A Tale of Woe

Remember the start of my red cabbage dyeing session last week? Well, it all started promisingly. The wool got a nice pink from the cabbage, but I was after green so I did the soda crystals afterdip thing - wool to be simmered gently in a soda crystal solution for 5 minutes. This is the yarn going in and as you can see the change from pink to green is instant!

A beautiful green, but I know colour doesn't always stay that strong and sometimes a lot of the colour comes out the moment the wool comes out of the solution. Nevertheless, looking promising. But then... [dramatic pause]


I got distracted by the kids (rule no 2 - no point doing dyeing when the kids are in the house) and forgot about it so rather than a gentle-simmer-for-5-minutes it got a boil-furiously-for-10-minutes and there's the end result. Sludge. I don't know if I'd have got a greenish shade if I'd paid attention (though I did get a soft green last time) but I'm so annoyed with myself for not paying attention at the important point! *sigh*

So there it is dry - my stupidest mistake. There are hints of both pink and green in it when held up to the light, but there's no getting over it, it's beige.

I shall try again. And again, and again, and again....

But now I must find my daughter's swimming stuff, something for the Boy to read while Miss M's in her swimming lesson, and my knitting, and head out into the wind and rain to get the kids from school. It'll be invogorating, oh yes!