Semi-solid dye job

Posted on | February 13, 2007 | 7 Comments

This post is for Rachel, who asked on her blog about achieving a solid color of dye throughout.  Earth Guild recommends using gauber’s salts, and although I have a jar that came with my Lanaset dye starter kit, I’ve never used it. 

Part of my order from The Sheep Shed included 1 lb. of black/white roving, which has an overall gray effect.  I wondered how (or IF) it would take dye with all the black, so this weekend, I pre-soaked 4-5 oz of roving in water and vinegar, filled up my crockpot about 2/3 of the way full of water, added a glug of vinegar and then added 1/2 teaspoon of King’s Blue dye from Diva Knitting and gave it a good stir. 

CIMG2370-1.JPG

You can definitely still see the black stripes in the roving, and the blue is not consistent throughout, but a little darker here, a little lighter there, which is what I hoped for.  I did mush the roving around a bit while it was cooking, but I didn’t move it around too much.  The dyebath was exhausted, which I’ve been having some problems with, so I was happy.

I will probably spin this all as a single and ply it with the same black/white roving – undyed – for a blue tweedy effect.  At least, that’s what I’m thinking at the moment.

Rachel, I hope this helps! 

Category: Dyeing

Comments

7 Responses to “Semi-solid dye job”

  1. Rachel
    February 13th, 2007 @ 12:42 pm

    Thank you so much for this post! I haven’t done much with acid dyes, and have never heard of gauber’s salts until now, but after seeing your results, I will definitely be ordering some. This is just what I needed!

  2. Jen
    February 13th, 2007 @ 1:39 pm

    It’s gorgeous! It reminds me of the yarn Domesticat used on her first pair of her pomatomus socks found here. (Please excuse the html, I can’t hyperlink it.) http://www.catduck.com/Clog/PermaLink,guid,1b411e97-06c8-412b-a475-10f5e964948f.aspx

  3. Sarah
    February 13th, 2007 @ 1:53 pm

    That blue is gorgeous — it’s so intense! I’m sure it will spin up beautifully.

  4. KaKi
    February 13th, 2007 @ 3:39 pm

    OMG! That is gorgeous! I haven’t put my toe in the waters
    of dyeing, spinning or any of that world, but boy do you tempt me with this yarn!

  5. KaKi
    February 13th, 2007 @ 3:40 pm

    OOPS! Sorry, I mean roving. (right?)

  6. Crazy For Yarn In Alabama: Darlene
    February 14th, 2007 @ 10:54 am

    I LOVE this intense blue color!! Looking forward to seeing the yarn once you have
    it spun into yarn!! I had no idea a crockpot was used in the dye process!!!

  7. kmkat
    February 14th, 2007 @ 2:00 pm

    I love that blue! To my eye an absolutely solid color is never as interesting as one
    that has some variegation in it, be it heathery, tweedy, whatever. I have been known to
    double-strand with two slightly different shades of yarn just to achieve that effect.
    So imnsho what you have there is perfect. If your opinion differs, give it to someone
    who will love it, like me ;-)