Subtlety

I spent the last few days dying yarn -- my first venture into Kool-Aid dying. I am pretty please with the result, though there were definitely some surprises. I ordered a bag of Debbie Bliss Merino DK from Little Knits for cheapy-cheap-cheap, and was a bit disappointed with the color of the yarn. So I thought it would be a good opportunity to try my hand at overdying. I used one packet of orange Kool-Aid for two skeins of yarn, aiming for a richer, more peacock-colored teal. I think that I got it. Here's the before-and-after shot:


The difference is admittedly subtle, but it's significant in my eyes. The yarn went from the color of a muppet to a nice mottled teal. So I did the whole bag. Here's the eye candy shot; it does capture the color relatively well:


What I should have expected but was surprised by was the variegated nature of the color. I suppose that with something as low-tech as Kool-Aid one can't expect perfectly even coverage. I don't really care, though one particular skein is more variegated than the others. In fact, upon knitting a swatch, I discovered that the more forest green sections that appear every once in a while give the knitted fabric some nice depth and almost a silky appearance. I'm not usually a fan of variegated wool (actually dislike, for example, the way that Koigu looks knitted up), but I think that this semi-solid might be nice and tasteful. Of course after dying this whole batch I went to knittyboard and discovered some hints for even Kool-Aid dying. Ah well. Next batch. It certainly was fun to do! And I definitely feel free now to buy whatever yarn is cheap and soft, regardless of the color!