i've been doing a bit of a purge lately, going through the stash, using it up, getting rid of leftovers, etc. one of the things on my "what do i do with this" list was a sweater i knit ages ago but never wore. it was tempting in merino et soie, which was the wrong yarn - too drapey, when i needed something with more spring - and the wrong colour. i'm not a pink person. why did i even buy pink yarn? i get funny ideas sometimes.
anyway, i frogged it, and planned to re-skein and wash the yarn and see if anyone else wanted it, when someone suggested i dye it. why not? what did i have to lose, if i was getting rid of the yarn anyway? and so soft!
i started by reading up on how to dye your yarn with food colouring and kool aid and whatnot, and when my head was overfull and hurty, i decided instead to just use plain old dye with instructions on it, and headed to fabricland to squint at the various packets of stuff. maybe i'll try food colour dyeing when i have more experience.
anyway, i needed to stick to the warm- and cool- water dyes, since my yarn contained wool, so i ended up choosing a bottle of rit liquid dye in teal, for a couple of reasons: it seemed easier to handle, it was exactly the colour i wanted, and was a better price (when you consider it's enough dye for a full kilo of fabric, and the dylon was only enough for 250g). also, it specifically mentioned instructions for wool and silk on the label, so that seemed a good sign.
i also got colour remover, because i wanted to end up with teal, not purple. for that i chose the dylon, because it included specific instructions for wool and silk. it said, "bring to a simmer, not a boil, and stir constantly for 20 minutes. allow to cool in the solution for 10 minutes, then remove and allow to come to room temperature before rinsing in warm water.
it took far less than 20 minutes to get this light! the solution didn't even reach a simmer, either.
but then i realised i forgot a skein. whoopsie.
i decided to throw it in anyway, why not? a few stirs and the colour was mostly gone. then i set the timer for 10 minutes for the "cool in the solution" stage, and by then it looked the same as the others.
next came dyeing. i had 250g of fabric, so i decided to use 1/3 of the bottle (since the label said "double the amount for really deep colour"). for wool or silk, the label suggested adding 1 cup of vinegar to the mix - since i was using 1/3 of the bottle of dye, i used 1/3 of a cup of vinegar. the instructions for sink-dyeing (as opposed to in a washing machine, which i do not have), said "stir constantly for 30-60 minutes." augh! so i checked the time and started stirring. about 10 minutes in, i noticed the water was clear! this is what they call "exhaustion." once the dye is "exhausted," why keep stirring? i stirred a while longer, just because. maybe 20 minutes total?
amazing. i gave the yarn a rinse - and another and another - until i finally got a bit tired of it. silk will take a lot of dye and give a lot up - i have red silk pyjamas that i've owned for over a decade, and they still turn the sheets pink if i wear them!
i had skeined it beforehand and tied it loosely with scrap yarn. next time, i will use cotton string - because while my merino et soie was fine, the scrap yarn i'd tied the skeins with was a felted melted mess! my skeins were a mess, too. this yarn does not look great wet - like a persian cat. i re-skeined it (and boy, were some tangled) to dry, and just doing that helped it get some of its loft back.
finally i wound it back into cakes. i'm pretty pleased! i think one ball does look a little lighter than the others, but over all they're pretty decent. this is going to turn into a scarf i think!
and this has me thinking of other yarn in my stash i might want to dye... colours i fell in love with and no longer remember why.
