Dyed frog

Posted on March 21, 2022 by Patti_is_knittinginflashes

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I decided to rip out that sock and redye the yarn. It was one of three 100 gram-skeins/hanks of yarn that I dyed in the crock-pot last year (and never blogged about). The other two turned out great and I’ve knitted one already into a pair of socks.

I was cleaning out parts of the basement last summer and lo and behold I found packets of dye! Sunshine Crafts Batik dyes. Let’s just say I acquired these a long, long, long time ago in a place far away. Along with my fantastic find, I also bought some professional Jacquard dyes in some basic colors.

This is my first foray into using dyes other than food coloring and Easter egg dye and it was a great experience. In the future, I will reread the ratios of dye to water. I just winged it when I mixed the dye and the two colors were VERY concentrated giving deep, intense hues.

My original plan was to use Azure blue and Brilliant blue. I swapped out Jet back for the Brilliant blue as the Azure was blue enough.

It was warm enough last week to set my amateurish dye station on the picnic table outside. Mr. Aitch does not like the smell of wet wool and vinegar so all my dyeing is now done either in the garage or outside. And no microwave dyeing either.

L to R: Crock-pot, white vinegar, H2O, dyeing spoons, dyes, syringes, yarn, dye mixing tub, gloves.

I soaked the yarn in a water/vinegar solution overnight. In the morning I twisted the yarn so I would retain some of the lime green colors and the blues and black would blend together into a navy blue with some teal areas.

Then I placed it in my cold crock-pot with enough water and a slog of vinegar to cover. The acid in the vinegar helps the fiber to absorb the dye. It took over two hours for the water to get hot enough before I could add any dye!

Oops, I forgot to twist the yarn! The heat is on

Once everything was ready I loaded up syringes with the blue and black dyes and squirted it into the twisted skein. The dye struck almost instantly as I probably had too much vinegar in the dye mixture.

I played with adding dye in various places for about an hour. Mr. Aitch helped photograph with yarn when I checked it before untwisting it. Too much lime green was still visible so I kept squirting dye onto those areas.

The yarn sat in the dye bath until the water was clear. Then the impatient me had to wait until the yarn was cool enough to rinse. Because the dye was so concentrated, it took a long time to rinse out the extra dye…(no showers for me for at least a week! Just kidding)

The finished product.

Even though it’s not what I planned, I still love it.

The colors are so rich and varied.

Socks for sure! It takes about 65-75 grams of yarn for a pair of knit socks. I will have some leftover to use as an accent toe/heel, add with another yarn for striped socks, or the slipped stitch socks I love to knit.

Cliff Walk revisited

Posted on June 28, 2019 by Patti_is_knittinginflashes

The leg and heel turn are done and I’m part way up/down the foot of the Cliff Walk socks.

I’m loving the colors of this hand-painted yarn.

This close-up of the stockinette stitch on the bottom of the heel and foot shows the range of colors created. No color pooling as I randomly applied the dyes.

Have a great weekend!

Hand painting yarn

Posted on June 24, 2019 by Patti_is_knittinginflashes

I hand painted/dyed a 100-gram skein of Knit Picks Stroll Bare (undyed fingering yarn) using Paas Easter egg dyes and some blue food coloring.

Hand painting means to apply the dye by hand rather than submerge the yarn in a dye bath. Dyeing by hand is less predictable and is nearly impossible to replicate than other types of dyeing. Submerging yarn (or fabric) in a large dyepot or vat can be reproduced as the dye penetrates the fibers in a more uniform manner.

The fixative for setting this dye is acid i.e. white vinegar. I just followed the instructions for the ratio of vinegar to water: Three tablespoons of vinegar to dissolve the dye pellets to 1/2 cup water. I used 2-3 dye pellets per 1/2 cup water to get more intense colors.

After the yarn was saturated with color, I wrapped the yarn in plastic wrap and nuked it 2-3 minutes at a time and allowing it to cool between so as not to scorch or burn the yarn. Once it came out of the microwave sizzling, I let it cool before rinsing it in warm to then cool water till it ran clear. It turned out beautifully.

A lovely mix of blues, greens, and a hint of purple.

But I wanted deeper colors for the Cliff Walk socks. The Midnight Heather and black were just too dark for my ~~aging~~ eyes.

Back into the dye pot, or rather the dye plastic wrap/microwave. One of these days I will find a large enough pot that I can dedicate to dyeing. That day hasn’t arrived yet.

This time I used blue, purple and red dye pellets. I think I went overboard with the red though I only used one tablet mixed with a blue one and a purple one. I mixed up three different iterations of the dyes and squirted them using one bottle without washing it in between colors.

I like this much better for socks. The red isn’t as intense as it looks here.

I can still see variations of the original teals and blues.

Another dip in just blue would probably tone down the reddish purple but at this point, I am done experimenting with the yarn.

I just want to knit it up!

Knitted gifts

Posted on January 3, 2018 by Patti_is_knittinginflashes

You remember the 1898 knitted cap I made for Mr. Aitch with overdyed yarn? Well, it needed some fingerless gloves for company.

I didn’t have enough yarn leftover and I knew I’d never get the same color to match. That’s why it’s important to get enough of the same dye lot when knitting (or crocheting) any yarny project. So I overdyed another skein of yarn but starting out with a totally different color.

Using the same brand of yarn and the same food dye colors, I wanted to get something that would coordinate with the original overdye.

I added some leftover Rit dye, a mixture of blue and black, from another project. The blue and green food coloring just wasn’t covering that bright coral color.

Close enough for a contrast but still in the same family.

Original overdye

The new overdye

The fingerless glove pattern is the Don’t skid, honey! by Justyna Lorkowska. The zigzags reminded me of smoke and Mr. Aitch needed a new pair to keep his hands warm when he smokes a cigar (in the garage in the winter).