The Dye Pot

Come Sail Away

Materials

Approximately 6 ounces aran weight wool (Lionbrand Fisherman’s Wool)
PAAS dye tablets: 3 violet, 3 blue
White vinegar
Water

Method

Crock pot

Colorfast?

Yes

Color name

Come Sail Away

I did wash this yarn and left the detergent in it for the dye process.  No salt, however, was harmed in the dyeing of this yarn :) Dye was dissolved in vinegar and water added to create enough solution to cover the yarn - except it didn’t :) There was a lot more yarn than I usually dye at one time and it filled the crock.  The dye went over and around, in and out and didn’t come anywhere near covering the yarn.  So I quickly filled the bowl with tap water and poured that into the crock until the yarn was submerged.  Everything was processed on low until the dye was exhausted.  The yarn, after cooling, was washed in dish detergent, rinsed, towelled and hung to dry.

The colors in this remind me of sunset on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire, where my family vacationed when I was a kid.  There’s slightly less than 6 ounces of it and that’s not going to go terribly far, but I want to do something really special with it.  The swatch was worked on size 8 (US) needles.

Notes: I had been aiming for a solid blue-violet but after the dye tablets had dissolved, the dye in the bowl looked very blue, medium dark, and showed very little red presence at all.  I shrugged mentally, decided I could live with the color, and proceeded to pour the dye over the yarn in the crock pot.  It didn’t, of course, hit all of the yarn nor did the liquid completely cover the yarn so I quickly added more water.  When the water hit the parts of the yarn that had absorbed some of the dye it washed away the color - except for the reds (which turned out to be there after all!) leaving a pink color in the yarn!  After getting the liquid level right, I stirred everything together (gently, of course), set the crock pot on low and went and did some last minute grocery shopping.

When I got home, I checked to make sure the yarn had absorbed all the dye (it had), turned the pot off and let it cool.  From what I was looking at the top of the crock, it looked as though the purple had established a presence and what I could see looked very close to the blue-violet I had originally had in mind.  Imagine my surprise when I lifted it out to be washed and saw all kinds of colors running through the hank ranging from pink/purple to blue to blue/green! 

I want to try this “technique” (fortuitous accident!) again, with a little more deliberation and planning as to where the colors are placed before adding enough water to cover the yarn.  I’m also wondering about doing this with an already colored yarn.  You know - just to see what happens!

Again, as before with the LB FIsherman’s wool, there was no felting.  However, as I did the final wash with dish soap rather than a shampoo/conditioner kind of thing, the yarn was still a bit rough. 

Colored by Robbyn on 07/03 at 02:58 AM
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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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Tea Rose

Materials

100 grams fingering weight merino (Knitpicks undyed)
PAAS Easter egg dye: 3 tablets of red, 1 of violet
White vinegar
Water

Method

Crock pot

Colorfast?

Yes

Color name

Tea Rose

No detergent or salt were used this time.  The yarn was soaked in tepid water, but not washed, and placed in the crock pot.

About 3/4 cup of vinegar was put into a clear bowl and the dye tablets were added.  You should see this stuff dissolving - it actually fumes and it can make quite a bit of noise too :) Then water was added and the whole poured into the crock pot.  Stirred things around (carefully!) with my trusty wooden spoon, turned the pot to low and went away for about three hours.

When the dye was exhausted, I let the yarn cool, washed it, squeezed it in a towel and hung it to dry.

This is slated for socks which will be pure luxury given how soft this yarn is!  The swatch was worked on size 2 (US) needles.

Notes: As with the first merino (the Turquish Delight), there was some slight felting.  What I don’t know is if that’s particular to merino in general, or only to this merino.  In any case, it wasn’t a problem and I consider this my first real success.  This yarn is breath-takingly beautiful and always makes me think that this is what roses would look like if they were made of wool.  I hope very much to be able to duplicate this and try not to obssess too much about whether that’s a reasonable possibility :)

Colored by Robbyn on 05/31 at 01:01 AM
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Plums

Materials

About 3 ounces aran weight, undyed wool (Lionbrand Fisherman’s Wool)
Kool-aid packets: 2 black cherry, 1 grape
White vinegar
Table salt
Water

Method

Crock pot

Colorfast?

Yes

Color name

Plums

The yarn was washed in tepid water and dish detergent.  It was not rinsed before putting it into the crock pot.

I poured the vinegar (about a half cup - I had read that Kool-aid dyeing didn’t require additional acid to work well, but I didn’t want to take any chances - the vinegar wouldn’t hurt the yarn or impair the process and it doesn’t cost squat!) into another glass bowl and added the Kool-aid and about a tablespoonful of table salt (not iodized).  When everything was dissolved, I added water and poured it over the yarn in the crock pot, set the pot on low and let it go.  As seems to be about the usual, it took about three hours for the dye to exhaust after which he crock pot was turned off and the yarn allowed to cool.  It was then washed, rinsed, folded in a towel to draw out as much moisture as possible and hung up to dry. 

The yarn was wound and promptly made into a baby hat which was worked on size 8 (US) needles.

Notes: This wool did not felt in the slightest though the treatment it received was no different than the merinos.  Before the final washing (which was done with a shampoo/conditioner all-in-one sort of deal) it was a bit rough.  The shampoo/conditioner treatment did soften it up a bit.  I was surprised to note that the yarn lost none of its loft - for lack of a better term - during all the washing and dying.  I had, I guess, expected it to compress a little and it didn’t.  Pretty good performance for a dirt-cheap wool :)

Oh - and, as Uncle would say, One more thing… I did not notice much difference in the eveness of the dyeing despite the addition of a little dish soap and some salt.  I had read that each of these items would help make the dye “take” in a more uniform fashion.  I still got a reasonable base tone with slight lighter and darkers variations.  S’cool; I like the way that looks!

About two-thirds of the way through the process I checked the dyebath and found that the water was green.  From Black Cherry and Grape?  Hunh!  I considered removing the yarn at that point which might have yeilded a truer red/violet but I decided to let things run their course and left it alone.  Does that indicate that the red and blue tones were taken up faster than the green ones?

Colored by Robbyn on 05/30 at 12:25 AM
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Turquish Delight

This was the first adventure :) I had the dye (PAAS Easter egg dye tablets) and the yarn - had had them for some time.  It took a while to gel in my head, but I finally got up one day (almost literally!) and thought: Today we dye!

Materials

100 grams fingering weight merino wool (Knitpicks, undyed)
PAAS dye tablets: 3 blue, 1 green
White vinegar
Water

Method

Crock pot

Colorfast?

Yes

Color name

Turquish Delight

Nothing mysterious or involved here - I didn’t even wash the yarn this first time.  I just set it in a large glass bowl of tepid water to soak for about an hour.  Then the yarn and the water went into the crock pot.

I poured the vinegar into another glass bowl and added the dye tablets.  When they had dissolved, I added what I thought was enough water (it was a guesstimate) to cover the yarn, gave it a few stirs with my handy, dandy wooden spoon and poured it in with the yarn.  There were a few more stirs and gentle proddings to make sure all the yarn was exposed to the dye.  Then the lid went on and the pot was set to low.

I intended to leave it until I was sure the yarn had taken up all the dye it could and that took about three hours.  I turned the crock pot off and left everything to cool after which it was washed, rinsed and hung to dry.

The yarn was wound and is awaiting the right project :) Swatch was worked on size 3 (US) needles.

Notes: Despite what I felt was adequate care in handling and temperature control, the yarn fulled slightly - just enough to be slightly sticky when I was unwinding the skein after it had dried.  Maybe this is typical of merino wool?

Colored by Robbyn on 05/26 at 10:40 PM
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