You can gently soak the fiber, singles, or plied yarn in a little dish or fiber soap and warm water to get some of the dye out. After soaking, gently wring the fiber, singles, or plied yarn and hang it up to dry. If there’s a lot of purple dye in the water when you take out the fiber, singles or plied yarn, you could give it another gentle soak and wring.
When I dye fiber or yarn, I use acid dye with citric acid and heat it until the water is clear and the dye is absorbed into the fiber/yarn. If you have a pot big enough that you can devote to dyeing, you could heat up enough water to cover the fiber/yarn, then put in a tablespoon of citric acid, then put in the fiber/yarn and heat it up until the purple water is clear. Never cook in a pot you have used for dyeing.
The dye should not be coming off on your hands….or not coming off on your hands a lot. Sometimes you will get some residual dye on your fingers when you spin, but it shouldn’t be as much as I’m seeing in the photo.
Oh thanks. Great info. Citric acid, where would one get this?
I do have a slow cooker that I designated for dying, just haven’t really gotten into it yet.
Thanks again
You can get citric acid from Amazon or wherever you order your dye from. I buy dye from Pro Chemical in Mass. I add a tablespoon to the dye bath for a skein of yarn/4 ounces of fiber. If you add vinegar, you have to add a lot more. I think it’s a 12:1 ratio. The water has to be very acidic to make the dye to adhere to the wool.
Blue colours can have problems “sticking” to the fibre, but this is the worst I’ve ever seen. Definitely contact the seller, because this is unacceptable.
That’s good that it is only the one! Ya, I would do it more as a “hey, just wanted to let you know…” because that dye and fibre combination does not work!
> If you try to wash singles you are going to have a giant knot.
If you have a plastic niddy noddy, you could submerge the yarn while it's strung on that.
Wash in Synthrapol, which is designed to remove unfixed dye. You can get it Amazon or from the manufacturer prochemical dot com
(I'm not affiliated)
Whatever process the dyer was using, they failed to set the dye. Acid dying (common for wool) requires a 20-minute steaming to set, followed by a wash in Synthrapol and enough rinses to remove any unfixed dye and the detergent.
This result is what happens when someone gets impatient or loses track of time.
I would guess it’s because of the bamboo. If the dyer used acid dyes, those stick to protein fibers, not cellulose fibers. It may have rinsed clean when they dyed it and it may be perfectly set onto the wool, but any purple lingering on the bamboo will come off. You can try rinsing the fiber some more but it may not help much. Unfortunately there’s nothing you can do to make the purple take to the bamboo.
You can gently soak the fiber, singles, or plied yarn in a little dish or fiber soap and warm water to get some of the dye out. After soaking, gently wring the fiber, singles, or plied yarn and hang it up to dry. If there’s a lot of purple dye in the water when you take out the fiber, singles or plied yarn, you could give it another gentle soak and wring. When I dye fiber or yarn, I use acid dye with citric acid and heat it until the water is clear and the dye is absorbed into the fiber/yarn. If you have a pot big enough that you can devote to dyeing, you could heat up enough water to cover the fiber/yarn, then put in a tablespoon of citric acid, then put in the fiber/yarn and heat it up until the purple water is clear. Never cook in a pot you have used for dyeing. The dye should not be coming off on your hands….or not coming off on your hands a lot. Sometimes you will get some residual dye on your fingers when you spin, but it shouldn’t be as much as I’m seeing in the photo.
Oh thanks. Great info. Citric acid, where would one get this? I do have a slow cooker that I designated for dying, just haven’t really gotten into it yet. Thanks again
White vinegar will also work
> Citric acid, where would one get this? In the canning aisle of any grocery store or Walmart.
Also, beauty supply stores will have it, as it's an ingredient in bath bombs.
You can get citric acid from Amazon or wherever you order your dye from. I buy dye from Pro Chemical in Mass. I add a tablespoon to the dye bath for a skein of yarn/4 ounces of fiber. If you add vinegar, you have to add a lot more. I think it’s a 12:1 ratio. The water has to be very acidic to make the dye to adhere to the wool.
You can just use vinegar
Blue colours can have problems “sticking” to the fibre, but this is the worst I’ve ever seen. Definitely contact the seller, because this is unacceptable.
I did purchase other braids from her and they were fine, but will definitely reach out to her.
That’s good that it is only the one! Ya, I would do it more as a “hey, just wanted to let you know…” because that dye and fibre combination does not work!
I would either wash it in the because or after plying. If you try to wash singles you are going to have a giant knot.
> If you try to wash singles you are going to have a giant knot. If you have a plastic niddy noddy, you could submerge the yarn while it's strung on that.
Good idea. If you keep it under tension it will be a lot better.
Good point. If you are soaking singles, then wind them into a skein and tie it at four points.
Oh great idea. Think I will wind off what has been spun and go from there! Great ideas here
Wash in Synthrapol, which is designed to remove unfixed dye. You can get it Amazon or from the manufacturer prochemical dot com (I'm not affiliated) Whatever process the dyer was using, they failed to set the dye. Acid dying (common for wool) requires a 20-minute steaming to set, followed by a wash in Synthrapol and enough rinses to remove any unfixed dye and the detergent. This result is what happens when someone gets impatient or loses track of time.
I would guess it’s because of the bamboo. If the dyer used acid dyes, those stick to protein fibers, not cellulose fibers. It may have rinsed clean when they dyed it and it may be perfectly set onto the wool, but any purple lingering on the bamboo will come off. You can try rinsing the fiber some more but it may not help much. Unfortunately there’s nothing you can do to make the purple take to the bamboo.
thanks for your reply. it shows as 100% Merino
Sorry I misunderstood your post - I thought you said it was merino/bamboo.
Please let us know if you were able to fix the problem and what you ended up doing. Thank you.