Crafty Day

[aelfie.livejournal.com]

A couple off weeks ago I found a sweatshirt grey, 100% cotton sweater in the clearance rack at Target for $6.00



I liked the shape, I liked the fit, I loved the price. Hated the color. I almost didn't buy it...but then I remembered that I had a dye pot and dyes and I know how to use them! I thought about it for awhile and decided on a teal blue. Something bright and dark enough to dye over the light grey. I ordered the dyes and waited. They came in last week and this afternoon while my youngest was napping I decided to dye! I mixed it all up and my sweater came out this color.



Not quite what I was looking for...but not bad! I like it! (Its a pretty light blue with green undertones)

But the dye in the pot was not exhausted. So I pulled out some worsted weight, superwash yarn blanks and tossed them in. I didn't want it as dark as the sweater came out of the pot (when it originally came out of the pot it was a very nice deep, intense teal...rinsing removed a LOT of color) so I tossed in a couple of teaspoons of baking soda to take some of the acid out of the dye bath.

And got this.



A really pretty emerald green.

And I was confused...what did I do wrong? It shouldn't of come out like that. But, I just realized that the dye I used is just for protein fibers! Which is why the cotton didn't hold it and why the wool hung onto it. Oh well! Live and learn...I'm still happy with what I got. Better luck next time.