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.   

In the Dye Pot - In Search of Evergreen

 

Remember that apple green from the other day?  It was beautiful, but not quite what I was going for.  My heart wanted evergreen.  So I gave it another go in the dye pot-- this time over-dyed with Procion Teal. 

On the left: Teal Blue over-dyed leaf green on alpaca and highland wool yarn.  This one has a nice glow and depth to it -- as I often see with over-dyed items.  The teal blue did a nice job of taming that apple green.  This is a definite contender!

On the right: As an insurance policy, I also dyed another batch of alpaca + highland wool yarn with Procion Evergreen, since I found a jar of it in my stash.  It's a little bit bluer, but still green.

Still trying to decide which one I'll use in the next circle scarf.  I still need to fix the heddle threading.

 

Just as a reminder, here's that leaf green I started with.  Just a little too bright!

 

In the Dye Pot - More Preparations for Weaving

 Knit Picks Fingering Gloss (merino wool and silk) dyed with Procion Grape and Cerulean Blue. 

Dharma has a method for using fiber-reactive dyes (using vinegar, salt  and heat in place of the soda ash) on wool.  I've had good success with it, as you can see!

Turns out, I wasn't all that enamored of the 'spensive cashmire yarn I bought to make more circle scarves.  So I looked through my stash to see what I could dye myself that was a comparable fiber type (not cashmire, but soft) and weight.  

I had some alpaca and some Knitpicks Merino and Silk that look to have the same weight (1 or laceweight).

It's my usual comfortable color pallet:  Blue, Green, and Purple.

 

Procion Cerulean Blue (Knitpicks Gloss: Merino and silk)

 

Procion Cerulean Blue in the dye pot. 

 

Dyer's notes.

In the Dye Pot:  Bring water to just below simmering.

Add the following:

• 1-1/2 T Salt
• 1/3 cup Vinegar
• 1/4 cup Dye Stock (I could have used more.  These feel a little too pastel-y.)
  
• Add pre-soaked yarn.
  
• Simmer until dye has been taken up by the yarn.   (About 2 hours or so.)

  It came out a nice sky blue.

Yarn label.  Knit Picks Fingerling Gloss. 

Procion Grape (with a little extra Cerulean Blue) on Knitpicks Gloss: Merino and silk.

 

 Dyer's Notes.

Procion Leaf Green on alpaca yarn. Looks almost black!

 

Dyer's Notes.  I thought I might have to mix the color myself.  Greens and purples are tricky to get "just the right color." 

 

Yarn label with specifics. 

 This is how it came out -- much lighter than I expected. More of a Granny Smith apple green.  Gorgeous under normal circumstances, but not quite what I was going for here ...

All of these came out pastel-y.  Will another round of dye deepen the colors?  

What if I use the Wilton's food coloring dyes this time?

More Kettle-Dyed Yarn : Green, Blue, and Stormy Skies

Teal Blue (Procion-Dyed) Wool Yarn

What do I do when I have a day off?  I relish in the extra time for crafting!

Greens and Blue Skeins

The boys went on an adventure to Appleton to get OKL a bona fide fountain pen for his high school graduation and send-off to college.  I stayed home so I could have free reign in the kitchen to kettle dye another batch of yarn.

This time, I was experimenting with using an old trouser sock to hold the loose balls of yarn together.  It looked like a fat sausage in the pot.  As expected, it acted as a resist, somewhat, but the dye looks like it got through just fine -- in most cases.  I think I can squeeze, mix, and stir those packets to get more dye to penetrate.

For the most part, 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 added the dye concentrate -- not usually the entire bottle (except for the teal). Stir that up.
Then add the balls of yarn.

I did not pre-soak these balls, so they took a little more work to get them to soak in the liquid and be comfortable in the dye bath.  It would be worth experimenting to see what effect the pre-soaked balls have on this technique.

Then I let them simmer on the stove for about 1 hour.  I am amazed at how the Procion dye nearly exhausts with this technique -- I see that a lot with the food coloring, but usually not with the Procion on cotton.

Let them cool before you remove them from the dye pot.

Here are the results:

Leaf Green with a splash of Moss Green:

Leaf Green with Moss Green, fresh out of the pot.

Greens fresh off the niddy noddy.

Leaf Green with Moss Green

Skeined up and looking pretty!

Teal Blue - I really like this one!  There seemed to be so much dye left in the pot half-way through, that I decided to add a 3rd loose ball to the pot.  I was careful not to disturb it much once it was in the pot, as I wanted the mottled effect that brings.

 This view of the Teal Blues on the Niddy Noddy really shows off the color changes in the gradient.

Teal Blue Skeins

Stormy Skies - Purples and grays:

Storm Clouds out of the pot.  

The one on the left was in the trouser sock, so it kept it's shape a little better.

The other one was fast and loose, and lost it's shape in the process.

I was hoping the trouser sock would help it keep it's general shape so it would be easier to unravel with fewer tangles.

 Storm Clouds, skeined up and pretty.

For future reference, this is the general technique I was using, demonstrated here by Rebecca at Chem Knits.  Keep in mind, I was using wool yarn and Procion dyes, so there are key differences with my results.  But the basic idea of throwing an intact ball of yarn into the dye pot is the key to getting the gradient.