And here is a skein I had fun dyeing the other day.  I was wanting to see if I could make a nice navy blue, and I think I did :

Basically,  I mixed up a nice bright blue, then muted it with orange until it was almost greeny.  Then I added black to darken it.  Then I added a couple of splashes of dilute citric acid and added it to a large soup pot of heating water.

I've been using citric acid instead of vinegar recently.  Since Blair now doesn't work Sundays, he's often here when I'm dyeing, and he can't stand the smell of warm vinegar [me, I love it.  But then, I also like the smell of permanent markers and nailpolish...].  I managed to get hold of some universal indicator paper, and worked out that about half a teaspoon of citric acid (that's 2.5cc) to a litre of water was the same pH as white vinegar, and it's worked like a charm!

The yarn was a cream coloured 8ply super-wash.  That's 100g of it there, but I also dyed another 100g hank at the same time.  Before dyeing, I soaked it in warm water with a dash of dilute citric acid until it was translucent.

I had the dye pot on the stove, with the element on low, and when it was hot, I began dyeing.

I got it variegated by dipping the whole hank into the hot dye pot, with the element on low, but only letting a little of the dye take (just a minute or so).  Then I lifted a third of the hank out of the water and tied it around a wooden spoon that rested on the rim of the pot, so it was suspended above the dye.  The I let the bottom of the hank take the dye for about 5 minutes.  Then, when the wool was the shade I wanted for the middle tone of the hank, I lifted the middle thrid out of the dye, and wound it around the wooden spoon, so that only the last third of the wool was still in the dye.  And I left it until it was dyed the darkest colour I wanted.

I find that this method is best done with a lot of dye!  The dye bath was no where finished exhausting when I'd finished dyeing.  That way, there's loads of dye to make the divisions between the colours.  If you only add a little dye to begin with, you may have to put some more colour in, and it may not end up being the same colour as before.

I love colour!!