Dye project - to match my winter coat

Years ago I bought a pink coat. Since then I have not really had any accessories that matched. Now that I have an urge to dye everything, I thought I could try to make my own colourway to knit into a beanie and mitts.

I know I could easily just knit in a black or neutral colour, but I wanted something bright and cheery.

For this experiment I used my large baking tray and heated the water on the stove top.

I used Skein Yarn, two of her DK natural skeins. The base is really soft and springy.

Colours for this project were pink, russet, orange, purple and gun metal. Using my solution stock and squeeze bottles.

The yarn was pre-soaked in water and then bought up to temperature in vinegary water. The yarn was placed in a semi-circle/horseshoe shape in the pan.

On the edges I layered the pink, russet and orange  - squirting the dye solution directly on to the yarn. The purple and gun metal was squeezed on the middle section. I let it cook a little and then added more colour to the whiter spots and squirting some dye directly into the water rather than on the yarn.



Once I was happy with the colours I covered the tray with foil, kept it on the heat for about 20mins and then left it to steam and cool. Only when the water was completely cool did I drain, the now clear water, and soak in fresh cold water. As the yarn hung to dry, I could already see the effect I was able to get by mixing the pink, orange and russet and then the blending at the edges with the gun metal and purple.

I am really pleased with the results. I had the idea in my head of how I wanted it to turn out and it actually worked! The mixture of orange and pink together created a really great colour, that will go well with the coat and the purple and gun metal break up the pink and helped to mute out the russet.