Dying a White Shawl

Dying a White Pre-made Shawl Pink

White is cursed, or maybe I'm cursed that when I wear white it will stay its pure crispy color for a total of ten minutes. Hems become stained with the green of grass, the pits turn a repulsive yellow color, and white shawls always seem to become tinted with dirt. The idea hit me while cleaning out some of grandma's sewing notions and crafts that she had boxes of powdered rit dye in the color magenta. Now when I think of Magenta, it seems like its normally this color. 

What I got was a weird pinkish purple. Now whether this is due to the fifty year old dye or ahem "operator error", I have no idea. But at least its not white and will hopefully last at least a few more of my awkward random gravity checks mid-stride. Now I knew with this shawl being knitted that getting it to hold color was going to be interesting. After a burn test, the yarn came out as a poly blend, which poly does not like to take on color despite ones best efforts. 

In a stroke of good luck, the type of dye grandma bought has to be added to hot water over the stove top. This method also works wells for poly yarns. I pulled the  canning pot  back out from making starch and filled it 2/3 full of water, brought it to a boil, and added the package of dye. Stirred until the granules completely dissolved and the water turned a lovely magenta color. I stuck the shawl in the water and stirred until it seemed like the shawl had changed color, about half an hour. 

After removing from water, the shawl was rinsed under the water making sure to removed extra dye. After laying and drying out, the shawl looked lovely. Like a lovely rose pink color.  

It was the perfect accessory to go with the  purple sheer dress on a promenade through Ella Sharp Park in Jackson, Michigan.