In case you are wondering what I’ve been up to, I’ve been dyeing pounds and pounds of yarn. Here’s what I’ve dyed so far, draped across my long-suffering AVL warping wheel:
This is 3.3 kg or just about 7 lbs of yarn! So I have been quite busy.
The red, incidentally, is actually a beautiful garnet red, obtained by mixing 99.9% Sabraset/Lanaset Deep Red with 0.1% turquoise. Even that much turquoise is enough to transform the deep red into garnet…amazing what a little bit of complementary color will do!
Normally it would take days for all this to dry (especially since I have limited hanging-space in the apartment), but as I have (very) limited patience, I have been sticking them into the oven, set at 140 degrees, in the top rack. This will dry a 1-pound skein in nine or ten hours, providing you rotate it regularly for even drying. Works well since I’m working from home. So the red warp skeins are just about dry, and I will start winding them tonight – if I have time. Work and Weavolution are both busy right now, so I may not get around to it tonight.
I am really looking forward to weaving this up!
Gorgeous color, that red. You’re right about complementary colors. I just used some gold to “tone down” a violet that was too saturated. It didn’t take very much at all to have a perceptible effect.
Cheers – Sandra
Yarn in the oven! Great idea…..for people safer in the kitchen than I am!
Really, I’m not a bad cook, but I’ve been the impetus behind fires on my stove and in my microwave. (I’m not saying I caused them…..I blame the appliances or the food involved!)
Even though I think it wouldn’t be technically possible for low heat to ignite yarn, I can just picture the look on my long-suffering husband’s face if he came to the kitchen and saw yarn in the oven!!
I’m a wimpy dyer…..but these colors are inspiring!
Oh, I wouldn’t try it with a gas oven, and I’m quite careful about it with an electric oven…I put it in the top rack and make sure there are no ends dangling, ESPECIALLY with cotton yarns which burn quite well!
But it works quite well…!