The Knitting Fiend

Table of contents for pumpkin pattern

1. The Pumpkin Pattern
2. Pumpkins
3. Whoa! Talk about Kool-Aid ORANGE!
4. Three Needle Bind Off

I dyed the pumpkin bodies; they’re very, very orange. I love it!

Some of you may be aware that I practiced Kool Aid a long time ago, I dyed a swatch Neon-Blue. This time, I dyed the proto-type knitted pumpkins. (Pattern available soon. )

I collected together two packages of kool-aid, 12 ounces of water, 4 ounces of vinegar, the knit pumpkins, and and some miscellaneous equipment. The instructions I was following suggest 1 package of kool-aid for each ounce of wool. I didn’t weigh my pumpkins, but I’m pretty sure I’m using plenty.

Notice that one pumpkin is the felted “prototype”. It’s knit from Lion Brand Wool and felted nicely. I had no idea if felted wool takes die any differently from non-felted wool. So I figured, “What the heck? Why not dye felted and non-felted pumpkins and compare how the two look?”

My directions suggested soaking yarn in hot water for 20-30 minutes; I soaked the knit pumpkins for 20 minutes. While they soaked, I heated the vinegar/water mixture to almost boiling, added the kool-aid and stirred well.

I drained the knit pumpkins in a colander, pressed to squeeze the water out, picked up the wool pumpkins using tongs and dunked them in the boiling kool-aid. The instructions said I should simmer for 45 minutes until the water turned milky white; it took less than 2 minutes.

The instructions also said to add water if the wool isn’t covered. Well… I needed to add water. Next time, I’m adding water sooner; 2 cups of water just doesn’t cover the pumpkins well enough.

Even though the water was milky white in less than 2 minutes, I decided to simmer 20 minutes anyway. How knows, maybe heating a long time helps the color really set? Then I turned the heat off, left the pan on the burner, and did other stuff while and let the knit pumpkins cool to hot-bath temperature. By then, approximately 45 minutes had passed.

I lifted the pumpkins out using tongs, dropped them in a bowl of hot water, and swished. I drained that water, then refilled with hot soapy water, and cleaned the knitted pumpkins. I was happy to see the water stayed clear. I rinsed again, squeezed gently, rolled the pumpkins in a towel, and sort of pressed them into shape.

They don’t look too bad. The felted one sort of holds a shape; the unfelted one is just flat. I’ll be stuffing them tomorrow.

About the color… if I didn’t have a pumpkin handy, I might think these were too orange. But, honestly, they seem about right!

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4 Comments »

1. oh cool! im definately going to refer to this post for when i get around to dying my yarn! those pumpkins look great!

   Comment by erika — 10/22/2005 @ 3:04 pm

2. [...] This is also a good project because I am using wool from my stash. I had a bunch of natural Lopi and I dyed it, using Lucia’s instructions, with purple Kool-Aid. I’m really happy with the results. Purple is not my colour. It just isn’t. I think it has something to do with a childhood experience while watching Donnie and Marie and something about his socks or something. Whatever, purple is not really for me. But this purple I like. And I really like how the colour varies. It gives a really nice depth to the fabric. So the knitting is done and now I’m waiting for the current load in the washer to finish up so I can send this thing on its first felting run. Can you feel the anticipation? I can [...]

   Pingback by My Bountiful Life… » My escarpment, liguid light, grape kool-aid booga bag. — 11/6/2005 @ 3:17 pm

3. SO VERY HELPFUL, having all the pictures and the blow-by-blow descriptions. I had never even considered doing this procedure, but now I will when I make my pumpkins. You answer so many questions that might come up, such as the two-minute milky water, by explaining exactly what happened and then taking the time to work through them and photograph them for the benefit of us all. I really appreciate that. Thank you so much.

   Comment by Terry Mason Hunter — 2/3/2007 @ 4:31 am

4. I am thrilled to see this because I have considered dying linen this way for use in cross stitch. Not sure how linen would work but if wool does, the linen should. I would want more subtle colors and the blotchy part would be ideal. Thank you for experimenting and posting this – and just when I was out looking for ideas, too!

   If anyone has dyed x-stitch linen or other similar fabric, I would love to know about it.
   Deb

   Comment by Deborah — 11/21/2007 @ 12:47 pm

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