Logwood on cotton cardigan

Dyeing yarn is all very well and good, but you have to go and make something with it afterwards (and I've already started giving away skeins to anybody who looks even slightly receptive). What about dyeing a pre-existing garment? I guess it's more likely to be patchy, but maybe in a charming way.

I recently purchased two white cotton cardigans on eBay for dyeing purposes. One's second hand, one's new. I suspect the new one will dye more evenly - the older one has some pilling under the arms and this could affect take-up of the dye. Let's find out eh?

Fabric: 240g cardigan - 90% cotton, 10% elastane
Dyestuff: 11g (4.5%) logwood (actually I used 50% and added it incrementally, but this is how much I ended up using in the dyebath, so I'll spare you the arithmetic)
Mordant: 60g (25%) alum with 15g (6%) washing soda













Success! My cardigan is a lovely lilac. It is definitely quite patchy - which the photo doesn't show - but it's more a light mottling, giving it a slightly home-made look, which I don't think is a bad thing. The mottling is fairly even over the surface of the cardigan, by which I mean that there aren't darker bits under the arms or anything like that, which would have looked a bit nasty.

Onion hat

Made from yarn dyed with onion skins, and logged in this post. I held the two yarns together (with and without iron) to get the mottled look.

At the time I claimed I'd knit a hat 'when I next have a couple of free evenings'. Took me a bit longer than that - I dyed the yarn at the end of July - but the timing's perfect since it's just turning cold here in London. On the walk home from work this evening I decided that it's definitely woolly hat weather.

Next up is a pair of armwarmers with fold-back mitten tops. Like these ones.