On the advice of Justin, I tried dyeing the handspun from my girlfriend's mom - well, one skein, if I botched it horribly I didn't want to ruin all of it. There was no botching, it turned out beautifully. But don't ask me, ask the yarn:
First I soaked the yarn for an hour with a little bit of dish soap, panicking every time I touched it that I was felting it.
Then I prepared the solution - evil scientist laugh is still coming along. Two old glass jars, three packages of Kool-aid each (grape and lemon-lime), and a splash of vinegar to help the dye set. Then I divided them half and half and put them both in the microwave.
To try and dye the middle section, I pulled it back and forth between the two jar every cycle. Microwave for two minutes, let it rest for three or four minutes, shift the yarn (using tongs, geez this was hot!)
When the water was almost clear (you can see the purple jar got blueish), I dropped the yarn in the basket of the salad spinner and rinsed it out. I thought it would be running like crazy, but the water ran clear from the first drop. I took it for a spin to get the last bit of water out and hung it to dry in the basement. I would have put it out on the back deck to get some sun, if it hadn't been pouring rain all day.
It dried overnight, and smells so strongly of Kool-aid. Not really like any specific flavour of Kool-aid, but just that general juicey smell that reminds me of summer camp. Remember the giant jugs of unidentified drink that never had quite enough flavouring or sugar in it to be identified? Yeah, that stuff.
So (drumroll please) the final result is gorgeous and funky and I love it. I just hope that the spinner loves it too, and doesn't think I'm adulterating her baby!
I am so happy with the result, definitely trying it again on the second skein. See if I can find some different colours of Kool-aid - it's so hard to find just the regular old packets of it any more! My choices were grape, lemon-lime, and cherry.
I think I've discovered a new yarn market niche - scratch'n'sniff.
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