Dyeing to Show You More

More yarn dyeing happened and there was much rejoicing.  I was so intrigued by the results of the faux-gradient transitioning experiment that I decided to expand and do more SCIENCE!, creating a rainbow using overdyeing techniques with Red Heart Heart & Sole.

Fun SCIENCE! thing that happened: I was so anxious about making sure the yellow adhered to the yarn, I turned it gold... you know, for the Olympics.  Or something.

OPERATION RAINBOW GRADIENT

• four 5g miniskeins (fingering weight, 70% Wool, 30% Nylon); each miniskein is wound into a loose ball and soaked in hot water 20 min before dyeing
• each dye prep is 3 cups dye solution (3 parts water/1 part white vinegar) brought to boiling in a saucepan
• each dyed yarn is simmered until dye bath is exhausted, removed from heat and allowed sit 5 minutes, rinsed in hot water, draped into skein loops without burning hands or tangling (!), and allowed to dry overnight before skeining OR rewinding loosely in the opposite direction for overdyeing

step 1: yellow (2 plain): 2g lemonade Kool-Aid + an eensy pinch of orange + 1 bag of peach-flavored black tea steeped for 10 min; simmered for 30 minutes (gold!)
step 2: orange (1 plain, 1 half yellow): 1.5g orange Kool-Aid; simmered for 14 minutes (results are patchy... maybe do it for longer next time)
step 3: red (1 half orange): 1g tropical punch Kool-Aid + apple cider vinegar substituted in dye solution; simmered for 23 min (dye bath exhausted at 15 minutes, left longer for better adherence)
step 4: green (1 plain, 1 half yellow): rest of lemonade Kool-Aid + .5g ice blue raspberry lemonade + 1 bag of lemon & ginger herbal tea steeped for 6 min (this is obviously less than scientific - I would have used lemon-lime Kool-Aid if it had been stocked in any of the 4 stores I checked); simmered for 25 min (dye bath exhausted at 10 minutes, left longer for better adherence)
step 5: blue (1 half green): 1g ice blue raspberry lemonade Kool-Aid; simmered for 25 min (dye bath exhausted at 17 minutes, left longer for better adherence)

Now I just have to figure out something to knit with it.  Another beer bottle cozy, mayhaps?