(This post has NO images—but there
are lots of links to images)
Yesterday's post generated some
questions...
First, Yes, I did dye the yarn. I dye
yarn all the time. I am not scientific about it.. I am artistic—I
enjoy the process, and while the results are not always what I
envisioned, I am rarely disappointed.
To start—some dying basics. To dye
anything you need –dye (color) a fixative, and sometimes, a
mordant.
Dye can be natural (boil up a pound or
more of onion skins, or beets, or red cabbage, or walnut (black
walnuts in there husks)or....
Or dyes can be chemical—Red dye 40 or
other food safe chemicals are one choice, (these are sold commonly as
food coloring) or professional dyes, many of which are toxic.
A few years ago, I found a supply-- at
an odd lot store—a huge collection of regular food color kits (the
little boxes of four bottles) and a few of the neon color ones—I
bought them all! Some of the packages were damaged—I wouldn't use
them for food—but they are perfect for dyeing.
I have also stocked up on egg dying
kits after the Easter holiday, and I have once in a while used Kool
Ade-- the little (sans sugar) envelopes—these come with citric or
acidic acid built in. But they also impart a fruit smell-(that washes
out eventually—but not fast enough for me!)
For the most part, I stick to food safe
chemical dyes.
The fixative for dye varies—there are
2 major choices: for cottons and plant fibers, an alkaloid is
needed—Most commonly—they are pretty strong ones--Lye is one
common choice. Safer, but less effective, are salts like common salt, baking soda, or washing soda.
I don't do a lot of dyeing of plant
material. Partly because of the chemicals, and partly because I
don't use cotton as much for knitting.
Dyeing plant fiber is a whole
different science than dyeing animal fibers. This tutorial is about
dyeing animal fibers (mostly wool).
For animal fibers, an acid is need.
And mild acids work fine. Most often I use vinegar (plain white
vinegar) –about ¼ of cup of vinegar to a quart of water
(sometimes less!) but you can also use acidic acid--(food grade
acidic acid can be found with spices or condiments as “sour
salt”)--These are perfectly safe to use in your kitchen, with out
any special pots or utensils. After all they are all food safe!
Mordants are chemicals (various
salts—but not common salt) that both change the color (making it
deeper, or changing its properties) and they can increase the
fixative power—making a dye more color fast--which is especial important for natural dyes. I almost NEVER use
mordants. Some are fairly safe, but many aren't. Some natural dyes
need them, which is another reason I tend to use simple, ready made
food coloring for my dye stuff.
I stick to simple vinegar and water,
and food coloring. The kind of dying I do is more like coloring eggs
than anything else! (You can use egg dyeing “tabs” for dying—but
its harder to mix custom colors)
That said, Dyeing wool is easy. You can
use food coloring (and vinegar for the acid). YOU can work with
pots (enamaled) or glass that you use for food—since your dye and
acid are food grade materials. But I don't—I always uses plastic
bins (I use the ones from 3 lb packages of meat, or from 1 gal milk
containers (cut off the top) as my cheap, and easy dye pots.
First -get the wool wet. (soak for at
least 15 minutes in warm water.)
HOW? Method A-soak wool in
plain water; method B, soak in water with a splash of vinegar)
Method A- will give a more even take up
of color and create a near solid color.
Method B-will take up the color
unevenly –making a semi solid—with very un-even color.
The results are similar to hand painted
yarns, but with out the effort (and with out the precision!)
If you've used method A: remove the
wool, add vinegar and food dye, stir well, return the wool to dye
bath (this results in an almost solid, even color) Heat to
set the color.
or
B: carefully pour in small amounts of
dye (diluted with vinegar) into the dye pot—with the wool still in
the pot. Do not stir! Just puddle the dye in.--You can stir lightly
if you are using a single color, and want something close to all over
color (see the green of the hyacinth socks). I sometimes use a
drinking straw to pour the dye deep into the pot (and not just have
it puddled on the surface.)
This method results in blotches of
color. At places, the color is more intense, and in other places,
less intense. If you uses more than 1 color, the colors can
bleed--(that is blend together to create new colors). Move the dye
pot slowly and carefully—the more you jiggle it, the more the
puddles of dye will spread.
Heat and cool. (and repeat as
needed)--I use my microwave. I cook for 5 minutes on high, let cool
for 20 or 30 minutes, and then repeat, if needed—and sometimes 2 or
3 cycles are needed. Eventually all the dye will be absorbed by the
wool, and the water will be clear!
I find this works better than stove pot
cooking—and eliminates the temptation to stir (Stirring can cause
the fibers to felt!)--It does require some patience--If you are working with children it can be difficult for them to wait 20 minutes (or an hour, or more!) to see the final results. (But I don't have children(at home) so its not an issue!)
You can start with method A (and make a
base color) and then finish with method B and add other colors to the
base. That's what I did with my most recent skein, the nectarine
color way.
My nectarine yarn started with a base
of apricot (neon colors green and pink)--and very little dye to
create a light base color.
