dying yarns - take 2
hi there... I have one problem. I can't edit long videos on my phone and I wont touch my phone with dye or wet gloves... LOL I am working on solving this very personal problem. Until then... no live-action of actually pouring the dye on the yarns, which I know is a huge question.
Wall of Text About Yarn Dyeing
I use Tulip Tie Dye kits... Artisan Soda Ash 4 Color Kits and any variation of the 4-36 color packs that are available. I follow the instructions. I own Soda Ash to add to the water for the kits that don't come with it.
This is why: Soda ash is a mild alkali that creates a chemical reaction between the cellulose in plant fibers and makes the colors bond more spectacularly and brightly. It doesn't hurt my wool yarns (it has little effect if any on wool because there's no cellulose so I soak my wool and wool blends in it along with the other yarns because they still need to be wet to take the dye) and it really invigorates the cottons, bamboos and silks I have dyed.
Tie Dye colors are considered "cold dye" or "cold water dye" and are sort of less "artisinal" in the yarn lady circles - so any snobbery you're going to try to pull will be all on you. As soon as you say "Tulip dyes" the very artsy and snobby of the yarn peeps are gonna stop listening, look away or outright tell you that it's not the way "dying of fine fibers is done." Because not acid dyes or "all natural plant based dyes."
They're full of shit. Ignore them. Whether you're dyeing for your own use as I primarily do or whether you're doing it for sale, disclose what you do and do it well and know that cold water dyes have been around for just as long as the boil or steam in the pot methods and are A VERY MUCH LOT SAFER FOR YOUR PETS, KIDS and LUNGS. They're also terrifically more predictable and reliable than the 100% natural plant based dyes that I have found make shades of gray at exquisitely expensive costs more often than they give the colors you're looking for, no matter how many videos, instructions and homeopathic sorts of suggestions you try to incorporate into your dyeing.
I dye mostly cotton, cotton/bamboo blend, cotton/poly blend, and bamboo yarns. I over-dye* a small amount of commercial yarns (or all of it, depending on your take on it) and I dye wool/nylon blend sock yarns.
What brands, Ruth?: Premier Home Cotton (blend), Caron Cotton (not blend), Premier Home Cotton Glitz (blend), some poorly banded bamboo and cotton/bamboo blend yarns I got from Amazon, and wool/nylon and wool only fingering yarns from theyarnandi on Etsy. I watch sales and buy the big skeins of yarn from Herrschner's or direct from the manufacturers often for $2 per 600 yard skein.
I "hank" my yarn by using a knitty noddy or the lid of a large plastic bin and wrapping. I am just OCD enough that I measured one loop around the plastic lid to be sure the length and then used colored yarns to identify the lengths... sadly I then forgot whether blue was 200 yards or tan was. Use a color scheme or standard method that works for you that you will remember. Dyeing yarn in hanks is SO much easier than trying to do it in balls or skeins. LOL :D
*over-dye is the process of adding dye over a commercial or previously dyed yarn... if you're a pedant then 100% of the "name brand" yarns I dye are over-dyed because they were processed to achieve the colors I purchased, even if those colors were a uniform and wonderfully dye-able white. I'm not overly fond of pedants, however, and would point out that if it's spun and/or 2-ply or 4-ply and blended with nylon or other wool fibers or even just uniformly wool without dirt and stems and other detritus then really you're just being silly because all yarn is processed and we're over-dyeing it all. I mean, I never met a rainbow and sea-foam green sheep before. Anything could happen, and I still haven't met one.
I work on sheets of saran wrap stretched over the counter and pour the dye from the bottle right onto the yarn, or onto my hands and then squish the yarn, or through or onto textured surfaces and then onto the yarns and then I wrap the yarn in the sheets of plastic wrap beginning by folding the ends in and then around like a burrito until the yarn and dye are trapped inside. Sometimes the skeins are large enough that I need to layer 2 sheets of plastic wrap so that they only overlap by a few inches in the middle. I have also had to re-wrap an already wrapped bundle to keep the dye and yarn in and safely away from other yarns.
I also microwave these burritos twice for 1 minute each time before I snuggle them all together on the counter and wrap them in a towel like a burrito so that any wool or silk fibers I dyed don't panic by cooling down too quickly. (I tend to even tuck them into the middle)
This is why I microwave: Heat does activate the fibers, even if it doesn't activate the colors in cold water dyeing. I'm superstitious about removing the heating from my process because I have done it since the first batch and I love how color-fast and bold my colors are. Most people insist that I am practicing voodoo and that the heat is an entirely unnecessary step. They're probably right. I do it anyway.
