Meet my chevron scarf. The pattern is from "Last Minute Knitted Gifts" and while I would not normally knit a 77 inch scarf out of sock yarn (!), somehow I felt compelled to rescue a bunch of skeins of Knit Picks Sock Memories sock yarn from the "what was I thinking" section of my stash arrangement.
The colours look nice on their own (they are paper dolls and hawaii), but combined together in the two-row stipes called for in the pattern... I REALLY REALLY HATE THE COLOURS!
I started it late at night by the incandescent bulb of my night stand lamp and it didn't look too too bad in the orangy light...but come morning, ouch! The colour is not my cup of tea at all. It's sooo Fruit Loopy, but not in a good way. I considered frogging the 10 inches I had already done. But then I figured I wouldn't want socks knit out of this stuff either so I kept going. And going. And going. The whole time hating the colour more and more.
Then it hit me: Kool-Aid! I've never tried dying yarn. And I certainly haven't tried overdying a scarf knit from sock yarn before cause let's face it - that just sounds crazy! But I think that's what I'm actually going to do.
I googled overdying and have already decided to go for Kool-Aid or Wilton cake dye since I want to use cooking utensils and will be cooking the scarf indoors where we will all be smelling the dye aromas for a while.
But other than that I've got nothing! Anyone have any tips, resources, and advice to share? I'd especially appreciate colour suggestions ;0)
Please help me save this scarf...
Well, those aren't my colours either, but they're very tropical, very tiki beach hut. You could gift it to someone. You know, Christmas is a comin'.
ReplyDeleteI have not overdyed but I have dyed with koolaid and it's great with the kids. They love it. I think I'd go with a blue.
ReplyDeleteOn the Knitty Forums there are tons of links and tutorials. :)
ReplyDeleteBUT... I think it's cute! Not my colors either, but I could see my daughter LOVING it. Do you know any little girls with a birthday coming up?
Yes, ditto. A little girl would love to receive that scarf!
ReplyDeleteThat is pretty Froot Loopy- kind of cute but it wouldn't work with my wardrobe either. OVerdye it blue, that should work fine...
ReplyDeleteFunny, I adore those colors together! But overdyeing should work just fine!
ReplyDeleteYou might like the colors better in the spring or early summer. I don't like the colors either, but someone will! Save it for a gift. I have wanted to try the pattern, myself. Nice to see it here!
ReplyDeleteInstead of kool-aid, what about dark, strong-brewed tea? That might tone down the colors into a nice sepia range.
ReplyDeleteI'd try the tea first, personally, especially if you prefer more muted tones.
ReplyDelete*sniff* but I like the colors as they are, ha ha!
(Of course, I'm a Hawaiian living in midwest USA, and in the winter I get severely depressed if I'm not flaunting the brightest colors in my closet, ha ha!)
Hi! My reccommendation for dulling the colors up would to just use tea - brew some tea, let it cool, put the scarf in, bring it up to a simmer for a while (half hour or so), then let it cool. It should tone-down the colors a bit. good luck!
ReplyDeleteOh but I LOVE the colours! Maybe you have someone to gift it to that also loves those colors. Makes a nice cool but not cold weather scarf. It could even be a nice "prize" in a contest. Or gifted to charity.
ReplyDeleteI think the colors look nice. Thought it would be interesting to see how they react to dyes. I had about 6 inches of one of these sitting by the computer for months. One day, I finally snapped and ripped it out as I couldn't stand the way it looked. My skeins will now each become their own scarf.
ReplyDeleteWell, I know nothing about such things, but I'm a bit dubious about the tea dying. Maybe make a few swatches and test dye them? (Don't know if you'd get enough range of colors that way, though). Anyway, I'm thinking grape (purple) Kool Aid. My thinking is this: you've got mostly blues and pinks, so I'd think overdying the whole thing purple would give you a purple scarf of varying shades. But keep in mind I've never done this, so I don't really know what I'm talking about.)
ReplyDeleteAnd oddly enough, there are both tea dying and kool aid dying tutorials on the Knit Picks site. (Not sure if I can put a link here, so I'll just tell you to go to the knitpicks site, click "knitting community" in the upper right, click the tab or the button for tutorials, and scroll w-a-y down to the dying tutorials.
Good luck. I can't wait to see what the overdyed scarf looks like, whatever you choose to do!
The French feel strongly about separating church from state, I said it because I think that before make it we have to know about the history of the scarf!!I remember when my mother made similar things!22dd
ReplyDeleteI do thank you for your supreme dedication in wanting to help people with this problem, and appreciate your efforts in giving information on this illness.
ReplyDeleteThis is adorable. You did a great job!
ReplyDelete