Then I added orange (plain red and
yellow) and crimson (neon pink and a very small amount of red, and a
single drop of blue) and red violet (neon pink and neon purple, and
red and blue!) --I followed the 2 different “recipes” on the box
for different purples, and then mixed them and added a bit more red.
A final note. My skeins need to be
folded (or bunched) to fit in the dye pots. And HOW I fold them
effects how the dye is positioned on the yarn.
A large skein can be folded in half,
and half again(a book fold)--or in half and then in quarters--a sort
of W shape—or the yarn can be folded into the pot in a shape like
an letter I or like an H, or like an E, or just jumbled. Then when I
pour in the dye “puddles” I can have one color at one end,
another at the other end, and a third in the center. The more colors
used at one time, and the way the yarns is folded in the dye pot
controls how the dye is distributed, and makes a difference--And
again, I don't have a scientific, precise methodology, but I just
experiment.
As for colors—I sometimes (but
rarely) use the colors straight from bottle. More often I mix custom
colors. The color guide on the food coloring package helps--(there
are on-line guides to using kool ade). I don't measure precisely (I
am not doing a commercial production, I don't need to be able to get
exactly the same color, over and over again. I limit my dyeing (for
the most part) to one or two skeins at a time—100 gm of sock yarn,
or the same quantity (or less!) for accents for color work, or a
single skein of DK or worsted weight yarn, for a cowl or hat. I test
the colors on a scrap of paper towel—they won't be exactly the same
on the wool—but it's a way to get an idea of the shade before you
pour. If you like the color, but it's too dark, use less dye for a lighter shade.
All the normal rules, for precise
measuring, aren't needed for a one of kind skein.
The DISADVANTAGE to my method—you
can't be sure of the out come.
The ADVANTAGE to my method—you can't
be sure of the out come!
I have had wonderful successes--(and
gotten just the colors I've wanted, in just the right ratios) and
near successes, and failures. But my failures? Well, while they
aren't what I envisioned or hoped for, but they are still almost
always, wonderful—I haven't really ever had a real failure--something that I felt was unusable.
You can see the results some of my
experiments on Ravelry—(links below) and on my blog. A few weeks
ago, (and still not knit up) I dyed some yarn for a pair of “BlackEyed Susy” socks I want to knit. Mostly yellow, with some
brown--the black eye--(which didn't come out as dark as I would have liked) and some
crimson—and another skein in a dark green. (I used some black food
coloring to deepen up the bright green that is the normal shade you
get with food colors. I love the green, but the flower color (the
mostly yellow skein-)- were not exactly the colors I hoped for—but
not a real failure, by any measure—I think once knit up, in a
stranded color work, they will be a perfect success, even with the
too light shade of brown.
I also dyed some home spun a brightspring green, (a hat I think) and some Skinny Bugga a peacock blue—My daughters getting married this fall, and her color scheme
is peacock—this is likely going to be a shawl for me. (For her?
Well she claims she doesn't want a shawl—the wedding is in October,
and will be, weather permitting, outside. I think a shawl is in
order, but it's her wedding!)
The green of the Hyacinth socks were
dyed method B –to create an very uneven semi solid.
The violet of the Twisted chain socks
were also done method B (with 2 very similar shades of violet, not
one—one was a bluer violet, one was a redder violet--(open the
image to enlarge and see the shades clearly.) --a third shade of
violet was created where the 2 colors bled together.
The Colorful Cowl? It's an example of
a failure.. The colors are much more intense that I thought they
would be, and the yellow came out so dark, it looks, for the most
part, like orange!--But how could anyone call this color way a
failure? Sure-- it's not what I hoped for—but I love it all the
same.
Harlequin Spring—I made a big effort,
and divided a partial skien into 3 parts, (without cutting, I just
gathered up the strands) and dyed each part via method A—and it
worked out perfectly!
In the middle image, on the extreme right, you
can see that the first few stitches of the yellow section are
actually green... (but if I didn't tell you, would you have noticed?)
Even I am amazed at how well things worked out!--and I love the mardi gras/king colors for this spring hat.
My Sally Lunn hat also uses a semi
solid (method B) dyed yarn—
(2 packages of Kool Ade—I forget the colors/flavors—except one
was grape (and I hated the smell of the yarn!)
Both of these hats are good examples of near
solids--Click on the image to fully open (and enlarge) and you'll see
the solids are not quite a solid as commercially dyed yarn—they
have some variation—and a home dyed/hand painted look.
You don't have to start with plain
white yarn either—Blue Leaf started out as a sock yarn I didn't
like--(hot pink, red, blue, lime and white!) and over dyed a solid
(method A) Blue—became a lovely subtle (vs garish) color way. And
several partial skeins (in 2 shades of blue)--and noticeable
different dye lots where over dyed for these socks-- a bunch of left
overs and mis-matched yarns that became a pair of free (and beautiful!) socks.
As you see, this is something I have
been doing on and off for years—Why don't you try it too?
