Thursday, March 29, 2012

Happy Handpainting

As I'm sure you noticed, my design week project is temporarily on hold, primarily because I'm busy knitting the Knitting Like Crazy Mystery Shawl (I'm on row 4 of clue 4), a shawl for my aunt's rapidly approaching birthday, and a pair of socks. There's just not enough time right now.

All of this knitting didn't mean there wasn't enough time to dye more yarn. My sister is here for the day doing laundry, so we decided to try handpainting some yarn. I got out two skeins of Knit Picks Stroll Bare and mixed up some dye stock using Jacquard acid dyes. After applying the color, we set it in a microwave that I've set aside for this purpose (my sister found it Freecycle). We wrapped it in heavy plastic wrap, stuck it in a plastic sack, and ran it through 2 minutes at a time, with a 2 minute rest in between. The rainbow sock took 2 cycles,  and the Fuscia and blue took 3. After letting it cool, we rinsed them and hung them to dry.

Rest assured,  there is definitely more dyeing in our future. Next time I want to try graded coloring on a blank made up on my knitting machine. I can hardly wait!


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