I started out by dying the tshirts; I did a bit of reading and followed the advice of those who went before me saying that it was easier to dye first and then cut. I found out that I should have bought more dye...I used a RIT dye in Kelly Green and when reading the instructions (on the inside of the package) found out that they recommend 2 cups of water per package for the maximum colour effect. 2 cups of water is not a heck of a lot of water. I started out with 4 cups and threw in the first shirt which quickly absorbed most of the liquid. I then put in the second shirt which picked up any remaining liquid so that the 3rd shirt really didn't have a chance. What could I do but add more water? By complete fluke it turned out as I planned with the shirts each being a different shade of the same green (I had planned on doing this by leaving them in for different amounts of time - who knew?). Next time I will know to buy a few more packages of dye. The shirts also had a bit of a tie-dye effect going on but I wasn't overly concerned with that; I figured it would give the yarn a slightly varigated look.
Next came the cutting. I went with the spiral cut method, starting at the bottom of the shirt, removing the hem and cutting in one continuous spiral up to the armpits. When I got to the armpits I used Stephanie Japel's method of continuing up the back of the shirt (she cuts the square into a spiral). I'm glad that I did the spiral cut instead of the other method of doing straight cuts and connecting them...the reason why? The 'straight cut' method leaves little corners that stick out of the yarn - the same thing happen when I did the spiral on the back of the shirt. I like the look of the spiral method better.
After the cutting it was easy-peasy; just give it a tug and voila! I only broke the yarn once where I had cut it a bit too thin.
Next step - knitting with it!
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