Seeing Purple (for quite a while now)

What started out as a small project for my newly adopted Poodle Sophia turned into a two-year marathon for my youngest daughter?

I vaguely remember how all of this started. In the beginning, I dyed some of my machine spun Shetland yarn to make a sweater for Sophia. The people who spun it (some one in Colorado) really did a botched job and I didn’t think the yarn was fit for human use. I dyed the yarn Barbie pink*. In my hurry to dye, I forgot to loosen the factory ties, so ended up with pink yarn with white stripes. Needless to say, Sophia got a sweater out of some different yarn.

The pink on the left was the original base color. Using violet over-painting I created light, medium, and dark yarns to work with.

So there it sat, for a few months, my ugly pink yarn with the white stripes. I must have been bored one day because I got out my foam brush, spray bottle and purple dye** and started painting. Rachelle saw the yarn and loved it. When dyed multi hues, the yarn really didn’t look too bad. The flaws just didn’t glare out at you anymore. I came up with three shades, light, mid-tone, and dark. This was a good initial decision because over the next several months, I would have to come back and re-dye, re-dye, and re-dye. In retrospect, this probably was not the best-planed project. Coming up next, the gloves. Stay tuned.

* I have been using the same pink dye forever. It is 608 Pink (Primary) from Jacquard. These are the dyes that I first started using. It is an acid dye, good for protein fibers. Jacquard is a good dye for beginners. Vinegar is it’s only requirement. Although, I have changed over to a different brand, I keep this one around. I just like the color. Use intensely, it is a great deep red-violet. Used sparingly, it creates perfect ranges of pink. I love it as an under-base for violet.

** My violet is Sabraset Violet 880. I pretty much use Sabraset exclusively. My opinion is that they are the best when it come to light fastness. They do take a little more work. Auxiliaries such as citric acid (vinegar can be used, but it takes a lot more the c.a.), salt, sodium acetate, and Albegal SET need to be used with them. For me, it is worth it.