Changing Strategy

So the Tour de Fleece has ended. My original goal was to spin enough for a sweater from 'A Fine Fleece' called Gaelic Mist. I didn't come close to this. I didn't have enough roving. On the 'Tour de Fleece' blog, the organizer posted about changing strategies mid ride (or spin as the case may be). Well, I'm changing strategies at the end. I'm going to make 'Leisl' - a gorgeous sweater by Ysolda Teague. She offers many different options for this little cardigan. It can be knit cap sleeves, 3/4 sleeves or full length. It can also be a shrug or longer cardi. So my problem is solved. Since I have about 900 yards it would seem I am good. Now I just have to change the colour. I want green! Green Kool Aid is hard to come by here in Goose Bay for some strange reason. I've been adding to my green kool aid stash bit by bit. Whenever someone goes out of town, I ask them to pick me up some green Kool Aid. I hope I like this colour. This would be alot of yarn to waste.

I Love Kool Aid!!

It has remarkable powers, I swear. It actually kinda scares me, and I don't think I'll be drinking anymore of this stuff. But boy, can it ever dye well. I made 'le slouch' (free pattern from Knit and Tonic blog) for Amy. She wanted purple, and I'm determined to knit from my stash. So, I wanted to try overdying after my prior sucess with dyeing a neutral yarn. I was thinking about overdying the yarn, but was anxious to cast on and didn't really want to wait for the yarn to dry.

Here it is on me...pre dying.



Here it is in the dye bath. Note, I only used 2 packets of Kool Aid wildberry tea. I nuked it in the microwave in about 3 cups of water at 5 minute intervals. I think it took about 5 different intervals (or 25 minutes) for the dye to take.




And here it is on Amy. It looks a little splotchy in places. I think its because I didn't leave it soaking long enough. When I dyed the yarn, I soaked it for 2 hours in water prior to adding it to the kool aid bath. I read somewear that the splotchiness comes for little airbubbles on the fibre that hasn't been soaked out.



Oh, the starting yarn was Bernat Lana, like before.

I think I may have a New Hobby!

So I've read about Kool Aid dyeing. I've seen so many beautiful results. I've even bought the little packets of Kool Aid with the intention of giving it a try. Well, today was that day. And Oh. My. God. It was so easy, so fun and the results were amazing. I am going to cast on right away - for what? I'm not sure, I just know that I have to knit with this, like now. This started out as a Bernat 100% wool in a light beige colourway. I have some light brown and some light blue Bernat in my stash that I'm going to overdye too.

I used the method from Stitch and Bitch, except I just put the yarn into four separate measuring cups and nuked away until the water was clear (or milky white in the case of the blue, for some weird reason)