Dyed and Knit

Friday was my day off, so I decided to spend it dying some yarn and roving in my stash. Here are the 'befores':

The yarns are all Knit Picks Palette, which I love for multiple reasons, but hated these colors that were left in my stash. The green and orange yarns were just too neon, too bright for anything of my liking. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I bought them in the first place, but I had 2 skeins of each. The top right corner was a bare yarn from Knit Picks that I dyed awhile ago, but the colors are just so cotton candy sweet it makes me want to puke. I already re-dyed half of that skein, but this little ball needed fixing still. (Sorry, 'after' pictures of this yarn will have to wait.) Lastly, some plain alpaca roving from my MIL's alpacas.

I used Kool Aid and the Kroger equivalent to dye, which is the same process I used before. I like it well enough because it's cheap, simple, and there are practically unlimited color choices. I tried a few different methods: stove top, microwave, and hand painting the alpaca roving.

And here are the afters:

Yummy alpaca, it's a little more pink than it looks in this picture, with yellow and a little orange from where they combined. I've started spinning this - I hope it turns out well.

The neon orange color turned into a nice burnt pumpkin color. I love the kettle dyed effect, lots of nice shades of orange and rust, and even a few little spots of the previous offending construction-orange color, which I don't mind, just a nice reminder of how lovely this yarn transformed.

I like to think of this as a froggy green. It's considerably more muted, with hints of teal and the nice dark spots. This yarn reminds me so much of a warted frog, odd, but I love it! And so much easier to work with than looking at that awful grass green.

So easy in fact, that I've already worked on a couple hats:

Topographie: I love the way this is coming along, there is just enough of the dark streaks to really make those purl stitches pop.

And this gorgeous lacy slouch. I whipped this one out in a couple knits of easy knitting. It went so fast, the lace pattern was very easy to remember, and it has just the right amount of slouch to it. My cousin saw a picture I posted of it on Twitter and immediately requested one. I am going to happily oblige, using the second skein of that froggy green yarn. The kettle dyed yarns look great with this pattern, giving it a little more depth than a single-colored yarn.

I love the effect I got from dying these yarns so much, I might just buy some more Palette and kettle dye it. There are so many colors to choose from, you can't beat the price, and I've successfully used Palette for hats and socks. The only thing you have to look out for is that fact that it does felt, found that out the hard way after Curt accidentally put a pair of socks through the dryer - they still fit, they are just a totally different fabric.

Also on the knitting front:

I can't seem to finish this pair of socks. I've been working on them for awhile now, and I think I officially have second sock syndrome. I'm not worried though, these will be perfect for fall so I have plenty of time to finish. I love the first one, just need to get back into the sock knitting grove.

I've also been slowly but surely spinning. This is dyed alpaca from my MIL's stash. She has a ton of alpaca fiber just sitting in her basement, so I took a bunch and have been making my way through it. This roving was dyed blue with shades of gray and yellow. I don't really like the colors, but I think it will make a pretty shawl or something nice like that. I'm also considering leaving it single ply and see how I like knitting with that.

I've been bored out of my mind without Curt around. I seem to reach a breaking point when I can't stand being alone any longer. I hit that point tonight. Luckily I have work where I can go communicate with actual people (the dog doesn't talk back unless he wants something) but it's not the same as having someone at home to just hang out with. He'll be back Saturday, and I can't wait!

Back to my Topographie hat, I can't wait to see this finished.... happy knitting!