Thursday, August 21, 2014
Dyed-in-the-wool
I want to spin another three ply multicolour yarn - pink, green and natural. So I needed to dye the pink and green before spinning. First step was to weigh out 100 g wool.
Why 100 g? Because that's what fills one bobbin of my spinning wheel. I mixed up dye powder with water and vinegar in an icecream tub, using dishwashing liquid to make sure the dye dissolved. Then dunked the wool in.
While it was soaking, I dyed a skein of wool for a pair of mitts.
I drained the water from the pink and then put it in the oven so that the dye would set. Same process for green. So here's how they look now they're dry:
I may have to rethink the process a bit because the dyeing is very uneven. The dye seems to be instantly absorbed, so that some areas have intense colour and some none at all. I don't want to stir and muddle the fibres. Hmmmm.
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dying is very tricky, unless you make a mistake and through something in the washing machine by accident, and then everything is perfectly and evenly dyed :)
ReplyDelete:-) absolutely!
DeleteCan you spin first and dye second?
ReplyDeleteI do usually, but I want to spin three different colour threads and then ply them together, so the wool must be dyed before spinning.
DeleteJane, do you have your own sheep to provide all this fleece? I'm fascinated by the pictures of your hand-spun wool, and now to see how it's dyed is even more interesting.
ReplyDeleteNo, I bought the wool, already cleaned and combed and ready for spinning. We have a few sheep, but they are a mutton breed, their wool is short and scrappy and not a pleasure to spin.
DeleteWow, Jane, I am always amazed at the all the stuff you do, & so quickly too :-)
ReplyDeleteTo even think of starting from scratch - dyeing, spinning, tatting, knitting, ... sewing, .... blogging , teaching, .... and some more for sure !
Hats off to you :-))
:-) thank you for your kind words!
DeleteI find this fascinating.
ReplyDelete