basimah knits… and spins… and maybe complains about things a little…

mom and i finally made it to the farmer’s market last week (after nearly a year of saying we were going to, but never actually getting there).  it was pretty small, but nicer than i expected.  we got some beets and green beans and tomatoes and cider and i got some lip balm that smells a little funky but really keeps my lips nice all day, so maybe i’ll get used to the smell… it’s like tea tree and something.  the tea tree, i’m familiar with… it’s the "something" that i can’t place that gives me some troubles.

so yes, this post actually does have something to do with fibery goodness… i dyed some yarn…

it’s knitpicks paint-your-own laceweight dyed with the beet skins and tops (but not the greens) leftover from dinner last night.  the color really surprised me, but i think it’s pretty awesome.  i put all the skins and such in a pan on the stove with enough water to cover them and heated them up really slowly to just before a simmer because i was worried that if i heated it too fast or too long, the color would go icky.

meanwhile, i prepped the yarn as usual for dyeing… soaked it in warm water with a wee bit of soap then rinsed and let it soak in the clear water while the other stuff was getting ready.  when i thought the beet water was good, i poured it through a strainer to get all the big chunks out, tossed the skins, put the hot beet water in a big bowl, added a couple big chugs of vinegar, and threw the yarn in.  the original plan was to just let the yarn sit in the hot beet water and get good, but after a few hours i microwaved it for a couple minutes… i’m not sure if it really helped that much, but it made me feel better.

the yarn didn’t take up all the beet dye, infact, it seems that it took up the pinker tones and left the purpley tones behind… i base that on my unscientific findings of pink yarn and purple leftover beet water (purplier than it was when i started).

the yarn ended up a really pretty pink with some kind of peachy parts and some rosy parts.  if i was going to name it, i think it would be "antique tea rose" or something along those lines.  as usual, my overzealous rinsing led to a wee bit of felting, but not enough to cry about or anything.  overall i’m pretty happy with the whole thing.