Random thoughts of a fiber enthusiast - mostly fiber related, sometimes coherent

Category: Dye Page 12 of 14

Painted Socks

What do you get when you put a warping board, Knitpicks Bare sock yarn, and some dye together?

On the Warping Board
I love it when a tool can serve double duty. The warping board pegs are about 18″ apart — a bit more than the recommended 15″, but close enough for me!

Ready to Dye
All tied off and ready to dye!

Dipped and Ready to Steam
Dipped in dye stock, wrapped in plastic wrap, and ready for zapping in the microwave. Unfortunately, after 3 minutes in the nuker, I realized I forgot to add vinegar! Smooshed some vinegar into each pouch and back to the nuker.

Socks!
I couldn’t wait. I washed and dried the yarn in the dryer (gotta love superwash sock yarn) and knitted this up right away. I think it turned out pretty well! I’m not fond of the blue in there, but it still doesn’t look to bad.

Would I do this again? Quite honestly? I don’t know. It was a pain to wind off the yarn. Part of the problem was that I felted it slightly when smooshing in the vinegar and then the dryer action. But it still was a pain in the butt to wind off because you can’t do it on a swift. I hung it up on the pegs to wind off gently from the warping board. It was slow going. Then, I wound off to a center pull ball, and then divided into 2 somewhat equal center pull balls so that they start at the same location in the color repeats. Very tedious. I think the winding off part took as long as all the rest put together! But I do love how crisp the lines are.

Dye Day

Okay, you know it’s been too long since you last dye fiber when…you forget to presoak the yarn and the fiber. Then you forget to add the vinegar.

It was a gorgeous day outside. Just the right type of day to pull out the dye pots and play with color. Thankfully, nothing unrepairable. I just hope that I “cooked” the yarn long enough once I remembered the vinegar for the colors to set correctly. I even remembered that a couple of the colors I used are notoriously bad about exhausting, plus the fact that I used way too much of the said dye to get the saturated color I wanted. The yarn refuses to rinse clear.

The last batch of fiber is brewing on the back porch in my electric turkey roaster. I can’t wait.

More Dyeing Adventures

Dharma Trading sent me a silk cut velvet scarf as part of some promotion some time ago. I actually got around to dyeing it using these instructions before the super bowl yesterday. I used sapphire blue and turquoise procion dyes, pouring them directly on the damp scarf. See the scarf in the plastic shoebox in the kitchen sink?
DevoreSink.jpg
I then poured in a bit of soda ash and salt solution into the box, put two layers of plastic cling wrap on top, and set it on the sunny flagstone patio during the game. I made the mistake of washing the completed scarf by machine. The fringe knotted up horribly.
Devore.jpg
I also did a few onesies. Here is my favorite.
Swirl1.jpg
And here are its siblings.
HalfDozen.jpg

Recipes are at BadMom.

Page 12 of 14

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