Fibre Foolery: How to Brighten a Snowy Day

Saturday, nature dumped a ton of snow on Central Alberta. The preceding days of rain made the roads treacherous and local radio advised us all to stay at home. I shovelled a good 20 cm that day and still didn't clear the entire driveway. I left the back half for Darren who had made the mistake of saying he needed the exercise.

Snow shovelling, while hard work and time-consuming, still leaves a lot of time left over in the day for other activities.

200g of Wendy "Bond Street". 53% wool, 30% acrylic, 17% nylon

I inherited these four skeins (among many others) from my Oma's stash when she passed away several years ago. I am not a huge fan of pastel bouclé yarns, but this is pretty soft and i figured i could probably find something to do with it. Back then, dyeing wasn't even on my radar. Things have changed...

3 each Grape and ~~Watermelon~~ derp, Strawberry plus a dose of blue food colouring

Here it is, right after adding the yarn. The smooth skein on top is some silk i spun up last year in class.

and here it is after 45 minutes of simmering

The silk came out significantly darker

I was unhappy with the results on my tiny skein of silk. The blotchiness wasn't dispersed nicely, so i over-dyed that with one package of Grape.

What a gorgeous plum!

The finished Bond Street is also light in some spots and dark in others, but i like the effect on the larger skeins. There's a light halo left over from the pastel blue and i like that effect, too.

a close up of the blue halo

The silk turned out beautifully! So rich and so dark!

Look at that sheen!

About half the skein came out barber poled like this. i have no idea why, but i like it.

But that's not all!! Oh no. The Bond Street / silk project took only one pot. I still had a crockpot, some more Knit Picks Stroll top, and more Kool-Aid to play with.

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I decided to try the layered sprinkle technique again, this time with three colours instead of two. I doubled the top, putting the two ends together and, starting with those ends, coiled the doubled fibre by thirds into the crock.

Knit Picks Stroll is a blend of superwash wool and nylon.

The first third (the ends) sprinkled with Ice Blue Lemonade followed by warm water.

The second third coiled on top of the blue and sprinkled with Lemon Lime.

The remaining third (the folded middle) sprinkled with Peach Mango

I cooked the whole shebang for 45 minutes and then let it cool completely before rinsing and washing. I was really smart this time and used my salad spinner to spin out any excess water before hanging to dry. Did that with the Bond Street project, too. Far less hassle than stepping on towels and less chance of fibre sticking to the towels.