How I Hand Paint Yarn: Part 2

In the last post I spoke about how I prepared my yarn, equipment and dyes. I now want to talk about my dyeing space. I live in a small 2 bedroom flat, along with one long suffering husband and two crazy sproglets. This means that there is not a lot of space to share. As a result my dyeing is done in the kitchen. For the reasons I’ve talked about previously (ie the nature of acid dyes), when dyeing in the same area where food is produced its best to be overly cautious. I clean down all my surfaces, cover any exposed cutlery and crockery with tea towels and try to keep all food stuffs out of reach / else where. The picture below shows how I set up my kitchen when I’m getting ready for a dyeing session.

As you can see from this picture, I’ve completely cleared one work surface, wiping it down so its free of dirt.

Just before we continue I want show you just how completely nuts I’ve gone. I ordered a large amount of yarn (for me) to practice my dyeing with. The idea being that I eventually start to sell some of it through this blog. I ordered a selection of different types of sock yarn to play with. Below, we have a mix of 100% superwash merino sock yarn, 75% Bluefaced Leicester/25% Nylon, 75% Merino/25% Nylon, 90% Alpaca/10% Nylon, 50% Merino/50% Tencel and some 100% wool which is an aran weight rather than sock yarn. I’ve already dyed most of it but that’s a post for another day!

I also have not talked about how I prepare the yarn before I dye it, so very quickly, I unwind the skein and secure it using extra ties that I have cut from lots of cheap acrylic yarn I have hanging about the place. This makes sure the yarn stays in the skein and you don’t get any tangles. I cut the ties about 9 inches long and tie at least 4 to 5 extra on to the yarn (I’m a bit paranoid about these things). Make sure to tie them loosely otherwise you end up with parts of the yarn does not take the dye (unless of course you want that effect). If I’m dyeing different types of yarns in the same batch I use different coloured acrylic ties to identify them all after I’ve finished.

So, back to the dyeing.

We left the dye soaking in water / citric acid / synthrapol. Once the wool has soaked for at least 1 hour, I empty out the water carefully from the bucket. This is where the bath comes in handy. I leave the bucket with the wool in the bath so that when the time comes to empty it, it is just a case of tipping the bucket (slowly!!) out directly in to the bath. I do this by placing one hand on the yarn and using the other hand to slowly tip the bucket and let the water flow in to the bath.

Once I have tipped out all the water, I gently take out a skein holding it over the bath and begin to squeeze. Remember friction + water (warm/hot) = felt so again, be gentle and take your time. I squeeze by holding the yarn with one hand and working down the length of the skein with my other hand, squeezing firmly as I go.

Once I have squeezed out as much water as I can, I lay out the skein(s) flat on a large towel to absorb more of the water. Some people run their skeins through the washing machine on a spin cycle. I have not yet been brave enought to try. I still have a batch of yarn to dye so perhaps I’ll experiment. I’ll let you know.

Now its at this point I normally go off to make sure my dye stocks are prepared / put out where I need them / dye space is ready. This gives the big towel a little time to absorb excess liquid from the skeins. Once everything is in place I start dyeing. So far, I’ve not been writing down any dye recipes that I use. Its been a case of throwing everything together on the day and seeing what happens. I think if I want repeatable colourways I’m going to need to be a bit more scientific – which should not be a problem as I’m a biochemistry graduate but I digress.

First I lay down some cling film on my work surface. This will be used to wrap up the yarn and protect it once its in the steamer (acid dyes need a heat source to set them permantly on to the yarn).

Then I place the yarns to be dyed on top of the cling film. The cling film also helps to protect the work surface, although some dye does occasionally leak through (nothing a good scrub with a very well known kitchen cleaner (purple + orange bottle anyone?) can’t solve). Then I start to apply the dye. Sometimes I’ll use the squeezy topped bottles and sometimes I’ll use the screw topped jars just to pour dye directly on to the yarn. Its just a case of pouring/squirting directly on to the yarn and then uaing your fingers (make sure you are wearing gloves or your going to get multicoloured fingers) to squoosh the excess dye into the fibres. Again, squoosh gently and take your time.

The pictures above show a skein where I have used the squeezy bottle to apply dye. When I apply using the pour on method, I tend to pour on to one section at a time and only use 3 or 4 colours. This results in large blocks of colour rather than a random more diffuse pattern.

Once I’m satisfied with the dye application on the yarn I fold it up in the cling film. I start by folding up the cling film from the bottom (side of the cling film closest to my body), then tend to fold the skein over on itself so that it is folded in half with cling film between the two halves. Next I fold one of the ends over and fold over the long edge furthest away from me. Finally I begin to fold the skein in over itself. I take this process slowly because excess dye tends to leak out. Finally I fold the remain end over the whole package to act as a seal and hold the whole thing together. Hopefully the pictures below make it all a bit clearer.

The package of yarn / dye / cling film is then taken over to the steamer where it is steamed for about 45 – 60 minutes. In the next post I’ll talk more about the steamers I use (and the process of steaming) and what happens after the steaming is finished.