In which my kitchen smells like vinegar and wet wool

I’ve been working on my Christmas knitting, and as one project finished I realized that I was not happy enough with it to send it across the ocean to the intended recipient—one of the colors was not right. So, as there is no LYS to visit out in the bush, I dug out my Easter egg dye, found some vinegar, and got to work. After soaking my yarn thoroughly I dumped it in a pot and added dye till I had a nice vibrant orange. After letting it cool, rinsing and giving it a bath with some Soak, I hung it out on the line this morning to dry and to let the smell blow out. I’m quite pleased with the result, and will be casting on take two this evening. Here’s the finished product after I wound it up:

The next afternoon I decided to play some more with dye, and set about attempting a two-tone kettle dye. I didn’t want to hand-paint the yarn, and I have been mulling over some ideas of how to get the results I want. I soaked the yarn a bit while heating it up, mixed up some blue and green dye, and then carefully poured the two colors on different sides of the pot. I knew that the yarn on top would be fine, it was just the mixing of the colors beneath and to the sides that I wasn’t sure about. Because I used a smaller pot, I managed to keep the colors fairly separate, and I’m pretty happy with the results. I had more dye in the pot, so I put another skein I had been soaking on top of the first one and added a bit more color. There was still a bit more dye left, so I put some roving in, poured the rest of the dye on top in stripes, and then put a smaller skein of wool (unsoaked) in the middle to take up the now mixed color. I was pretty happy with how the yarn turned out, but I’ll have to wait to take the roving out of the nylon to see how it dyed up. I’ll have to try handpainting again sometime—first I need get some more vinegar though!

I feel a case of ‘startitis’ coming on, and I’m trying to show self control in the urge to cast on more projects that I have already set myself and start a few cross stitch kits on the side. I have a lot to do before December when I’m going to be sending my X-mas gifts home with another missionary, so I’m going to have to stay on target and resist those wool fumes.