This is why they're all snuggle cuddled up: For the dyes I use they have to sit for 8 hours and I figure I am not allowing the wool or silk to cool too quickly and get afro-like curly little fibers by shocking them cold too fast. That's the only reason they snuggle together this way. Well, and my 13 pound tom cat thinks that they're babies, and they're warm, so he snuggles them and it just sort of keeps the pile all in one place so that he's not making his babies pee by poking them with his nails.
I rinse the yarns individually in the sink in room temperature water and I use Soak wash because I have some. Before that I used dish soap. I rinse until the water runs clear. If you're not sure, try putting a sheet of aluminum foil or a white cutting board under your yarn in the sink while rinsing.
Two things are very important here... firstly, make sure you get all of your soap out and secondly be very aware that your yarns have just had a "very bad day" as fiber lifestyles go... be gentle in your squishing, wringing should be done without twisting and generally try not to fray them or stress them any further than they have already been. That's the official line... I wring the shit out my yarns, because mostly they're cotton or bamboo and are tough little mamas who can take it... it's still not really wise to recommend that you do this to your pretty fibers. Particularly not if you want to sell them.
I hang my yarns to dry outside and constantly rotate them around the hangers that they're hanging from until I detect ZERO moisture in them.
That's kind of it. Below are samples of me using yarns I have dyed myself... and I would point out that the granny bag has as many yarns I dyed myself as yarns I bought from Premier already dyed, and they blend and work really well together. :D
Be creative and have fun. Read the instructions and go for it!
gathering all supplies, and the feline supervisor because he believes that this is yarn baby abuse.
soaking the yarns in soda ash - you would need to soak them either way,
wet yarn takes dye dry yarns don't.
(sample of soaking yarns I've dyed once and didn't feel like they had enough color)
Thor babysits the yarn babies, he thinks I am abusing them.
I dye the yarn over sheets of plastic wrap and then roll them to prevent leakage.
I heat the yarns for 1 minute two separate times in the microwave,
then pack them snuggly bundled together so wool stays warm and cools slowly
wrapped like a burrito for 2 reasons: cat wants to snuggle them
and it keeps wools and silks warmer so that they cool slowly.
there is always one kitchen sink dye... long story short, the first time
my son and I dyed yarns we had a LOT of extra dye and a sense of frugality
so he ran upstairs, grabbed a full skein of Premier Home Cotton Yarn (600 yards)
and brought it down. We soaked it FAST and then filled it with dye.
And then struggled to rinse, un-skein, rinse again...
and it was the yarn we loved most of the lot.
So now we only do 1 this way every time, usually a little one.
and usually love them a real lot.
This one is called Macaw.
For the pedants and snobs in the world... cold dyed wool sock blends, one
with stellina and one without... :D perfect colors!
***
so, if you're the sort, there's a wall of text below that explains what I do and what with. and where I get most of my supplies. I did this once before and am trying to do it again more clearly.Wall of Text About Yarn Dyeing
I use Tulip Tie Dye kits... Artisan Soda Ash 4 Color Kits and any variation of the 4-36 color packs that are available. I follow the instructions. I own Soda Ash to add to the water for the kits that don't come with it.
This is why: Soda ash is a mild alkali that creates a chemical reaction between the cellulose in plant fibers and makes the colors bond more spectacularly and brightly. It doesn't hurt my wool yarns (it has little effect if any on wool because there's no cellulose so I soak my wool and wool blends in it along with the other yarns because they still need to be wet to take the dye) and it really invigorates the cottons, bamboos and silks I have dyed.
Tie Dye colors are considered "cold dye" or "cold water dye" and are sort of less "artisinal" in the yarn lady circles - so any snobbery you're going to try to pull will be all on you. As soon as you say "Tulip dyes" the very artsy and snobby of the yarn peeps are gonna stop listening, look away or outright tell you that it's not the way "dying of fine fibers is done." Because not acid dyes or "all natural plant based dyes."
They're full of shit. Ignore them. Whether you're dyeing for your own use as I primarily do or whether you're doing it for sale, disclose what you do and do it well and know that cold water dyes have been around for just as long as the boil or steam in the pot methods and are A VERY MUCH LOT SAFER FOR YOUR PETS, KIDS and LUNGS. They're also terrifically more predictable and reliable than the 100% natural plant based dyes that I have found make shades of gray at exquisitely expensive costs more often than they give the colors you're looking for, no matter how many videos, instructions and homeopathic sorts of suggestions you try to incorporate into your dyeing.
