Now, I have some idea already but I’d like to hear your opinions on this. My cousin intends to learn to knit to make herself a Rikku scarf for a costume. The scarf (in case the picture doesn’t link well) fades from orange in the middle very gradually to yellow on both ends.
I would lean towards making a yellow scarf and wetting it, then dipping the middle in orange dye. I’m not entirely certain how these things work, having never really done anything but summer camp tie-dye before, but if it’s possible to add a bit of the dye mix to the water at a time, we could make a more gradual gradient by adding a bit more dye and dipping a bit less of the scarf each time.
I initially pondered a knit gradient, but that would eventually involve stranding or intarsia, and result in a right and a wrong side, which I don’t really like in a scarf. It could be knit in a tube to eliminate that, but the convention she’ll be going to is generally more than warm enough and a double-thick scarf around her neck would probably be too much.
How to make a gradient?
What are you going to be dyeing with? And what kind of yarn are you using? Are you planning on knitting the scarf and then dyeing, or are you going to try to dye the yarn first, then knit?
I don’t know what I’m going to be dyeing with. I’ve never done anything of the sort before. I was going to go out and look at dyes to see what there is. I was going to go with some sort of acrylic for the scarf, probably, but if the dye I wind up choosing won’t work on acrylic I’ll look into other options. I would be knitting the scarf before dyeing it.
Well, acrylic is probably the most difficult fiber to work with if you want to dye it yourself.
http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/acrylic.shtml
I’d recommend wool (knitpicks Wool of the Andes natural is only $3.29 for a 220 yard skein) and Wilton’s Cake Dyes. Wiltons is extremely easy to obtain and use, and they blend very nicely. I know it’s sold at Michaels and similar craft stores, as well as Walmart :rollseyes:. You may even be able to get it in the baking section of your local supermarket. Kool-aid also works well on wool, but I don’t know how easy it is to blend and get the desired color. Even easter egg dye or food coloring works on wool.
There are tons of tutorials out there about the process. Here are a few. All are slightly different, but basically they use the same three elements (dye, acid aka vinegar and heat) and I’m sure they all produce similar results:
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall02/FEATdyedwool.html
http://www.neauveau.com/dyeingyarn.html
http://www.spiraleyecreations.com/howto_canningdye.html
http://www.woolfestival.com/articles/koolaid.htm
I would dye the yarn before knitting. If you knit first, the dye may have trouble penetrating between the stitches and you’ll get a really mottled effect. Not that there’s anything wrong with that! It just may not be the effect you were hoping for.
I’m still thinking about exactly how to dye so the gradient comes out properly. You could dye all yellow and then overdye a section with orange, but I don’t think you’d get a good gradual color change that way.
Dyeing is fun.
How much time do you have before the scarf has to be done?
I do have an idea that I think would work, but I don’t have time to type out all the details right now. Quite frankly, I’d love to tackle it myself, but I couldn’t really guarantee the results, you know what I mean?
I’m pretty sure the convention is in May, around the 24 weekend.
I’ll consider WotA. The shipping seems reasonable, and I could probably make the Daffodil colour work.
I was hoping that wetting the scarf before dyeing it would eliminate at least some of the mottling effect. I’ve never tried it, though, so I’m probably wrong. The main issue I have with dyeing the yarn before starting to knit is that it seems to me that it would be more time consuming, since I would have to unwind and re-wind the balls into smaller segments to get the gradient effect I want. I guess sacrifices must be made for the sake of cosplaying. :rollseyes:
Thanks for the links on dyeing yarn. I’ve been interested for a while, but I haven’t yet found the time. Also, I’ll look into this Wilton’s stuff.