Color in the Dye Pot: Sky Blue and Evergreen

Evergreen and Sky Blue on wool yarn

I am nearing the end of knitting another pair of socks, and looking ahead to the next project -- and it occurred to me that I needed to dye some more wool yarn for that.

What colors?  Blue and Grape?  Black Cherry and Red Wine (Merlot)?  Evergreen?

All staple colors for me. but I went with sky blue and evergreen this time.

I am using Procion Dye.  You can't use the activator because it will damage the wool, so instead, I use vinegar and heat to make the dye colorfast.  Dharma has instructions on their website.

 

I started with 4 balls of yarn, tied into old onion skin net bags so they will stay a little compacted (not too tight).  The bags also keep them from unravelling in the pot and becoming a  giant tangle.  A trouser sock or nylon sock would also work to hold the ball together, and also act as a partial resist to help with thaqt gradient effect.

I am using my favorite sock yarn wool for dying: Chic Sheep merino wool yarn from my stash.  I don't think it's available anymore for purchase, so I'll have to find a substitute in future.    These are all the same white / lace colore to start with, even though the lighting and net bags make them all look different in the photo above.

 I soaked the white balls of yarn in water ahead of time, as the pots of water were warming up to just below a simmer.  This helps the balls to take up the dye more evenly.  In actuality, I was looking for a more mottled / gradient look, with some variation through the ball.  In that case, I should have just prepared the dye bath and tossed in the dry balls of netted yarn.

To prepare the dye bath:

Heat a pot of water to just below simmering.  Because this is wool, you don't want it to boil or you'll have felt.

I was using old Procion dyes.  Using Dharma's instructions for Procion Dye on wool (no soda ash, as it can destroy the protein fibers).   I sized it for roughly 1/2 pound of fiber, or 2 balls of merino wool yarn, each at 100 grams.

In the Dye Pot,
1-1/2 T salt
1/3 cup white vinegar
Enough water to cover / submerge the balls of yarn.
Heat this until it gets just ready to simmer.

For the dye concentrates, I mixed up
1 tsp dye powder with
about 2 cups warm water.
1 put that in a plastic bottle with a tight-fitting cap, so I could shake it up until the dye powder was completely dissolved.

Once the dye pot was hot enough (just ready to simmer, not boil), I removed the yarn balls, I added the salt and vinegar, then the dye concentrate. Stir that up.

Then add the balls of yarn.  Let them simmer until the dye has moved from the water into the yarn. 

For the blue, you may need to add more vinegar as that encourages the uptake of the blue dye. 

 

I let them simmer for about 2 hours.  Then then turn off the heat, and let them cool completely.  Then I dumped the dye water, squeezed out the balls and rinsed them in new water, letting them soak overnight.  I repeated this rinse process until the water ran clear. 

Then I squeezed out the balls (still in the net bags) and hung them by the fire to dry for a few days.  From past experience, it's difficult to unravel a wet ball of yarn, so  be patient and let them dry. It may take a few days, but that's ok.

 

The dry dyed yarn balls -- un-netted. 

  

The next step is to wind the dyed balls onto a niddy-noddy to make skeins.  

  

This allows you to see what you have as far as color gradients, etc. 

 

 

 

Notes: Again, it's been a long time since I dyed yarn, so I forgot --  the measurements for dye were a little less because I wanted the mottling.  But I forgot that tiny detail, and added a bit more dye,, and dumped in the entire 2 cup bottles, which gave more even coverage of the dye all through the balls of yarn. 

I should have looked back at this post: More Kettle-Dyed Yarn : Green, Blue, and Stormy Skies as this was more of the effect I was after.