Kool-aid fun :)

I needed to have a little fun this week and I had this yarn in my stash that was calling me. It was creamy white alpaca lace weight and I have been dream about dyeing it with kool-aid since I got it at Christmas time.

Yesterday I tested out some Kool-aid colours, to see which combo would give me the best raspberry red.

I used different combinations of strawberry, grape and cherry.


(the darker one in the top right had all colours plus extra grape)

Combining all three in a 1:1:1 ratio gave me a very rich colour, so that's what I went with.


I then bought four packets of each flavour, and started out with a dye bath of half of them. But first I soaked the alpaca overnight in water with a little bit of dishsoap. I was told this would help the dye penetrate.



I then put it in the microwave and heated it in two minute intervals. I then let the bowl sit on the counter until the water went clear.



I ended up adding more dye, twice, as the dye bath exhausted, because the yarn wasn't quite as dark as I wanted. Eventually I got a colour that was pretty close to what I wanted. It's slightly orangey, but the colour is very rich and it has lovely tonal qualities that change in different light. All in all, I'm happy with the result! :)

Now the question is, what should I make with it? Maybe Cascata or Abrazo? Or the larger version of Pine and Ivy? What do you think?

Alpacas!

Hubby and I went to an alpaca show this weekend, in Brandon MB. It's not very far but it was a fun trip.



Of course there was spinning in the car:


And then there were some very cute (and incredibly soft) alpacas from across the prairies!



I wanted to take several of them home with me.

(I think these ones liked me too! :)

Easter spinning

I got some lovely hand dyed Blue Faced Leicester roving from Unwind Yarn and Gems. I think it's the perfect colour for Easter and totally makes me think of spring :)



Happy Easter everyone!