In a major culling and review of my wardrobe (pitchforks and and industrial lifting equipment were required) I decided two things.

1. I need a little strappy vest top in bright red.
2. I’m never going to wear Lavender,other than out of guilt for neglecting it, while flopping around the house.

You remember Lavender don’t you? Golden yellow Rowan Summer Tweed knitted up in a rather good Kim Hargreaves pattern. I bloggged it here but here’s a pic if you don’t remember…

I love the jumper but that colour yellow is just no good on me – even with a tan. I look jaundiced and have a slightly green tinge. Not an attractive look.

I steeled myself and Lavender got stuffed quickly out of sight into the charity shop bag while I toddled off to Marks & Spencer to buy a bright red vesty top.  I tried not to think about all that wasted knitting effort.

ARRRHHH!!!! M&S let me down.  😯

I own at least a dozen of their vest tops (actually from their underwear range!) in different colours – I tend to layer two at a time to make pretty combinations in the summer and use them as “undergarments” in the winter for an extra layer. I love these tops.  But M&S don’t seem to want to make a red one 🙁

Once I’d finished having my little rage against M&S’s stupidity, I remembered that I have two white vests. Hmmmm…

…I went and bought some Dylon hand dye in Tulip Red…

…You can never just dye one thing can you? I found myself roaming the house looking for things that had escaped previous dying exploits.

Lavender peeped out of the bag and said, “Would you love me if I could be red?…..”

I’d not used hand dye since I was a teenager doing this kinda thing. I remembered why!

It’s hard work and potentially very messy.

I followed the instructions…wash garment & leave damp, mix up dye and water in the sink, stir constantly for 15 mins (my arms hurt!), stir occasionally for another 45 mins -To me, that meant knit a row, give it a stir, knit another row, rinse, wash again (my arms were falling off)  into the washing machine for that wash!

Here’s a Work In Progress shot, looking disturbing like a sink full of body parts!

The results were…

…too pink!

I had expected a slightly orangey tinge (yellow+red=orange) but not sugary pink. I would have blamed the Summer Tweed’s 70% Silk/30% Cotton make up but the pure cotton vest is the same. It’s not horrible but not what I wanted – and I already had a sugary pink vest! I think “Tulip Red” isn’t a true “Cherry red” 🙁

I tried again – I couldn’t face all that stirring so I went for washing machine dye – I’ve used this more recently and I don’t know why I didn’t use it the first time 🙄
this time I chose the stronger, Rosewood Red – a darker brick red.

Wash the garments and leave damp (they had just been washed so I wet it and spun it), put the dye and salt in the machine, bung in the machine at 40 degrees on a cotton wash, wash it again with detergent at 40 degrees, dry it and run the machine empty with detergent. Not exactly environmentally friendly but a hell of a lot more time efficient and easier on my arms 😉

Three machine washes later I had this!

Much redder! You can still see flecks of a lighter more orange colour if you look closely but I like that.

The only downer is the way my vest dyed. I hadn’t realised the stitching and straps were synthetic so didn’t take the dye as well as the body – bit of a two tone effect.

My last concern was about how well the summer tweed had held up after several runs through the washing machine and a hour’s soaking and stirring. Surprisingly, after a low heat tumble dry (because I was impatient) I tried it on – it still fits! Amazingly, the summer tweed has taken all the punishment I had thrown at it.

Of course, it’s now so clean that Thug, whilst giving Lavender the “snugglability test” while lounging on his blanket, felt positively grubby next to it –  A quick spruce up was required!