22.5.07

Rainbow dyeing

I've been checking out some springtime blogs in the northern hemisphere and was inspired by the wool blankets dyed by here at Small Wonders. Taimarie has provided some good links to follow and before I knew it I was in the mood to do some dying. I havn't tried with blankets but wound some recycled wool into hanks to make multi coloured yarn. My Aunt who has entered the World Of Wearable Art for years taught me this simple method which requires only food colouring and white vinigar. Wind some wool into hanks and wet it. Bring a dye pot with a few centimetres of water to the boil. Add about 3/4 of a cup of white vinigar to the water ( this sets the dye) or acetic acid could be used then you'd only need a tablespoon or so. Lay the hanks on the water and sprinkle the dye on top, Steam, dip or stir to create the desired effect. Add more water and vinigar if it all gets absorbed. It takes around 10 to 20 minutes of simering for all the dye to be absorbed, don't stir too much or it will felt. Experiment!

Take the wool out of the pot with tongs and put it into warm soapy water to rinse. Squeeze out any excess dye without agitating too much, then hang on the line to admire the result and plan the garment you're going to knit.

6 comments:

andsewtosleep said...

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. What will you knit with this beautiful (again) wool?? Mary

feistyurchin said...

Oooooooo, I'm going to attack a few balls of wool with food colouring in the next week or two for my Sockapalooza socks. My skills are in no way up to your dye job level though!! I love love love the rainbow effect :)

Anonymous said...

lovely rainbow yarn! thanks for the inspiration- my food dyes will coming out very soon!

taisa said...

This yarn turned out lovely! Thanks for visiting my blog too, I'm enjoying looking around yours!

Anonymous said...

Hey Gillybean-

I was so inspired by this post, I gave it a go and was thrilled with how easy it was. I'm going to do a post about it sometime this week. Thanks so much for the heads up on this amazingly simple method!

x Helen
dayglo days

Veronica said...

A year ago today you were dying wool. Great colours!