I dyed yarn!

For literally years, I have wanted to use the expired inks at my workplace to dye fiber. I tried tie dye without knowing what I was doing; as one might expect, that was unsuccessful. The dye all washed out.

This time I finally got it through my head that there are different processes for cotton and wool. Sometimes I am not smart! Thanks to shadowyn, I learned that wool yarn can be dyed using a microwave. Which we have at work.

A couple of weeks ago I found a cone of yarn that appeared to be wool. It was white and cost me only $3.50 because it was a half price day. That plus a $2 bottle of white vinegar and the surplus, expired dyes that have no other use added up to a fun day of successful yarn dying.

I measured off lengths sufficient for making a cute bag pattern that I found on Ravelry. Tanya and I soaked these in 50/50 vinegar and water until our breaks came up. Then we poured over some dyes and put the yarn into second-use ziplock bags. These went into the microwave for a minute a piece. We left them to cool.

I figured that wool would happily take dye, and the method we used is the same as when dying with food color.

Total win!