Dyeing: My sojurn into overdyeing...

...because for some reason I had six skeins of Knitpicks Lace Weight Gossamer in Caribbean. It's lovely, but when I knit it up, the yellow was just so obvious it distressed me. So, I had dye, I was jumping into it.... let's try to change it a bit. Here is the original yarn, 3 skeins. Rather, 1 skein and 2 balls, leaving 3 skeins untouched, you know, in case!




And here is what I did: Heated up the yarn in the crockpot with the water, swished it around (boo, hiss, it's merino and it felted a little bit), then lifted it all out, and thinking that some warm colors would be gorgeous and it being yellow and green/blue, add.... red!

Added 1/2 Tsp Jacquard Scarlet

I let the yarn sit, swished some more (more boo's!), added 1/4 cup vinegar, swished some more. Geesh, I know already. Let it sit for an hour or so, turned the crock off, and let cool down. Rinse in a vinegar wash, and voila:



Very beautiful. And happily, it all pulled apart. I haven't re-wound yet since I have no need for it, but the colors are absolutely stunning. A little shrunken, but still absolutely usable and just lovely. Now I want to use it!

I have so much more to dye, but I must knit and I must sew and I must make jewelry. Will probably return to dyeing in about two weeks. Already excited!

Dyeing: Attempt #4

Time for my Grandpa D's yarn - 3 skeins of Knitpicks Bulky Peruvian Highland Wool in Bare. My first attempt without superwash wool. 300 grams tied end to end for one large skein equals 411 yards being dyed all at once

My grandfather was once a hunter, so my goal was gunmetal gray and brown. Using four dyebaths I envisioned doing dark brown, light gunmetal, dark gunmetal, light brown, with many shades in between. Then I decided against the gunmetal - acid dye, and go instead for a green since I have that color in Wilton's Gel.

I thought I would keep all 4 dyebaths close, no pre-vinegar wash, just pre-soaked wool, with deep hangs between each dyebath, using the mason jars for dark colors, the crocks for the lighter colors. Also, maybe double the dye tints for the dark color/mason jars to intensify it, and regular day amounts for the lighter colors.

So, I pre-soaked the woll with a squirt of 7th Generation Free and Clear dish detergent. Keep reminding myself this is not superwash. Keep feeling a wee bit scared.

Turn the crock pots on, heat to about 140 degrees, add the dyes to the dyebaths:

Dyebath 1 (crock): 4 quarts water, 1/2 Tsp Wilton's Brown
Dyebath 2 (jar): 3.5 cups water, 1/2 Tsp Wilton's Brown
Dyebath 3 (crock): 3 quarts water, 1/2 Tsp Wilton's Juniper Green
Dyebath 4 (jar): 3.5 cups water, 1/2 Tsp Wilton's Juniper Green

I then add the yarn. Please note that I did NOT warm up this regular wool. Sigh. Another mighty lesson learned. As a result, nothing goes as planned! I end up spooning water in and out, attempting to add vinegar to each dyebath, in the amount of, get this, 1/2 Tsp of Vinegar per bath.

I then resort to the Jacquard Acid Dyes, adding 1/2 Tsp Jacquard Burnt Orange to Dyebath 1 and 2, since the brown is absolutely not taking. The Burnt Orange just barely colors. The gunmetal is so incredibly pale, that in desperation, I add 3/4 Tsp Jacquard Navy and 1/4 Tsp Jacquard Gunmetal to Dyebath 3. Dye still did not hold. At all.



Anyone know what I did? What is the one ingredient I did NOT add? Anyone? Yes, vinegar. I thought that adding the vinegar to the rinse would be enough. It was not. As it was, it being regular wool I was afraid of too much heat and then when I rinsed it in warm water, it rinsed out most of the dye and shocked it a bit into felting a tad bit. Here is the pale ugly mess. It's not a terrible loss, but not what I was aiming for in the least bit, but more importantly, it's not my Grandpa D.

So, what to do? I wait until it completely dries, pre-soaked it again for an hour, added water to crocks, added wet wool, then turned the heat on and let wool and water heat up together.

An hour later, water is about 130 degrees, I take water from crock, put into two mason jars

Jar 1: 1/4 Tsp Jacquard Burnt Orange and 1/4 Jacquard Aztec Yellow

Jar 2: 1/4 Tsp Jacquard Gunmetal

I mix the dyes in, add 1/4 cup vinegar to each jar, remix. Then I lift the wool out of one crock and add the entire contents of one jar, and then repeat with the other crock. Magic!! Dye is wicking beautifully, just very slowly. I have figured it out! But (isn't there always a but!), I swished the yarn, which caused it to felt more and clump together. But all is not lost! Here is the dyed skein:

And here it is re-skeined after I separated it. It actually gave it a haloed effect, and a bit rough looking while maintaining its softness - so very much my Grandpa D. The colors are nice too. Very hunter-ish and warm feeling for winter.

All in all, I'm pleased. Nothing has had to be tossed yet. And I've custom dyed yarn for my wonderful grandparents. I am quite pleased.

Dyeing: My second attempt - happy mistakes

This yarn is for my Grandpa A. 3 Skeins of Knitpicks Superwash Merino Worsted Weight, tied end to end for one large skein, 10' in stretched diameter, 660 yards total.



Goal: Navy, Maroon, and Gray gradient. Main colors to be the navy and gray, with a maroon "stripe".

Soaked yarn fully submerged in water with 1/4 cup vinegar for 10 hours (oops, fell asleep with my child!). This time I set up my dyes a little differently - but still not correctly, I know that now, yet another lesson!

Crock 1:
1-1/2 Tsp Jacquard Acid Dye Navy

Crock 2:
1-1/2 Tsp Jacquard Acid Dye Gunmetal

Mason Jar:
1/2 Tsp Jacquard Acid Dye Vermilion

This is a picture of the dye process beginning:




The result was LOTS of navy! The Gunmetal didn't "take" - partly, I'm guessing, because I didn't wash, I just rinsed everything out, I think there was some dye contamination from my first attempt. My questions now are perhaps there is no need for vinegar in the soak? Color still had a hard time wicking, though not as much as attempt #1.

I also think the water may not be hot enough when I add the dyes. There was some powder residue at the bottom of the crock. Not sure if this is normal or not. I am thinking perhaps the yarn must be heated in plain water, spoon some water out, mix the dye in a shakeable lidded jar, lift yarn, add dye, stir water, put yarn back in. Also, perhaps zero need to pre-soak with vinegar? Perhaps put in with the dyes? I don't know quite yet.

Hmmm, the vinegar in the presoak may also be a part of why the yarn took the blue from the dye rather than the gray. When I mixed the dye in the water, it took on an eggplant/navy hue, settling into a dark gray after a few minutes. Maybe the vinegar'd yarn sucked the blue out before it could "take" the gray? Just recalling what happened before where ALL the dye was sucked to the yarn with the large amount of vinegar I presoaked in.

So, the end result of two hues of navy, one denim, one midnight, are quite attractive, and the white between the blues and red is nice - goes well with my adjusted patriotic theme for Grandpa A.



And a photo of the three skeins re-skeined into usable skeins. It is much more blue than the photo allows for, having been washed out by the flash. Off to find a hat and scarf pattern for Grandpa A, which, of course, will be posted!



Now, on to dyeing attempt 3!