There are two types of natural fibers: one from animals (protein fibers), the other from plants. You need to use a different type of synthetic dye for each type of fiber. The main focus of this book is protein fibers and the dyes that are appropriate to use with them. This doesn’t mean you should disregard blends containing synthetic (such as acrylic) or plant (such as bamboo) fibers. The dye results will differ from what you might experience when dyeing 100 percent protein fibers, but the yarns may suit your needs. We’ll look at both wool animals and hair animals. The only way to get any of these animal fibers is by hand. The fibers are all sheared, combed, or plucked from the animal by other animals — humans! This is what I love most about working with fibers. The human touch has to be present to achieve all of the possibilities. No machine has been designed to hold and shear an animal.
Although protein fibers share some characteristics, they vary in the way they look, feel, and behave, as well as in the way they take dye. Before the fiber will accept dye, it must be clean, but you can apply dye anywhere along the process from simple, clean fleece to batt, roving, top, yarn, or finished fabric, be it knitted, crocheted, or woven. The only other requirement is that the fiber be wet.
Since most of the experiments I describe here use wool, I’ll start with it, but as you gain experience, don’t hesitate to try dyeing other fibers.
Over the centuries, sheep have been bred to strengthen their value either for meat or for fleece (the source of wool). Seldom do you get both good meat and good fleece in one breed. The sheep breeds we favor for garments, of course, are the ones bred for their fleece. These include Shetland, Border Leicester, Cotswold, and Merino, as well as a variety of crossbreeds. It’s rewarding to discover the differences among them. Next time you’re in a room full of people, notice the range of differences in each person’s hair — straight or curly, thick or sparse. You’ll find the same wide ranges when you study different kinds of wool fleeces.
Sheep are classified by their wool types, including fine wools and longwools. Each has its own specific qualities, but all wool shares certain characteristics.
Durability and resiliency. Wool is durable partly because its springlike quality makes the fiber elastic. The fibers can be stretched up to 30 percent when dry and 50 percent when wet. This elasticity makes woolen fabrics resistant to tearing and wrinkling and also makes it relatively easy to adjust the size of a completed knitted piece in a process called “blocking.”
Absorbency and insulation. Wool is a hydroscopic fiber, which means it readily takes up moisture from the air. Wool can absorb up to 30 percent of its weight in moisture without feeling damp. An elementary school teacher and spinning friend of mine tells about taking some of her students on a rafting trip. Even though all were instructed to wear only wool, many set out for the day wearing synthetic fleece jackets. By the end of the cold, wet trip, the ones wearing wool were wet, but they were comfortable. The ones wearing fleece were shivering and cold.
Wool also absorbs perspiration, leaving a layer of dry air next to the skin that holds body heat. When wool absorbs perspiration in hot weather, on the other hand, we feel cooler as the moisture evaporates. In fact, wool is worn throughout many desert regions of the world, keeping the wearer cooler during hot days and warm through cool nights. Wool is truly an all-season fabric.
Tendency to felt. Wool felts naturally. This can be an advantage or disadvantage, depending on your intent!
Nonflammability. Because wool readily absorbs moisture, it resists fire without any chemical treatment. Instead of burning freely when touched by flame, wool chars, but stops burning as soon as the flame is removed. In other words, it self-extinguishes. For this reason, wool blankets and rugs are recommended for extinguishing small fires.
Dyeability. Let’s get down to the real business of this book: Wool takes dye beautifully! In fact, wool is the easiest fiber to dye. It absorbs many different dyes deeply and uniformly without the use of combining chemicals. Dyes penetrate into the inner core of the fiber, where a chemical reaction causes the colors to change. Wool is known for the beautiful rich colors that can be attained when dyed.
Some of the most popular fiber-bearing animals produce hair, rather than wool. These include camel, alpaca, llama, Angora rabbit, cashmere goat, and Angora goat, for mohair. (I know, the name “Billy Goat Gruff” doesn’t evoke an image of luxurious cashmere or lustrous mohair, but goats are versatile animals!) The fibers from each one are a joy, bringing their own special characteristics to the processed fiber or fiber blend, although I find angora, llama, and alpaca a bit fussier to dye than wool. These fibers tend to be more expensive because harvesting them is usually more difficult than shearing sheep for their fleece. Some of these animals have an outer coat of long, coarse hair; the desirable, finer, downy coat is underneath and therefore harder to gather. If all of the coarse, prickly hairs aren’t removed, the quality of the fiber is inferior.
Angora goats produce mohair fleece known for its beautiful luster, and this fleece loves to drink up dye. The resulting colors are clear and crisp. I especially love mohair from kid goats (young goats), because its silkiness seduces even those who find wool itchy. Mohair has a tendency to felt, though, which makes rinsing a bit of a challenge.
Angora rabbits produce fibers of a much shorter length than those of Angora goats. This fiber is soft and fluffy, and its short, silky fibers are most luxurious when the animal is plucked or combed. This process means that angora yarn is quite labor-intensive and therefore usually very expensive. When the fiber is sheared from the rabbit, the staple length is even shorter and the quality of the yarn is inferior to plucked fiber. At fiber fairs, you’ll often see an Angora rabbit sitting happily on its owner’s lap while its coat is being plucked and fed directly into a spinning wheel. This truly is yarn straight from the source! Angora takes dye at a much lighter shade than wool. When it’s blended with wool, the subsequent blend has both light and dark colors.
