Last Saturday was this month's Fiber Arts meeting, and the topic covered was injection dyeing.
Click the photo above to read more.
We used Kool-Aid to do our dyeing, since it is less toxic and generally less nasty than many other sorts of dyes. Unfamiliar with Kool-Aid dyeing? Check out this article on knitty.com, or do a Google search for it-- you should find plenty of info!
Unsweeted drink mix + water + vinegar
I tried out both pre-soaked and dry wool. As one might expect, the colors blend into each other a great deal more with wet wool versus dry.
Pre-soaked wool. Yum, right?
Pre-soaked wool on the left, dry on the right
The flecks of colors remained in place relatively well in my dry wool, so I tried spinning it up to see how it would look as a yarn. The colors remained somewhat distinct in the finished yarn, similar to if I'd spun from a blended batt.
Final verdict? Injection dyeing with roving is probably a bit too unpredictable for a craft control freak such as myself. Plus, it is not too hard to felt the roving with overworking while applying the dye.
Injection dyeing with *yarn,* on the other hand, holds some promise... particularly in situations where very small flecks of color or very tightly controlled repeats are desired (see: sock yarn).
