For the sixth of my 12 Crafts of Christmas I used my paint, Chalk Paint®, to dye wool which I then used to knit a scarf! I've been longing to try dyeing wool for some time – after a lot of experimentation with dyeing all types of fabric with Chalk Paint®.
I found a gorgeous super chunky yarn made from a blend of merino wool and baby alpaca, which took the dye mix wonderfully. I knew that the exact colour that I was looking for could be achieved by mixing Florence with a little Aubusson Blue, so I poured the colour mix into an old tub, and added water – using a ratio of roughly 1 part paint to 15 parts water. (This is a fairly strong solution, as I was looking for an intense colour).
Next I unwound the skein of wool, submerging it into the dye mix as I went along. It's important to keep the strands separate at this stage, to avoid them becoming knotted and tangled up. Once the whole skein had soaked I left the wool to dry on a clotheshorse next to a radiator.
The following day, I sat down with my knitting needles and got stuck in to knitting my scarf. I love the result, and think I may just have to keep this one for myself!
What do you think? Please keep sharing photographs of your Annie Sloan-inspired Christmas painting projects with me.
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