Bombay
Materials
Knitpicks Bare Peruvian Highland Wool, fingering weight. about 100 grams
PAAS dye tablets: 1 red, 1 orange, 1 yellow
6 teabags (regular, ordinary black tea)
White vinegar
Water
Method
Stove top
Colorfast?
Yes
Color name
Bombay
I used the stove top this time - one color in each of three jars - in order to get a variegated result in less than three days :) First I made the tea (tea bags and boiling water) in a big glass bowl with enough water to cover the yarn. When it had cooled, I soaked the yarn in the tea for about 45 minutes. Then I placed a couple of tablespoons of vinegar in the bottom of each of three jars and added a dye tablet to each one. When the dye was completely dissolved, I filled the jars about two-thirds full with cold tea. Then I added the yarn - approximately a third of the skein folded into each jar. The jars went into a strainer which went into a kettle of water. The whole kit-and-caboodle went on the stove where it simmered for about 2 hours - until the dye exhausted. Then the heat was turned off and everything was left to cool overnight.
I have only dyed on the stove top once before and that was the Citrine Curry but it was for the same reason - to get a multi-colored yarn without a prolonged process.
The swatch was done on size 7 US (4.0 mm ) needles.
Notes:
I have used tea before as a muting agent, particularly with warm colors, so that the colors wouldn't wind up looking too bright. Previously, I had used the tea as part of the dye bath but I had never soaked the yarn in it before. I wanted to see if that made a difference. It did, though it was small. In both the yellows and the oranges, the muting effect was slightly more intense than before (compared, say, to the yellows and oranges in the Citrine Curry.
I had hoped I was dying a shawl yarn here, but the colors are more intense than I had hoped for. I'm trying a lace scarf with it and rather liking the results. Also, the yarn is a little rougher, coarser than I had hoped. I will probably keep the rest of the fingering weight for dyeing experiments and order pure merino when I ready to make the next shawl.
Colored by Robbyn on 08/23 at 08:56 PM
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