4 posts tagged “dye experiment”
I'd meant to do this earlier, but then Six Apart had a power failure and I forgot to sit down and type this up. Mea culpa.
Since I'm still new to dyeing yarn, I admit I shy away from dyes that are less ingestion-friendly than, say, Kool-Aid. (I have cats. One of them was once both smart and stupid enough to get into a closed room and drink bleach: A trip to the Pet Emergency Room and $500 later, I learned not to keep things that could poison my cat in the house.)
This means that I've been having fun figuring out palettes with food coloring.
For my original No Sheep buddy, I finished dyeing a skein of raw silk in variegated shades of orange: I did end up using the dip-dye method after having blathered on about it for months a good while, and I think I like the results. There's an interesting little yellow-orange splatter on the natural section, though: I forgot why I usually use latex gloves to handle the yarn. One, keeps my hands clean. Two, the ridges in my fingerprints seem to be a really good hiding place for dye after I've wiped it off. Oops.
I ended up picking up three one-ounce bottles of Kroger food coloring from the local Food for Less, along with a gallon of white vinegar so I knew I'd have enough: Two red and one yellow.
I used my Rival steamer as the yarn cooking pot, as I've personally found the thing to be useless for actually cooking food: I miss my late '70s, early '80s Rival steamer that I inherited from my Mom when she found it. (Old Christmas or anniversary present, I think it was -- and it worked fabulously, up until the seals gave out. I'm still looking for replacement parts, because that thing was WORTH saving.)
I digress.
Using my newer Rival, I set up the water and vinegar: I was perhaps a little careless with the 8 cups water to 1 cup white vinegar, but it didn't seem to hurt (and, remembering not to put the vinegar in the water for the overnight soak was helpful, too) -- and then in went one bottle each of the red and yellow. I let the steamer come up to heat and then put all but the last eight to ten inches of yarn in the basin, swished it around, and left the white end hanging out over a bowl. Twenty minutes, tug out another six-ish inches, and set the timer for another 30.
Repeat until I've done this three times, and then add the last bottle of red food color, stirring to mix, and then continue until you're down to the last of the yarn in the pot.
At this point, to make sure all the colors set, I dumped the basin, put in fresh water, and also inserted the steamer basket: Coiled the long hank up in the basket with the darkest part on the bottom and covered it, letting the whole thing steam about 30 minutes. ...This would also be the point where my fingerprints added 'interest' to the white end of the yarn. ;)
Anyway. Currently avoiding putting the thing back on the umbrella swift to wind it into something presentable, but that's only because I'm being lazy: I may also still be remembering my last dye experiment, and the Nick-cat deciding that he'd help with the yarn... By playing with it!
I just remember stepping out of the room for a minute and coming back -- pit stop or something, I forget -- to find Nick in a little nest of blue and green and pink, with the world's most innocent "What? What did I do, Mom?" look on his face.
Felines.
But that's why I'll be setting up the swift outside where he can't assist me this time. ;)
Awww. Swap's over for me. ;)
Juni: Thank you! The Summer Linen you sent over arrived safely yesterday, and I'm quietly going mad trying to decide what to do with it -- since, as you know, I've never used linen yarn before (and I was curious about it).
I'm also endlessly amused at the term 'muggle blog' -- I'm going to have to steal that one from you.
Thank you for all your work as my upstream pal -- It's been a really fun experience for my first skein swap. (And also, one more thank you for the birthday wishes -- It's been a blast so far.)
... But, I still have one more package coming for each of my downstream pals.
I've picked up the dye needed for Pal 1's massive skein of raw silk, and now I just need to un- and rewind the hank into sections a little longer than 4' around. (I'm going with the dip-dye method and depending on how pleased I am with the results, may over-dye the whole thing with a lighter color... but if I'm going dip-dye, I think a little more length in the skein keeps things interesting.)
Pal 2's last package is just waiting on some non-wool roving I picked out for her to show up on my doorstep: She's a spinner, I asked if she wanted non-wool roving, and I am also including some yarn, so. She's getting lots o' love through the mail in the next week or two.
