Red

I have learned a lot in the last couple of days about WHY I hate red dye #3. It is pervasive in many food colorings. Red seems to be such a hard color to get to stick and not be some nasty pink. PH is what it is all about.

I had been randomly pouring vinegar into my dye baths... and guess what, red dye #3 is sensitive to ph, get below 6 and it won't set. Well, that sure explains a whole lot. The batches where the red is red, are the ones where I soaked the yarn in vinegar and water, the applied the color. But when I put the color and vinegar together, well, I got browns and other muddy colors.

No Taste Red, is suppose to be red #40, which is all good! We may go get some of that and give it a spin. I also want to try black. When you add the vinegar it is supposed to break the black into all of its component colors and you get pinks, purples and blues. I think that would be so fun for the kids to see happen!

I guess I will need to re-evaluate my opinion that more vinegar is better. I guess in some cases, that isn't true. There are so many tricks, it is sort of amazing to think about how much one has to learn in order to get the colors to look right.

Which brings me to another topic, how could anyone accuse me of trying to sell the yarn I have dyed at home? I didn't even know enough to know about the whole red dye #3 situation... I mean really! There is a lot to know about doing this, and the more I learn the more I think it is highly unlikely that my kitchen will ever turn out anything sale able. BUT that does not mean my kitchen can't turn out squares for my blanket!

BUT NO MORE rainbow yarn. I am so over the kids attempts at making a rainbow. NO more hot pink!! I would like to try some more muted colors. I guess this can be obtained by using less dye, we will be getting right on that.