Kool-aid dying

This week was so unbelievably busy. I did manage to get in some Kool-aid dying for the first time. I took one ball of the silk yarn that I recycled from my first sweater rescue and dyed it a very pretty purple with some grape drink mix. I mixed two packets of the grape Wal-mart brand “Great Value” drink mix and about 1 cup of vinegar in my crock pot with about 4 cups of water. I soaked the yarn in the sink with very warm water and a little of the vinegar for about 20 minutes. Then I put the yarn in the crock pot and added more very hot water. I “cooked” this mixture in the crock pot for about 1 hour or more, checking it every 10 minutes or so for color saturation. The saturation would have been darker had I used more of the mix and more vinegar. This was a wonderful experience and I look forward to doing a lot more of it in the future.

I laid out the yarn to dry and then hung it up for the final drying time, overnight. Then after it was wound into a ball again, I started on a pair of basic socks in a k2p2 ribbing pattern. The yarn is silk and, being a beginner, I did not realize just how little elasticity silk and cotton type of fibers have. So I have decided to make the k2p2 ribbed section a cuff that folds down over the sock which I am going to knit out of a darker purple “new wool” recycled sweater yarn.

Pictures coming soon.

Last weekend, Scott and I were able to take Saturday off and visit the beach. On the way there, I conveniently detoured to a yarn shop that I had never been to before. The shop is

Weavers Webb

It is a very nice shop with lots of needlework and yarn supplies. Even Scott was interested in all the products available.