Dyeing: Attempt #3

This one being for my Grandma A, a HUGE Green Bay Packers fan. Made my color choices quite obvious for her, for even in green and yellow can fine feminine pieces be knit from!

Same start as all the others - 660 yards of Knitpicks Worsted Weight superwash wool, joined end to end and made into about a 10' diameter skein for dyeing.


My goal: Green Bay Packer, the football team, colors. Green and Yellow. Much more simple than the things I was attempting right out of the dyeing gate. I figured I would put half the yarn in each crock and pull it out so that the darkest section of each color created a nice gradient as it got lighter as it wicked towards the other color.

So I presoaked the yarn in water ONLY, with a squirt of 7th Generation Free & Clear dish detergent - another tip I read online.

In an effort to be more scientific, I actually measured what I put into each crock to see if the amount of water affected the dye uptake since I have two different sized crocks.

Lg Crock - 5 qts of water
Sm Crock - 3 qts of water

Turned on the heat, and DID NOT heat the yarn with the dye. Don't know why but figured I'd try something new. It IS superwash wool after all. At 150 degrees, I added the dyes directly to the crocks

Lg Crock - 1/2 Tsp Wilton's Lemon Yellow
- 1/2 Tsp Wilton's Buttercup Yellow
Sm Crock - 1/2 Tsp Wilton's Juniper Green
- 3 Packets Kool-Aid Lemon-Lime

I did not add ANY vinegar to the dyebaths. Then I added the yarn. WOW - I have found, in this instance anyway, that yellow dye travels fast. Or maybe greens in general travel very, very slowly.

My colors came out completely as planned - ended up having to get the mason jars for the sections I pulled out to help with the wicking and control moisture flow. Also learned I have to turn the yarn where it touches the edge of the very warm/hot crock pot so that the dye would wick more evenly. I'll probably have to find a way to keep the yarn from touching the crock edge eventually - seems to heat set that section.


When the dye seemed to be gone (still working on figuring out that aspect since I sincerely believe that I am using FAR to much dye), I took the yarn out and rinsed it in two different warm vinegar baths. After the first rinsing, not much color came out with the next two rinsings.

I got some banding, partly from some of the ties being tied too tight, and partly from the heated edge of the crock pot I mentioned earlier. Here is the skein drying


And here is the result after it is re-skeined. I'm in love! I'm not a fan of yellow, but it is quite, quite lovely in person.


Soon, it will be a hat and scarf for my wonderful Grandma A. The end result of that, too will be shown soon - Grandparent's day is September 9th and I want to have the hats finished by then, and the matching scarves for Christmas. How exciting!