Fun with Easter Egg Dye

After my children dyed the eggs, they poured the leftover dye randomly over some wool roving that I had. I then smooshed it down (wearing gloves to avoid colorful hands) and set the dye in the microwave (8 minutes on high… rest for 10… another 8 minutes, then leave until cool.) The water ran clear, I rinsed once and let it dry. Here is a picture of the results, posing with a few of the eggs that we dyed:

Easter egg dyes aren’t as colorfast long-term as the professional dyes I usually use for my wools, but they’re certainly safe for use with children. You can also use wool yarn or fabric — or any animal fiber like silk, alpaca, etc.  It won’t work with cotton or synthetic fabrics (with the exception of some nylons).   Plenty of fun, and we have something to show that will last longer than the eggs (most of which are already eaten).  Now to find a suitable project for the wool!

Have a most blessed Easter, everyone!

ASJ – Progress Report

It’s been a week since I started on my Adult Surprise Jacket as part of a ravelry.com knit-along, and here is how it’s going so far:

I’m knitting on size 6US needles, at a gauge of 5 stitches/inch… which means I started by casting on 440 stitches!  I’m using Berroco Peruvia that I bought this summer at a clearance sale, along with a large mystery skein that was in my stash that is also a single-ply yarn of the same gauge.  I only had three colors of the Peruvia – taupe, light yellow-green and teal – and the silver-grey mystery yarn:

I could have made it with just these colors, but I really wanted to warm it up, and have a wider variety of autumn tones and shades that would go with more things.  So, I overdyed some of the skeins until I had this variety of colors:

I used Jacquard acid dyes, which are what I use when handpainting yarns or rovings, but to get a solid color the yarn is submerged in the hot dyebath, with the vinegar added after the yarn has absorbed the color evenly.  When overdyeing yarn, keep in mind the the dye color is going to act like a transparent veil over the orginial color of the yarn, so you are limited in what colors you can acheive.  Below are pictures showing the original color of the yarn on the bottom, with the new shades at the top:

The taupe was overdyed in chestnut (left) and salmon (right), creating a chocolate brown and a light rust.  The light yellow green overdyed in a weak salmon dyebath made olive (left), and in a turquoise dyebath, it became a truer green.  The silver was overdyed in navy, for a dark steel blue, and chestnut, or a warm gray.  The teal skeins were all left teal.

Acid dyes are easy to use on wool and other protein fibers, and when done correctly, the dye completely binds with the fiber or yarn and “exhausts” from the dyebath, leaving colored yarn and clear vinegar-water.  Thus, in a multicolored project like this, you don’t have to worry about the colors bleeding later when the garment is washed. So you can have all the colors you want!