Sunday, July 12, 2015

Acid Dyeing Roving Take Two

Followed the same procedure as yesterday. I put a bit more fiber in each jar. I have one jar of tan/fawn alpaca, two jars of white alpaca, and four jars of the Corrie blend wool.

The sapphire blue still had white areas even though I stirred more often. I had to add another Tbsp or so more of the dye to the jar. I think the color will be through the roving now. I should have added the extra dye earlier for more even color.  The red and yellow have white areas and could have used more dye and better mixing.



Fire Engine Red, Caribean Blue, Sapphire Blue

Chartreuse, Brilliant Yellow, Flamingo Pink (on tan alpaca), Teal Green

7/11/15 & 7/12/15 dyeing.

Enjoy!
Nancy

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Second Pair of Leg Warmers Finished

I love the first pair so much I made a second pair! Again I used Noro Kureyon and the some pattern as before. I love knitting them and love this yarn for the Leg warmers!



:)
Nancy


Acid Dyeing Roving....On the Grill!

This is a technique I read about on Dharma Trading Company's website. Except for a minor deviation, I followed their instructions. And yes, I did it on the grill! Too hot to do it in the house and I feel better using these dyes outside.

First, I chose three fibers 



Left to right - Ashland Bay Corrie Blend Wool (Paradise Fibers), white alpaca (Bucks County Herd), and light tan/fawn alpaca (Hunterdon County Sheep & Wool).

I filled three quart jars with corrie blend, three jars with white alpaca, and one jar with tan alpaca. I disolved 1/2 Tbs of citric acid in a cup of water per jar. Then fill jar with water. Let sit minimum of 2 hours.



Put 1/2 tsp of Dharma's Acid Dye in a container, added 1 cup of hot water, mixed well.

In fiber jar, 4 Tbsp of mixed dye, stir well with skewer.



From bottom center clockwise:

407 Caribean Blue
408 Teal Green
403 Flamingo Pink (tan alpaca)
401 Brilliant Yellow
404 Sapphire Blue
402 Fire Engine Red

In the center:

448 Chartreuse

Fill the pot 1/4'way with water, set on grill with low/medium heat. Put jars in. Made sure the water level was at least 1/2 way up the jar but not higher than 3/4.  Adjusted the heat to make sure it got hot but didn't bubble. First 20 minutes stirred gently every 5 minutes.  Added 1/2 Tbsp of citric acid and stirred well. Another 20 minutes stirred three times.



Let cool for a couple of hours.

Washed in cold water, dish detergent and salt. Soak 10-15 minutes then rinse.



Teal, Caribean blue, fire engine red, sapphire blue



Should have stirred the sapphire blue and fire engine red jars more.  I have white areas.



Top - chartreuse, brilliant yellow, flamingo pink (tan alpaca).



Now they dry...

This was fun! 
Nancy

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Brushed Mohair Shawl

This shawl is made from hand spun and hand dyed brushed mohair I purchased from The Spinnery in Frenchtown, NJ. The Butterfly Shawl Pattern came with the yarn.





Enjoy! 
Nancy