hand-dyed hand-knitted wool

These lovely handknits had been through two kids and all their puke and spills - they were really stained and were about to head to the 'bottom drawer', meaning they would only see the light of day again as a bedtime cardigan, or worse, never be worn again. Sorry, there is no 'before' photo.

 'After' - Different shades of cornflower blue. 'Before' they were (from left to right) taupe, cream, torquoise and mint green. With LOTS of stains.

Mum had shown me some store bought knits she had dyed a lovely burgundy colour, and I thought I should try dying these baby clothes.

The brand is Rit. The colour is a denim shade of blue (I can't recall if it was Royal Blue or Navy Blue), suited to boys or girls, since I didn't know what I was having, but all our children have to get blue eyes since that is what we have (remembering fifth form science).

So in a bucket of hot water (about 50 degrees C) I followed the instructions on the packet and you can see them here on the website of Rit dye.

They turned out so well. I will always wash them separately though as a lot of dye leaked out while rinsing, A LOT. The process was easy, the bucket didn't stain, the sink didn't stain. The clothes are like new again and I only had to change two lots of buttons.

Do try it (sounding like the Dilmah guy).