Dying at the Symposium

One of the themes for the classes at the symposium was colour and dying your own yarn was part ot that theme. The most interesting technique was perhaps the use of mushrooms, but the group was full when I registered. Here is a picture of their results:















Since I had never done any dying before and new challenges draw me in I chose two other dying classes, both using acidic dyes. This means there are very few chemicals involved besides the pigment and vinegar. On Monday afternoon we heated water in large pots and made solid colours. The recipes where a bit tricky, but at the end of the day I think I knew the mathematical system. I had to do a lot of calculations because I wanted my heather pink to have different shades so I could make a gradual change across a sweater.

On the last day I went back to the dying, but this time we painted the skeins by hand and set the colours in the microwave oven. This was more fun, but the results were perhaps harder to control for us beginners. I didn't really have a plan, but I wanted the yarns to look good when knitted and not only on the skeins. Therefore I used soft colour changes and for two of the skeins I made very short sections while the last was half and half in pale red and blue.















The green and pink became my homecoming presents for the children. During the past week we have been travelling a bit and their new hats fitted nicely in a small knitting bag. We are going to decorate them later, probably with applications...