Llamas have long guard hairs that need to be removed before the fleece is spun. If left in the mix, the hairs break during processing, resulting in scratchy fabrics. But the most desirable part of the fleece, the undercoat, is soft and downy. Like angora, llama fleece takes dye in a much lighter manner than wool, so achieving deep, intense colors is difficult.
Alpaca does not have as many scales as other protein fibers and does not contain lanolin. Often people who can’t wear wool can wear alpaca. Alpaca, too, takes dye in a much lighter manner than wool.
Another fiber usually included in the protein group is silk, which comes from the silkworm. The cocoon spun by the worm is made up of a filament of silk that can be up to one mile long! The silkworm’s life purpose is to spin this cocoon. Silk has a wonderful luster when dyed. Dyeing 100 percent silk is not for the faint of heart, however, because the dye penetrates the fiber unevenly and quickly, often making for a mottled look. It is often blended with other protein fibers with great results, so for your first projects dyeing silk, I suggest that you choose a blend of silk and another fiber or fibers.
WOOL VERSUS HAIR
Only wool fleece contains lanolin. Because some people are allergic to lanolin, they can’t wear wool, but they can wear clothing made from the coats of hair animals as well as from silk, which is another protein fiber. In addition, hair has fewer scales than wool fiber, making these yarns smoother and therefore less likely to irritate skin.
A variety of different white fibers (shown at right) were dyed at the same time in the same dyebath, but each fiber came out a slightly different shade (results shown at left).
YARN BLENDS
Many commercial yarns are blends of different kinds of fibers. Even if all of the fibers in a blend came from animals, you’ll find that fibers from different animals “drink up” the dye in different ways. Yarns made with these mixtures therefore look different from yarns made up solely of one type of animal fiber. Some examples include alpaca and silk, wool and mohair, wool and alpaca, and wool and angora. The list is endless and offers opportunities for many creative dyeing adventures.
Although this book focuses on dyeing animal fibers, you don’t have to be limited to blends solely from the animal world. You may enjoy experimenting with wool blended with bamboo or cotton, for instance, among an almost endless list of other possibilities. Also, don’t be afraid of blends of animal and synthetic fibers, such as mohair and nylon, or wool and Tencel, polyester, or acrylic. Not only are some of the man-made/natural fiber combinations stronger and lighter than completely natural yarns, they sometimes take the dyes we’re using for protein fibers in a most interesting fashion. Experiment with whatever fiber you can get your hands on. Some of these experiments result in the most serendipitous effects. (See chapter 3 for information on what dyes to use for specific fibers.)
Fiber usually goes through quite a long process from animal to finished product, including cleaning, spinning, and dyeing. Consequently, if the fiber or garment has no label, you may find it difficult to name its source without close study. As you experiment with dyes, you’ll discover that various factors in fiber and fabric preparation greatly affect the way the fiber accepts and/or expresses the dye color.
I was once fascinated to notice that the colors of the petals of an almost-black iris seemed to vary, depending on whether they were textured or shiny. Fibers produce the same effect because light is reflected differently depending on the fiber. Study the samples in the photos below: In (A), a dyed skein of 100 percent wool (top) looks very different from a skein made of 85 percent wool and 15 percent mohair (bottom). In (B), compare the ironed and wrinkled pieces of silk. In (C), the unspun fleece appears lighter than the 2-ply yarn spun from it.
You can observe a similar effect in the differently textured fibers you’re working with, as seen in the photos on the facing page. In addition, not only does texture influence the way fibers express color, but different fibers also accept dye in different ways. For example, one of the yarns I regularly dye is a laceweight 80% alpaca/20% silk blend; another is a superwash 75% wool/25% nylon sock-yarn blend (see D, below). When I prepare the skeins for dyeing, I usually tie four together for their presoak. I once inadvertently tied a skein of the sock yarn with three skeins of alpaca/silk. As soon as I applied the dye, I could see there was an escapee in the mix. These two yarns take the dye in totally different manners.
The alpaca/silk yarn does not easily become supersaturated, so that after I apply the dye, it sort of sits on the alpaca, giving me time to decide what direction I’m going to move the color. It allows for lots of creative transition time. The super-wash fiber, however, accepts the dye readily and in a more saturated manner. As soon as the dye is placed on the superwash, the fiber grabs it and does not drift around. When working with superwash wool, it’s important to start with colors of very light intensity because there’s no turning back once the fiber grabs the dye.
As you can see, fiber characteristics vary depending on which animal produces the fiber. Hair has fewer scales and is slippery compared to wool. The dye may seem to slide off hair fibers, requiring a slow, intense application of color in order to get the dye to take. But other factors also influence how fibers react with the dyes.
