Friday, June 26, 2009

dye experiment

A few weeks ago I had had a go at dyeing some wool, something I haven't tried before.
I found some lemon coloured baby wool going cheap at $1 ball. Didn't really like the colour, so thought I would see how it turned out dyed.

I wrapped it around a big baking pan, put an elastic band in the middle to hold it all together, then dipped one end in some yellow dye and the other end in some red. I also did a couple of plain red balls for contrast.

Popped it out in the sun to dry.

Got out the trusty wool winder and turned it into balls.

Then knitted it into another Vintage pixie cap and a pair of pants.
Pants are from a Patons baby knit book. They are the newborn size, but turned out completely massive. My tension seemed fine, so the pattern must just run big. By the time my baby fits these, it will probably be too hot to wear them. I was hoping they would suit either a girl or boy, but the more I look at them I think they are definitely on the feminine side.

I changed the pattern slightly for the pixie cap and did rib around the face instead of garter stitch. It seemed to pull it all in a bit better.
It was interesting to see how the wool knitted up. It looks like tiger stripes, not at all how I imagined. I think for baby knitting it would be better to dye the wool in smaller sections rather than two big chunks like I did. Still happy with the results though. If I end up with a big chunky girl, we may get some use out of this outfit!

7 comments:

Marjorie said...

How fun! I love the colors that you dyed the yarn.

Kate said...

oh my goodness, these look awesome!! Love the colours :)

Karen said...

These look great - the colours are fantastic - so much more interesting than "baby lemon".

Kate said...

Great dyeing - looks fantastic!

Kelly Casanova said...

I love the way it turned out, you're inspiring me to keep practicing my knitting (and I sure do need the practice!)

Claire said...

Oh wow Naomi not only are the colours in the wool simply beautiful, but the pants & cap are so very sweet!!

Tracy said...

LOve it.