In our summer class the students will learn how to knit a "treasure bag" using yarn they have dyed themselves with Kool-Aid and food coloring. My friend
Ana suggested we have the students dye preknit yarn "flats" rather than skeined yarn and I thought that was a wonderful idea. The flats are easy to paint on and they can contain pictures, designs and words. Those elements won't show up in the completed knitting but the children will know they are hidden in the yarn.
The yarn we're using is
Knit Picks brand
Bare Superwash Merino Worsted. Ana prepared the flats on her knitting machine and knit acrylic scrap yarn between the flats. Each flat is 50 stitches wide, about 70 rows long, and uses 50 g. of yarn. Here is a photo of the flats before I divided them:
I cut the flats apart at the scrap yarn and used a crochet hook to bind them off. I cut up a priority mail envelope into squares for name tags, punched a hole in each square and used acrylic scrap yarn to attach one square to each flat. At the class the students' names will be written on the tags with permanent maker. The priority mail envelopes are made of a strong fiber that doesn't disintegrate when it is wet, which means the labels will survive the soaking, painting, steaming and drying processes.
Then I prepared the soak water. Soaking opens up the fibers and enables them to absorb the dye. I used about 1.5 gallons of warm water for the 12 flats.
After the flats soaked for at least an hour, I squeezed them out, put them in a large plastic bag and took them to the library.
We set up the class on the center patio. It was a beautiful sunny day and the shady patio was a lovely setting for the class.
My helpers and I mixed up the dye. For each color except Kelly Green, we dissolved 4 packets of Kool-Aid in one cup (8 oz.) of water in a plastic pitcher. For the Kelly Green we used 30 drops of food coloring and 1 T. vinegar in 1 cup of water. We used 10 colors--Strawberry, Blastin' Black Cherry, Tropical Punch, Pink Lemonade, Orange, Lemonade, Lemon Lime, Kelly Green, Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade, and Grape.
While some of the students were learning to knit,
others used sponge brushes to "paint" the flats with the dye liquids.
The students used the yogurt cups for their own custom blends. We had plenty of dye for most of the colors but did have to make extra blue and yellow.
We wrapped the flats well in plastic wrap and I took them home where I steamed them for 30 minutes.
Here are some of the flats after they were steamed. The front one is partially unwrapped:
Because the yarn is superwash I was able to dry the flats in the dryer on low heat. Here are the dry flats:
As you can see, stripes were quite popular. The one in front was prepared by two of my helpers and contains their initials. The colors aren't as vibrant as I had hoped they would be. When I do this again I will used 6 or 8 packets of Kool-Aid per cup of water.
At our next class the students will unravel their flats and learn how to wind yarn in a ball. They will also continue to learn to knit. I hope they continue to have as much fun as they had on the first day.
I could not have done this without my wonderful helpers-Ana, Brenda, Jaime, Charlotte, and Jessica and without the support of Sylvia and Catherine of the Fairview Branch Library. Thank you very much!
Congratulations!
I cut the flats apart at the scrap yarn and used a crochet hook to bind them off. I cut up a priority mail envelope into squares for name tags, punched a hole in each square and used acrylic scrap yarn to attach one square to each flat. At the class the students' names will be written on the tags with permanent maker. The priority mail envelopes are made of a strong fiber that doesn't disintegrate when it is wet, which means the labels will survive the soaking, painting, steaming and drying processes.
After the flats soaked for at least an hour, I squeezed them out, put them in a large plastic bag and took them to the library.
The students used the yogurt cups for their own custom blends. We had plenty of dye for most of the colors but did have to make extra blue and yellow.
Here are some of the flats after they were steamed. The front one is partially unwrapped:
Because the yarn is superwash I was able to dry the flats in the dryer on low heat. Here are the dry flats:
As you can see, stripes were quite popular. The one in front was prepared by two of my helpers and contains their initials. The colors aren't as vibrant as I had hoped they would be. When I do this again I will used 6 or 8 packets of Kool-Aid per cup of water.
Watch this space to see how the felting process will completely transform these babies.
