Heathered Fallberry Mitts

Autumn is coming here to the Pacific Northwest... and the season of Christmas knitting is fast approaching!  I stumbled upon this lovely, free pattern from Knitty, "Fallberry Mitts by Anne Hanson" and I have been hankering to try some more dyeing......

I have quite a bit of the soft cream Wool/Acrylic/Nylon mix that I unravelled from a thrift store sweater... and that I used for this sweet little bunny. 

 

and this snuggly toy, as well!

 

 

So, before starting this project, I attempted dyeing my yarn a nice, deep purple using McCormick's neon food dyes, and a steaming pot full and vinegar and water.  This is what I got, after washing and drying the yarn:

 

 

Nice... but not quite what I was going for.  Sooo.... after finishing the second mitt, I sent them both through the dyepot one more time (with a couple packets of red Kool-Aid, and several drops of neon blue food coloring).  This time I let the mitts soak for several hours in the steaming dye while I slowly increased the acidity of the bath by adding subsequent amounts of vinegar.  All of my hard work paid off, though, with these beauties: My Fallberry Mitts