Friday, October 5, 2007

How'd you dye that?

I'm not very experienced at dyeing. I've taken a couple of classes and the most recent one is the one that stuck. I took it at SAFF last year. The instructor was Nancy Shroyer of Nancy's Knit Knacks. It was a class in handpainting yarn that's guaranteed not to stripe.



For this yarn, I mixed up a light strength teal dye and painted it on. Then I added a little more dye powder to the liquid and painted it on. Then I mixed up a new batch of medium strength and filled in most of the blank spaces.


I wrap the yarn up in plastic wrap and put it on a plastic plate. The plate's one of those with dividers, so the yarn's not sitting flat. Then I nuke it in the microwave for 8 minutes. No dye pot needed. I let the yarn cool, which takes a surprisingly short time when you consider how hot it is at first. I rinse it in cool water. I've dyed this way several times, and there's virtually no dye coming out of the yarn when I rinse.


I air dry the yarn with it draped over a wooden drying rack. I turn on the dehumidifier and that usually has the yarn dry and ready to go overnight. I do poke at the yarn from time to time, opening out spots where it is more damp


The yarn I used was Knit Picks Bare, 75% superwash wool, 25% nylon. It's nice and soft.

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