There's more than one way to dye a ball of yarn ... that's what I learned this weekend at the Lacey Weekend Workshops (the 2008 workshop page is here; 2009 details were emailed out).This time, we wound our undyed yarn balls loosely on the ballwinder and put a string through the center.
The dye was in crockpots, already warmed when we started dyeing. Our balls were pre-wetted in soapy water, squeezed out, and then dipped 1/3 their depth into a color. We held them by their strings in the dyepot for 10-20 minutes, then squeezed the dye liquid back into the pot. As you can see, we rotated and dipped again, and repeated a third time if desired. My three-dip ball (left) had 6 colors in it once done; the two-dip balls (middle and right) had 4 colors.
This was a fun way to dye! Enough of us were dipping to use up the dye in some of the pots -- the pots with leftover dye were used to put color on some wool roving brought for that purpose.
If you're near Lacey or can get there next July, I highly recommend this annual workshop weekend. The atmosphere is tranquil, the food's plentiful and tasty, and the classes are diverse. I had a fun time!
Oh, and my yarn? The left is superwash merino in a cushy DK weight ... I think it will be a woven scarf; the middle is superwash merino/alpaca/bamboo/nylon sock yarn, yep, for socks; and the right is a funky brown cabled yarn, I'm not sure what it might become.
~~
Do you have another way of dyeing a ball of yarn? I'd love to give it a try, too -- post a note in the comments about your method to share it.
The Bellwether sells Cushings Acid Dyes, great for dyeing wool, silk, and other protein fibers, and available in 94 colors. Your purchases at The Bellwether help keep the blog going -- thank you!
~~
posted 26 July 2009 at http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/
