Hi Rebecca, I found your channel through Knitcrate's May 2020 box. I followed your instructions to dye yarn with KoolAid. I don't have a yarn winder, but I winded my yarn cakes by hand and my two children helped me with dying it. It was such a fun project for us to do. I love the way my yarn turned out. I crocheted a light summer scarf from one cake and posted a video on my channel, and now people are asking me what yarn that was. Thank you so much for sharing your creativity with us!
I did a series inspired by pearls that I used extremely dilute colors for and I discovered that many of the warmer reds were actually hyperpigmented oranges. I got some beautiful candlelit peachy-coral yarn from it, but it wasn't the bridal blush I was looking for. I find that diluting dye works completely different than adding white to paint. I learned that if I want a pink, to start with fuchsia or a red purple shade. Then when I'm mixing dilutions, I ignore what the label said and go with what my eyes tell me. Playing around with watercolors would be really helpful for learning how mixing colors in dilutions works.
As a regular Floof dyer I find steam setting the yarn gives you way more control over where your colours land and reduces the chance of felting significantly
I like hand painting and steam setting, too. I have a video with an immersion technique coming up in a few weeks that went much better than this one (in terms of how the fiber turned out.)
Thank you, Rebecca! I can't wait to get this! I am so excited! Also, I asked it in the ChemKnits Lab! But I do know the feeling about heat reactive dyes! Rit powders do that! It nearly gave me a heart attack the first time! As for the roving, I have botched roving before and this is far better than what I did! I am sure I will manage! I will definitely post pictures!
I've only been spinning for about 9 months, but I've gotten some hand dyed braids and noticed they tend to be a bit "sticky" when separating compared to ones that aren't dyed, but I wouldn't consider them felted, I just predraft a bit more than usual to compensate
As always, super interesting! And I’m even planning to dye some WOA top today (assuming it arrives...it should, based on my stalking of the delivery tracking!). Watching the color mystery you were dealing with was better than an Agatha Christie novel! :)
Thanks, Rebecca! I enjoy all your videos, especially those involving roving. I do suggest you get yourself a good color wheel and color theory book, though, so you'll have more of an idea what to expect when mixing dyes.
Thanks for the tip! I think that this time some of the colors reacted strangely before heat was applied - so I ended up with a purple that I shifted towards when the first red was a bit too orange. But when it turned green... that was still an odd thing to see! :D
@@ChemKnitsTutorials even if you had checked colours on a colour wheel, it may not have been helpful. Because the dyes are made up of different colours, you couldn't guarantee what it will break into. Or how the different dyes would mix. It was a very interesting video and highlights the challenges of predicting dyeing outcomes
Some of my Dharma dyes have been one color when mixed another when in the pan and then turns the color it’s suppose to after its set under heat for a bit like your getting now.. Navy is one that is purple when I mix it red when I add it to the pan with acid and the navy after it’s set. crazy 😜
Anytime you put colors that are opposite of each other on the color wheel you will get brown/ black/gray, depending on how much pigment and what the dominant color is or how balanced they are. When you understand your colors and what they're made up of (i.e. blue +yellow =green)...basically, if you have red, blue and yellow together you get 'mud'. Color theory is fun and very useful!
I love the bits of it that I know! I'm a bit better with paints (from those paint night social hour things). I'm getting better with dyes but I still don't consider it a strength. I think that part is also getting a really good handle on each of the acid dyes and how they react in different conditions. The more I play with the colors the more I know how they may behave.
So funny your yarn mop looks same color as my yarn mop from the other day. Roving is beautiful but that last color also seemed to change when acid was applied. It sure gave you a run for your money (as the saying goes)
One dying class I took said that spraying the vinegar on instead of pouring gave even results when dying roving, what is your opinion of spray versus pouring vinegar? I haven’t tried it yet and the teacher forgot her spray so we couldn’t try it. Anytime I use turquoise I double the vinegar and double the heating time, but our water is very alkaline. And my spinning friends said that after spinning, when the yarn is totally finished, she resets the color from the beginning
@@ChemKnitsTutorials I spray vinegar often when I'm sprinkle dry dye, particular with some colours that are harder to set. I put my yarn through my spinner before sprinkling, so I can get really fine sprinkles
Would it be possible to rig up 2 swifts, on one either side of the dye pot, and reel the yarn from one swift, through the dye, and onto the other swift? In my imagining it would make a very long gradient, especially if you used a breakable dye.
