A Sort Of Bad Dye Job

Pull up a stool and sit a spell. I'm here to tell you a story of a scarf. Many years ago, I put Ene's Scarf on my mental to do list. That's what we did back then, make mental notes, because we didn't have these electronic knitting tools like Ravelwhosit or iThingies.

I knew that I couldn't just use any yarn for this project. It had to be Blackberry Ridge Silk Blend Laceweight, as was called for. Being frugal, I trolled the online auction sites looking for the yarn in the amount I needed, the color did not matter. Days became weeks, and weeks suddenly grew into years, but my dogged perseverance paid off. Finally, I obtained the coveted fiber in the needed amount in natural!

Jubilant, I cast on at last.

I knit and knit and knit, loving the pattern and the yarn the whole time.

 

 

Until, one day, I had to start with a second ball of yarn. After several rows, I noticed something...the color of the new ball of yarn had a slight grey tinge to it. I decided that is was just probably a little of the oil from the spinning machine left on the yarn after processing. I convinced myself that a proper wash after completion would sort that right out.

See the difference in color as it floats in the bath? One bath didn't wash the"oil" out of the yarn. In fact, after three trips in the bath, I was deflated by my slow witted realization that it was simply a different color. The only way to move on would be to dye the thing.

This being my first attempt at dying, I only had a vague idea how to do it.

I knew I needed dye, I only happened to have red and green. I also knew I needed vinegar, a pot, and water. So I soaked the scarf first, got some vinegar water simmering in the stove, added, dye, added the scarf, and let it continue simmering until the water was clear. Then I rinsed it a couple of times, and, well, it didn't turn out too bad. I think this could be the beginning of another hobby.