“Improvisational Potions” Class

I bought some Bare yarn from KnitPicks.com last year to experiment with Potions for Knitting, but I didn't have everything I thought I needed to do it -- warm sunny days, place to hang it outside, time, swift ... well for my birthday this year 'hubby' bought me a wooden swift to make winding yarn a breeze. So when we packed for vacation I made sure I remembered the Kool-Aid, the yarn, and my monster Swift!! (I got the biggest I could find so I wouldn't have to upgrade later).

Okay I didn't have any vinegar on vacation … I know, I know … how hard would it have been to go to the store? And if the little local store were rebuilt after the fire last year making it a total loss (thank goodness it didn't hit the gas tanks) I probably would have – I love little local stores – but I decided to do a bit of experimenting.

So I used the regular Kool-aid instructions I got from KnitPicks.com (they have a pdf here) but instead I added 2 T of Kosher salt to the soak water, 1 – 1½ tsp salt to the dye, and didn't let it cool completely before rinsing (only to the point where I could handle it) … I also didn't wash the superwash wool first …

I soaked the yarn for about 3-4 hours before use but because I only had a single container to cook it all in I kept the hanks not being dyed in the water until it was their turn.

So how did it turn out?

Here are the colors: single packet unless noted.

1. Lemonade (3 packets)
2. Orange
3. Pink Lemonade (2 packets)
4. Strawberry
5. Berry Blue
6. Grape
7. Black Cherry
8. Cherry
9. Lemonade (2 packets) & enough Berry Blue to make green
10. Soaring Strawberry Lemonade (1 packet) & rest of Berry Blue

Number 10 is a lovely Mauve and number 9 is what my son calls 'Froot Loops Green', I think it is more of an Aqua myself.

The Strawberry (#4) I thought was going to be a bright Pink and it turned into a wonderful Strawberry Red … not as red as the Cherry but a nice comfy red. The Blackberry (#7) is a deep red … not as deep as I thought it would be though, I was expecting it to be almost a maroon but it is just a deep red.

Most of the yarn is marled/splotchy colored but it would be okay… it should give some wonderful shading.

I kept the hanks very small so I could get a good sampling – I'm not sure what I can do with such small hanks, but it will be interesting to try it out and see.

Now they say that Super-washed wool isn't supposed to felt…but mine seemed to felt up a bit … maybe it's just the characteristics of wool in general to stick to itself – I've never dyed my own yarn before so I don't know.

This could be great fun to play with.