Hello all!
This semester has been a busy one, and it isn't showing any signs of slowing for at least another month! I am blogging where and I can and props to Marquette for keeping the show running while I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off haha She rocks!
I will happily be back to blogging three days a week when the semester ends :) Hallelujah!
You know what else rocks?! Kool-Aide :)
Nothing says summer is here more than a big glass of cold Kool-Aide and a Kool-Aide mustache to go with :)
Willow sent this to us the other day from when she was in our neck of the woods (Yay New Mexico!) and I have to say I think people are very creative! Check it out!
The Original
This fun technique of dying wool yarn to (emphasis on wool, this won't work on cotton), involves concentrated Kool-Aide ice cubes and heat from the sun, for a full tutorial go here.
Willow saw this and then happened upon some wool yarn at a gift shop here in NM, when she tried this technique it didn't work out quite the same for her.
Here are some of the steps used for this technique.
First you create your ice cubes, then place them on your white wool in a glass dish.
Next you set it in the sun, and the cubes melt and the yarn soaks up the colors! Fun!
If you are trying this during the colder months, one blog tried this technique but instead of setting them in the sun, she tried a wood burning stove, and her oven (ingenious!) you can find her blog here.
This is how the second bloggers (wood burning stove/oven technique) yarn turned out:
Now our reader Willow tried this and hers didn't take so well, here is her story"
"So, on my way back to New Mexico from my Grand Canyon trip, my new hubby and I decided to stop in all of those cheesy "Authentic Indian" tourist traps along the highway. Imagine my surprise when I came across several skeins of nice, undyed, hand spun wool tucked back in the corner of one. Nice! And cheap too. As a knitter and crocheter, I couldn't resist. So, of course I bought them all (6 skeins).
In the back of my mind, I remembered this little gem that I've always wanted to try but haven't been able to for various reasons. Now I could! Yay! So I went to the store and bought tons of Kool-aid packets and the next day I went to work freezing Kool-aid.
I used the same ratio of Kool-aid to water that the original blog suggested. But I wasn't sure how long to soak the yarn in vinegar and water, because it doesn't really say, so I did that for about fifteen minutes. I placed the ice cubes based on the pictures in the pin.
Of course, the weather was unseasonably cold the next day, so I couldn't set my wool outside for the ice cubes to melt so...I put them in the oven at 275 covered in aluminum foil. Now, based on the second post by the original blog I "baked" the yarn for about half an hour then turned them over and put them back in the oven for another half an hour until the water in the bottom was clear.
I dyed them all together because I wanted to use all six of them in the same project. The grape didn't take at all, neither did the orange... But the pinks and reds did. Not a complete failure, but not the blended, smooth colors of the original pin or the Dark Blue Dragon blog either. Mine came out spotty, not variegated. I know that I can re-dye it later, but I'm going to see how it knits up."
Here are her results, I think it looks like spaghetti!!
The Pinstrosity
So how do we fix this?!
There are a few things that come to mind, to start with Willow mentioned that she didn't know how long to soak them in vinegar because it doesn't say, but the original blogger did say to soak them for 30 minutes in the vinegar solution before you do anything else (Pinstrosity PSA, when DIY-ing, please read ALL directions before starting anything, that is the number one thing we see here...read read read!!!) . This may have had a small part in this Pinstrosity but I don't think it is the main culprit here...
Another thing is that perhaps if Willow bought on off brand of Kool-Aide that may have had something to do with it, but she didn't say so I can't be sure.
One might wonder as well that perhaps the yarn wasn't 100% wool. You never know when someone could put fillers in there, and I am willing to bet there wasn't a fancy label on the skeins either that told you exactly what was in there, the original blog specifically states that this DOES NOT WORK on cotton yarn.
The main thing I think went wrong here is that her dye didn't really spread (did her ice cubes melt funny for some odd reason?!), and perhaps her wool didn't get hot enough. The original blog says that if when you are rinsing the yarn out at the end if you see ANY color running out to stop and let it continue to soak in the sun/oven. I am wondering if her yarn just didn't soak up enough?!
I am calling on you Pinstrosipeeps!
All my crocheters and knitters out there, this is an SOS! What can we do to help Willow, anyone have any other ideas as to what is needed to make this Pinstrosity a Pin Win?!
Let us know! I am sure Willow would be more than happy to hear your two cents and help us figure this one out!Happy Wednesday Pinstrosipeeps!
No comments:
Post a Comment