Dyeing for Chapter Three

I've written the first 1500 words of chapter three today. It was a bit of a slog as I'm still not quite sure how chapter three is going to turn out - I'm pretty much just writing until I get to 5000 words and then hoping there's a coherent point.

To make the process move along a bit faster, I decided to make myself a new carrot, since I love my chapter two yarn so much. I split my remaining top into half, and decided to dye the first half once I'd finished writing for the day.

I did think, when I started the process at 9:30pm that maybe I should wait for another day, but I am nothing if not impulsive.

I decided to try Roarin' Raspberry Cranberry, since this has a gorgeous deep claret coloured packet. Unfortuantely, the colour of the actual Kool Aid is more like that of the Tropical Punch, so a strong reddy-orange. I couldn't decide which colour to put with it, since I only had an orange, a pink, a green, two other reds, and a dubious sounding colour-change one. I plumped for the Changin' Cherry: 'watch the green drink mix turn into a blue drink!' (apparently it tastes like 'red cherry' but a) I wouldn't know and b) I doubt it).



I think this camera just hates photographing pinky/orangy/reddy colours, since the RRC is all washed out, while the blue CC is pretty accurate. I tried to get a really strong claret colour (which, really, wasn't going to happen with orangy-red dye, no matter what colour the sachet) which is why it looks like I used less RRC than CC. I think the main reason why I'm not getting strong colours is because I'm not using enough dye. Everything I've read says use one sachet per ounce, and I had 2 ounches of fibre... Hang on . OK, apparently I had 3.5 ounches of fibre (=100g) which might explain it. I'm such a moron and really should've left this until another day!

This dyeing process was actually a little different to the previous one, despite the fact that I did the same steps. For example, this one didn't make exploding noises in the microwave (I was considering putting it in the proper oven since I had it on to make bread, but I realised I'd already wrapped the dyed top in non-ovenable microwave clingfilm). It also made heaps of mess - although the dyed had exhausted by the time the water decided to overflow everywhere so nothing is stained, I didn't have this problem last time.

And the final problem... well, that is my fault. When I came to rinse it I didn't pay attention when adding the detergent (I add a little bit to dyed stuff to make sure any extra dye washes out then), and instead of a 'teeny dash' I ended up with a strong glug. I have now rinsed the top about 3 times and it is still full of detergent :( At the moment I've put it out to cool down so I can continue rinsing in cooler water later. I really need to get the detergent out - I have a feeling that leaving it in for a couple of weeks will affect the colours. Sadly, the more I rinse the top, the more likely it is to felt on me.

Obviously, I just need to get chapter three finished ASAP so that I can spin it up and wash it again as yarn... but since that probably isn't going to happen I'll have a couple more goes at rinsing and cross my fingers.

Other news. New knitty. I don't know why I didn't get the email saying that it was up; I only noticed a few days ago. Sadly I love most of the patterns, especially Intolerable Cruelty (especially Intolerable Cruelty), Tamarah and I like the idea of Sugar on Snow.

Finally, I owe at least three people who read this blog an email. I'm very sorry, and I will get my arse into gear over the next few days. I have this weird compulsion that I never 'have time' to write emails because they take 'so long' and while it's OK to mess about felting dyeing top, I really 'don't have time' to write an email, because I want to dedicate time to it and there's 'no time'. I will try and spending tomorrow's messing around time on emailing :)