Allow me to use some inadequate photography to illustrate dyeing options. In the background of this photo, you have a garment-dyed orange t-shirt, which gives you one very even, very solid color. In the top row, you'll see a ball of yarn which has been dyed hideous neon orange AFTER the yarn has been spun - again, giving you a very even, solid color.
In the second row, you'll see two commercially prepared balls of HEATHERED yarn; which means they were dyed as fiber (before spinning) with slight, purposeful variations in color and then machine-spun, so that the variations are distributed with precision throughout the plied yarn.
In the bottom row, we have a skein of handspun Blugly, and a ball of handspun something-I-bought-somewhere which you can't see very well because I do not know how to work the godforsaken flash on my new camera. The handspun Blugly has been dyed before spinning, with many painfully clashing colors to give it lots of variation and nuance in the final plied yarn. The handspun washed-out-flash yarn next to it was dyed in three colors, spun into three different singles, and then plied together. (So that the final yarn has one ply of yellow, one ply of pale orange, and one ply of reddish orange.) The advantage of handspun yarn is that it's more artistic and unique than something you could buy from a mill, and that you can produce design ideas of your own when you can't find what you're looking for at the yarn shop. So that's really what I'm going for.
The issue I'm having with the Blugly is that I BROKE ALL THE RULES BECAUSE I AM A DANGEROUS REBEL and did not dye ALL of the fiber ALL at the same time. I dyed two separate batches of yarn 2 weekends ago, and they are identical to each other. Following my careful notes, I dyed three more separate batches of yarn this past Saturday, and they are identical to each other. However, the 3 piles of fiber from this Saturday are NOT identical to the 2 piles from last Saturday. The most recent group has a lot more undyed gray in it. I'll update more on this tomorrow, but I've just spun a single of the newer stuff, and it looks, in my own words, "neato." So, I don't think it will be a problem if I artfully combine the two (as they do match) - but I'll photograph some swatches and see what you guys think before I start making the sweater.
7 comments:
Wool tie dye?
Actually, when you dye the fiber in variegated fashion it does look just like tie dye! I was worried, but when you divide it all up and spin it, that effect goes away. Thank goodness.
Out of curiosity, is dying before spinning more permanent in some way, hence the expression "dyed in the wool"?
It isn't more permanent because the dye used and the make-up of the fiber don't change; advantages to dyeing in the wool are all visual and come down to control and taste (or in my case, accidents and surprises). Also if you purchased already-dyed fiber to spin, that's a step you could skip.
So I wonder what the expression is referring to? Dyed earlier in the process? Hmmm...sounds like a job for Google!
If you were to dismantle a garment-dyed piece of apparel, you would see lighter color in the seams where the thread caused a tie-dye effect. Whereas dyed-in-the-wool is through and through, thoroughly blue.
Thanks to MickieMcDog (aka "Mommy"), apparel industry expert, for that explanation!
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