Pictures! Knitter's Kove acquisitions:

As promised, here are the pictures of my yarn store purchases:


Kool-Aid dyed

This is the Misti baby alpaca lace weight yarn. It was originally the shade MC-1070 from this color card.

I used the instructions for Kool-Aid dying from this site. I was especially glad to find the color chart, so that I could get an idea of what I wanted to do beforehand.

I used Slammin' Strawberry Kiwi (I would've used Soarin' Strawberry Lemonade if I could've found it). The first time through, I didn't get very much color, and the coverage was awful. There defninitely was not enough liquid. It is amazing how fast this stuff sucks up the dye! The instructions said 45 minutes, but honestly, the water was just milky after only 5 or 10 minutes.

So, I tried again. This time, I used twice as much dye and a LOT more water. The color is better, but the coverage is not. I let it sit for a few minutes before turning it over. I think I really need to be stirring it in the dye bath constantly while it sucks up the dye... it just happens too fast. My tongs kept catching threads, too, which was most frustrating.

Here's a closeup showing how uneven the dye is in places:


Kool-Aid dyed close-up

I think this is going to require a third dunking. I'm just afraid the color is going to end up being way more vibrant than I was hoping for (I wanted a soft, heathery pink). I don't think I would've minded it being a little variegated as far as depth of color, but as you can see, there's big spots that got pretty much no color. Perhaps the fact that the pattern I'm going to be using is pretty lacy will help.

Here's a picture of the finished product:


Juan's shawl

Isn't it gorgeous!?! It's a crochet pattern (I was pleasantly suprised to find it there, since I've heard so many stories about knitting snobbery at yarn stores). I think it will be fun to make, because the yarn is so nice and soft. And, it's thin like crochet thread, so it's like what I'm used to working with.

I also bought some Cascade 220, also with the idea of testing out different Kool-Aid colors and dying techniques.


Cascade 220