Friday, August 17, 2007

 

Welcome to the dye pot.

It was a busy day here on Thursday morning. I decided to really get into the acid dyes that I had purchased before school ended. I wanted to try a couple of techniques that I had seen in Dyeing to Knit and a good time was had by all.

I did two roving bundles first. They are both superwash lambswool from Knit-Knackers and I used the standard handpaint technique. I find that superwash roving takes the dye so fast that I don't even need to heat them afterwards.

I was using dye measurements that were intended for a different brand of dye and I think it was way too much. I love the colours in the top one - the saturation is what I wanted but there was some run off before I got a total exhaust. I'm a little less happy with the green and purple. I wish I had given myself longer repeats of each colour. I guess the proof will be in the spinning.

The two sock yarns were both Knit-Picks Bare. The top skein was "sprinkle dyed". You wet out the yarn, spread it out in a shallow pan and sprinkle the yarn with the dye powder. The colours migrate a little but I think the end results is a little muddy. Again - I won't have a final result until I see it knit. I love how some areas look like they've been air brushed.

I was thrilled with how this one turned out. It is tie dyed. I space dyed the yarn with a light yellow, a light green and a teal. Once I finished that process I tied it in a bunch of different places with cotton and over dyed with saphire blue. The yellow didn't quite turn the blue I wanted but the overdye on the blue and the green is awesome! I can't wait to see how this one turns out.

I'm going to try and get one more dye day in before I got back to school. I will probably be back in the school building week after next and right now dyeing is helping me convince myself that I don't need to buy any more yarn (it's like I'm creating my own new yarn!). I may go pick up a little more natural roving but that should be it for a while.

Comments:
Those look amazing - I can't wait to see how they spin and knit up!
 
I love the way the sprinkled one turned out. I'm going to have to give it a try.
 
Gorgeous as usual! What dyes did you use? I have about 3lbs of shetland that could use a little color. I was going to use 'food dyes' but I'll change my mind if you're using something else!
 
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