Tuesday, September 26, 2006

I dyed!

Dyeing, that's another thing that I didn't see myself doing until, oh, maybe when we move to a larger place. But I thought it would be good to learn the process, to get some hands-on experience, to gain understanding of another aspect of the fiber art. So when I saw that John was teaching a class, I signed up.

The method that John taught is super easy and quick to do. It is less precise but it produces the kind of result that I am looking for. I am quite surprised and very happy. I won't go into the instructions since John is still teaching these classes. I don't want to be the one to put up his class details on the internet. That wouldn't be nice to him. But I am sure that some of you will know exactly the process once you see the photos.

This is Sandy. One of the partners of "the place". I don't want to come right out and tell you where it is because I am still weary of certain someone that might nab the info and use it for whatever.

Here's the sample that John created to show the process to the class. I am sure that some of you can figure out what that process is. I love it.

My partner in crime. Sorry, I didn't try to remember names. *blush*

John and Jill standing next to each other, and a very nice lady. Again, sorry, I didn't try to remember names.

Class in action.

Testing the PH level in the water.

This nice lady took a spinning class right after the dye class. I think she was hooked. :-)

This is my creation. About 3 oz. of superwash merino. It's nice, but not the colors that I wanted. I wanted the dominant color to be dark burgundy, with a little bit of orange yellow and navy blue mixed in. Darker colors. But, I decided to share my dye pan with another, and this is the result we agreed on. I might tweak it a little more later or I might spin it and ply the singles with something different.

The dye also sets really fast with superwash fiber. John warned me about this. I cut down the amount of the fiber I wanted to dye from 6 oz to 3 oz so there's less for the dye to work through. But then I agreed to share my pan and more fiber was added, making it difficut to get an even result. But I think I like the look.

I like dyeing un-spun fiber. I can have variety of ways to change the look of the final product.

Ummm... I think I am going to be dyeing more soon. LOL

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oooh, welcome to the dark side Jason!

Dave said...

Looks like fun! I'm looking forward to seeing how it spins and knits up.

Lacefreak said...

Dear Jason,

Terrific Job! I like the colors alot and look forward to seeing how it spins up for you. It also makes me want to go out and dye some yarn or fiber myself:-)

Jerry said...

That looks like fun!!! The colours are very vibrant. I'll have to try this soon. Anything to mess wiht mixing chemicals and colours. Call me the mad scientist LOL!

Anonymous said...

Yup, it's official. You are now one of Us. (When does your spinning wheel arrive?) That looks like loads of fun. If you ever want to get into dyeing yarn, I know this guy who'll be teaching at a yarn shop near you. I can, uh, check with him if you'd like.
NICE colors. They will change a lot once you start spinning.

Sachi said...

Dude... You are so screwed now. Mixing color is the worst kind of addiction!

Anonymous said...

Jason, congratulations! I'm a bit envious (in a good way, I'm smiling for you dude) that you live in an area where dying, spinning classes are being taught, I dyed some fingering weight wool a few days ago and ended up using the koolaide, which was ok in that it is non-toxic and my 3 year old granddaughter was helping...it was fun though and will do it again...someday when I start spinning I will dye some fibre.

Anonymous said...

Yes but now that he's learned to do it all--dye, spin, and knit, I'm still missing that sweater.

sko_G knits said...

wow, that class looks fun!!! i am totally DIEING to get into dyeing. no, wait, i didn't meant it to come out like that...hahaha. but really, i really want to learn. i am afraid though, that i will become addicted as well, and my stash will grow to a monstrosity!!

Anonymous said...

When do you give up your day job, Jason?;-)
I was given a homemade drop spindle on the weekend but am not having much success with it,yet.

Laurie Ann said...

I think those colors are great, but then I like them bright.
Jason, come back to WeHo. We miss you. October 26th is our Halloween gig. Sachi, help me convince him.

Matt....... said...

dave daniels, that was really funny! you are a bad person.....
what's the teacher's name again? William? beautiful yarn jay! that looked like a lot of fun. thank-you, again. I'm off!

Kathy said...

Gorgeous Jason, that looks like it could be fun to spin!

I am doing a weaving workshop right now, somewthing I said they wouldn't get me to do for a looong time, yet 3 short years later here I am, I also have a dyeing workshop in october hopefully, although i must admit to being fed up of dyeing.

Jason said...

Thank you all for the welcome, good words, encouragements... and the TEASE (you know who you are.) :-)

If you are thinking about trying your hands at dyeing. Do it! There really are easy ways!