The Dye Pot

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 :)

Posted by Robbyn on 06/12 at 02:37 AM