I dye mostly cotton, cotton/bamboo blend, cotton/poly blend, and bamboo yarns. I over-dye* a small amount of commercial yarns (or all of it, depending on your take on it) and I dye wool/nylon blend sock yarns.
What brands, Ruth?: Premier Home Cotton (blend), Caron Cotton (not blend), Premier Home Cotton Glitz (blend), some poorly banded bamboo and cotton/bamboo blend yarns I got from Amazon, and wool/nylon and wool only fingering yarns from theyarnandi on Etsy. I watch sales and buy the big skeins of yarn from Herrschner's or direct from the manufacturers often for $2 per 600 yard skein.
I "hank" my yarn by using a knitty noddy or the lid of a large plastic bin and wrapping. I am just OCD enough that I measured one loop around the plastic lid to be sure the length and then used colored yarns to identify the lengths... sadly I then forgot whether blue was 200 yards or tan was. Use a color scheme or standard method that works for you that you will remember. Dyeing yarn in hanks is SO much easier than trying to do it in balls or skeins. LOL :D
*over-dye is the process of adding dye over a commercial or previously dyed yarn... if you're a pedant then 100% of the "name brand" yarns I dye are over-dyed because they were processed to achieve the colors I purchased, even if those colors were a uniform and wonderfully dye-able white. I'm not overly fond of pedants, however, and would point out that if it's spun and/or 2-ply or 4-ply and blended with nylon or other wool fibers or even just uniformly wool without dirt and stems and other detritus then really you're just being silly because all yarn is processed and we're over-dyeing it all. I mean, I never met a rainbow and sea-foam green sheep before. Anything could happen, and I still haven't met one.
I work on sheets of saran wrap stretched over the counter and pour the dye from the bottle right onto the yarn, or onto my hands and then squish the yarn, or through or onto textured surfaces and then onto the yarns and then I wrap the yarn in the sheets of plastic wrap beginning by folding the ends in and then around like a burrito until the yarn and dye are trapped inside. Sometimes the skeins are large enough that I need to layer 2 sheets of plastic wrap so that they only overlap by a few inches in the middle. I have also had to re-wrap an already wrapped bundle to keep the dye and yarn in and safely away from other yarns.
I also microwave these burritos twice for 1 minute each time before I snuggle them all together on the counter and wrap them in a towel like a burrito so that any wool or silk fibers I dyed don't panic by cooling down too quickly. (I tend to even tuck them into the middle)
This is why I microwave: Heat does activate the fibers, even if it doesn't activate the colors in cold water dyeing. I'm superstitious about removing the heating from my process because I have done it since the first batch and I love how color-fast and bold my colors are. Most people insist that I am practicing voodoo and that the heat is an entirely unnecessary step. They're probably right. I do it anyway.
This is why they're all snuggle cuddled up: For the dyes I use they have to sit for 8 hours and I figure I am not allowing the wool or silk to cool too quickly and get afro-like curly little fibers by shocking them cold too fast. That's the only reason they snuggle together this way. Well, and my 13 pound tom cat thinks that they're babies, and they're warm, so he snuggles them and it just sort of keeps the pile all in one place so that he's not making his babies pee by poking them with his nails.
I rinse the yarns individually in the sink in room temperature water and I use Soak wash because I have some. Before that I used dish soap. I rinse until the water runs clear. If you're not sure, try putting a sheet of aluminum foil or a white cutting board under your yarn in the sink while rinsing.
Two things are very important here... firstly, make sure you get all of your soap out and secondly be very aware that your yarns have just had a "very bad day" as fiber lifestyles go... be gentle in your squishing, wringing should be done without twisting and generally try not to fray them or stress them any further than they have already been. That's the official line... I wring the shit out my yarns, because mostly they're cotton or bamboo and are tough little mamas who can take it... it's still not really wise to recommend that you do this to your pretty fibers. Particularly not if you want to sell them.
I hang my yarns to dry outside and constantly rotate them around the hangers that they're hanging from until I detect ZERO moisture in them.
That's kind of it. Below are samples of me using yarns I have dyed myself... and I would point out that the granny bag has as many yarns I dyed myself as yarns I bought from Premier already dyed, and they blend and work really well together. :D
Be creative and have fun. Read the instructions and go for it!
(potter hook and rainbow unicorn poop stitch marker by thespeckledclay at Etsy)
for those still paying attention, under this bag is a sample of
the plastic lid I used as a knitty noddy until I got a real one
for Christmas last year... :D it's 41" for one time around.
I did the maths to find the closest even number of rounds/yards. LOL
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