The Dye Pot

The Jade Sea

I went back to the crock pot for this one because it's easy and, though it takes more time, I didn't have to stand over it. This was a good thing as I had a lot I wanted to get done Sunday. It is the same basic method I've been using pretty much all along - simple and effective for a solid color yarn.

Materials

Approximately 4 ounces of Lion Fisherman's wool, natural color.
2 tablets green Easter Egg dye
3 packets lemon/lime "Crystal Lite" type drink mix (Shaw's Supermarket house brand, in this case)
About 1/2 to 3/4 tsp watermelon/cherry kool-aid
White vinegar
Water

Method

Crock-pot

Colorfast?

Yes

Color name

Jade Sea






The name, by the way, comes from the Guild Wars: Factions game. When the uber bad guy was killed, he let out a howl so devastating that a vast, inland sea was turned to stone - turned to jade, actually. Looks like this:





Process

I started with the idea of using up some of the stuff I've had hanging around for a while. The reason it's been hanging around is that I'm not especially fond of greens - especially those at the yellowish end of the spectrum. SO those dye components which would yield a straight green or a yellowish green have been passed over again and again. However, knowing that a year ago I would have turned my nose up at golds, most oranges and the warmer red tones whereas now I positively lust after them, I figured it wouldn't do any harm to play around. It wouldn't be a "bad" color (that is it wouldn't be mud-colored or anything ugly like that) even if I didn't care for it. Someone (probably in Mongolia) would.

I soaked the yarn in tepid water with a few drops of dish detergent. While that was going on, I mixed the dye with water and probably 1/2 a cup of white vinegar. Added the yarn to the crock-pot (squeezed out, but not rinsed) and poured the dyebath in on top. I set the crock-pot on high this time, rather than the low setting I have been using. Not only did things proceed more quickly, the yarn didn't felt even slightly! Having worked with this yarn many, many times before, I know that it has a tendency to do so if not handled carefully. Not, you know, turning into a big, inseparable lump, but just getting a little "sticky". The difficulty is in figuring out what it considers careful handling :) Anyway, this time it didn't do that. You learn something every day :)

The dyebath was exhausted after about an hour and a half and I then turned the pot off, let the yarn cool, rinsed it and hung it to dry.





Notes:

As with most of my solid color dyeing efforts, this is only solid to a degree :) There are spots where there is a definite, though mild, shading towards either yellow or blue. How this happens when the yarn is the same all through the skein and the dye solution is even and uniform is beyond me. It isn't unattractive and I don't dislike it, but I suspect I am never going to get a perfectly uniform color and should just stop worrying about it.

This is a very refreshing color to my eye and, as seems consistent for me, I am again, very pleased with something I wasn't sure about when I started.

Posted by Robbyn on 12/04 at 01:06 PM