My own creations

A few weeks back I decided to try my hand at dying my own sock yarn. Here are the results:

The first thing I did was to soak the skeins in water/vinegar solution for about 4hrs. Then I got out all of the supplies that I had been collecting for such an occasion and began mixing up dyes. The first set of dyes I use were RIT. I mixed the dry dye into a jar of water/vinegar solution ( I did not use any type of measurement, just "a little here-a little there) then I put the solution into a squit bottle. I started out with the skein on the right. I first used a yellow, then red, then black. As you can see the yellow disappeared!! I think I squirted too much dye and too close together. I then wrapped it up in clear plastic wrap and stuck it in the microwave for a minute or two. I think it could have use one more ZAP but I was anxious to see results. Not bad but also not exactly what I was looking for. So, on to the second skein. The one on the left I used Wilson Cake dyes. Mixed it with the same water/vinegar solution and applied it the same way. The cakes dyes are more like a jelly and even though I thought they were mixed well, The colors came out spotty and multi-colored. For instance, the blue came out purple and blue, the green were a few different shades of green and what was supposed to be "burgandy' came out pink. Again, not bad, but not what I was looking for. By the way, the black and yellow on the left skein are the RIT dyes and I also nuked this skein a few times. I then rinsed in luke warm water and left them to dry. I like the way they look in the skeins!!!! So much so that I don't want to wind them into balls or knit them up into socks!!!