I've been wanting to dye yarn a few yards at a time like this for a while.... and the thing holding me back is thinking about hte mess at the end. My swift is wooden so I'm not sure if it could handle wet yarn very well. But maybe wind straight onto a niddy noddy. I'd probably have to do this outside since I don't have a lot of space around the stove.... Hmmmmm....
Fire red is a RGB mixing red, not a CYM mixinh magenta. Fire red is a SUPER warm red. Warm reds will look orange when dilute. You need a cool red to get pink. Yellow-reds like Fire Red plus blue or turquoise creates brown. Adding more blue just pushed it back to brown-toned green.
@@ChemKnitsTutorials it's all good! It's cool that you were able to overcome the orange-yellow tones to get a purple. RGB/CYM is difficult to wrap one's head around without a bit of color theory.
@@ChemKnitsTutorialsalso, I wonder if salt would've helped move the dye out of solution - everything I read says that turquoise and mixed dyes containing turquoise absolutely needs salt to drive the dye out of solution into fiber. That's why Dharma Trading puts (T) on any dyes containing turquoise, to indicate that salt is needed.
Hi Rebecca. I have dyed yarn 6 times since yout knitcrate box was announced and you gave us tips on ravelry. And i found most of tjhe times my dyed yarn bleeds lightly... After some atempts, i found reheating solved the problem. But i want to avoid the sevcond heat, to prevent felting. So what can i change? I have thought: more time with heat, more presoak or presoak with acid. It can't be more acid because i put a lot of citric acid (too much acid can cause bleeding?). And it can't be more temperature because sometimes i have had my wáter slowing boiling during inmersion ( but this is no neccesary, isn't it? ) I really love your videos !!! (Edit typo)
Are you giving the fiber a preliminary dry in the spin dryer? Getting the water out ASAP helps a lot with keeping it fluffy and ordered. I know you own one, and it is game changer for dyeing fiber. If you are using combed top, use the term top. Roving is pretty meaningless, and being specific with the language helps educate people. If it is more disordered fiber, carded sliver, or just sliver is a good way to refer to carded preparations. I can look up a book reference if you would like to know more. My quick internet search wasn't helping. The great roving debate was originally brought to my attention during a class with Abby Franquemont. Molly
I always put everything through the spin dryer. :D It really makes a HUGE difference with roving. I think almost all of the roving I've dyed (with the exception of a batt) is combed top.
Yes! Or... maybe just some non-superwash yarn first. ;) The strange thing is, this color didn't bleed when I used it the other day. So maybe I do need to do the test on roving. I just hated washing it so much!
Could you add cable ties to add resistance on the merging edges, so that it gets a white speckled effect like blended argle on the in between sections, or would that cause felting? Totally new to this, interested but not tried anything xx
You could add a zip tie to places for sure - I would do this while the fiber was dry, though. When spun, the white spots would blend out and be more subtle
I'm never that good at doing weird on purpose! But feel free to reach out to me on Etsy and we could chat about some "riskier" results. I'm sure I have some on my list. :D
Newbie question (because I have no clue about spinning/plying) but could you ply the roving with the mop yarn? - I think it would make for an interesting variation myself. Also...beside a spinner spindle is their a fairly easy to understand DIY to make your own spinning wheel? Thank you
You absolutely could spin the yarn and then ply it with the yarn mop. It might be hard to match the twist so it would balance well, but you can spin yarn that is already plyd. I'm not sure how to DIY a spinning wheel, but you can DIY a drop spindle pretty easily.
The "red" looked very coppery to me, and you used copper for the April dye-along. Could you have mistaken which dye-along the stock was from? I can't remember if you did a "no dye left behind" with April's colors or if you used up all the copper you made that day. The end roving does look pretty red and purple, so it is pretty strange! The finished result is gorgeous though, even if it isn't what your original plan was.
I used copper? I thought I considered Jacquard Copper... but now I'm all confused. I believe these jars were leftover from May, but it is always hard to keep track because I used the dye in a few places.
