Sunday, March 20, 2011

CraftyME: Kool I'm Dyeing....

Hello SBSM readers.
 Seeing as I'm always talking about this person they call CraftyME, I guess I'd better show some reasons why she got that name. So, I joined this group on OCS called Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup challenge otherwise known as HPKCHC or just HPKC or..well whatever I feel like typing at the time. Every participant/student gets sorted into one of 4 houses a la Harry Potter, Gryfinndor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and the most awestacular house of all HUFFLEPUFF. Can you tell which one I'm in?)



Every month for the 3 month term, you are assigned 8 different class homework assignments. You are only required to complete one. But you know me, overachiever that I am, I went for all 8 in both Jan & Feb. I don't know if I'm gonna make all 8 for March, I'm sure I'll try to find some way. So needless to say, CraftyME has been SUPER extra busy. I'll do a semester summary at a later unspecified date and time, because I really want to talk about one assignment in particular for March.

Our assignment in Defense Against the Dark Arts (DADA) class for March is to turn theory into practice and try a new technique. Um hello paging WannaME?!?! Where to even start right? But I narrowed it down and decided to try my hand at yarn dyeing. Did you know that you can dye yarn using Kool-Aid? And apparently back in the day people used to use it even dye their hair. Yet again OCS has roped me into some new method of obsession/coveting. So I joined yet another group on OCS, What a Kool way to Dye ordered up some Knit Picks Bare superwash fingering yarn, grabbed some Kool-Aid from the market and got started.


I began by re-skeining my yarn. I wanted really long color repeats, so I stretched it around a couple of chairs. (Knot untangling experience #1 of like 5).  Make sure you tie the hank in several places to help prevent tangling once yarn is wet.


 Speaking of wet, next you have to soak the yarn in lukewarm water for like 30 minutes.

This gave me time to decide which flavors/colorways I was gonna go with, grape, pink lemonade, and black cherry. I mixed up 2 1/2 packets of each using enough water to fill the jars like 3/4 full.


Set the jars in a large pot with some water. Add your yarn and then bring the large pot of water to a boil.


Once it starts to boil turn off the heat and just let the yarn cool down while resting in the water. . You will be so tempted to just stand there and ohh and ahh. Trust me on this, go away.


Then come back and see the magic.


Those once murky jars of colored water will now be completely clear once again.

Rinse the newly dyed yarn in luke warm water and set to dry.

Enjoy your fruity pretty new yarn. And begin searching for even more colors, I mean flavors.


 Side bar: Now I'm irked remember back in the day there used to be like fiftyeleven flavors of Kool-aid on the shelf. Now it's just like cherry, grape, orange, and tropical punch. I never even like the red and the purple. If you find some lime or blue-raspberry or anything exotic hook ya girl up. Please and Thank You. Happy Crafting
ME

1 comment:

  1. Doriana that was awesome! I will certainly keep my eye out for some super exotic Kool Ade flavors.

    ReplyDelete