Mike finished the swatch for his Dr. Who Scarf, so we’re just about ready to start dyeing. Yesterday we calculated out the amount of yarn he needed for each color (by number of rows x avg. weight of yarn per row) and skeined it out using my Majacraft Suzie spinning wheel’s skeiner attachment. Then we tied it (very, very loosely) and tossed it into a pot with some Dawn and Synthrapol to scour out the spinning oil. Tonight we’ll start dyeing.
I’ve discovered at least one of the reasons I was having trouble dyeing evenly before. I used too much vinegar. Vinegar helps the dye attach, and if you put in too much of it, the dye attaches that much faster. For dark colors, this doesn’t matter too much because the fiber winds up saturated, but it’s a real problem for pastels. I’m fortunate in that I look best in intense, jewel-tone colors, so haven’t had much call for pastels, but I’d like to be able to dye pastels when I want to.
Mike also finished wiring up my temperature controller for me, so now I can use his crockpot for dyeing. Between the steady, slow heat of the crockpot and the newfound ability to hold a temperature at 160 degrees for 45 minutes (which is impossible on a stove without hovering over it every minute), I think I might be able to get repeatable, consistent results and good pale shades. I hope so, anyway.
Compounding the difficulty of dyeing lighter shades is the fact that we’re using superwash yarn. Superwash yarn is notorious for grabbing dyes faster than regular wool yarn…so it’s harder to get even, level dyes.
We’ll see how it goes tonight…
Meanwhile, I am going to Imagiknit tonight, both to pick up knitting needles for Mike, and maybe enough yarn for a sweater for myself. I need to do something while I’m traveling, after all…
