Monday 23 August 2010

My dyeing died.

     Well that didn't start out too well. Did two 50g skeins, soaked in vinegar and water for 30+ mins then got the food colours out to play. Ended up with some nice muted colours which I was happy about. I had been worried the colours would of been too bright from using the food dyes.  
    So far so good. 
  When I picked them up to put in the bowl to heat I gave them a squeeze which I now realise is a big no no. All the colours ran together to form various shades of dirty orange, not great but not too bad either. Zapped them in the microwave for 2 minuets then let cool then zapped them again for another two minutes. Not too bad so far really,let them cool down and rinsed with water to remove excess dye. 
    Oh dear, I now have two 50g skeins of a lovely mustard colour. The colour is really nice but its not what I was after. At this point I'm not sure whats gone wrong, why one colour has taken and the rest just washed away.

Later

   I soaked the mustard skeins in a vinegar solution again this time for about an hour then added the last of the red food dye I had. Red was the only colour I had left over and there really wasn't a lot left. 

  The result wasn't great looking but what the hay. I zapped the skeins in the microwave for a couple of mins, let cool then zapped them again for a bit longer. I let them cool them zapped them one last time and let cool ready for rinsing.  
   Grrrrrr all the red washed out leave me back with my lovely mustard coloured yarn.
   I really have no idea what I've done wrong, maybe its the food colour I used and only the yellow one is any good. It could also be the sock yarn too but I'd of thought if it was the yellow wouldn't of taken either. If all the dyes had washed out I'd understand better but having the yellow set and the red,blue and green dyes wash out leaves me a little puzzled.

   I really wish I had cut up one of the skeins into smaller pieces and experimented that way instead of jumping in head first, oh well you live
and learn. I'll get some more of the food dyes tomorrow and do some small pieces this time and see whats going on.

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