Silk is very feltable. Some breeds of sheep are not easy to felt, (Suffolk, Dorset, most of the down breeds). Alpaca is not as easy to felt as well, but it will felt.
@@homespuntools2115 , that's incorrect. Felting can only happen on fibers with scales, which all wools and hairs have, but silk lacks because it's basically the same material as spider silk, so it cannot felt.
I'm honestly not sure - a quick google search shows some results for silk felting, but I know there is a technique where you needle felt onto a silk scarf. So... I'm not sure! :D
I'm not sure if I have. I've very likely handpainted on the countertop and then steam set in the microwave in the past. I've certainly steamed roving in a steamer basket.
The breaking comes from the dye itself. In order to see breaking, you want the colors to strike the yarn at different rates. SO it comes down to heat, pH (the amount of acid), and the fiber type. I normally start at low acid if I want to exaggurate breaking
One of the YT videos addresses using a home batting but doesn’t mention a commercial batting. It would be an interesting experiment. I could see dyeing the comm bat, then drum carding it. I’ve been able to recard a roving that was medium Felted after dying
So batting for inside a quilt might be felted, but I've dyed a wool batt for spinning and that isn't felted. It just has fibers going in more directions.
SHLM UHaB (peace &love). Tudah Rbah (thank you very much ) for your helpful videos. You are versed in science. Amen. I went against some of your advice and it bit me. I dyed a 100% cotton fabric, even using vinegar (acid) and heat (and water and time). Then I washed it in hot water and strong cycle and all the pink (red food coloring dye) came out! There only remained the slightest hint of pink color. So slight, you can hardly tell, it looks off-white again. (You had made a video testing the dye-ability of cotton, synthetic and wool and wool dyed so well. ) So, can you tell me, please, I also dyed 100% cotton fabric in blueberries, using vinegar, water, heat and time. If I iron the, now, dry, finished fabric, will the color likely stay in. I also would not wash in strong cycle, with hot water. I would use cold. (Or likely, I would try warm and it would come out again?) Before I leave, please know I am Hebrew, of the tribe of GD (what the world calls "Cherokee Indians," but we are of the vine of Yah.) The world wants us to forget our identity and did a fabulous job at that cause. When I was a little girl, I was walking home from school with other children and I just started singing a song I made up (about the school's lesson that day). I was singing, we are of a melting pot, we are of a melting pot. Then in my forties, Yah woke me up. He breathed His Spirit on many of us and as I woke up, I came to know Him, His Son and the RYH HaQDSH (Spirit, Righteous). I tried many churches but they were doing a fake worship of another Christ. The HaMSHYHh I am betrothed to is the Yahudi RB (RB AHhD RQ, HaMSHYHh), which is to say One Rabbi only, the Messiah. The only way to be saved is through the Son of Yah. The real Name of the Creator is Hayah asher Hayah (Exodus 3:13-14) , as what He told Moses. It is also in Strongs' Concordance. Look up LORD and see the page has Yahuah on it. Now look harder and see the "word etymology" section, which has the Name Hayah. Hayah asher Hayah means, the Breath, which is, was. That is His Name for generations and forever. And there is a curse to the G-o-d name (Isaiah 65:11-12), but the English Scriptures hid this warning, changing the original to warning us instead to not set a table for "that troop." But the Hebrew Scriptures preserved the warning. Also, all mankind, not just the Yahudim/Jews, are supposed to do the 7 appointed times (Leviticus 23). Now when I say all mankind, I mean any who proclaim they follow the NTSR (tree of everlasting life), Who is the PSHh Lamb, Who was Resurrected, presenting Himself to the Father as First Fruits, 3 days later. If you read Isiah 53, it is of He. If you read Psalm 22, it is of the crucifixion, written by the prophet DUD/David. Love &peace.
Unfortunately cotton is a lot harder to dye than wool. You need to use fiber reactive dyes and soda ash to dye cotton. Vinegar + food coloring or acid dyes won't work.
@@ChemKnitsTutorials Tudah Rbah (thank you very much). Look up, look up. There was also the matter the Messiah. Please consider receiving Him, as eternity is forever and He is HaTQUUaH (the hope). Only by Him can one have everlasting life.
I normally label them (and don't worry these won't get mixed up with food jars!) I thought I was going to use up the dye fairly quickly but still had leftovers.
