Miscalculations

The fuchsia and orange yarns did not come out quite as I wanted, unfortunately.  I wanted to get some value contrast between the blue/purple and fuchsia/orange yarns, so I had increased the % dye to 3% on the blue/purple (looking for deeper shades) and decreased the % dye on the fuchsia to 1% (expecting a lighter shade).  However, in the end result, the fuchsia is just as dark as the blue/purple skeins.  (The orange is lighter in value, so that’s ok.)

I have a couple theories for what might have happened:

• I used hotter water for the fuchsia yarn, which may have increased dye takeup
• The yarn was soaking for a good couple of days before I got to it, which might have improved dye takeup
• I never did any DOS (% dye) testing on Cibacron F dyes; it’s possible that the difference between 1%, 2%, and 3% DOS is relatively minimal.  I should probably have tried 0.5% DOS instead.

At any rate, I’m not quite sure how to proceed now.  I think I may dye a fifth color, yellow/gold, which would give me the value contrast I was looking for (but which would clash badly with the purple), and try using the fuchsia as weft (it goes nicely with orange, yellow, blue, and purple).  Or I could try a weak bleach solution on the fuchsia to lighten it.  Or I might decide to live with it.  Haven’t decided yet.

The warping wheel has arrived (yay!)  but with a bent central bolt (boo!).  Tonight or Saturday I’m going to run down to the local hardware store to get a replacement bolt.  There’s no hurry, since the warp that came with the loom is going to take some time to weave off, meaning I won’t need a new warp for at least a week or two.