Keeping my hands busy

I do really good on my "diet" all week, and then Sunday comes and something happens to me.  I don't know if it's because everyone is home or what.  Maybe it's because I'm spending too much time doing nothing.  

Hayden, my grandson spent the night last night.  We had a really good time, he is obsessed with Minecraft and watching the videos.  We created a new world and built houses, it's a blast watching him be creative.  His dad picked him up this morning around 11am and that's when the restlessness hit me and I caught myself several times opening the refrigerator door, then closing it.  I did really good this week, lost 2 lbs and I don't want to sabatoge myself.  

I decided I needed to keep my hands busy.  The solution, wind and dye some yarn.  Man, winding yarn on a kniddy knoddy is a freakin workout.  My shoulders and biceps are burning like crazy.  I wound 4 - 50 gr skeins of sock yarn.  

Here is a pic of the 1st 2 skeins 

 I think they will make lovely socks.  I've got the other 2 skeins in the crock pot now.  I should have taken pictures of the process, but instead, I'll just explain what I do.

First, get an old crockpot, one that you won't be using to cook food with.  You'll need colors, I use Jaquard Acid Dyes, but you can use food coloring, easter egg coloring, even Kool-Aid.  

 Add about 2-3 qts of hot water to the crock pot, because it takes a long time for the "slow-cooker" to heat the water, you'll need to add some white vinegar to set the colors.  Usually, I like to start out with twisted hanks. This time I did it a little differently.  I left the hanks, loose and then folded them in half.  Tied a cotton string to divide them into 3 seperate dying spaces.

I added about 25 ml of yellow dye to the water and submerged the 1st section of yarn, it's okay if it absorbs up into the middle section.  Once the yellow was pretty much exhasted (yellow takes a long time to absorb), I added 35 ml of turquoise dye to the water and sumberged the 1st and middle sections.  This made the first section turn to a bright kelly green and the middle section stayed turquoise.  Once the turquoise was exhausted.  I added 40 ml of scarlett red and 20 ml of blue to the crock pot.  I put the green and turquoise in a gallon zip-loc baggie and sumberged only the 3rd section. I left the other 2 hanging out of the crockpot.  You need to watch this so that the baggie doesn't melt. But you don't want a big color stain on your counter top either.  (NOTE:  I usually do this outside on the porch, but when I started this project it was raining.)

Once the red/blue color has absorbed.  Squeeze the excess water out of the skeins and rinse with cool water until water runs clear.  Most of the time, there is no excess dye to wash out.  At this point most people say you need to steam the yarn to set the dye.  I don't think you need to do this.  I've never ever had a problem with my colors fading or washing out when I wash my socks or finished garment.

Now just hang them outside to dry, or hang them in the shower.  They will drip, but it's clear water coming off.  Here's a pic of one of the skeins open to see all the colors.

I've got to go check on the other 2 skeins in the crockpot.  I'll post pictures so you can see how it turned out.  I used my normal method of starting out with twisted skeins,  I used scarlett and golden ochre.  Pulled it out and retwisted the hank so more of the white showed and added 50 ml of teal.

Here's the last 2 50 gr hanks.

I love the way the colors bleed together and make something beautiful.  This reminds me of a turquoise ring my mom used to wear when I was a kid.

The best part of the day, was staying busy and not eating out of boredom!  Great day so far.  I think I'll give my arms and shoulders a break and hank up 2 more skeins tomorrow.

Have a great day, and I hope you give yarn dying a go, it's alot of fun!