Plying experiment, part deux

A couple of posts back, I discussed plying commercial worsted yarn to create a (super)bulky yarn for tapestry weaving. I decided to weave up a sample, on my 3-in-1 Swatch Maker. That makes this a double experiment, as I was not sure how the Swatch Maker would work for a tapestry sample.

For this experiment, I warped every other slot, creating 4 EPIs instead of 8. This was because of the thickness of the weft yarn; still, it was difficult to beat the yarn hard enough to hide the 8/4 cotton warp. I meant to take a photo of the work in progress, to illustrate how I used bamboo US9 DPNs to open the shed on the Swatch Maker. The DPNs also helped keep the fabric from sliding down the warp threads when I beat, but just barely.

The finished swatch measures 5.25" x 2.75", and is rather thick, more like a rug than a tapestry. I like the effect of the three colors plied, then woven; I could see plying yellow, orange, and red, for weaving a sunset. One negative was the yarn becoming untwisted as I worked with it. Next time, I will try shocking the yarn more when setting the twist.

Another Pine Forest baby blanket

I finished a baby blanket just like this one in January, for a soon-to-be-adopted baby boy. Alas, the adoption fell through (which is one reason I eschewed blue). Happily, another adoption was arranged, this time for twin girls. I am thrilled for the new parents (and a little sad for the bio parents). I also felt compelled to knit another blanket.

Pattern: Pine Forest Baby Blanket, by Ingrid Aartun Bøe
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash, in colorway 905 ('Celery')
Needles: US8 (cast on and bound off with US9)
Modifications: None except to slip the first stitch of each row knitwise

I have to admit that I feel a little estranged from knitting these days, as I am focused more on weaving. If there is another baby blanket in my future, I might try weaving it. Or not. Baby blankets are very portable projects, almost as portable as socks.

A plying experiment

I like tapestry weaving. I have woven samplers with both worsted and bulky yarn. They each have their pros and cons.

I have a TON of worsted weight yarn. I don't want to buy any new yarn until I've used up more of what I already have. But what if I want to use a bulky yarn?

I have two spinning wheels. I know how to spin and ply yarn. It occurred to me that I could ply the worsted yarn to create a bulky yarn. Apparently, not too many people have tried playing commercial yarn (or else Google is bad at locating them despite a variety of search criteria). So I decided to give it a try.

What little information I was able to glean about plying commercial yarn indicated that it is important to reverse the twist, which meant Z-twist for these samples. Chain plying was also recommended. Chain plying creates a three-ply yarn from one ply. For comparison purposes, I not only chain plied one yarn, I three-plied some as well.

I was a little concerned the plies would not "stick" together, so I left the samples on the spool for a few days before setting the twist by soaking the skeins for 20 minutes in warm water, then swinging them around before hanging them to air dry. Except for the ends, the plies adhered reasonably well.

Above is the three ply: blue is Lambs Pride, gray is Cascade 220, pink is Manos del Uruguay Maxima. Below is the Lambs Pride chain plied. The three-ply feels loftier than the chain-ply, yet came out a bit ahead on wraps per inch (6-7 vs. 5-6); they both are closer to super bulky than bulky. The twist is tighter with the chain ply.

The next step is to actually weave a swatch or two with these samples. I may also try a two-ply, to see if I get closer to bulky instead of super bulky. This experiment is to be continued....

It was a good weekend to dye

I try to be careful when labeling skeins of yarn I dye, but these results were startling enough that I would like to repeat the procedure to make sure I did not screw up.

The dye bath source was black hollyhock blossoms (dried). Hollyhocks are biennial, which means they bloom the second year after planting. Half my plants did not make it through the winter, so there weren't many blossoms to work with.

They produced a lovely purple dye bath, but as we know from the dahlia dye experience, that does not mean one will get purple yarn. This time I *did* get purple (or lilac) yarn, but also a deep blue green. Wha'?

According to my labeling, the skeins in the above pic are (from the left): no mordant, no modifier; alum mordant, no modifier; alum mordant, acid modifier; alum mordant, alkaline modifier; alum mordant, iron modifier; rhubarb leaf mordant, no modifier. The only one I am 100% sure of is the rhubarb leaf mordant one.

