Dyeing to have fun!

I had a go at dyeing some sock yarn today. I gave Snoopydog a Kool Aid sock dyeing kit for Christmas, and bought one for myself at the same time. I got the kit from DT Crafts, and can thoroughly recommend them for an excellent service.

I started off by soaking the skein in water, with a few drops of washing up liquid added, until it was completely saturated. After squeezing out most of the water, I spread the yarn out on a table, and put bits of cling film underneath. I chose three colours (flavours?!) of Kool Aid - Orange, Lemon-Lime and Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade, and mixed two sachets of each with 150ml of water. Then using a syringe, I applied the dye to the wool, about 10ml at a time, letting it soak right in. Where one colour met another, I used my fingers to blend, so that there wouldn't be a hard line there. When the whole skein had been dyed, I wrapped it up in clingfilm and put it in a plastic box with the lid loosely on, and microwaved it for two minutes at a time on full blast. I did this three times, and the water coming from the yarn was relatively clear. I spread the yarn out to let it cool down, then rinsed it thoroughly, and allowed it to dry. It's pretty bright, but for a first attempt, I'm fairly pleased. I will knit it up into some socks in due course and let you see them!

Here is the finished skein, in all its glory!

It will make some very bright socks, just what's needed on these drab winter days!

I've also cast on a couple of new projects - some modified Monkeys (my January socks from Sock Challenge 2009), my Noro striped scarf, and a hat with earflaps using a beautiful yarn from Colinette. I'll update you on their progress later, or check them out on Ravelry.