The Dye Pot

Indicolite

This is another in a series of efforts to dye some mohair from a yucky pink to a useable color.  The previous attempts, Purple Haze and Oasis Sunset were pleasantly successful so when I discovered more pink yarn…

...(this is a deeper pink) overdying seemed like a reasonable option.

Materials

Approximately 4 ounces of Classic Elite La Gran Mohair, medium grey/pink color.
About 1/2 oz liquid, blue food coloring
White vinegar
Water

Method

Crock pot

Colorfast?

Color crocked very slightly through all washings and rinsings.  I would assume that it may continue to do so (the way jeans do) for a while.

Color name

Indicolite

The battle for purple continues :)  I thought I had a shot here with the liquid food coloring (blue) to which I would add just a touch of red icing dye thus circumventing the violet icing dye’s inevitable color change when the vinegar is added.  I started with a fair amount of the blue and then added the red after dissolving it in hot water.  That gave me a great violet!  Then I added the vinegar and the whole thing changed into a dirty, swapy green.  Bleah…  For the first time I threw out a dyebath.  Better that than the yarn, I’m thinking :)

I proceeded using only the liquid, blue food coloring.  I washed this yarn in dish detergent and did not rinse before dyeing it.  The dye, being liquid, didn’t need to be prepared or dissolved and so it was simply added to water and vinegar (probably half a cup) to create enough dye solution to cover the yarn.  The yarn was soaked and then washed in dish detergent.  The dyebath was poured into the crock pot, the yarn was added and the pot covered and set to low.  The dyebath never did quite exhaust. This ran all day and was allowed to cool overnight.  Washing, rinsing (many, many rinses!) and drying followed the standard procedure.

Notes: 

I now know that the issues of achieving a violet color in the presence of acid have to do with the red component of the color - at least in the icing dyes.  I’ve used red and pink kool-aids and not noticed any color changes, nor were there any problems with the red easter egg tablets.  Grape kool-aid (a natural, you would think, for a purple dye) has a substantial green component which I find unattractive and drab.

Indicolite is the blue-green variety of tourmaline and this yarn came out almost exactly that shade, hence the name.

I must say, mohair certainly dyes nicely - at least Classic Elite’s mohair does.  I’m getting the hang of hnadling it properly too.  The first time I did this, the yarn was a matted mess after it had dried and required much coaxing and pleading to straighten out.  This time the yarn unwound (from the skein) and wound (into the ball) as smoothly as silk.

Posted by Robbyn on 09/22 at 11:25 AM