I've Been Led Astray

It all started with this book that I ordered from Amazon last week. It arrived in an unprecedented two days.



I have lots of Knit Picks bare merino lying around and I really needed to do something to occupy my mind. The skeins are not as long as the instructions called for so first I had to ball them up.



Then they had to be re skeined to the right length. Use acrylic yarn to make lots of figure eight ties along the way so it doesn't tangle.




I soaked the yarn for an hour in vinegar and water for an hour and mixed the dye. If you are using acid dye be sure to wear a dust mask.



Even though it looks like the same color it's actually two shades of blue and I've alternated the pots. I left the yarn in the pots about an hour and then transferred them to a plastic covered surface where with a sponge brush I added some black on the spots left bare. No picture of that since I really couldn't do it myself and I was alone.




I gently wrapped in plastic wrap and nuked it 3 minutes on high, 3 minute rest for a total of 9 minutes with the 3 minute rest in between.


I let the whole mess sit for about three hours to cool off on it's own and then gently rinsed it in the washing machine until there was no more color in the water. I did NOT spin it, I simply used the machine because it was larger than a sink.



Hung the whole mess up to dry.



The finished product.



Now I have 200 grams of pretty blue variegated yarn, about 480 yards. Now I just have to find a project for it.