The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Food & crafts => Crafts => Topic started by: Bionic on July 09, 2013, 04:31:20 pm
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Went over to a member of the spinning club today where we had a dyeing day.
I am very pleased with my results,
The two on the left of the pic were in the same dye bath but the little piece is coloured Ryeland. I just wanted people to see that you can dye coloured fleece.
The three on the right were all in balls and then injected with dye and put in the microwave. Everyone was very impressed with these.
Just have to think up something to do with it all now :excited: :knit:
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Oh lovely :thumbsup: I particularly love that shade of green.
You could do a pseudo Shetland pattern on a hat or gloves with it, or use the various colours as highlights in a woven scarf.
How exactly did you do the injecting bit? I have dyed by sitting small balls of yarn in a shallow dye bath in the oven - they come out spotty.
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Love the multicoloured skeins! Much as i love the green it was my school uniform colour so i couldnt wear it again! :D
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Lovely Sally ...... I look forward to seeing what you make with it all. Would you like to try spinning a Llanwenog fleece? I kept one of the best ones back.
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How exactly did you do the injecting bit? I have dyed by sitting small balls of yarn in a shallow dye bath in the oven - they come out spotty.
I put the balls into equal amounts of water and white vinegar (the vinegar will depend on whether thats your mordant or not) and left it for a couple of hours to make sure that it had got wet right through. Then I used a syringe, like the ones I use for the sheep, just drew up some of the liquid dye and then injected. The end of the syringe only went just below the top surface but obviously the dye must seep through (thats why it has to be wet through) I used dark blue, yellow and red. I then discovered that the red can make it go a bit browny so might add less red next time.
I put them in a plastic bowl filled about half way with the water/vinegar solution and put it in the microwave on medium heat for 10 mins. There was still a lot of colour left in the liquid so put it back in for another 5 mins. There was still colour left but by the time I had let it sit to cool the colour completely went our of the water.
I really should have turned the balls over in the liquid a couple of times during the 'cooking' process as the bit sitting in it got a muddy colour and that on the top looked quite different. Once it was out of the microwave and cooling down I turned it over a few times.
All 3 balls were in together and you can see they look quite different. One ball was very small (just to make up the weight) and the other balls probably had different amounts of the colour added but its all trial and error.
Linda I would love to try a Llanwenog fleece :thumbsup:
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Love the multicoloured skeins! Much as i love the green it was my school uniform colour so i couldnt wear it again! :D
It wasn't in Norwich was it? That was also the colour of my school uniform. My parents couldn't decide between 2 schools for me, so I was allowed to choose - and I chose the one with a green uniform (a bit like my lovely blue car :roflanim: great criteria). I loved my uniform and my school :thumbsup:
Thanks for the details Sally. Next time I dig out the dyes I'll try that. I love experimenting.
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They all look great!
The right side lot look similar to the results I had when doing a cooker top rainbow dying workshop But we used raw fleece then spun it once dried :spin:
I also look forward to seeing what you make :excited:
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I still haven't used the dyes I bought at Wonderwool. Must get my act together.
Sally, do you use a separate microwave or the household one? I've heard people say you can't use them for cooking once you've dyed in them.
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Lesley, you should really use a seperate one. The one yesterday belongs to the spinning club so its only used for dyeing but I also have a spare in my garage that I can use.
To be honest though if I didn't have the spare I would use the one in my kitchen and just make sure I was careful. Don't take my word for it though. I wouldn't want you to get poisoned on my behalf.
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I think I need to put out an appeal on Freecycle. I gave one away a while back and left one in my office when I was made redundant. Pity.
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Lesley, definitely try freecycle. Funnily enough there is a microwave on our freecycle this morning
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Sally - just wanted to say that all the projects you post on here are really inspiring :bouquet:
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Awww, thankyou fleecewife. My problem is that I try to do too many things and am expert at none of them :(
Just heard there is going to be a class for art yarn at the local show so I'm thinking about that now ;D
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Sally - just wanted to say that all the projects you post on here are really inspiring :bouquet:
Agreed. It's what got me back into crafts in the first place.
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Awww, thankyou fleecewife. My problem is that I try to do too many things and am expert at none of them :(
Just heard there is going to be a class for art yarn at the local show so I'm thinking about that now ;D
Oh definitely go for it :excited:
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And tell us all about it.