Oasis Sunset
This is the second part of the experiment that started with Purple Haze. The idea was to convert four balls of dirty pink mohair:
...into something nicer looking and therefore useable :)
Materials
Approximately 3.5 ounces of Classic Elite La Gran Mohair, pale grey/pink color.
1 orange and 1 yellow easter egg dye tablet, 4 tubs of Crystal Light Ruby Red Grapefruit
White vinegar
Water
Method
Crock pot
Colorfast?
Yes
Color name
Oasis Sunset
I washed this yarn in dish detergent and did not rinse before dyeing it. The dye was dissolved in about 1 cup of white vinegar and then water was added to the dye solution. This was poured carefully over the wet yarn in the crock pot. The pot was covered and turned to the low setting and the whole was allowed to work until the dye exhausted - about 2.5 hours. When I picked up the yarn to see how it looked I was disappointed by the lack of intensity. So I dissolved two more tubs of the Crystal Light Ruby Grapefruit in a little more vibegar, added more water and then added that to the dyebath (having removed the yarn first. I replaced it once the dye bath had been stirred). I turned the pot back on to low and the dye had exhausted after another hour and a half.
The original dyed color is on the left and the final dyed colot on the right. Much more what I had in mind :)
I let the yarn cool in the crock and then washed it in dish detergent, rolled it up in a towel for maxumum moisture extraction and then hung it to dry.
As with Purple Haze, there isn’t a swatch of this color yet because it’s intended for the mohair blanket. When it’s worked up, I’ll get a picture into this post.
Notes:
As previously noted when using Crystal Light drink mixes for dye, the bath exhausted very quickly and the residual in the crock was milky in appearance. Less than 4 ounces of yarn had no problem taking up two tablets plus four tubs of color and I have to wonder how much more it would have taken up, given the opportunity. I suspect that this ability to super-saturate (?) is what it means when I read someone say that mohair dyes beautifully. Given the opportunity, I will certainly try this again and probably keep loading in more and more dye until the yarn has absorbed everything it can - just to see how much it takes. Stay tuned!
Posted by Robbyn on 08/11 at 10:51 AM
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