Blue Moon Dye Day

A few weeks ago I went to Scapoose (I LOVE saying that name), Oregon, for the Blue Moon Fiber Arts annual dye day and barn sale.
I haven't seen Tina in ages so the first order of business was a huge, long hug. Next it was selecting yarn and fiber to dye. There big bins along the wall so you can see everything that is available. You fill out an order form and the Blue Moon folks pull the yarn and fiber and get it soaking for you.



While it soaks, you can shop.



Then you dye. It's all about hand-painting.



Here is Tina giving Trish a little guidance.



I dyed two skeins of De-Vine. The color is much richer and deeper than I managed to capture.



I also dyed a skein of Tigger Targhee. Unfortunately on this one the dye hadn't set completely so it lightened a lot when I went to rinse it.



This yak/silk fiber is my favorite though.



And I had to pick up a few skeins dyed by the master herself.

Crock Full o'Dye

I fired up my dye pot (aka very yucky old crockpot I bought at a thrift store for a few dollars years ago) to overdye some yarn. A friend had to give up spinning and knitting in the last few years due to arthritis. I took home lots of her handspun this fall and recently "adopted" another load of it. We do not have the same color sense. At all.

So I grouped her skeins and did three batches of dyeing. The skeins were all different. They are different weights and different fibers. I just grouped them by color. The orange-yellows and oranges were overdyed with a mix of Cherry and Black. (I did a full blog post about overdyeing last April.) I am extraordinarily unscientific about dyeing. I slosh and glug dye over yarn until I like it.

Yellows and greens went to maroon.



Dusty pinks and lilacs went to deeper purples after being dyed with Violet and Black.



And a a straggling vivid yellow skein and an undyed skein (both commercial yarns) went into a pot along with a blue skein. I just used some Cyan and Black.



I think these three skeins really show you what overdyeing can do. All three went into the same dye.

Now I need to decide how to use all these many small skeins in different weights, fibers and colors. I'm considering weaving with them but, you know me, I'll probably change my mind.

Overdyeing, You Can Do It!

I wanted to do a little follow-up to my overdyeing results post from yesterday. Let me preface this by saying, 1) I'm not a dyeing expert and 2) I've learned most of my dyeing from Judith Mackenzie. If you've heard Judith talk about dyeing before this might sound a little familiar.

A few other points of reference. I find pure white undyed yarn or fiber really daunting. I think, "I can make this any color in existence. Now choose one." I get overwhelmed and just dye it blue/green. I also don't love all colors. In fact I'm quite limited, as you probably have already noticed, in which colors I work with. I tend to stick with blue/green, burgundy/berry...maybe some brown. I stay very far from anything yellow. Orange is out too. I once explained to a nice woman in a spinning class who was pressing some yellow merino into my hands despite my protests, "I grew up in a yellow room." 

"Oh," she said, placing the fiber back on the table, "I see."

So keeping my color issues in mind, here is my process for overdyeing.

Think of a color wheel.

Look at your yarn. See where it falls on the color wheel. Stick to colors that are neighbors (analogous) on the color wheel. Avoid the color on the opposite side of the wheel (complementary).* If you choose colors across the color wheel that is when you make mud. And remember you are not mixing paint. Nothing mixes when you overdye. You have your starting color and you are layering transparent color on top of it.

If you're worried you can build your color slowly, just keeping adding color until you like it. I would also suggest starting with yarn in a color you really dislike, something you will never use, because if you "mess it up" you haven't lost anything. 

I use Mother Mackenzie's Miracle Dyes. They are for dyeing protein fibers like wool, mohair and silk. They need to have acid added to set the color. I, like most casual dyers, use vinegar. I'm not scientific. I just put a few glugs in the pot. If you want variegated, uneven color you can add the acid before or alongside the dye. It causes the dye to "strike" or stick to the fiber so the fiber will grab it unevenly. I like this look. If you want really even color let the yarn sit in the dye for a while before adding your acid. You can also loop yarn on a dowel, support it on the edge of the pot and cycle the yarn slowly and evenly through the dyepot for the most even color. I don't have the patience for this. I throw everything in my dye pot or crockpot (bought at a thrift store and used only for dyeing) and go. 

You need to heat the yarn to set the color. I typically leave it on a low heat until the dyebath exhausts, when the dye has all attached to the fiber and no dye is visible in the water. If I'm able I turn off the heat and let it cool in the pot. This gives the dye additional time to set and also spares your hands from handling super hot, wet yarn. Rinsing the yarn when it's cooled also makes it harder to accidentally felt the yarn. 

