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It was getting down to the wire for the Dye-o-rama Swap. They're due in the mail by June 12th. The rain had stopped for the moment. The yarn was skeined. The dyes had arrived. Last night was the time. I changed into and old shirt and overalls. Who needs a fancy apron when you've got (apparently now out of fashion) a pair of bibs?
Setting everything up outside, I started the water to boil on the Coleman stove and then went upstairs to read to E before bedtime. Next thing I knew, C was waking me up saying, "Uh. You have something cooking on the stove outside." Bleary, I dragged myself downstairs and out the door. It was after 9:oo pm but still light outside. I mixed about a teaspoon and a half of each dye with a teaspoon of synthrapol, 3 teaspoons of citric acid crystals, and a little over 1 cup of boiling water. Working quickly and without much of a plan, I started dropping dyes on different sections of each skein, pushing the dye into the skein with my gloved hand, making sure it saturated all through the skein. By the time I got to the second skein, it was now quite dark and although not ideal, I could just see well enough to work.
Moving the dyepot inside to the kitchen stove so I could see what was going on, I left the doors open for ventilation, wrapped each skein in Glad Wrap and steamed each one separately for about an hour. When I first unwrapped them, I had thought that all the colors had run together into a dark purplish hue. I let them cool in the sink and then rinsed and washed each one. Only the smalles amount of red washed out in the water. The lighting in the house was only so-so too but they looked at least a bit better by the time I hung them to dry. I thought for certain that I'd be starting all over again tonight after the boys were in bed again.
This morning they were still damp so I hung them up in the shade outside to dry. It wasn't long before the skeins dried and brightened up. The pictures above are close but a slightly brighter than the true colors. They're still a bit oversaturated, I'd say, but they actually follow the preferences of my Dye-o-rama pal fairly well. They remind me a bit lighter version of Mountain Colors which, afterall, is a Montana company. Too bad I don't live close enough or maybe I could get a job. Just think how much I'd learn about dyeing! After they were fully dry, I wound each 100 gram skein back into the two 50 gram balls that they originally were, then reskeined each 50 gram ball into it's own skein. WHY DON'T I HAVE A BALL WINDER YET? Luckily, a friend of ours' thirteen year old daughter who is staying here with her dad for the summer asked to come spend the day with us, so the boys were fully entertained.
I still am not entirely comfortable with using these chemical dyes around the house, or at all for that matter, but I've got quite a bit of dye left. I can see myself dyeing up some more skeins with the leftovers to give to knitting friends or to knit up into socks for gifts. Maybe I'll move the operation over to the shop next time, where there already are chemical finishes in use and so that I'm not directly in our living space.
I am really quite surprised at how well these turned out, considering my doubts along the way. Oh. The dyes were Washfast Acid Dyes Kits from ProChemical. I used all the colors from the Winter Holiday sampler, except I substituted the "Turkey Red" from the Autumn sampler for the "Bright Red".
