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3/17/2011

Hand Painting Yarn and Roving for Spring



It's almost Spring! With the vernal equinox fast approaching, I find myself craving new and vibrant colors. This is also the time of year that brings back happy childhood memories of coloring Easter eggs.  If you were anything like me, as a kid you wished you could dye something those beautiful colors that would last a bit longer than an egg. You can! Wool and other protein fibers, as well as nylon, dye beautifully and permanently with acid dyes, and Easter egg dyes happen to be just that. This year I am hand painting some yarn and roving in a fresh springtime palette, so the kids don't have all the fun.


I'm supplementing my stock of Easter egg dyes with food coloring, which is another easy way to dye wool. I've also heard Kool-Aid works well, and has it's own built in acid (citric acid). And of course there are commercial acid dyes.  For my first attempt at dying, I hand painted 200g of roving, and 100g lace weight yarn all purchased from Knit Picks.

I'm new to dyeing, so I found these great tutorials online:
How to Hand Paint Roving and Yarn
Color to Dye For

Both of these tutorials include methods for hand painting yarn, the former has specific instructions for dyeing roving, and the latter is specifically geared towards using food dyes. For the Easter egg dye I followed the mixing directions on the package, (adding the vinegar is optional if you have presoaked your wool in a vinegar solution).

Materials:
  • Vinegar (or some kind of acid- lemon juice would create less vibrant colors)
  • Dye: Easter egg dye, food color, Kool-aid
  • Plastic Wrap
  • Cups, stirrers for mixing colors
  • Squirt bottle, or other means of applying dyes (I poured it- kind of messy.)
  • Paper towels (clean up and testing colors)
  • Newspapers (this could get messy!)
  • Wool/ Protein Fiber
  • Large pot with streamer basket (if you use food safe dyes you can still use the pot in your kitchen)




I combined ideas from both articles for my project. First I presoaked my yarn and roving in vinegar water, as Color to Dye For suggests. I then mixed up my dyes, and set up plastic wrap to put my dyes and roving on. After that I mixed my dyes, and painted away. When it was ready wrapped everything up and put it in a big pasta pot with a strainer basket  and some water at the bottom, and let it steam for 45 minutes like the Hand Painting article instructs, and followed same article instructions to finish. I used my washing machine as a basin for washing and rinsing (but I did not let it cycle!). I did not run it through the spin cycle as the article suggests, but wrapped it in a towel and stepped on it to remove excess moisture before hanging up to dry.


 Some hints:
  • If you want color changes to be neater, leave a bit of space between colors when you paint. They will fill in through wicking, and there will be less color mixing.
  • Don't go crazy with the dye! You need to make sure it penetrates (squish it around), but you don't need a rainbow lake on your floor. 
  • Don't shock your yarn with temperature changes or it will felt! Be careful not to agitate it too much or it will also felt. 
 The results:



1 comment:

  1. Wow! I didn't know you could do that! Great idea. Thanks! I can't wait to see what you come up with next!

    ReplyDelete