Colors Gone Wild

A whole new world opened up to me in fiber arts now that I've discovered the wonderful world of dyeing yarn. I've been fascinated with the process but it kind of scared me and from afar it looked like it was a complicated process.

The dyes, natural, acid, kool-aid, food coloring? What to use and how to use it, most of all where to get it? Kool-Aid is the easiest get but it seemed childish and more of a play thing than really dyeing wool. Then I saw a lady with the most beautiful color mohair shawl. The color was a "Burnt Sienna" in my world a pinky salmon like pink coral. (I'm having trouble trying to describe the exact shade, too bad I did not take a picture.) Pink but not really pink, because I usually do not like pink but this color looked lovely especially on the lady wearing it.

When we chatted about her lovely shawl, ie. what yarn, what color way etc. She told me she had this ugly light beige mohair and she dyed it with Kool-Aid. Wow! Note to self: when I get home I must try Kool-Aid dyeing. I asked the first natural question that comes to mind and the same question people ask me now that I'm dyeing, "Will it fade? Does it wash out?" She told me not yet, and she's washed it once. Also said how often do you wash your shawls anyway? Not that often. Maybe a sweater more but only time will tell how much fading will occour.

Some colors may fade faster than others. Just like some colors grab easier than others, it's all a big experiment. But what fun! Here we go dye all over the outside kitchen, crock pots heating up, yarn hanging & drying...... I'm getting nothing else done.... but having a lot of fun.

The store I went to locally had a very limited range of Kool-Aid flavors but they had a whole range of food coloring. I bought food coloring and could not wait to get home to try this out. Oh yes before I went home I stopped by my local beauty supply and bought 6 tint applicatior bottles. They seemed to be practical for this task, they have ouce markings and a nice little spout to apply the color. If it works for hair it will work for animal hair/wool yarn.

Stay tuned I'm now taking pictures of all the yarn I've dyed....... will share it all later.

Happy dyeing.