Dyeing hose

[IsaacW]

A bit over a year ago, my wife knit me some wonderful checked kilt hose. I have become a bit reluctant to wear them as the blue and white check was a bit "loud." Anyway, I recently did a green overdye to make them more suitable. Below is an image of them originally, after a dying in RIT dark green, and then finally after a good dunking in Tulip brand green.




and being worn...

[Dughlas mor]

I actually liked the way they looked after the first pass, nice and earthy, but the final result looks great too. Nice job.

[MacEanruig]

Your ensemble looks very good, especially the hose. Well done!

[Mike S]

They turned out surprisingly good!

[Richrail]

Well done, those look great. I love them.

[Pleater]

I used my mod powers to add an 'e' to the title - sounds the same but gives one a slight start to see 'dying' in the list of thread subjects.

The first dye was possibly not the correct type for wool, either in chemical composition or pH - it is a bit of a dark art when using a dye mix made by others - I mix my own for best results, but that means buying a lot of some things - I have been working my way through some pots of dyes and chemicals for decades.

The results - as we can see, are very effective when it goes right.

The total look is rather distinguished.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[GrainReaper]

Those hose look great to me! Both before you dyed them and after.

I wish my wife could knit....

[MNlad]

Great looking pair of hose, but like Dughlas, I also like the result of your first dyeing best. It all depends on what you are pairing them with. Wear them with pride. Your wife does beautiful work.

[IsaacW]

Thanks to everyone. I do like the more muted and more wearable look of the darker hose. As someone stated in a past post when I showed a photo of them being worn, it is difficult to have a pair of hose that stand out beyond the kilt and other accessories.

The first dye was a nice color and definitely more of an olive green. With a muted, weathered, or ancient colors tartan, it would look outstanding. With my ex-military Cameron of Erracht; I was wanting more of a bottle green.

Anne, thank you for fixing the misspelling. Quick typing on an IPad, autocorrect, and not spell checking seem to lead to all sorts of problems. As for dyes, I agree it is a black art. I have done a fair bit of dyeing but mostly natural dyes, not chemical.

[Livonian]

While this thread might be about your glorious checked hose, I couldn't help but notice the wingtips worn with them in the first photo... Might I ask the make and model?