Sunshine Dyeing

Yesterday I decided it was such a beautiful day that I would do some dyeing outside. I had about 2 o.z. of merino top left over from my last dye and I had the urge to do some tie-dye inspired fibers.

I did my dye today with some basic food coloring! Easy to clean up, great colors, and the fibers dye up really well. Soak the fiber in a 1 to 1 solution of vinegar and water for a couple hours. After that I just took a few containers of hot water and dropped some coloring in them (Make sure you test it on a fiber sample then go a shade or two darker. The color lightens a bit when it dries).

Since I was dyeing outside, I figured I would let the sun set the color for me. To help the natural heat source along I put some foil down and wrapped up the merino when I finished with the color. The purple highlights turned out really cool.

 All finished!!! Got just the tie-dyed look I was going for. This should spin up really well. I like working with food coloring for dyes. They give this great muted tone that looks wonderful as a yarn. For more vibrant colors though I like fabric dyes.

On another note, its day 8 of the Tour De Fleece and I''m hoping to finish up the last of the bamboo top  today. I'm driving upstate today to visit my parents, I'm sure I'll have a little extra time so my spindle will come along with me.