Everyone needs a hat.

I treated myself to some awesome art yarn - without any idea of what to turn it into. Being art yarn, it has varying thickness and add ons (green beads and silver snakes). It was beautiful and only took a few months before it called to be made into something special.

Now, I rarely wear a hat. In fact I don't have a head for hats - so I decided to make a hat from the art yarn as it would get worn occasionally and look super special when I did. So here it is, the pattern is a News Girl Cap by Vicki Finster, and the yarn was Weird&Twisted's Whispers in the Dark.

Sheep on the ceiling (origins)

I promised a  couple of posts ago I'd explain where the name of my dyeing and zazzle business comes from - Sheep on the ceiling.

It was when I was younger and running my parents gift shop in Conwy (North Wales). They had daft fleece covered plastic sheep for sale and tiny pencil topper packs of plastic figures which kids loved to buy. For a laugh we stuck some to the ceiling in the shop. Over the spring we phoned up the local radio for a song request and they asked us what was special about our gift shop - answer 'We're the only shop with sheep on the ceiling!' That got us a laugh and a full mention  along with a request from the radio guy for people to go check it out and let him know what was found, rather than just a customary mention. Next thing that happened, we had people coming in and asking if we were the shop with sheep on the ceiling and if it was OK to take photos. Hell yeah. Sales of sheep went up as well. We popped a sign in the window as we headed for the summer as people were coming in more frequently and for a while we were famous in a pre-internet way as word of mouth spread about the shop with sheep on the ceiling and people made it a part of there visit to Conwy.

Now of course there are photo's out there but as someone busy putting sheep on the ceiling rather than being a visitor I don't think I ever took any myself. Maybe someone out there will have photos in their collection from the 1990's of the shop with sheep on the ceiling in Conwy. If so, I'd love a copy. I'd also love to get a set of sheep and one of the fleece covered ones again - my last one was lost due to moth munching after many years of travel from flat to flat just over a year ago.

Dye experiment 1 (Kool aid (don't drink it, dye it).

Ok as a Brit, I have never had the experience of drinking kool aid, and I have never wanted too. The label does have the awkward link to the Jonestown/Jim Jones thing which we have heard of this side of the pond, and is rarely/never seen in shops so we sort of associate it with chemical death drink. However, I learned it was a perfect way to dye yarn - especially wool. So today I will be playing with Kool aid - just not drinking it. :)

Add in the way every time I mention dyeing around my partner he now says ''Nooooo, I love you' in a joking yet touching way the whole Kool aid experiment seems the logical first step.

Welcome to my dye kit,

(brought with my wee sister-in-laws (slaw) Christmas monies) from Rosiesmoments on Etsy.

First thing first was researching the types of colours I would get with my mixes. I ended up asking on Ravelry for the green apple as that is a new flavour.  Otherwise, the main colours can be found on this awesome resource if you are interested in food colouring dyeing.

So now I know what sorts of things are possible. My notepad for this states :

Black cherry (BC) - deeper blood red
Cherry (C) - deep red
Orange (O) - vibrant tangerine
Grape (G) - dark purple (as close to black as kool aid gets)
Lemonade (L) - light yellow
Green Apple (GA) - vibrant green

So what do I do with over 400 meters of wool. I start a plan of action.

1. Re-skein it to get 6 smaller skeins of solid colour and 1 of mixed colour.
2. Dye the wool.
3. Celebrate.

Of course it's never that easy.
Lesson 1 : NEVER re-skein without making a ball as the intermediate step! It creates a 400 meter knot for you to patiently recover which in turn looses an entire day of crafting. :( 

Lesson 2: Not all mini-skeins are equal. I managed to get nice equally long skeins for the 6 solids, then did another one of the same length. I started thinking I'd maybe attempt a pair of socks with the yarn after so the mixed section would be awesome for the toes and heel. So lets make a second mixed section.  Oh and what happens if I Braid a set of the skeins and then spot dye using small amounts of the dry powder.

So I now have 7 skeins each of 50 yards of wool (six for solid shades and 1 for a rainbow gradient), and a spare of 90 yards which I will braid for the spotty part. I'm still thinking of socks, but maybe it will be spotty toes and heels with a gradient for the cuff. Lets finish the dyeing first.

Dyeing with Kool aid :

1: Wash yarn with small amount of wool safe soap and leave to soak in clean water while you prep everything else. Q? Do I plait the braid 1st? A. Yes, to prevent yarn felting.

2: Mix up solutions for the solid/gradients reserving some powder for the braid or powder braid first.

3. Put wet and plaited braid flat in shallow microwaveable dish with enough water to just cover. Scatter the dry powder over the yarn. Then cover with clingfilm and nuke for 2 minutes, check/stand and repeat until all dye taken up by yarn. If you don't want to nuke you can steam. I chose to nuke mine as I wanted to try that method.

4. Paint a small amount of the solutions onto rainbow gradient skein and wrap in cling film.  Nuke/steam in dish with water as you did for the spotty braid.

4. Add remaining solutions 1 colour to each of three jars for slowcooker add skeins and use enough water to cover skeins. Add hot water around the jars and cook in slow cooker until water is clear/colourless. Repeat with remaining colours.

Hang wool to dry and CELEBRATE.  Take lots of Photo's. Oh and one day knit it into something cool.