Dyeing Question

I've been trying to reduce my stash and have been working on a vintage
baby jacket from an early 1940's publication. The pattern called for
3 oz of yarn. I had 4 oz of 100% merino sock yarn that had the same
gauge, so thought I had ample yarn to make the jacket.

Nope. Made the fronts and back and didn't have enough for the
sleeves. Ordered another hank of the same yarn & colorway, knowing
the dye lot difference would be an issue. It was more of an issue
than I anticipated. The first hank was varigated with cotton candy
like colors with a little gray here and there. The second hank is the
opposite. A lot of darker gray and fewer, more subtle, grayer colors
than the first.

I'm not going to frog this project, dernit! I thought I'd first try
making a swatch from each hank and soaking them together to see how
much bleed occurs. I know most people try to avoid bleeding colors,
but I wanted to see if I could acheive some kind of equilibrium. Even
if the 2 swatches don't end up matching, I want them as close as
possible to each other.

THEN, I thought I'd try to over-dye them with Koolaid, or something.
I've never tried to dye anything before, and can get instructions on
the Koolaid process online, but I first wanted to try bleeding the
swatches.

My question is: How would I approach bleeding the colors, and making
it stick, or will it? I know if it was a red sock in the white load,
it would, but can I purposefully do this? Other than hot water, is
there anything I need to add? I thought I'd follow the same
instructions for Koolaid dyeing on Knitty, but without dye.

Any suggestions would be most gratefully accepted.

TIA

Hesira

PS: I forgot to mention, that I will make a bonnet of the darker
yarn, and include that in the final over-dyeing, increasing the ratio
of grayer yarn to brighter yarn, hence increasing the amount of bleed
that could occur.

On 15 May 2007 15:02:20 -0700, hesira wrote:


THEN, I thought I'd try to over-dye them with Koolaid, or something.
I've never tried to dye anything before, and can get instructions on
the Koolaid process online, but I first wanted to try bleeding the
swatches.

No need to knit swatches. Reel off 10' of each hank. Tie each length
into a mini-hank and you'll be set.


My question is: How would I approach bleeding the colors, and making
it stick, or will it? I know if it was a red sock in the white load,
it would, but can I purposefully do this? Other than hot water, is
there anything I need to add? I thought I'd follow the same
instructions for Koolaid dyeing on Knitty, but without dye.

I'd fill a white container of some sort with very hot water and a dab
of detergent. Poke in the yarn samples and let them sit for a while,
then stir briskly and see what sort of bleed you get. If it's little
or none you'll have to overdye. If you have a substantial amount of
bleed transfer your samples and their water into a pan, add a glug of
vinegar, then boil heck out of the samples for about 20 mins. Allow
to cool, rinse thoroughly, allow to dry, evaluate.

Then decide how to proceed.

Thanks Woolie. That's so helpful about not knitting the swatches.

I will have to do this with knitted pieces in the end, though. Is
there much difference in the way a knitted piece takes dye as opposed
to unknitted yarn? I know it's essential to have the yarn in either
case, completely wetted.

Also, if I over dye, and there is a discernable difference in the
original yarns, will just dyeing darker cover that up?

Thanks for your help!

Hesira



On May 15, 5:23 pm, WoolyGooly wrote:
On 15 May 2007 15:02:20 -0700, hesira wrote:

THEN, I thought I'd try to over-dye them with Koolaid, or something.
I've never tried to dye anything before, and can get instructions on
the Koolaid process online, but I first wanted to try bleeding the
swatches.

No need to knit swatches. Reel off 10' of each hank. Tie each length
into a mini-hank and you'll be set.



My question is: How would I approach bleeding the colors, and making
it stick, or will it? I know if it was a red sock in the white load,
it would, but can I purposefully do this? Other than hot water, is
there anything I need to add? I thought I'd follow the same
instructions for Koolaid dyeing on Knitty, but without dye.

I'd fill a white container of some sort with very hot water and a dab
of detergent. Poke in the yarn samples and let them sit for a while,
then stir briskly and see what sort of bleed you get. If it's little
or none you'll have to overdye. If you have a substantial amount of
bleed transfer your samples and their water into a pan, add a glug of
vinegar, then boil heck out of the samples for about 20 mins. Allow
to cool, rinse thoroughly, allow to dry, evaluate.

Then decide how to proceed.

On 15 May 2007 15:34:01 -0700, hesira wrote:

Thanks Woolie. That's so helpful about not knitting the swatches.

I will have to do this with knitted pieces in the end, though. Is
there much difference in the way a knitted piece takes dye as opposed
to unknitted yarn? I know it's essential to have the yarn in either
case, completely wetted.

No, not really, unless the FO is very tightly knitted - if that's the
case any dyestuffs may have a hard time penetrating and so require
more soak/cook time and/or more dyestuff.


Also, if I over dye, and there is a discernable difference in the
original yarns, will just dyeing darker cover that up?

That depends on how dark "darker" is. Back to your sample hanks for
testing!


Thanks for your help!

Hesira



On May 15, 5:23 pm, WoolyGooly wrote:
On 15 May 2007 15:02:20 -0700, hesira wrote:

THEN, I thought I'd try to over-dye them with Koolaid, or something.
I've never tried to dye anything before, and can get instructions on
the Koolaid process online, but I first wanted to try bleeding the
swatches.

