September 14, 2006
Dye Day
Each summer, my spinning group gathers in the beautiful garden of one of the member's home to dye fiber and yarn together. This year, the theme was over-dyeing wool using immersion methods. Using camp stoves and a bbq grill, we fired up 6 dye pots with water, immersed the yarn and fiber into the pots and poured the dye mixtures over everything. And, as usual, I couldn't leave the pots alone and had to keep checking the results.
After simmering the fiber for 30 minutes, we removed it from the pots and allow it to cool on the grass. A good rinsing from the garden hose followed by a dip in a cream rinse & water bath and here's the result. The variations from each pot are amazing.
I was given several hanks of lace-weight, medium quality Chinese cashmere yarn by a generous co-worker. I failed to take a picture of the before colors but suffice it to say the colors were less than desirable. Flesh-colored beige, mustard and grey. I decided these were prime candidates for over-dyeing as I couldn't imagine ever using this yarn, except perhaps the grey if the project was intended for someone else. Here they are after over-dyeing:
Can you guess that the hank on the left started its life mustard colored?
After simmering the fiber for 30 minutes, we removed it from the pots and allow it to cool on the grass. A good rinsing from the garden hose followed by a dip in a cream rinse & water bath and here's the result. The variations from each pot are amazing.
I was given several hanks of lace-weight, medium quality Chinese cashmere yarn by a generous co-worker. I failed to take a picture of the before colors but suffice it to say the colors were less than desirable. Flesh-colored beige, mustard and grey. I decided these were prime candidates for over-dyeing as I couldn't imagine ever using this yarn, except perhaps the grey if the project was intended for someone else. Here they are after over-dyeing:
Can you guess that the hank on the left started its life mustard colored?
