Adventures in Dying

So, I mentioned a while ago that I had foraged into the world of hand dying. I've been wanting to try it out for a while and thought I should just jump into it. I ordered some undyed yarn and some kool aid (I figured I would start easy).

I had five sachets of 'Black Cherry' and wanted to try and get a semi solid red. So my cunning plan went like this: I would dunk the yarn in loads of water (as per the instructions) and then dunk a third of it into a saucepan on the stove, then after fifteen minutes dunk in another third and then the last third after another fifteen. I felt like some kind of dying genius.

What happened went like this: the three sachets of kool aid I decided to use sucked up into a bit of the first third within minutes and after that it just sat in hot water. Upon noticing this, I tipped first one and then after while the second of the spare sachets of yarn into the mix. All this did was leave the yarn a bit speckeldy and me feeling like a dying idiot:



So, after a few days of pouting and grumbling, I sucked it up and ordered some more dye. This time, after soaking it I threw it into a bigger saucepan (so I could make sure all the yarn was coated, not just half of it) with all the dye all at once. I figured that since the yarn was partly dyed already, it would still be semi solid. It kinda worked:



I was reasonably satisfied with this, especially for a first (and second *cough*) attempt. I had a vague plan in my head for the shawl it was going to become, but as I was winding it, it kept whispering Firebird (Rav link) to me (I think this may be the first time a yarn has told me what it wants to be).

And I'm pretty happy with the results:



p.s. If you check out the link to the Rav pattern, have a look at the pictures on the title page!