The Dye Pot

Grasses

Materials

Nomis Wolle, worsted weight - about 100 grams
Knitpicks Peruvian Highland Bare, fingering weight - about 50 grams
PAAS Easter egg dye tablets: 5 green, 1 yellow
4 tbls citric acid crystals
Water

Method

Crock pot

Colorfast?

Yes

Color name

Grasses

Experimented just a bit with the citric acid crystals by adding 2 tbls to the soak water as well as 2 tbls to the dye solution - otherwise, pretty much standard procedure. Soak the yarn, mix the dye, add dye to the water in the crock pot, place yarn in dye bath and turn hat to high. Cover and leave until dye is exhausted - about 2 hours in this case. Let yarn cool, wash, rinse, roll in towel and hang to dry.





Notes:

This is the first time, dyeing something with a green component, that the dye completely exhausted. I assume that the citric acid (as it's the only thing I'm doing differently) is responsible but, as a friend quite correctly pointed out to me, it could be that the pH (level of acidity) is different and that different colors react in various ways to different pHs. Though the yarns are different, the end results were nearly identical. See this post (scroll down) for the result of another effort with these same two yarns and a different set of colors.





I had been hoping for something a bit more muted than this. I think that would have required a bit of red or orange which I didn't used in this lot. That said, the more I look at this fresh, springy color, the better I like it :) The swatch sample is from a hat I crocheted with this yarn. The hat has been frogged though, so I can use the yarn - and it's happy hue - elsewhere :)

Posted by Robbyn on 01/23 at 02:40 PM