Tuesday 6 May 2008

Suicide Saxifrage...

... or to put it another way - dyed by my own hand!

Yes, finally, after a couple of years of intending to, I've got round to having a go at dyeing some sock yarn. I bought some undyed Trekking yarn from Get Knitted and spend much time surfing the web looking for protocols to suit.

I decided to go with the food colour paste / vinegar / microwave system as I didn't need anything that would be kept for dyeing only as all reagents were food-grade and the microwave just made things faster.

This was the colour combination I was aiming for: Saxifrage 'pixie'. A grass-green and rose-pink combo.


The method I used was compiled from many different sources so I can't really link it, but if anyone is interested in the details, leave a comment and I'll write up a proper tutorial.

Here are the essentials - plastic bin bag, yarn, nitrile gloves, colour paste, vinegar and cups to mix in.


The dyeing process:


Adding the second colour:


Yarn wrapped and into the microwave:


Rinsing and drying:



The finished product first time round came out more orange than pink so I waited until the yarn was dry and started again, overdyeing the orange. I still didn't get pink, but it's slightly less Irish flag-like now!


Possibly more geranium than saxifrage though...

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