Dyeing Yarn

I have been dyeing some yarn again, with my beloved Kool-aid. It's just so fun and easy and the colors you can get when mixing are just incredible. Of course, it's pretty expensive here in Finland, as only a few stores carry it. When I finally get to the States on holiday, I wonder what my luggage will be full of when I come back...

Here is Hyacinth Blooms, dyed with Mixed Berry and Grape Kool-aid, mixed in different ways:

Then we have Watermelon sans the seeds, dyed with Watermelon (2 packets) , Cherry Limeade (2) and Black Cherry (1) Kool-aids:

In this one the yarn was originally light green. I wanted to do something with it but wasn't quite sure what. I went into the wrong direction first and was actually pretty sad and thought I might have ruined it forever. But finally with the correct ratio of Mixed Berry and Lemon-Lime I was happy with the result. There are still some purple undertones showing from my "failure" but I think they will blend nicely when knit up.

Seaweed:

Then we have two dyes I couldn't have done without Ghoul aid, the Halloween flavor of Kool-aid which seems to be somewhat difficult to find for even those living in the States sometimes. The first one is  dyed with two packets Orange Kool-aid, ½ packet Peach Mango and ½ Ghoul aid. Ghoul aid is pretty much gray and when you put in the water, you see all different color spots before it fully dissolves. It makes other colors less bright (as Kool-aid is pretty candy-colored) and gives them a kind of deepness that you might not otherwise get.

Saffron:

Okay, this one is my real love. I first dyed it with turmeric (months ago) but was a little unhappy with it. I don't know, yellow just isn't my thing. So it was previously like this:

But I overdyed it with two packets Lemon-Lime, ½ packet orange and 3/4 packets Kool-aid to this beautiful color I call Undergrowth:

Now that is some yarn right there!

Alexandrite Tank

We have been suffering from terribly cold and rainy weather here in Finland! Nevertheless, I just finished a lovely summer top in hopes of things brightening up. It's the Alexandrite Tank from Knitcene Spring 2014 and I knit it with the lovely Sundara Yarn Fingering Silky Merino as mentioned in the previous post. I only needed a few meters of the second skein so I have plenty left to knit other wonderful things with!

Now if it only would get warmer so I could actually wear it! I needed a woolly cardi to wrap myself in after the photo session.

Yesterday I started a shawl adventure, that is, Follow Your Arrow by Ysolda Teague. The pattern is split into five clues (it was originally a mystery KAL) and each clue has two options. With these choices you can actually knit 32 different shawls - with just one pattern! Ravelry already has 3 478 projects made from this pattern and I spent at least an hour yesterday going over them and trying to decide which "path" my shawl would take. Below is partial clue 1A. Fun, fun, fun!

'Tis the Season

I made Christmas cards! Yeah I know, Christmas is about as far away as it ever gets but I can make what I want when I want, right? I got the patterns from CrossStitcher Magazine December 2013. They are just so cute! And the bells and satin bows really give them that special touch :)

I've also knit a pair of socks, Lissajous by Cookie A.

Now I'm finally knitting Alexandrite tank, something I have been eyeing since January from Knitscene Spring 2014. I'm knitting it with a beautiful merino silk blend Sundara yarns fingering silky merino which is heaven to work with and such a luxury yarn I would never buy it for the regular price. However, someone advertised on Ravelry to be stashing down and held a beautiful yarn market at her house yesterday. I made some real finds! Here's the yarn and my swatch:

It's going to be gorgeous!