I've discovered that I apparently spoil my downstream pals. Another of my knitty friends once told me she's guilty of the same thing: I laughed at her at the time, but I think I know where she's coming from. I tend to overbuy and grab more than one thing for my pals as I want to make sure they've got the thing they want -- I suppose I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to giving gifts. ;)
I'm really glad to have gotten to know a few individuals in this swap... And perhaps that was the point? :)
I ran into some trouble last night while using the dishwasher as heat provider
for my dye experiment: Lid wasn't watertight (and duh, I knew that),
but apparently my saran wrap came loose while inside the colander in
the pot in the dishwasher. (I dunno why she swallowed that fly...)
Still, in spite of a rather thorough submersion without wrapping the thing in a gallon-size ziplock, the colors didn't appear to bleed: The 900 yard skein has since been rinsed,
stood on while rolled in a towel to force the water out, and hung out
to dry in this weather that's proving too damned hot and dry for my sanity. Honestly: Ten thirty at
night, and I was nowhere near comfortable enough with the temperature to
try and sleep.
The fiance has pronounced the color scheme pretty. If I'm honest, I think it's kinda pretty, too -- Not nearly as sunset as I'd have
liked on the red, which I may or may not be able to blame on the
dishwasher mishap, but it's looking nice. And, everything I've been told about dye drying lighter is true, so the skein I'm currently winding up strongly resembles KnitPick's Memories in Hawaii -- minus the yellow, mind, but there's a similarity. (And I think I'm now a little irritated: ALL of Memories on clearance, when I can't afford to pick up more skeins? Grumble! Here's hoping it doesn't all sell out prior to my next yarn allotment for next month...)
My little niddy-noddy does not seem to be up to 900 yards of color, so I'm having to wrap it between elbow and the groove of my thumb. Maybe I can take it to work and make a project out of it...
First 'handpainting' experiment in process!
It's currently in the dishwasher, using the heat there to set it.
Yeah, so perhaps I was inspired by Knitty.com's feature on handpainting your own yarn. I'd originally wanted to use the dip-dye method mentioned, but silly me didn't bother to read the instructions completely -- I added vinegar to the overnight soak, and the dip-dye method is the only one that says not to (because you don't want the dye to get taken up the moment it's set in the pot)... Mea culpa, mea culpa.
My hands are a little bit dyed from handling the food coloring, but not as bad as they could have been: Thank goodness for having an extra few disposable pairs of latex gloves around for dyeing my hair. (Vanity pays, who knew?)
Anyway, I wonder how it's going to come out: I went into the dye process thinking I'd get a sunset red, mint green and light turquoise on the yarn for kicks and giggles -- I did end up getting the sunset red color, but clearly went overboard and ended up with a dark teal and a dark mint green, but I still have hope that this'll be interesting.
Dye notes, mostly for me and before I forget: Applied on fingering weight raw silk yarn.
Sunset red:
Deep teal:1 cup water
Kroger food color: .3 oz red, .1 oz yellow.Dark mint:¾ cup water
Kroger food color: .3 oz blue, .1 oz green¾ cup water
Kroger food color: .2 oz yellow, .2 oz green, .3 oz blue
Also noteworthy in all things yarn and crafted, I finished a halter top that I started Friday and made up on the fly today: I was half-tempted to wear it home, since we seem to be in the savage clutches of a heat wave. I'm rather proud of how it turned out, honestly: Made it out of crochet thread, of all things, using size 4/3.5 mm needles. I've also written the pattern down for myself so I remember what I did, and can tweak it if I so desire. Turns out I could have probably taken it in a few stitches, since the crochet thread has a lot of give -- No complaints, though. It's comfy. Needs blocking, though -- sadly, after the dyeing, I'm not really up for stretching more things out on the glass coffee table that's turning into my quick-cleaning craft central.
I hope the dye job turns out well... I'd really love the excuse to get some more raw silk yarn and dye the hell out of it.
Still, what I wouldn't do for more of Stephanie of RecycledSilk.com's Andromeda silk... Silk and merino, two of my favorite yarns right there.
