I used the Oslo stitch to make his "Fire and Ice" hat. This was really easy and a great way to work on stitch technique and speed gauges. I used a nice White Pulworth wool and when I spun it up boy did it have fly a ways! I used a lint brush on my shirt when I was done. and had enough there to spin for another few minutes if I had wanted to. Love that stuff its the silk of wools.
When I dyed it I pre-soaked the yarn in 50/50 vinegar and hot water for a bit to open everything up and prep for the dyes. I then let the majority of the solution drain from the skeins back into the bowl, and laid the moist yarn skeins onto sheets of cellophane. Then I grabbed the bottles of red and blue food coloring and started dripping over half the skein in red and half the skein in blue. I left a bit of a gap for the colours to wick into. One of my skeins wicked more than I was expecting but aht is ok it still looks great!
once I was finished dripping the dyes I gently pressed the colors into the yarn making sure it was thoroughly in the yarns. then I folded up the cellophane burrito style so there would not be any drippage and into the microwave it went.
I microwaved the skeins one at a time for 3 minutes. boy were they hot! while one was in the microwave the other was sitting in its microwave safe bowl. I was surprised at first to see how the burritos expanded while cooking. I did the 3 minutes on 3 minutes out 4-5 times. then it was off to the rise water.
Carefully I let each skein soak in very warm water for a minute or two after removing the scorching hot plastic. each soak was put into progressively cooler water A) to help bring the yarn to a hold-able state and B) to rinse out the excess dyes so it wouldn't bleed when washed later.
