RIVER MAKE HER BLUE AGAIN!

One afternoon, we were discussing Hexipuff project, matching stories to yarn, when I got it in my head that I wanted a hexipuff that expressed "River, make her blue again!"

(Found here)

My vision was a gradient, with white fading into blue. But while you can buy gradients from a number of indie dyers these days, you're not going to get a hexipuff-sized gradient. So I had to make one.

Take One: KoolAid

I purused the online koolaid guides to find a perfect TARDIS blue, and was shocked--SHOCKED--to find that Koolaid doesn't make a TARDIS blue. So rude! I decided to use Berry Blue, because that's what I had in my Koolaid stash (yes, I have a Koolaid stash. No, it's not for drinking), and originally thought that if I added a tea bag, it might dirty up the colour a little to make it more like the target shade. But as I was preparing to dye, I decided just to go with the colour straight, just to see what happened.

Step one: Separate the yarn into loops of about 0.5 grams each, tied loosely.

(see that loop up top? I forgot what I was doing and broke the yarn on that one. Oops!)

Step two: soak the yarn in a 1 to 1 water/vinegar solution until the fibre is saturated.

Step three: In a small pot, mix one cup water with one packet Berry Blue. Add 3 generous drops of blue food colouring. Bring to a boil

Step four: Turn down the heat to medium. Add the loops to the pot, one at a time. After each loop is added, let it soak for five minutes, then add the next loop. When all loops have been added, leave in the pot until the dye is exhausted (water appears clear.)

Step five: Carefully remove the loops from the solution. (This is why I tied each loop, to keep them from tangling.)  Rinse under running water. Press gently in an old towel to remove excess water, and spread out to dry.

And here it is, a 3 gram gradient!

Unfortunately, even though I tied the loops loosely, the ties still left some white spots in the yarn.

I had envisioned that I'd have some white in the final product, but it turns out that I dyed too much yarn to make it to white.

I actually coloured in some white spots with Sharpie, just to make it prettier. I love the results, but it's not really TARDIS blue. Maybe I should have added a tea bag...

Take Two: Sharpie

Step One: Knit up a hexipuff out of white yarn.

Step two: Colour with a blue Sharpie.

I was really excited to try this, but I only had a fine marker in the house, and it didn't do a very good job. I gave up until I could go buy a bigger Sharpie.

 Step three: Spray it with water to get the colours to run.

Step four: When it is dry, iron it for 3 minutes on each side. (Don't iron the needle cable!)

 Step five: Stuff and stitch closed!

This one looks more TARDIS-y, but the colour isn't as saturated as I'd like.

I quite like the results!

"River, make her blue again!!"