G. Knerd

I’ve been spending some more time exploring my newest obsession with yarn dyeing.  And I’ve learned something very, very important – apparently, yarn shares some traits with babies, in that just because two skeins of yarn go through the same exact dye bath at the same time, that doesn’t necessarily make them identical.  Just like twins, which also might not be identical even if they’re gestated at the same time.

Sorry, I’ve had babies on the brain lately.  It’s apparently a consequence of reaching my mid-twenties and finding myself in a stable living situation.  Damn hormones.

Ooh, look, yarn!

For this dyeing session I decided to try doing a purple.  I’ve heard that purples are really hard colors to dye yarn, because the red and the blue get absorbed at different acidities/temperatures, and the color tends to “break” into a not-quite-even red-purple-blue mixture.

Frankly, that sounded perfect to me.  I lean strongly toward the not-quite-solid colors – they don’t have enough variation to hide a pattern, but they have enough variation to look interesting.

I actually decided to emphasize the effect by using not just purple dye, but also red and blue dye separately.  I rarely do things halfway.

What I thought was really fascinating was just how quickly the red was absorbed – it was mere seconds after pouring the dye into the water before the water turned blue and the sections of yarn that had been near red or purple dye turned pink.  It took much longer for the blue to be absorbed.

And when all was said and done, what did I have to show for it?  A couple skeins of a color that the Blanket Thief has dubbed “Pixie Dreams” – given their differences I’m going to say these are lots 1A and 1B.

That picture is pretty true to color, but it’s easier to see the fraternal nature of the skeins if I show you the non-flashed picture:

Which just goes to show you – sometimes it’s all about location, location, location, even within the dye bath.