removed the yarn and added a capful of white vinegar then replaced the yarn. Suddenly, and I do mean suddenly, the yarn was a delicious orange colour. I gently squeezed the liquid out and put it on the back verandah to dry overnight. In the morning I pulled off about 20cm (8 inches) and took it in the shower with me - it had to be washed and I don't want to waste water - we are in the middle of a drought here! :-) Nearly all the colour washed out! I was sooooo disappointed.

So, back to the drawing board. I read the section on dyeing with Kool Aid from the Twisted Sisters' Sock Workbook again. You either have to heat the yarn before dyeing or heat it after adding the colour. That made sense - traditionally yarns are simmered in dye. Hmmm! What to do?

Fortunately, I hadn't thrown away the orange paint-water. I immersed the coloured yarn for a few minutes then rinsed it until the water was clear. I squeezed out most of the liquid then wrapped it loosely in cling film. I gave it 20 seconds in the microwave on high to steam it - turned it over then gave it another 15 seconds. Still hadn't seen too much steam, everything looked okay - ah, what the heck, I gave it another 15 seconds! After 7 seconds it started popping! Oops! I opened the microwave - the cling film had started to shrivel and who knows what was inside? I carefully removed the package from the microwave - it was really hot - and very carefully peeled back the cling film. Hmm! It had a slight boucle look to it! I hung it on the verandah again, this time with a bucket under it - it was pouring liquid.

Despite the hot weather, it took a long time to dry; when it was cool enough to handle WM suggested I spin the water out of it. After that, it dried pretty quickly, lightening slightly. I pulled off another piece and hand-washed it with soap. While it was wet it looked like it had lost its colour but after it dried the beautiful colour showed! Perhaps the first piece that I washed in the shower hadn't really lost all its colour?

From cream to apricot, a bit crinkled but still usable!

Success with the first experiment! Am I boasting or what? LOL

edited 6 March to add photo