Dying cotton string

I was enjoying working with cotton yarn, but it dost a bomb, and I had some string and some dye...so badda bing badda boom, an idea formed. I could try dying some cotton and crocheting with it, it is definitely worth a try!

I realise that the cotton yarn in the shops is softer than string, but I wanted to crochet baskets for use in the bathroom (for cotton wool balls etc) to give away as Christmas presents. and I don't need a soft yarn for this, in fact, rougher, stiffer and more durable yarn would be more ideal.

First off I unwound the string as I thought the string would dye more evenly this way. But I was then thinking that if you left the string in the ball it would give it a tie-dye effect, going lighter and darker in places. Following the instructions on the dye packet I proceeded to dye my string.

I used dylon hand dye powder, as that was what I had at home. But I think that this would be a disaster with a washing machine dye, and it would be tumbled about too much and just end up in a knot.

Once the cotton is soaked and stirred for long enough, you rinse out all the dye.

Then you let the string dry.
I did two lots of the maximum weight stated on the packet, in the hopes it would give me a darker intense blue the first time around, and a paler light blue the next. Success, this is exactly what happened, two shades of blue, same pack of dye.

I did find it a little annoying to untangle the string at the end, but it wasn't too much bother, I just popped a film on, and sat own with a cup of tea.

I think you could tie the string into bundled lengths, making untangling practically not necessary and winding unto balls loads quicker. But I am not sure if what ever you use to tie the bundles together would stop the dye from getting to the string, like when you tie-dye and the parts under the string/rubber bands don't change colour (much).

All in all I enjoyed this, I did mange to dye the string and have an outcome I was happy with. I ended up with about 800g of blue cotton.

In my local yarn shop, it is around £3 for 100g of cotton yarn (although theirs is softer)
The cost of the whole 800g would be less than £10 pounds, so a huge saving. Luckily for me, I had everything at home in the cupboard awaiting another crafty moment, so I didn't need to go out and spend more money, I had spent it already!

Happy Crafting
xoxo

What I have been up to:

Lately I have been getting back into yarn crafts, knitting  and crochet. It all started up again because at the school I work at some people decided to start a knitting and crochet club, I thought I'd go along and have another go.
Well I have well and truly caught the bug again. This is how I am, I like to be creative and keep busy, but often just go off of something and don't do it for ages (years in some cases) then just pick it up one day, and I am off again. Once I get on a trend, I go all out, start to do said project (crochet atm) everywhere and almost in my sleep.

Well first off this time round, I had the patience to follow crochet patterns, and actually make some amazing things, that actually look like I want them too, and not just a wooly waste of time.
Second off, I discovered that you can find some audio books on youtube. Which meant I could crochet and listen to a story, which suited me down to the ground for an after work activity. When I am knitting I barley look at what I'm doing, my hands just know what to do, crochet on the other hand needs a little more concentration and looking at!

The first thing I mastered was the ever so popular granny square!

Which I then went a little coo coo on and made all sorts, with different colours and patterns an stitches:

This was my first attempt at following a crochet pattern, and even though I made a few mistakes, I am damn proud!

Then I tried Hearts:

Then I made an incredible knights helmet with the idea of wearing it for a fancy dress lord of the rings quiz night that I was organising and hosting:

With a movable visor:

In this picture the visor is held on with hair clips, but I have since sewn on buttons.

The I decided it needed a beard to go with it!

I was dressed and Gimli for the fancy dress quiz night, it was great fun, and lots of fun was had by all.

Happy cooking (crafting)

xoxo