Friday, April 10, 2009

Happy Yarn

It only took me about five or so purchases over time (I'm really exhausted these days!) to finally realize that what I was "seeing" when I was ordering yarn from indie dyers on etsy or elsewhere, wasn't what I was "getting" when my purchases arrived. It's most definitely my monitor since the colors were different from all sources, which left me sadly disappointed. These certainly didn't look so Easter Egg pastel-y when I ordered them.


They're pretty, but the pink was too "orangey" which I didn't personally care for, and the purple was too light. They don't look accurate NOW to me in that pic, so see? I need to adjust my computer! Or only buy hand dyed yarns if I can see them in person!

So, that's when my youngest and I decided to try the easter egg dye method. It was fun, but our yarn turned out more tye-dye looking, and while some people do this on purpose, it wasn't what I was after this time around.
I then ordered a few acid dyes from Knit Picks and over-dyed these three. I used Sapphire Blue, Lilac, and Vermillion. I know the next picture is blurry, but the deeper colors are more what I wanted so I'm once again a happy camper!

The purple is more uniform now, with a slight varigation which I love, and the red one is like a deep red/burgundy (it looks more brown on my monitor here! ). Very pretty! I'm ready to order more colors for sure. This was a lot of FUN. I did have to invest $15 in a stainless steel pot from Ross, The Big Guy wasn't in the mood to go thrift shopping for one pot! Neither was I though, I was glad to get it over with, I just wanted to get on with the dyeing.


Here they are wound up (please don't ask how long it took to wind the blue one by hand -massive tangles and all-, remember that's the one my loving Kitty's got ahold of and made "yarn spaghetti" out of! It's in two balls because there was a huge knot in it too.) But, it DID turn out GORGEOUS! The Big Guy already claimed that one. He wants socks or something out of it. Sure beats the Teal Green I got from the Easter Egg dye! (Which bled way too much IMO, I know I used lots of vinegar (stinky!) but for some reason it wasn't holding well. I'll stick to acid dyes).

Socks and more socks. Someday!

4 comments:

Julianne said...

Pretty...I love the red...that is so pretty pretty pretty...So what is an Indie Dyer? So do you like the Knit Picks yarn? I have been getting emails from them. They look really reasonable in price too...Well, I cannot believe Easter is just around the corner..yikes...I hope you have a good one. Give everyone hugs and kisses for me. I am working right now and I am aobut ready to drop....talk to ya later...Love Ya..YBF

NatRed2 said...

Personally... I love them all, you just remember me if you decide to get rid of your unwanteds ;)

How fun to dye yarn. I tried that at Stitches a couple of years ago but decided that for now at least, it is not something I want to get into.

Remind me to tell you my sad yarn story.

Dawn said...

I bought Easter egg dyes too...hmmm might just wait and get acid dyes since they seem to work better. Love all the colors, they look awesome! Is the dying pretty fun? Have a wonderful weekend and a fantastic Easter! Hope the bunny brings you some yummy chocolates!

Anna said...

Sorry you didn't get what you wanted, but at least it turned out all right in the end. That's the most important thing. I don't mind pastel colors, though.