My First Ever Dyeing

I was walking through the living room the other day when my eye fell on a bowl on yarn. It’s been sitting on the shelf for several years now, looking pretty …but pretty much ignored. I walk past it day after day and had almost forgotten it was even there.

But I really shouldn’t forget about it, because it’s some pretty important yarn — it’s the first yarn I dyed seriously. Y’know, not just messing about, not playing with Kool-Aid… This was the first yarn I dyed with professional grade dyes and real goals for the resulting colours. This was the yarn that I showed to my friends, asked them what they thought… waited nervously for their answers…

They loved it. And so, this was the yarn that has changed my life.

But the yarn itself is not lovely. It was something wallowing at the very bottom of my stash, for good reason… It’s thick and rustic, rough and itchy. I don’t know why I ever bought or what I’d ever use it for. And so the yarn has sat in that bowl, pretty but unnoticed, for several years now.

So when I spotted it the other day — hidden there in plain sight — I thought it had probably been waiting long enough. It was time to honour the importance of that yarn by using it in a project. But what project for a rustic, itchy yarn…?

I carried the bowl over to the dining table and grabbed my phone. And as I took a couple photos, I suddenly realised what the project would be. I wound the yarn and cast on.

It’s going to be the perfect use for this yarn. And you’ll never guess what it is. I’ll show you when I get further along…