D.I.Y. DYE

...Perhaps there's a nerdy craft-person tee shirt just waiting to be made there: DIY or DYE....

Only funny to me? Probably.

So moving on to the real topic at hand: Dying garments at home with Rit Dye. It might sound intimidating, but truly: Super easy, and pretty low-impact in terms of involvement. Really.

I hadn't done it in years, but Nate had picked up a slew of new white socks and, being the color-loving dude he is, was itching to make them less vanilla. Enter a trip to JoAnn Fabrics and a bottle of turquoise Rit liquid dye.

Puggle photo bomb!

If you follow the bucket dying process (aka: not using your washing machine, which is the other option), the most you have to do is know how to boil water and measure salt. Can you do that? I'm thinking so.
So step one is to boil a pot of water (it specifies the amount on the bottle - yours truly just eyeballed it). Step two: Pour the water into your bucket and dunk the dry cloth. Have some tongs handy, and once the items are soaked through, pull them out and add your salt (stir to blend) and your dye (I put in the whole bottle). Drop the wet clothes back in, set the timer, and walk away!

Step three: Once the garment(s) have been in for the allotted time, grab your tongs and (I used a dark old towel here to protect my floors) lift your garments out and into the sink. Rinse until the water runs clear.
NOTE: Rit will absolutely stain porcelain. I dumped my dyed goodies in a stainless sink, so didn't have to worry. If you're concerned, have a second rinse bucket handy.

Step four is the last one (told you it was easy!): Pop your rinsed garments into the washing machine and wash per Rit bottle instructions. Dry in the dryer as you normally would and.... done!

Three things of note:

1) It would be a good idea to snag a pair of rubber gloves before starting if you can. I was careful, but think of it like dying your hair: Avoid contact with anything you don't want to end up the color of your dye (hands, clothes, floor, counter, rug... you get the picture). This stuff is permanent and made to last.
2) No matter what color you choose, it's tough to make it vibrant. 100% cotton garments work better than anything else (as you can see from the darker blue stripes on Nate's socks - They took the dye better than the body of the sock with other fibers in it).
3) I threw in two Shout Color Catchers with my wash cycle and they collected quite a bit of dye. Wash a load of old dark towels or run a load empty to make sure your washing machine is free of dye before doing that load of wedding dresses.... or, you know, other light colored garments.

So there you have it! Pretty simple, right? Boil, soak, color, wait, rinse, wash, dry. You can do that.