Thursday, October 05, 2006

I Need to Know Before I Mess Something UP

Hi all! I am about to get in a dyeing mood again. Actually, a skein of yarn I dyed is currently being displayed in a knitting display at our town library. I am sort of in shock, but also honored. Anyhow, to get to the meat of this post. Has anyone tried dyeing Optim? I got a small bit while on vacation and would love to turn its creamy whiteness into something spectacular. Does it felt worse or less than regular merino? Would you think you would not heat it as long? I surely need opinions ladies, so please weigh in on this or give it your best guess.

5 comments:

Sandy said...

I don't know how small a "bit" it is, but I bet you'd do ok if you wet it gently, lay out on plastic and pour on dye, then steam. Then let it cool completely before rinsing it. I think the key would be gentle handling thru the process. Go for it!! If it felts or mats, it's been (ta da) a "learning experience"!! Anyway, let us know how it comes out.

Carolyn said...

Thanks Sandy! I have 2 oz of the stuff. I will definitely try just pouring. I usually use the foam paintbrushes, so I am glad you pointed that out. (See, that is why we all need our Twisted Mom so much - she keeps us on track!!)

And by the way, I picked up 4 skeins of white wool yarn from the sale bin at our yarn shop for $1.00 a skein, so I really am ready for some dyeing now!!

I will keep you posted, for sure.

Abigale said...

I loooove Optim... When I bought mine at the Lambtown festival I asked if there were any tips or tricks to dyeing it. I was told (by the editor of Spindlicity) that it likes to be "wet" kind of like silk - so let it soak a good long while.

I did mine in blues and greens - jacquard dyes... Basically I poured some blue in the bottom of a deep vase - then put in some fiber - poured some green - kept putting in fiber - pouring dye. I dyed it in the same batch with some silk - and it came out pretty good - some of those pesky non-dyed areas in the middle of the roving, but I kind of like that effect. There's some pictures on my blog if you dig around a bit.

I'm spindle spinning mine, just because I want to savor the yummy goodness - oh my gosh is it ever soft! of it all... It seems to want to spin fine. I've had some weird clumpy bits in my roving, that do not want to draft, but I just pull them out and keep going - though I hate to waste the fiber - they just don't work as neps in this particular fiber. Don't know if that's common to optim - or just the stuff that I have.

HTH a little!

Carolyn said...

Thanks abigale for the great information. Between Sandy and you, I should definitely be able to do this!

Pam said...

You know you can do anything! You ain't skeert!