New Colors and a new way of dyeing. . .

My hands are green. Emerald acid dye is very saturated. I don't wear gloves when I dye and today I did a lot of squeezing out the dye before dipping into another color, therefore green hands. But I got 6 hanks done today. I have to work tomorrow and I don't like dyeing when the house is full. Too many kids running around.

So I did a new thing today. I was asked if I was going to do just multi colors or will I do solid colors. I don't want to do solids. I like the multis. Well, after thinking about it, I decided to meet in the middle. I will do semi solids. Not just a color that doesn't quite penetrate all the yarn, I am actually using 5-6 colors to get the solid. I'm not going to share this method just yet. It's difficult and takes many steps but the end result is kinda freakin' amazing. I did a pink-ish and a green-ish today. Tomorrow they will be dry and able to be hanked, so I can show the end result. Beautiful.

I also did a couple other multi colors that turned out really quite perfect. I think I'm getting hang of this. :) This one is called Colorado Sunset.

I got an email from another 'indie dyer', that's what we are called, independent dyers, who told me I should consider no longer showing how I dye my yarn on my blog. He said that I was letting the secrets of hand painting yarn out' in the open where any schmuck could copy and paint their own'. He is afraid that if knitters/crocheters could dye their own, then we indie dyers wouldn't be needed anymore. While I am sure there are some knitters who would be happy to only knit what they dye, i'm not sure this is the way every knitting wants to go. It's messy, expensive to get started, and not everyone has an eye for color. Plus there are soo many books out there on how to dye yarn, I don't feel I am giving away any confidential secrets. Anyone can find info on how to dye your own yarn, fabric, batiking etc.

For those in the Mid-Atlantic region, I will be thinking about you and hoping the snow doesn't make life hard for you.

I will hopefully show the yarns dyed today to you all (what 15 people who read this) tomorrow.

Happy Knitting and Crocheting!