Category: Spin Page 39 of 69

Above: Skein 1 (lower) & 2 (upper) on silk handkerchief, all dyed with hazelnut leaves. (See Progress 3 for details.)

Left: Before and after dyeing. On the card: left is before washing/dyeing/fulling; right is after. In skeins: before is the bottom skein; after is the top skein.

Yarn Specs (skein #2):
Weight: 40 grams*
Yardage: 170 yards (1925 ypp**)
WPI: 20***

The color shift is very subtle. Overall impression of sage green and deeper in tone. It really highlighted the light/dark moorit variation in the yarn. It’s not as green as the un-mordanted sample. I don’t know if it’s due to the alum or the proportions, since I didn’t weight the original sample: a skein and a handful of leaves.

I have taken to dropping a silk handkerchief into every dye pot so that I can keep a record of all the dye experiments.  I purchase the handkerchiefs from Thai Silks/Exotic Silks in Los Altos. Now, I just need to get around to labeling them.

The yarn spun from the combed preparation (skein #2) is much more consistent and has more bounce. It just generally feel better.  This is the yarn that I will use for the contest.

* Yes, I seem to have lost 5 grams between the time it came off of the spindle and when it came out of the dye bath.  A few reasons for this. (1) My scale only records to the nearest 5 grams. (2) I took several yards off for record keeping: before/after dyeing for card record and skein for submission.  Between the two, I must have teetered from closer to 45 grams to closer to 40 grams.  One of these days, I’ll spring for a scale with better accuracy.  For now, it gets me in the ball park.

** Measurement taken by the McMorran Balance. For some reason, it was really static-y when I was doing my measurements. I had to spray the outside of the balance with water to prevent the yarn from clinging to the balance and throwing off  the measurements.

*** I did a little bit of fulling while washing the fiber, hence the change from 24 to 20 wpi. It bloomed a bit. Yes, it was intentional.

You might have guessed from the previous 2 posts that I had been thinking about whether I want to dye the spun yarn before knitting or leaving it natural.  The natural is pretty, but I’m not one to let an opportunity to play with natural colors pass. Part of the scarf competition rule is that if you are going to dye, it has to be with natural dyes. Yes, I have a whole kit of Earthues dye powders, but to keep in theme of the whole process it yourself, I wanted to gather the dye materials myself. (I even eyed my crop of horsetails up on Whidbey for the possibility of chartreuse. Too early in the season.)

I started to scan Ravelry’s Plants to Dye For discussion group, and I came across an intriguing discussion on using soak water from black beans to dye fabric. Hmm. But is it stable? I didn’t think it could be. I’ve seen the purplish water that I strain off. None of the books I have talks about it (not that it’s definitive, but it does provide some jumping off points). My guess is that it is transient at best. But what do I have to lose?

I started a pound of beans to soak as I finished spinning up my yarn. Unfortunately, I didn’t finish before the bean water started to ferment just a little. (It was left out on the counter because I didn’t have room in the refrigerator and the weather got HOT!) I wasn’t too worried. But I decided to strain it off and heat it up a bit to stop the process of whatever it was happening in the solution. That was my first clue that the dye isn’t stable. The starch and protein in the soaking water starts to break down, and that lovely dark blue purple also disintegrated into a dull brown.

I still wasn’t willing to give up on it. I put a skein in (alum premordant) and brought it to a simmer then let it sit over night. The results were extremely disappointing. Brown. And it rinsed out. I think I had to rinse it about 10 times before it rinsed clear. And now it’s back to the same color as it was before.

For which I am glad. Now I can start over without the need to spin up more yarn.

The skein is sitting in yet another alum bath right now in preparation for a hazelnut dye bath.

I gathered about 150 grams of hazelnut leaves and shredded it with my hands, as I would with salad greens, and let it sit in water yesterday. Since it was over 90+F yesterday, and the pot was in the sun, it got pretty warm in the pot. The whole pot was simmered for a couple of hours last night and let cool overnight.  It’s strained and now ready for the fiber.

Dye Notes:

• alum: ~30%
• hazelnut leaves: 2:1 wof

Progress Report:

• All yarn spun.
• First skein: spun from flicked locks on drop spindle, plied on Schacht Matchless. 30 grams/154 yards. 32 wpi.
• Second skein: spun from combed fiber was spun on my Bosworth Featherweight and plied on a larger spindle.  45 grams/170 yards. 24 wpi.
• Sample knitting still progressing well, but not yet completed. Put aside for now to focus on spinning and dyeing.
• Deb Menz workshop spinning: 60% complete.