Last year at Craft Camp i acquired some 'Alafoss Lopi' wool which i think had been given by Leslie to Suzie to bring along to offer as de-stash.
I'm guessing the reason for destashing may have been the colour, salmon pink. Certainly not my favourite so i decided to dye it. A phone call to Suzie taught me all i needed to know about dyeing with food colours and a microwave.
The yarn was wound into very long skeins using two kitchen chairs. I was concerned about pooling and Suzie explained the longer the skein the less likely it would happen, hopefully it works out that way. The yarn was soaked in vinegar (the house now stinks!) laid out on some plastic bags and the colour squeezed and pressed into it. Due to the pinkness of the yarn reds, purples, darker pinks, grey or black were my options. I popped into Cake Deco on my lunch break last week and picked up a large bottle of 'Americolor soft gel paste' in the colour 'Royal Purple' for $10, a 45oz bottle coloured 400g of yarn.
It was pretty dark when i first put it on and i thought it might end up a grey/purple but once i cooked it in the microwave (for 5 minutes, cool then 5 minutes more) it turned a bright vivid purple with some speckles of blue, red and pink.
I then rinsed it in tepid water and it's now drying on the clothes horse.
I plan to knit this pattern with it for Esme once i've finished Mia's Tiny Tealeaves, only a sleeve and the button bands to go. Also need to pick up a 6.5mm 80cm circular needle and find a yarn similar to Cash Iroha (hopefully in my stash) for the crochet edges.