No need to knit swatches. Reel off 10' of each hank. Tie each length
into a mini-hank and you'll be set.



My question is: How would I approach bleeding the colors, and making
it stick, or will it? I know if it was a red sock in the white load,
it would, but can I purposefully do this? Other than hot water, is
there anything I need to add? I thought I'd follow the same
instructions for Koolaid dyeing on Knitty, but without dye.

I'd fill a white container of some sort with very hot water and a dab
of detergent. Poke in the yarn samples and let them sit for a while,
then stir briskly and see what sort of bleed you get. If it's little
or none you'll have to overdye. If you have a substantial amount of
bleed transfer your samples and their water into a pan, add a glug of
vinegar, then boil heck out of the samples for about 20 mins. Allow
to cool, rinse thoroughly, allow to dry, evaluate.

Then decide how to proceed.

Well, my knitting's not particularly tight, or loose, just medium I
guess, so I shouldn't have any trouble with that.

The sample hanks are soaking, and I can't wait to see what happens.
Thanks so much for your help.

Hope you're feeling better!

Hesira

On May 15, 5:55 pm, WoolyGooly wrote:
On 15 May 2007 15:34:01 -0700, hesira wrote:

Thanks Woolie. That's so helpful about not knitting the swatches.

I will have to do this with knitted pieces in the end, though. Is
there much difference in the way a knitted piece takes dye as opposed
to unknitted yarn? I know it's essential to have the yarn in either
case, completely wetted.

No, not really, unless the FO is very tightly knitted - if that's the
case any dyestuffs may have a hard time penetrating and so require
more soak/cook time and/or more dyestuff.



Also, if I over dye, and there is a discernable difference in the
original yarns, will just dyeing darker cover that up?

That depends on how dark "darker" is. Back to your sample hanks for
testing!



Thanks for your help!

Hesira

On May 15, 5:23 pm, WoolyGooly wrote:
On 15 May 2007 15:02:20 -0700, hesira wrote:

THEN, I thought I'd try to over-dye them with Koolaid, or something.
I've never tried to dye anything before, and can get instructions on
the Koolaid process online, but I first wanted to try bleeding the
swatches.

No need to knit swatches. Reel off 10' of each hank. Tie each length
into a mini-hank and you'll be set.

My question is: How would I approach bleeding the colors, and making
it stick, or will it? I know if it was a red sock in the white load,
it would, but can I purposefully do this? Other than hot water, is
there anything I need to add? I thought I'd follow the same
instructions for Koolaid dyeing on Knitty, but without dye.

I'd fill a white container of some sort with very hot water and a dab
of detergent. Poke in the yarn samples and let them sit for a while,
then stir briskly and see what sort of bleed you get. If it's little
or none you'll have to overdye. If you have a substantial amount of
bleed transfer your samples and their water into a pan, add a glug of
vinegar, then boil heck out of the samples for about 20 mins. Allow
to cool, rinse thoroughly, allow to dry, evaluate.

Then decide how to proceed.

I wouldn't boil heck out of the samples unless they're superwash/
machine-washable. "Regular" wool will felt from the agitation of the
boiling water.

On May 15, 3:23 pm, WoolyGooly wrote:

snip

I'd fill a white container of some sort with very hot water and a dab
of detergent. Poke in the yarn samples and let them sit for a while,
then stir briskly and see what sort of bleed you get. If it's little
or none you'll have to overdye. If you have a substantial amount of
bleed transfer your samples and their water into a pan, add a glug of
vinegar, then boil heck out of the samples for about 20 mins. Allow
to cool, rinse thoroughly, allow to dry, evaluate.

Then decide how to proceed.

On May 16, 10:02 am, hesira wrote:
I've been trying to reduce my stash and have been working on a vintage
baby jacket from an early 1940's publication. The pattern called for
3 oz of yarn. I had 4 oz of 100% merino sock yarn that had the same
gauge, so thought I had ample yarn to make the jacket.

Nope.

Vintage pattern weight specification for yarn lie, lie, lie (well
that's unfair really, but modern yarns cannot be substituted on
weight, yarns are different now).

VP

Unfortunately, VP, I know that only too well, now.

Sadly, shaking my head

Hesira

On May 15, 6:48 pm, Vintage Purls wrote:
On May 16, 10:02 am, hesira wrote:

I've been trying to reduce my stash and have been working on a vintage
baby jacket from an early 1940's publication. The pattern called for
3 oz of yarn. I had 4 oz of 100% merino sock yarn that had the same
gauge, so thought I had ample yarn to make the jacket.

Nope.

Vintage pattern weight specification for yarn lie, lie, lie (well
that's unfair really, but modern yarns cannot be substituted on
weight, yarns are different now).

VP

On May 16, 12:13 pm, hesira wrote:
Unfortunately, VP, I know that only too well, now.

I did a wee experiment recently with a vintage pattern for what
claimed to be a half-ounce scarf:
http://vintagepurls.net.nz/2007/04/21/lies-damn-lies/

VP

On 15 May 2007 16:19:08 -0700, Alan wrote:

I wouldn't boil heck out of the samples unless they're superwash/
machine-washable. "Regular" wool will felt from the agitation of the
boiling water.

With a 10' sample it won't really matter. But yes, I'd normally
maintain a dyepot just below a simmer, in the 190F range.