Dyeing in the pot will produce a lot variegation. The yarn at the bottom of the pot, close to the heat, will get the darkest while the yarn floating up at the surface will generally be the lightest. You can move things in the pot but be gentle so as not to felt it into one big ball. 

When I dye in my crockpot I will leave it on overnight on low if I put the yarn in close to bedtime. Otherwise I shut it off after several hours and let it cool overnight.

So that's all there is to it. It's easy. You can always dye something again if you don't like it the first time. In fact, dyeing multiple times gives deep, interesting, complex color. There is nothing to be afraid of. You can do it!

Carol Sulcoski, who is a professional dyer, wrote a nice piece about overdyeing on her blog recently. You can read it here.

*Complementary colored yarns are great for colorwork projects. They really pop against each other.

Dye Day Results

Yesterday's dye day was very productive and I'm happy with most of the results. I brought yarns that I got at my November retreat. I chose them because they were yarns I love in colors I hate for ridiculous prices.
These side by side photos aren't the greatest. The "before" shots were taken indoors at night just to get a reference photo into my Ravelry stash. The first four were all thrown into the same dyepot with Jacquard Burgundy dye. I think I also added a little black? I'm a pretty loosey-goosey dyer. I just throw things into the pot until I like it. I also don't have much experience with these dyes.

First up, a skein of Rowan Polar in a color I haven't enjoyed since the mid-eighties.



Next is Tahki Baby in the most vile, vivid Pepto pink (not as hot as the before photo suggests).



These are Bouton D'Or Ksar. I love this yarn. It's 50/50 wool/camel. I loathe the original rusty red color.


This is a mystery merino/cashmere blend. The yarn ended up in the middle of the pot and did not take up much dye. I think this will get another dye job.


These last two skeins are Blue Sky Alpacas Bulky. I got the two skeins for $4! The mustard yellow is possibly my least favorite color in the world. I overdyed with Black, Emerald and a smidge of Chartreuse. I absolutely love it now.



Do you have old skeins in colors you now hate? Throw them in some dye. You've got nothing to lose.

Yarn for Lisa and Trish

 A few weeks ago when I posted a photo of some roving I dyed my friend Lisa said she'd like me to spin it for her. My friend Trish asked if I had dyes to create neon colors.

Well, I didn't have the time or inclination to spin that roving up for Lisa but I did have a partial cone of Henry's Attic Kona Superwash that has been in my stash for a really, really long time. I had enough to skein up 315 yards for each of them.

First, for Lisa, I tried to replicate what I had done on the roving. I don't take any notes when I dye. I just slosh on dye until I like it. I ended up with a yarn that wasn't as bright as the roving but I think I like it more than the original. This was done in a crockpot. I just poured in layers of color until I thought it was done.



For Trish, the neon lover, I decided to hand-paint a skein. I laid out plastic wrap and took my three primary dye colors, Polar Yellow, Cyan and Magenta, and mixed a jar of each with some vinegar and water. I needed enough water to get all the yarn thoroughly wet with color but enough vinegar for the dye to stick quickly instead of migrating and making muddy colors.



Once the skeins were dry I reskeined them to mix the colors up a bit more for a nice presentation. I was able to send them to their new homes last night. I'm excited to see what they make from them.

A Fleece of a Different Color

At the Whidbey Weaver's Guild Spin-In this weekend Judith Mackenzie gave a talk about color. I got me thinking about some old fleece that had been sitting in my stash for a very long time (the sales slip in the bag says 2006). It's a small brown Corriedale fleece that I scoured when I first got and flick-carded, then set aside.

 

I'm always drawn to variegated fleece but when you spin them they're just light brown. I thought I'd experiment with adding some color. I put small bits of fleece in three jars, added a little Dawn dishsoap (just a drop), water, vinegar and a drizzle of dye. I choose Cherry, Violet and Cyan from my Mother Mackenzie dyes. I heated them in the microwave for a few minutes and let them sit until the water was clear.

I was immediately partial to the violet. It allowed more of the original color through and seemed to work well with it.

But you don't really know if a color is any good until you spin it. Since these were just little tufts of fiber, and I already have a project on my wheel, I pulled out a heavy old drop spindle that I never use and made a three mini skeins.

I still like the Violet the most. It shows off the variegation in the fiber really nicely, brightening the lighter bits.

