the yarn is malabrigo worsted (100% merino) and pretty much the softest thing i've ever felt. i used wilton icing dye in royal blue, sky blue, and a little bit of violet thrown in for good measure. i dyed it to make a scarf for one of my coworkers for christmas. she picked out the colors.
soaking the yarn in a vinegar/water mix before dyeing to prepare it. xavier the bonsai tree is watching over it.
i set up the dye station in my bathroom. i put down some plastic wrap on the floor of my bathtub and lay the hank of yarn out, spreading out the yarn so it was all pretty much laying flat and exposed. i put each color of dye and a bit of water into a seperate squeeze bottle and shook it all up to mix it, then pretty much just squirted it all over the yarn, trying not to mix the colors too much.
i let the yarn sit in the dye for a few minutes, then blotted out the excess dye, wrapped it up all snake-like in the plastic wrap, then nuked it in my microwave at two minute intervals. it was steaming hot by the time it was done! xavier the bonsai is tired of yarn dyeing, by this time it is dark out and i've been at it for a few hours.
rinsing out the yarn in my shower.
it took a while for the water to run completely clear but when it was finished and dry and done up it looked like this:
i haven't actually gotten around to knitting a swatch of it yet but i would imagine it to look kind of like a monet painting. that was sort of the idea i was going for.
and, because no project is fun without a disaster pic, here's one of my hands after i finished all the dyework:
don't even ask how i managed that shot.
