Of course if you're going to start spinning, you may as well start dyeing as well, right? At the same time as I picked up my wheel, I bought a bit of superwash Merino to have a go with some acid dyes. Its the first time I've done any dyeing and I had to do a fair amount of research to get an idea of the quantities I should be using, so I thought I'd talk you through my first dyeing experiment. Bear in mind I'm a dyeing virgin so this is all very much a learning process for me.

Equipment
Large plastic bowl
Measuring Jug
Measuring spoons
Vinegar
Rubber gloves
Dust mask
Roasting tin
Acid Dyes (I used Jacquard)
Tin foil

SAFETY NOTE: Acid dyes can be hazardous - don't use any of the hardware for food preparation.


Step 1: Soaking
Soak fibre in hot water and a little bit of detergent for 20 mins to prepare it to take the dye. This is superwash, but for anything else, be very careful how it's handled. Nobody wants felted fibres! Once soaked allow it to drain, then arrange evenly in the roasting tin.





Step 2: Dye prep
From a pan of hot water on the stove, I put 4 cups of water in the measuring jug, followed by 4 teaspoons of vinegar and 1/4tsp of turquoise dye, stirring with the chopsticks. Pour this over the fibre wherever you want it. In my case I wanted it sort of half and half, as I'd like the eventual yarn to be a bit self-striped. There was a lot of the turquoise dye mixture (I had to tilt the tin a bit to get it to stay on one side) so with the second colour, Chartreuse, I reduced it to 3 cups of water, 3tsp vinegar and 1/4tsp dye.






Step 3: Bake
This is what it looked like with the dyes added - too much water meant the two colours combined in the bottom right corner more than I would have liked, but I'll know for next time. Cover the tin with foil, then bake at 175°c for 45 mins. When I checked it, the water wasn't quite clear, so I added a bit more vinegar dissolved in water and stuck it back in the oven for a few more minutes.

Step 4: Rinse & Dry
Rinse the fibre a few times, then hang to dry.

I'll show you the results when its fully dry. So far I think I'd definitely reduce the saturation of dye - the colours are great but they're stronger than I was aiming for.