We have reached the finish line of the Peacock Fade Set! (Check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4) This set has been about different ways to place yarn when doing the dye work, and today’s colorway is no exception.
For my base for all of them, I will be using Frida. It’s a 100% Merino Wool Superwash with 16 microns of softness. It’s so super-duper soft, and just touching it during the dyeing process is luscious. It will make the most luxurious sweater.
For my dye colors across the entire Peacock fade, I mixed jars of it at once with 1 tsp of citric acid per color. I dyed everything on the same day too, but you’ll have to be patient to see the finished product!
With Jacquard Acid Dyes, I used:
• Yellow – Sun Yellow
• Light Green – Chartreuse (with a touch of Spruce)
• Green – Kelly Green
• Blue – Brilliant Blue
• Purple – Violet
While the yarn was soaking in water for 30 minutes, I filled a pot with green dye and approximately an inch of water and Green dye. By holding the shower hook, I slowly started pilling the yarn on itself.
In the end, I had a mountain of yarn sticking out of the dye.
Using a syringe, I applied the Blue dye to the top of the syringe. I felt like I was covering a snow-cone with syrup.
I turned the heat on and brought the temperature up to before simmering and left it alone for 15 minutes.
Using my tongs, I moved the yarn around. There were some bare areas, but that’s not a problem because there is plenty of green dye in the water.
I loosened up the mountain of yarn and added some water (at the same temperature of the yarn in the pot, I didn’t want it to felt). And I left the pot to exhaust.
I like it. It was a good way to get a two-color skein where the placement was more random then a half and half painted hank. I’m excited to see how this one knits up.
And that concludes the Peacock Fade set! Overall, I’m pleased with how it turned out especially since I tried 5 different techniques during this journey. I am a little fussy that 3 of the skeins have bare yarn and the other 2 don’t. I’ll let this set sit for a while, and if it still bothers me before knitting it up, I will do some over-dyeing in the same colors to get all 5 of the skeins to have matching color saturation. (This is also the benefit of writing down what colors you use, so 6 months from now, if you want to touch up the hanks or dye more to match, you know what you used.
Stay tuned for next week where I look at another base experiment!
Ready to make your unique colorway? Hop on over to Makers' Mercantile® and pick up your undyed yarn and supplies. We can’t wait to see what you make, so tag us on social media with #makersmercantile!
About Tara
Tara Warburton is the former graphic designer for Makers' Mercantile® and a fine artist. She specializes in watercolor and colored pencil illustrations. She lives with her two cats, who are not helpful when knitting.
