Sunday 4 September 2011

Dyeing to spin - part 2

I left you with a braid of fibre to admire, didn't I?! Here's a quick reminder of how it looked, BFL fibre dyed with four flavours of Kool-Aid.


dyeing to spin part 2 002


Split the fibre in half and then spin each half up as a single. I like to pre-draft the fibre a little bit to make it a little easier to spin. The cherry red colour seems particularly bright!!!


dyeing to spin part 2 (5)


Ply the two singles together to make a 2-ply yarn. It's got quite a tweedy effect.


dyeing to spin part 2 (6)


Wind the yarn into a skein using a niddy noddy. Tie yarn around the skein in four places to secure it. Then soak the yarn in warm water for at least 30 minutes until it's completely soaked through. Squeeze out the water gently by wrapping the skein in a towel. Be careful not to twist the fibres - you don't want to felt them.


dyeing to spin part 2 (1)


Hang the skein up to dry. Give it a good tug to straighten it out. If the twist is very tight, you might need to weight it slightly. When it's dry, twist the skein up.


dyeing to spin part 2 (7)

And there you have it, a beautiful skein of squishy yarn, all ready to knit!

7 comments:

busybusybeejay said...

You are soooo clever.

Lynne said...

WOW!!! That's fantastic! I love the how it looks when it's plyed. Have you any plans of what to make with it?

snoopydogknits said...

Oh that's lovely! The Kool-Aid smells so good too :-) Have a good week.... well, as good as can be expected!!!! Rosx

Kat Jorgensen said...

You are just one busy person! Knitting, spinning, dyeing. Thank you for the great shots of your dyeing process. I can't wait to see what you make : )

pinkundine said...

It looks fab, I wondered how it would come out. Now you need to knit something really fast so we can have the whole process mapped out ;)

Anonymous said...

gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous!!!

love it!!

knittingsandwich said...

ooooh i am totally drooling. absolutely GORGEOUS!!!
-cmvs