Thursday, February 02, 2006
DYEING A CAUTIONARY TALE
I said I’d post instructions for the way I dye yarn and I will but first a Cautionary Tale.
I started out with Kool-Aid and made some nice smelling brightly colored yarn. Then I branched out to Wilton’s food colors. Lots of unexpected colors with it as the colors separated and I ended up with multicolor yarns., That was fine with me as my preference is for multicolors.
Well, I knitted myself some socks and proudly wore them with my Birks. After a few wearings, what to my wondering eyes should appear? My socks were becoming stripes of bright colors and others of washed out colors. Well, slow on the uptake as I can be, I didn’t figure it out until I was camping in Toppenish WA. I washed my lovelies and laid them on the picnic table on a towel to dry. When I went to check on them, aghast someone had switched my lovelies for some yellowish beige uglies. But, when I picked them up I saw that the side that had been next to the towel was still stripes of brights and dulls. Food colors are not light fast. I don’t care how much vinegar you use to set the color, if your completed item is going to be exposed to light expect the color to fade more and more.
What am I going to do with the half faded uglies you may ask, well if the sun ever shines in NW Washington again I’m going to see if the sun can fade the other side to match. If our sun isn’t bright enough in Bellingham, I’m going to Toppenish again in September. Have uglies will travel.
I started out with Kool-Aid and made some nice smelling brightly colored yarn. Then I branched out to Wilton’s food colors. Lots of unexpected colors with it as the colors separated and I ended up with multicolor yarns., That was fine with me as my preference is for multicolors.
Well, I knitted myself some socks and proudly wore them with my Birks. After a few wearings, what to my wondering eyes should appear? My socks were becoming stripes of bright colors and others of washed out colors. Well, slow on the uptake as I can be, I didn’t figure it out until I was camping in Toppenish WA. I washed my lovelies and laid them on the picnic table on a towel to dry. When I went to check on them, aghast someone had switched my lovelies for some yellowish beige uglies. But, when I picked them up I saw that the side that had been next to the towel was still stripes of brights and dulls. Food colors are not light fast. I don’t care how much vinegar you use to set the color, if your completed item is going to be exposed to light expect the color to fade more and more.
What am I going to do with the half faded uglies you may ask, well if the sun ever shines in NW Washington again I’m going to see if the sun can fade the other side to match. If our sun isn’t bright enough in Bellingham, I’m going to Toppenish again in September. Have uglies will travel.
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