Food Colored Yarn

I haven't had so much fun with food coloring since I was a kid and dying Easter Eggs. Typically I have thought of food coloring as just a way to make a really big mess that is hard to clean up. Not anymore! (or at least as long as I keep those little bottles out of the hands of my kids)

I used both the McCormick regular and neon colors. First I thoroughly wet the wool so it would accept the liquid easy. Then I placed it in a large, microwave safe baking dish. For the colors, I added 10+ drops of color to a cup mixture of vinegar and water and poured it over the wool. Each batch took about 6 cups of color. I then popped the pan in the microwave and cooked it on high for 10-15 minutes, checking and turning the pan occasionally. It's done when all the color is gone from the liquid. Easy as a TV dinner! When it was cool, I rinsed it by hand and spun it out in the washing machine. I was a little nervous about the spin cycle in our front loader because it tosses the load for a bit before it really gets going. I had read it recommended in several places, but I was still concerned it might felt the wool. Thankfully I had no need to worry. After drying overnight it was ready to spin.

I had no idea how much yarn this wool would spin into. I did use the scale feature of our Wii Fit to weigh the largest bundle of wool and it turned out to be over 12 oz. I need to get an accurate scale to weight the wool before I begin so I can learn what I am actually doing. These large bundles of wool spun up to around 150 yards each. I am so happy I have large bobbins with my spinning wheel because they had no problem holding all that yarn. I still need to set the spin on these skeins, but for now I am just enjoying the happy colors!