Tuesday was the day we set up the class room with heavy plastic to protect the table, empty plastic snack-sized fruit cup to portion out the dyes, plastic gloves to protect our hands from becoming dyed, large syringes to apply the colour, acid/protein dyes in blue, red, yellow and black, wet roving and spun yarn. It is so simple when the instructor has the dyes already mixed and has an old rice cooker and vegetable steamer available to heat the wool so the colours sets. Once colours were added to the yarn or roving it is steamed for 20 minutes, cooled and then rinsed until the water is clear.
The mixing of the colours on the wool was a lot of fun. We were not being scientific in our measuring because there was never an intention of making more than one skein. Instead we made one of a kind colours of wool and roving. The 2.5 hours flew right by and I came home with three very wet beauties. They were hung in a small maple tree to dry and I took lots of lovely pictures of them floating as they floated in the sunny light breeze of Tuesday afternoon. Unfortunately, without an SD card in one´s camera, all those lovely shots were not captured. You´ll have to accept these pale substitute photos.
First I over dyed the pink pencil roving with blue. But as you can see that experiment sort of worked. My application of blue was inconsistent and I did not get the deep purple I was hoping it would be.
Second, the pink pencil roving was over dyed with patches of blue, yellow and red. This created a sort of purple, orange and mauve-ish combination. Again nothing was as saturated in colour as I had hoped but this did certainly create a usable yarn. (I did spin these two. A careful observer might note things in the spinning world are improving for me. Well truth be told, pencil roving is incredibly easy to spin.)
Finally, the best attempt. The roving given to us to use in class was placed in a circle and colour wedges in what I hoped would be a stormy night motif were applied. The only regret with this dying job was the green. When it was first applied the colour was much more olive. This roving needs to be spun and only then can I see just what it has become. BTW it was a creamed coloured roving before the colours were added so it is clear the saturation of colours worked out much better here than in my over dyed pink yarn.
Final words about dyeing. It was great to learn it is possible to change up yarn colours. But the process is dangerously messy and experimental. The reason the wet dyed wool was left outside on a tree on Tuesday afternoon had to do with the possibility there might still be a bit of dye dripping from them. (If rinsed properly there should be no dye left in the wool, but did I mention I am a beginner?) The dyeing part of the yarn making process won´t become a mainstay in my wool skill repertoire, but I am happy to have spent time playing around with the process.
Oh, BTW, you will see the spun Stormy Night roving results later.
The mixing of the colours on the wool was a lot of fun. We were not being scientific in our measuring because there was never an intention of making more than one skein. Instead we made one of a kind colours of wool and roving. The 2.5 hours flew right by and I came home with three very wet beauties. They were hung in a small maple tree to dry and I took lots of lovely pictures of them floating as they floated in the sunny light breeze of Tuesday afternoon. Unfortunately, without an SD card in one´s camera, all those lovely shots were not captured. You´ll have to accept these pale substitute photos.
First I over dyed the pink pencil roving with blue. But as you can see that experiment sort of worked. My application of blue was inconsistent and I did not get the deep purple I was hoping it would be.
 |
| This colour scheme is called Purple-ish? |
Second, the pink pencil roving was over dyed with patches of blue, yellow and red. This created a sort of purple, orange and mauve-ish combination. Again nothing was as saturated in colour as I had hoped but this did certainly create a usable yarn. (I did spin these two. A careful observer might note things in the spinning world are improving for me. Well truth be told, pencil roving is incredibly easy to spin.)
 |
| This colour scheme is called Hot Mess |
Finally, the best attempt. The roving given to us to use in class was placed in a circle and colour wedges in what I hoped would be a stormy night motif were applied. The only regret with this dying job was the green. When it was first applied the colour was much more olive. This roving needs to be spun and only then can I see just what it has become. BTW it was a creamed coloured roving before the colours were added so it is clear the saturation of colours worked out much better here than in my over dyed pink yarn.
 |
| Stormy Night |
Final words about dyeing. It was great to learn it is possible to change up yarn colours. But the process is dangerously messy and experimental. The reason the wet dyed wool was left outside on a tree on Tuesday afternoon had to do with the possibility there might still be a bit of dye dripping from them. (If rinsed properly there should be no dye left in the wool, but did I mention I am a beginner?) The dyeing part of the yarn making process won´t become a mainstay in my wool skill repertoire, but I am happy to have spent time playing around with the process.
Oh, BTW, you will see the spun Stormy Night roving results later.
This post is a treasure trove for yarn enthusiasts! The DIY guide on hand dyeing yarn provides not only practical steps but also the inspiration to create unique, personalized colors.
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