Above, from left, no mordant, alum mordant, rhubarb leaf mordant, but no modifier on any of these.

Above, all alum mordant; from left, acid modifier, alkaline modifier, iron modifier.

Above, three shades of green; below, three shades of purple.

I planted more hollyhock this year, so hopefully I will be able to try this again. And I also hope I have more blossoms to work with. Fingers crossed!

Unscientific experiments

The thing about natural dyeing - that is, dyeing with harvested plant materials - is you never know what you are going to get. I rely heavily on the Jenny Dean book, Wild Color, but frequently my results do not match hers. I'm sure my "technique" is partially to blame - I am not very exact in measurements, for example - but the plant materials I gather do no necessarily match what she is using.

Last summer I grew dahlias, a first for me. I chose a dark, dark, almost-black red dahlia, hoping for a striking color from it. While the dye bath looked purple, the results were far from that color range.

Dried dahlia blossoms

Purple dye bath

Not purple first dip

Post dyeing

Day 1, I dyed with alum-mordanted yarn. For post-dye modifiers, I left one unmodified, then used the usual alkaline, iron, and acid modifiers. One difference from previous attempts is I applied heat while modifying with acid. Also, I used citric acid crystals instead of vinegar, but the pH seemed to be about the same.

From left, no modifier, alkaline modifier, iron modifier, acid modifier (with heat)

The results were satisfying if unexpected. Since the dye bath still looked pretty intense, on day 2 I dyed some more, this time four unmordanted bits plus one mordanted with rhubarb leaves.

Far left, rhubarb leaf mordant, no modifier. The rest, no mordant. Left four, no modifier, acid modifier (with heat), alkaline modifier, iron modifier

But no purple! I threw a silk scarf into the exhausted dye bath, thinking maybe it was the yarn, and even it came out non-purple. While I am pleased with the range of shades, I am mystified that a purple dye bath does not produce purple dyed yarn.

Here are more compare-and-contrast photos, primarily for documentation purposes.

From left, no mordant, alum mordant, rhubarb leaf mordant; no modifier

From left, no mordant, alum mordant; acid modifier (with heat)

From left, no mordant, alum mordant; alkaline modifier

From left, no mordant, alum mordant; iron modifier

Nine distinct shades of color (rhubarb leaf on far right)

A couple of lessons learned: applying heat to the acid modifier makes a difference, and the dye from some plant materials reacts more with modifiers than the dye from other plant materials (which Dean does point out in her book).

A good day to dye

I read somewhere online that one could dye with sycamore bark to achieve a red color. I couldn't find any more specific information, though, and now I know why. There are several majestic sycamores in my neighborhood, so gathering fallen bark was not an issue. Getting red dye from it was.

No mordant; from left, no modifier, acid modifier, alkaline modifier

I followed the general instructions for dyeing with bark from Jenny Dean's Wild Color. The bark (over a pound of it) soaked for about two weeks, then I simmered it for an hour. After the dye bath cooled a bit, I strained out the bark, added the yarn (Cascade 220), and simmered that for an hour. I left the yarn in the dye bath overnight, then applied modifiers. After a good rinse, I hung it over the tub to dry.

Alum mordant; from left, no modifier, acid modifier, alkaline modifier

In my past dyeing attempts, the colors are never as differentiated as in the book. I wondered if maybe the mordanted yarn was "contaminating" the unmordanted yarn, so this time I kept the alum-mordanted yarn separate from the unmordanted yarn by dividing the dye bath into two pots. It didn't seem to make much difference.

Iron modifier; from left, alum mordant, no mordant

An acid modifier is supposed to make the tone more yellow; an alkaline modifier is supposed to make the tone more rosy. I never have much luck with these modifiers, however. I even check the pH of the afterbaths with litmus paper. Since the differences are so subtle, I may just abandon that effort. Iron as a modifier is another matter; it always produces a dramatic effect.

Eight distinct (if subtle) shades

I was disappointed that the color was more of a soft tangerine than a red. Dyeing with natural materials almost always results in tans, yellows, and greens. I don't wear these colors, but since I started weaving, I can see using them on my loom for items of home decor.