Re-Skeining ...

and a very unorthodox yarn swift.

Here are my Kool Aid dyed yarns, re-skeined. I am so pleased with how all of these have come out and looking forward to knitting with them.

The yarn was re-skeined into a longer skein, which allows the colours to show better and gives a better idea of how the yarn will knit up. I don't own a yarn swift and there were a lot more skeins to deal with at one time than I would normally have. So, since necessity is the mother of invention, I present to you, the Sew YLD Convertible Yarn Swift, aka, a coffee table upside down on top of a cardboard mat. And the SEW YLD Convertible Skein holder, aka, two kitchen stools upside down. Together these make a fabulously effective, if rather tiring to operate, method of re-skeining yarns.

It operates as follows:

the yarn sits on the upturned stools. The operator unwinds a long length of yarn onto the floor (ensuring any dogs are sitting comfortably elsewhere at the time and unlikely to sit on, or get tangled in, the yarn). The operator then carefully winds the starting end around one leg of the coffee table, ensuring the end can be accessed easily at a later date, then winds the first few rounds of the new skein carefully around and around the legs of the table. Once it will stay more or less where it is supposed to (about ten rounds of yarn) the Convertible Yarn swift can be started up. Unwind a good bit of yarn from the holder onto the cardboard mat. Hold the yarn in one hand and spin the table by its legs in a clockwise direction being careful to keep the other hand, knees, feet and animals out of the way of the table in case its orbit becomes uneven. Continue spinning it around on its mat and re-position the table/yarn as needed. Do not be too violent. Do not forget to check that there is enough yarn left for the next spin (otherwise, a violent spin may upset both swift and holder onto an unsuspecting dog - this really, really upsets said dog). No operators or dogs were seriously harmed in this exercise. However, I do have some nice bruises on my knee caps.

Of course, you could buy an actual swift.... but where's the fun in that?

This is a photo of the yarn shown on the swift above, once it has been re-skeined. Doesn't it make a difference? Sadly the base yarn I used for these skeins has a few problems with its twist and can't be knit up in stocking stitch or reverse stocking stitch, because it biases very badly. However, its fine in rib and garter stitch and should be OK for textured and lace patterns too so there are plenty of options out there for these skeins. Now I know it works well as a method, I will get some more yarns and try different weights and compositions of fibre I think.

SDBev, I am sorry but I don't think this method is going to be suitable for your jeans. The drink mixes will apparently stain cotton clothes but won't actually dye them properly. The Kool Aid method works only on animal fibres, so you could dye a wool fabric, but not cotton unfortunately. I have seen sock yarns containing some nylon (usually its no more than 25%) successfully dyed with this method, and I think I read that you can use it on mixes as long as there is more animal fibre in the mix than plant fibre. I would imagine a wool/cotton mix might take it though you may find the wool took more than the cotton, which could be quite an attractive look.