This experiment revealed a new problem though. The fleece, which seemed well-scoured many years ago, now feels a bit sticky. I made an attempt last night to wash it again but there's still a residual stickiness. I should probably wash it all again, this time in much smaller batches, to get it really clean but what a drag. It might just go back in the fiber closet for another nine years...

Remember the Pink Yarn?

The stuff in the this picture? I threw it in the dyepot along with the lavender and mauve skeins in the lower left of the photo. I'm so much happier now.

The lighting was a bit funky. I can't seem to correct this photo to really show the true color. It's a lot less vivid in real life. I promise. But now they all go together.

All the Dyeing Puns Have Been Used

Okay, I'm super excited about this one. Back in 2006 I participated in a hand-dyed yarn swap called Dye-o-Rama. I think there were groupings by skill level. I was in the beginner's group. My swap partner sent me two skeins of yarn. One I knit into socks. And one just sat unloved for nearly seven years.


Sorry for the old, blurry photo.

Until this week. I threw it in the dyepot the other night. I tossed in some Cyan and a little Worker Blue* and let it "cook" overnight in my crockpot (that I bought at a yard sale and only use for dyeing). I am thrilled with the result.



I love, love, love, love, love it! Now what to make with it?


*I only use Mother MacKenzie's Miracle Dyes from Judith MacKenzie.

More Plying, More Dyeing

Once I emptied the majority of my bobbins I discovered 8 oz of Shetland/Merino singles sitting waiting to be plied too. Cross that off the list.



While at Madrona a friend was getting rid of some Knitpicks Palette in several shades of yellow. I offered to take it to use for charity hats. I thought I'd hold a few strands together. It then occurred to me that I could make a cabled yarn from them. I overspun them on my miniSpinner then plied them together.

Here's a rough idea of what I started with.



Plied together (and wet and photographed with my phone at night) it looked like this.



And finally overdyed and dried it looks like this.



I'm not a fan of yellow or orange but I still think this came out kind of nice. It reminds me of a Tequila Sunrise.

I also swatched the Corriedale from last week and have picked out a pattern for it. I'll be making Linney by Amy Christoffers. It's simple and uses a lot of yarn plus I already own the pattern. Perfect!

Plying and Dyeing

It's here. The Post-Madrona Glow. The period of the year when I want to make ALL THE THINGS!
I took a dyeing class with Judith MacKenzie on the first day. I took this class with her many years ago at Madrona and as it's always good to spend time with Judith. She had some rovings she had dyed that she called dogs. They were okay but the color didn't sing. She overdyed them in class with stunning results. I was reminded of something Heidi from The Artful Ewe told me the first time we met. She said she always dyes everything at least twice. Otherwise, she warned, you get "clown hair."

I also returned from Madrona with a bag of Knitpicks Palette in three shades of yellow. My least favorite color and so much of it! I thought I'd just hold several strands together for charity hats. Then inspiration struck. I would make a cabled yarn from them. And then I would overdye it. I pulled out my spinning stuff on Monday when I got home from knitting and realized that I don't have any free bobbins because I have had the same spinning project in the works for over four years. Four years. Four. It's insanity. One of the few resolutions I made for 2014 was that I would ply this yarn at long last. I finished spinning the singles a year ago and they have sat, hogging my bobbins and my spinning mojo. So the 2014 ply-a-thon began. Three days later it was over and I now have 2000+ yards of questionably-spun, hand-dyed Corriedale from the first fleece I ever bought.

While I was working on that I dragged out a crockpot I bought years ago at a garage sale that I use for dyeing and fired it up. First victim was some roving I won at the Knitters Guild holiday party.

This is definitely the clown hair Heidi warned me about all those years ago. So I splashed some black and cyan over it and let it heat overnight. It's so much better now. This is a terrible photo but it's a deep murky green and much less eye-searing.

Then I really got going. I found all sorts of odd bits of things to ply to free up bobbins (almost entirely from spinning classes). Then I over-dyed those to make them less of a patchwork.

But so long as the dyepot was going why not throw in some more random lengths of roving I'd been given in various classes over the years. I think these are wool/silk and Corriedale.

And hey, what's this bag of cotton candy pink fluff? Who knows! But into the pot with you!

Once it dried I realized I had accidentally created the color of the year, Radiant Orchid.

Then last night I pulled out my drum carder and carded this pile up into batts! I haven't used that thing in years. But Clemes & Clemes had the booth opposite The Fiber Gallery at Madrona and I couldn't resist their batt lifter and storage set.

