Second Hand Rose
Materials
Approximately 100 grams lace weight baby alpaca (Knitpicks, Alpaca Cloud, color Sunlight)
PAAS dye tablets: 3 red, 1 violet
White vinegar
Water
Method
Crock pot
Colorfast?
Yes
Color name
Second Hand Rose
The method here is exactly the same as was used for Tea Rose - yarn soaked, but not washed - no detergent and no salt. The dyes and proportions are also identical to what was used for Tea Rose and the method the same. Dissolve the tablets in the white vinegar, add enough water to cover the yarn and pour it all into the crock pot with the yarn. Set on low for about three hours, or until the dye is exhausted. Cool, wash, rinse, remove as much moisture as possible (without folding, spindling or mutlating, of course!) and hang to dry.
I’m playing with this, doubled, with a crocheted shawl in mind. It would be combined with other yarns for this project as well. The swatch was worked on a G (US) crochet hook.
Notes: The alpaca wasn’t undyed yarn and had both light browns and yellows in it as well as the base cream color. While the method and materials were the same as for Tea Rose, the color is deeper, more even and a lot more coppery. This was the first alpaca I tried dying and the result were pleasing. The yarn took up the dye beautifully - perhaps to even more brilliant effect than the wool did. It did not felt at all. In the dye bath, the yarn felt exactly the way your hair feels under water when you’re swimming and when it had been washed and dried, was as soft, slippery and slick as it was before. Whether that is the result of it being baby alpaca or, perhaps partially due to the ways in which it had already been processed, I don’t know.
But eventually, I’ll find out :)
Colored by Robbyn on 06/12 at 02:37 AM
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Cantaloupe
Materials
100 grams fingering weight, merino wool (Knitpicks, undyed)
PAAS Easter egg dye: 2 tablets orange, 1 tablet red, 1 tablet yellow.
Beet water infused with tea (5 bags)
White vinegar
Water
Method
Crock pot
Colorfast?
Yes
Color name
Cantaloupe
This was a little different :) We had fresh beets for supper and the water in the steaming pot was a rich, deep red-violet. So, when the beets were out of the steamer basket and the gas was turned off, I added 5 teabags (Red Rose, for those of you taking notes) to the water to steep. When it had all cooled down, I removed the teabags and covered the pot, intending to use the now red-violet-bronze liquid for dyeing.
The next day, I soaked the yarn (no dish setergent, no salt) and dissolved the dye tablets in about 1/2 cup of vinegar in a separate bowl. Then the yarn went into the crock. This time, instead of regular old tap water, I added the beet/tea liquid to the vinegar to make the volume needed to cover the yarn. It also went into the crock which was covered and set to run on low.
This ran a long time because the liquid never cleared. It was obvious that the yarn had taken up quite a lot of color, but color remained in the liquid as well. I let it go for 6 hours - about twice the time this usually takes - before I shut it down and let it cool. Washed, rinsed, wrapped in a towel and then hung to dry (on a coat hanger in the kitchen window - standard procedure).
Stashed :) The swatch was done on size 3 (US) needles.
Notes: The most startling thing about this experiment was that I had expected a fairly bright orange and instead I got something much more mellow. However, since I introduced two new variables (the beet juice and the tea - very poor scientific method!), I don’t know for sure what exactly provided the muting effect. I suspect the tea, but it insists the violet tones in the beet juice are at least as much to blame :)
Oh, the dye liquid never did clear but it was obvious when I washed the yarn, that it had taken up all it could and wasn’t going to let any of it go! I had expected it to run, but once the residual dye liquid was rinsed away, there was no more color in subsequent rinses.
This yarn also felted very slightly, as did all the other merinos.
Colored by Robbyn on 06/02 at 01:25 AM
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