I'm so lucky!

Look what came in the mail for me today, all the way from Sweden!

Well, hello! This is the first thing I saw when I started opening the package.



That turned out to be this, a cereal box...



which contained all these goodies.



Theres some lovely, soft Swedish laceweight wool in heathery greens and purples (a combination I love -- does the sofa tell you anything?); some silver heart-shaped tags; wonderful handmade stitch markers I can't wait to start using; yummy Gummi candy; soft gingerbread biscuits to go with my coffee in the morning or tea in the afternoon; and a sweet letter, which much to my surprise promises another package soon.

I don't know what I did to deserve all this, but I'm incredibly grateful. Thank you, kind Swedish lady knitter. You made me very happy today.

My swap-ee has only gotten a short note from me in the post so far, but this week I'll be sending out the first of two packages, with the final set to go out midweek next week if all goes well and I haven't created mud instead of pretty dyed yarn.

I've so enjoyed playing with color and yarn... too bad I'm not better at it yet.

My package is in the mail as of this Thursday! I sent something I dyed myself, as well as two other items that were dyed by others. Hope the receiver likes the goodies! Jana

Do you think this is good enough to send???

This is my first attempt at handpainted yarn and I'm unsure about it. Would you be happy to receive this in your Dye-No-Mite package or should I keep it for myself and do some more?

Nicola.

Thanks Pippins!

I got a lovely package from my pal last week, but I've been terrible and lazy so I'm posting it late. Sorry! So, to make up for it, I'm posting it here and on my blog.

I couldn't get the damn cats out of the picture. They insisted on a thorough inspection. My pal "Pippins" hand-dyed the Henry's Attic yarn for me and sent me some yummy dark chocolate. I think I almost ate the entire box of Lindt truffles within hours of receiving this lovely package. I'm saving the rest of the dark chocolate for later. Good thing there's no competition for dark chocolate in my house.

Well, this started out as a comment....

I started this as a comment to Jana's post and question about dyeing turquoise and color bleeding, but my response got wordy and loooong, so not it's a post! Anyways....

Some colors may take 2 dye jobs to get just the right color, especially with very deep saturated colors and take a lot of patience. I'm going to assume that you're using the premixed turquoise color. I haven't used it, but heard that it is a slightly more challenging color. You can try a few things, which I've detailed below. It sounds like you've dyed a bit already before, but I'm not sure what your primary/common methods are. So to be on the safe side (and for anyone who hasn't done much dyeing), I'm going to include all the very basic instructions and explanations here:

1. You may be putting in too much dye power per wool ratio. (?) It's also best to dissolve yor dyes in hot water. Some reds and blues get gelatinous and end up being too thick. When it gets thick like that, you may end up with gloopy bits to your yarn that ends up being excess dyes that bleed out. ProChem suggests adding Urea as an anti-coagulant. Urea is generally used as a wetting agent. I use it for reactive dyes. Urea helps your fiber stay wetter and helps you get brighter colors. Not everyone has urea, or want to smell it, so I'd try the other alternatives if you don't have urea.
   
2. Mix your own turquoise with yellow and blue. If you have green on hand, it might be easier to use that as a base, and then just add blue and/or yellow to get the desired shade. To test the color, just dab your stir stick on a paper towel.
3. Try submitting your yarn to a 2nd dye job or overdye it.
   
4. Apply a dye fixative to your yarns after you dye. I like and use this one for my cellulose fibers. Just make sure you rinse your yarn before soaking it in the fixative.
   
5. If you do the saran wrap painting and seaming method, try dyeing/painting on the stove. If you've already tried the stovetop method, try it with salt. and add some non-iodized salt to your dye bath.
   
   • Put your yarn in a dye pot with water on the stove (enough to cover yarn but not too much). I don't always presoak, because I like that not all the dyes take up at the same rate. If you want a more even color, then presoak the yarn.
   • Mix in some vinegar or citric acid and salt. I actually prefer citric acid because you can get a deeper color with it than vinegar, and of course, there's no odor. You want your water hot, but a below boiling.
     
   • Mix your color in a cup with warm water and a little bit of acid. Adding acid to both your water bath and the dye mix helps control the dye and will prevent/limit the dispersion in the water. Doing this will allow you to paint many colors at the same time without the hassle and mess of the saran wrap method (now, if you want a lot of control, like getting a different color every stitch, then I'd use the saran wrap method).
   • Using a bent spoon, squirt bottle, paintbrush, or whatever you use to apply the dye, put the dye the spots where you want the color to be. Don't touch it or mess with it too much (or the dye may go where you don't want it to go) and wait until your water turns clear. Remember not to let your water boil.

Good luck! I hope at least one of these helps. If you've already tried all of these already, sorry, I have no other suggestions.

question about unwanted discharge

Hi all, I have a question about how to get some troublesome colors to fully-set so there is zero discharge during a soak/wash. I love to use fully saturated colors and I've noticed that for some of my colors, like turquoise, no matter how much acidity I use, and no matter how long I do a "steam set", there is always a little bleed-out during a wash.

Is this common and expected with bold colors? Or should I stop using this troublesome dye (I really like the color)?

thanks! Jana

Peacock silk bell

I just finished painting a 1 oz silk bell for my swap partner, and I'm doing some cashmere roving this afternoon. I already sent her one package of yarn with commerical stuff as well as mine, but this package is all by me :-)