Notes on dyeing – Dr. Who Scarf – including dye formulations

So, I finished dyeing the yarn for B.’s Dr. Who scarf yesterday, and will skein up the silk, mohair, and cashmere yarn for my next weaving project(s) tonight.

For B.’s yarn, I used the formulas in the Ashford Book of Dyeing:

(WOG = weight of goods)

pastel shades – 10% WOG Glauber’s salt, 1% WOG Albegal SET, 11% WOG vinegar, .25% WOG dye

medium to dark shades – no Glauber’s salt, 1% WOG Albegal SET, 22% WOG vinegar, 2% WOG dye

Method:

(1) cooked in crockpot, heated slowly over a period of 2-3 hours.  The crockpot maxes out at about 200 degrees, which is perfect since Sabraset dye sets well at near-boiling temperatures.

(2) cooked on the (electric) stove at heat setting 6 (max 8), brought up to temperature over a period of about 1 hour.

Both seemed to work very well, although the crockpot produced more even dyeing with paler shades.

Adding the Albegal SET, which is a leveling agent, caused the dye to not exhaust completely (there was still some color when I poured it out) – this affected the red more strongly than other colors.

I have ordered another copy of Color in Spinning by Deb Menz (my first copy having vanished into the ether somewhere) – she also has dye formulas for Sabraset dyes.  It will be interesting to try both formulations and see which one works better – I took a short look at it while I was in Carolina Homespun, and she seems to have a radically different formulation than the Ashford Book of Dyeing does.

On the whole I’m happy with the results of my latest experiment, and will use the same method for dyeing my next set of yarns – three 1/3 pound skeins of brushed kid mohair, and two 1/3 pound skeins of 2/14 cashmere, in a couple of rainbow colors.

Considering starting a new set of dye samples, this one of Procion MX dyes on cottons et al.  It would be nice to be able to dye cotton/linen yarns as well, in addition to protein fibers.  But it would be a lot of work and I’m not sure I want to spend time on it right now.