Dye Another Day

We left our story yesterday all warped up with nowhere to go. That is when I realized that I probably warped this yarn wrong. I was wrapping post 1 4 times, post 2 2 times, post 3 4 times and post 4 2 times. I have never used a warping board before and was winging it as best I could. After all the wraps were done I realized I had done something wrong. The two middle posts had twice as much yarn on them as the two end posts. A quick query to the Dye-O-Rama message board revealed all. I was warping posts 1-2-3-4-3-2-1 and so on, when I should have warped 1-2-3-4 and brought the yarn back to post 1, starting all over again. I had two choices. Re warp the whole skein, or damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. Since I knew the stripe pattern I should get from re warping but had no idea what would happen with the warp as I had wrapped it, I decided, in the name of science to forge on ahead. Ahead warp factor two, Mr. Chekov.

So I soaked the yarn, because I read that this is better to do with immersion dyeing where color placement and control isn't as much of an issue. Strangely, this made me hungry.

For ramen! So while the yarn soaked, I ate noodles. I was warming up the stove. Sure.

Then I mixed up the Kool Aid in cold water, dunked the yarn in and applied the heat. You're looking at Black Cherry, Cherry and Soarin Strawberry Lemonade. After yesterday, I totally expected to smell zoo when everything heated up, but got only fruity smell instead. I am definitely not complaining.

I cut the heat off when all the liquids were clear.....

And it's hanging to dry even as we speak. I am loving the colors.

So here's my take on this process so far. Handpainting with Kool Aid was a mess, and I look forward to trying it with the Jacquard dyes. I have a feeling that the color saturation won't be nearly the issue. I also won't mix them as watery. In general, it is a lot messier that immersion dyeing. Immersion dyeing definitely solves the problem of even saturated color. And I don't know about the smell thing, maybe that was a by product of microwaving yarn with very little liquid. Or just microwaving alone. Even when I was overdyeing yesterday with plenty of liquid I got hot stinky sheep smell. Today, nada. For a beginning project I certainly got more bang for the buck with immersion dyeing. Immediately satisfying, whereas I had quite a few interesting moments yesterday. Overall I am pleased with yesterdays' skein and thrilled with todays.

But wait, there's more! Two skeins to go. Next chapter - Jacquard, the real deal.