by mops Moderator 27 Mar 2018

Been trying to reduce my stash. So after the white I introduced some colour: the two whites plus two light blues which were used for a cardigan and a C2C 1m square blanket. And two whites plus one green for another.

Then I thought of dying the yarn, all those white cones seem so boring. So I took the two whites and made a rather small skein for test purposes. I looked for youtube videos and as I did not want to buy materials I used food colouring to dye. According to the info I just dissolved it in some water with vinegar, poured it on the skein and heated it for 4 min in the microwave. And surprisingly I got a reasonable result. I had doubted that as I knew it was synthetic (did an ash test) but had no idea what kind. I used blue, purple and red in that order so the result was a surprise. It felt softer and thinner than before so I added one extra white and knitted a child-size hat. The patterning is always a surrpise with these sort of yarns as it depends not only on the colouring but also on the number of stitches. I think this one turned out lovely.
It took only 20 grams, feels extremely soft on the hands when knitting. I have 37 gr left.
I used a toilet roll and a huge orange to show it off.

In case you wonder if I am running out of white - see picture 4. They are considerably slimmer than they were, but ...
And then there are 5 cones left in my banana box, one of them contains 12.500 m and is still in its original wrapper. And then there is more than a dozen blues, browns, etc waiting ...

Oh, and I gave up using the knitting machine. It hates those combined threads.

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Comments (12)

by lilylady 07 Apr 2018

The colors in the hat are beautiful. Love your sweaters and blanket.

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by lbrow 06 Apr 2018

Oh Martine I love everything you do. Had been reading about the yarn dying on You tube. Yours looks terrific.. The cap is gorgeous.

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by mops 07 Apr 2018

Thank you. I knitted a second one, starting with 10 more stitches. That gives a quite different pattern, but still very pretty.

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by katydid 29 Mar 2018

You are so talented. I love your work.

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by parkermom 28 Mar 2018

Beautiful as always! I love to sew, but knitting and crocheting are so difficult for me!

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by jenne 28 Mar 2018

Beautiful work, love the sweaters you did. Nice idea to dye your yarn, I have heard that you can use shaving cream to help dye fabric, but not of food coloring must try this on fabric sometime.

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by mops 28 Mar 2018

I think the shaving cream gives a marbled effect on fabric.
For yarn food colouring and Easter egg paint are both mentioned. But the latter is put in boiling water, which works for wool and cotton, but I doubt my synthetics would not like boiling.

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by asterixsew Moderator 28 Mar 2018

Lovely work and well done on the dying of some of the yarn. Using the microwave is something that I haven't tried. I do like the results of the dying. I aught to make a effort to reduce my fabric but ...

1 comment

by mops 28 Mar 2018

... but it seems to grow instead, doesn't it.

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by pennifold 27 Mar 2018

You are a marvel Martine, these are all fantastic and good on you for trying the dying of the thread. Love Chris

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by mops 28 Mar 2018

I started my working life in an R&D department as a 'chemical lab tech'. Some of that research and develop mentality seems to haave stuck - hehe. Love, Martine

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by 02kar Moderator 27 Mar 2018

You are so clever! I love the result of the food color dye. Your knitted items are always great.

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by mops 28 Mar 2018

Thank you.

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by crafter2243 Moderator 27 Mar 2018

I love all of your knitting and stash reductions. Great job.

I have about 10 cones of ecru 2/24 100% acrylic. I wonder if that would work. Time to go on YouTube and investigate. I love the way the food coloring took. It looks really good and would take away the monotony of knitting with the same color.
Knitting machine is still in storage. I like hand knitting a lot more while watching TV.

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by mops 27 Mar 2018

I prefer hand knitting too. I used the machine when my children were teenagers. Could do those large parts fast, but it felt like 'work' while hand knitting was fun.

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by spendlove Moderator 27 Mar 2018

Brilliant! Have you tried washing the hat to see if the colour is fast? Nylon dyes beautifully with azo dyes (many artificial food colourings) but polyester is usually coloured in the manufacturing rather than being dyed.

2 comments

by mops 27 Mar 2018

Yes, I washed it. I used Wilton food colouring. I think some of the cones are acrylic.

by maggiecal 17 Jun 2018

Thanks, I wondered about the washing too. Now I'll have to try it!.

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by toogie 27 Mar 2018

You have done excellent in all that you tried. Isn't have the fun of making something unique, the experiment? I admire you for trying something out of the 'norm'. Everything looks so neat. I have always admired the knitted look, but have yet to really devote time to learning. With all the information on the net, it seems it would be easier today to learn, but time is not on my side.......Keep up the good work and keep reducing your stash! We are delighted to see all your efforts.

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by mops 27 Mar 2018

Thank you. I learned to knit when I was about 6, crochet a few years later. So it comes naturally. Seeing how much you sew I can't image how you could find or make the time to knit, it is a slower process!

by toogie 27 Mar 2018

I know mops and I like to crochet with a very fine cotton, but don't even seem to find time for that.

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by dragonflyer 27 Mar 2018

You have been a busy bee...love the tie dye yarn and the sweaters and blanket are beautiful...

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by mops 27 Mar 2018

Thank you. I started a narrow(ish) baby shawl 40 st (the hat had 96) with the dyed yarn, but the effect is a bit chaotic.

by mops 27 Mar 2018

So I unravelled and started a slightly larger hat (104 st) which gives nice colour blocks.

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