So this is all to say, I may not finish my Ravellenic Games project.

New Hat for a New Year

I finished up a new cowl, Millwater (it's blocking right now), on New Year's Eve. I have a few other things on the needles but wanted to start something new. Something new for the new year, I guess. I would really like to make a dent in my sock stash this year, particularly my stash of partial skeins. My yarn stash, office and dining room table appear to be infested with small skeins of sock yarn. I decided on Diana's Hat from the new Green Gables Knits.

Photo from Green Gables Knits

I'm knitting mine in a skein of Dale of Norway Baby Ull that was the most horrible shade of minty-bluey-green. I overdyed it a long time ago and then it just sat, waiting to become something. This year it will become a hat.

Also if you'd like a chance to win a copy of the Green Gables Knits ebook hop over to the Doubleknit Podcast Fans board on Ravelry. Erin and I have a copy to give away.

Dyeing as if the Earth Mattered

I finally got a chance to take a dyeing class at Earthues today. We dyed several types of yarn with several natural dyes including indigo. I always enjoy trying something new in a class setting first. Natural dyes aren't too complicated but they are definitely more involved than the acid dyes I usually use.

This is Madder root with Myrobalan after only a short time in the dyepot. The color developed over several hours into a very rich reddish-orange.



Here is Osage with Weld.



We also made learned how to make an indigo vat. The process is a bit involved but it produces such great color. We overdyed some of the Osage-Weld dyed yarn.



Indigo reacts with oxygen. To create even color once the yarn is dyed you need to spread it out so that all the indigo in the fiber gets in contact with the air.

We dipped some undyed yarn in the indigo for a few minutes. It comes out of the dye green then quickly starts to turn blue. But underneath there's still green hidden.



Which quickly turns blue when exposed to the air.





Here is Indigo over Osage-Weld, Logwood with Quebracho Red (this was a class favorite for its intense color), Madder-Myrobalan (see how it changed from the photo above?), Osage-Weld, and Indigo alone. Not pictured is the Cochineal which was still simmering in the pot.



These handles for the yarn are plastic coated copper tubing. The yarn skeins are looped through this handle making it very easy to rotate the yarn around from the top of the pot to the bottom to allow for even heating which gives more even color.



I bought an indigo kit to bring home. I am so in love with the colors that it produces. Now I just want to pull out all my fiber and start dyeing!

Hues

I couldn't help but start spinning the fiber I dyed.


Camera phone photo, sorry.

It's great, easy spinning and I love the blue/green color.

Earlier this week I went to a talk by Kathy Hattori of Earthhues at Theo Chocolates.


Another rotten photo from my phone.

She brought this wonderful worsted-weight wool in 18 colors dyed from 3 dyepots. She explained her process and gave lots on info on some of the main natural dyestuffs they source. It was very interesting and I wanted to gobble up all this yarn!

Dyeing a Bump

I have a two pound bump of Corriedale roving. I bought the fleece with Terri Shea at Black Sheep in '06. We sent it out to be processed. It's been sitting in my closet for a few years waiting to be dyed before spinning. My older son is home sick today so I thought I might finally dye it.



I started to pull a bit off to see what I dealing with. I had a notion that I would be able to just layer it in my big dyepot. It's very loosely held together. I started to imagine it all drifting apart when I hits water. So how do I deal with it?

After a lot of online searching and consulting I decided to wind it off on to my niddy noddy into "skeins" and then tie them loosely with cotton. It's now a massive fluffy pile of wool waiting to be soaked and dyed.

Dye and Overdye

I had myself a dye day on Tuesday. I've had this bag of Baruffa 7 Settembre for a few years. I bought it at Oregon Flock and Fiber for $10. It's white superwash merino in a DK-weight. I kept meaning to dye it but never got around to it. I finally borrowed Sasha's skein winder and got the yarn into hanks then tossed them in the dyepot. My inspiration on the color was Azul Profundo by Malabrigo. I didn't get anywhere near the depth of shade but the general idea is there.



The dye bath was completely exhausted and I was going to call it a night. But then I remembered this Koigu Kersti I had from Amanada.



A great yarn in a color that makes me positively ill. So in it went. I splashed in some black, some cyan, some worker blue. Splashed some more. Covered it and went to bed. In the morning the dye was completely exhausted and I had yarn in a color I rather like a lot.



Now, what to knit? The 7 Settembre will be a heavily modified Sylph Cardigan, I think. And the Kersti? No clue.