Back Again

Long time, no blog. Oh well.
I've been experimenting with Queen food dye for making self-striping wool. It's lotsa fun! I used large jars and stood them in a boiler-full of water and gently simmered. I added warm water, 1/4 cup white vinegar and 1/2 tsp to 1 Tab of food dye to the dye bath, depending on the depth of shade I was after. I used 2 chairs to wrap the balls of wool into skeins and loosely tied the skeins to prevent monster knots. In areas where I wanted the original colour (or splash of white) to show through I wrapped strips of rags around the wool and tied them off in a bow so I could undo them later. The skeins were soaked in warm water for about 1/2 hr and all the bubbles were gently pressed out. I left the skein (or part thereof) in the dye bath for about 15 min - or until the colour leached out of the dye bath leaving an almost clear liquid. Then the skeins were rinsed in a tub of warm water to remove any excess dye / vinegar and hung on the clothesline to dry. It knits up beautifully!
The pictures are of some 4ply mohair/nylon blend yarn which was pale blue. I left a third of the skein its original colour, dyed 1/3 of the skein in a dye bath with 1/2 tsp of Queen blue food colouring and the remaining third in a dye bath with 1 tsp of Queen green food dye and 1 tsp of Queen blue food dye.