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!

Dyeing: And I've begun!

...but only after I read a LOT more and realized I needed things to get warm to set dyes! Uhm, yeah. So fantastic husband of mine found me two large crockpots, then we went and bought a case of mason jars. And I'm now working on my fourth jumbo skein.

Much has gone awry, many things I did incorrectly, but I'm getting there! The best part is none of the dye jobs warranted discarding. They will all be knitted up for their intended recipient. The notebook I'm keeping has pages on things NOT to do, and observations that at times seemed like DUH, and other times had me scratching my head. But I am loving every moment and I know before long I'll be able to do recipes and dyes consistently, with allowable variation, each and every time. The best part is that I've realized I can double the amount I've been dying at once.

Dyeing: Commencing this week!

Went to the thrift store with my spouse who helped toddler-wrangle while I purchased non-metal tools to do my yarn and eventually fabric dyeing. Remember the mondo skeins of yarn? MMMhhhmmmmm, very, very, very soon, they will look different.

The mad scientist in me is very excited as I've read many a blog and tutorial on dyeing, but only one on gradient dyeing and what I am attempting has not been done yet so far as I can see. That just makes it all the more exciting!

So now I begin!

Dahara Dreaming is my love-child idea for a company that offers handmade goodies by mostly stay-at-home (SAH), work-at-home (WAH), or work-outside-the-home (WOH) mamas. I'm in the WAHM category for the most part, though I view being the SAHM the more important aspect.

I've got a fantastic mama, Lissi D., a WAHM herself, and her husband working on the website, http://www.daharadreaming.com/ (of course!), so that I can begin selling the amazing goods that I and other mamas have created. I mainly work in jewelry, sterling silver and gold filled (THE next best thing to a gold product), as well as knitting, dyeing yarns, and sewing. I like to keep busy and I like to share in the income contribution so I combined my love of the creative (see above) and my modest business sense, and I'm following it where it leads!

In the meantime, while I wait for the website to come along, I will begin chronicalling the frenetic quantity of projects I am currently working on. It's what I do. When the site is up and running and selling the goods of other mamas, they too will be doing their own blog as they so choose - both for DaharaDreaming and for themselves.

Currently in the works:

(1) Sewing with a purpose
My challenge to myself to cut and sew 50+ items for myself, my daughter, my spouse, and whatever else has been requested. Since I hate pinning and cutting, I decided to do ALL of that first. It has been a first rate pain in the ass. But I look fondly at the pile growing before me and know that soon I will be using my lovely serger and sewing machine, and it keeps me going. I am currently about to begin cutting peice #41 - YES folks, only 10 more to go and out comes the machines. Thanks goes to my friend Rachel B. who gave a name to my mad method, one I will repeat, but in slightly smaller quantities.

(2) For Dyeing
My first "official" foray into the dyeing world. This is complicated - these projects are for my grandparents. Matching hats and scarves. One of which will be mailed to them for Grandparents Day (Sept. 9), the matching component for Christmas. What I did was take 3 skeins of Worsted Weight Superwash from Knitpicks, unwind them, and then wind them into one VERY LARGE skein so that I could dye with greater gradation control. I have done this three, count them, THREE times. It is very time consuming with no swift, but grants a decent amount of exercise. I have also done it a fourth time with 3 skeins of Knitpicks' Bulky Weight. I love fondling such a large quantity! Photos of the dying will be posted as soon as I get my bottom to the thrift store for some very large pots.

(3) Knitting
3.a -- A tank top from Knitty.com, "Soliel". My lovely friend Janessa did hers in a gorgeous dark lilac cotton, and it was very flattering, so here I go. I am lengthening it a few inches so that should it fit, it will look more appropriate proportionately. Done in Navy with Plymouth Yarn's Dreambaby D.K, 50% acrylic, 50% microfiber. Very soft. The yarn was extraordinarily cheap, having purchased it at a yarn shop that was closing. Also, since this was my first foray into an actual item of clothing, I feel assured that if it doesn't fit, I won't care much. At which point I will then I happily sell it with some gorgeous beading around the hemline.

3.b -- A pair of socks for my brother. He was in the Air Force Reserves, so I am knitting him a pair of very warm house socks in Peace Fleece Blue, Peace Fleece Red, and Knitpicks Wool of the Andes (WOA) in Cloud. There will be a somewhat matching set for his lovely wife, and their son. Cheesy, eh! I got the yarn at coop prices and most pleased with it, having never used Peace Fleece before.

3.c -- "Nebula Spiral" wrapo for me in a gorgeous Pure Wool extra super bulky weight yarn that I ended up having no use for, as I sincerely understeimated the extent of "bulky". It will be so very warm, and I think it will be nice. This too I was able to purchase at coop prices, so am pleased that it will find some use, and be quite beautiful in the process.

That's all I have now. I'll be doing some new jewelry pieces in about 2 weeks and will post on that as well. I'm trying some new exciting things. Insomnia doth have its benefits.