Cleanliness of fiber. Whether it’s the animal’s natural oils or a spinning oil used when processing the yarn, oils can make it more difficult for dye to penetrate fiber. If the fiber was processed commercially, oil residue generally won’t be an issue. A few drops of shampoo or Dawn liquid detergent in a cleaning bath should take care of it, and if you’re in doubt, another washing won’t hurt the fiber. (For more on cleaning fiber and advice on cleaning silk, see page 44.)
You can always make a light fiber darker, but you can’t make a dark yarn lighter. Use this fact to your advantage when your fiber has natural color. Overdyeing a naturally colored yarn can give you great results. Contrary to the nursery rhyme, not all sheep are black or white. Pale gray, tan, and chocolate brown fleeces all look beautiful when touched with dye.
The natural (far left) and white (far right) skeins were dyed in the same dyebath, but notice the color difference between the two middle skeins.
Air between the fibers. It’s important to make certain that your fiber is thoroughly damp before you apply the dye. Presoaking in water ensures that the air trapped among the fibers is removed. It’s especially difficult to ensure this when working with silk, so I like to soak silk overnight in unacidified water. (As you’ll learn, before you apply dye to animal fibers they must be soaked in a mild vinegar-water solution; see page 45. Acid can harm silk, however, and cause it to lose its luster. Because of this, I allow silk about only 10 minutes in a vinegar-water soak just before dyeing.) It’s amazing to see the silk float to the top of the pre-dye soak! Often it needs to be pushed down in the water several times. Some fibers just seem more contrary than others.
If you’re a spinner and become interested in creating your own colors, you have several options for when in the process from fleece to yarn to apply your dyes. You can apply color right after the fleece has been washed, you can color it after the fleece is carded, you can dye it after it’s been spun into yarn, or you can dye it after it’s been made into cloth. You will achieve different effects, depending on which stage you choose.
Dyeing fleece. Yarn made from fleece dyed prior to carding usually has a more blended look than the rainbow sort of effect you get when you apply dye to carded and spun yarn. The carding mixes the fibers of different shades so they are fairly evenly distributed throughout, but you have less direct control over how the colors play out.
Dyeing carded but unspun fiber. You’ll find commercial fiber prepared in several different ways, including batts, roving, and top. Batts and roving are both carded; top is combed.
• Batts are processed in a drum carder and come out in sheets.
• Roving comes in the form of a long, narrow bundle of fibers, which are not all uniform and parallel.
• Top has the mostly uniform fibers parallel to each other.
If you use the immersion technique to dye any of these preparations before spinning, the color will be fairly consistent throughout, but you can produce many dramatic variations if you use some of the other dyeing techniques. For example, you can apply the color directly to sections of the batt, top, or roving, so that when you spin it, the color changes gradually, as shown in the sweater on page 37. With this method, you can get wide variations from one end of your yarn to the other. You can achieve even more effects by plying with another strand of the same fiber, another type of spun fiber, or a different-color strand of the same fiber.
This yarn, spun from uncarded, dyed fleece, has a heathery look because different parts of the fleece accepted the dye at different rates.
This sweater is being knit with a 2-ply handspun that was dyed as roving (in the basket). Notice the wide stripes between color changes, as well as the softly blending transition that this technique results in. (See page 42 for how to dye roving.)
Dyeing spun yarn. Yarn, too, can be dyed using many different techniques, including immersion, dipping, and hand-painting. Each method produces different results and also provides you with many interesting ideas to explore. Before getting into dyeing techniques, however, let’s first take a look at how the yarn has been made, with its various weights and fiber contents. Each of these determines yarn’s durability, function, and unique look, including its color.
The simplest spun yarn is single ply (or “singles”). This yarn is created by combing the cleaned fibers, then gradually drawing out and twisting them, so that the staple lengths (the term for the length of the animal’s fibers) overlap. This forms a yarn that is relatively stable. To create yarn with more than one ply, two or more singles are twisted together. The combined plies make a stronger yarn than a single. Yarns can have any number of plies, from 2 to 8 or more.
In terms of color, whether or not a yarn is plied can dramatically change its look. Compare the Frog Tree single-ply, worsted-weight alpaca yarn to the 3-ply sport weight in the photo below. The ply affects the way light is reflected off the fibers, giving a different look to the same dye color.
Although exactly the same dye was used to color the Frog Tree single-ply alpaca (left) and the 3-ply worsted-weight alpaca (right), the yarns look very different from each other because of the way they are plied.
EXAMINING DIFFERENT PLIED YARNS
Take some time to examine yarns you have in your stash, including your novelty yarns. Often these consist of a variety of different fibers with varying textures and weights. Comparing the way each of the yarns does or does not accept the dye is an education in itself.
• Singles. Take a 12-inch strand of singles yarn (the photo shows Berkshire Bulky) from your stash and hold it so that it hangs freely (A). Notice that the yarn turns slightly. Now, pull apart the overlapping fibers. It should be relatively easy to separate them. You may notice that they are of different lengths. Usually singles yarn is used for items that don’t need to tolerate a lot of abrasion in areas of wear. It’s not a good choice for the elbows of a sweater, for example. This yarn also has a tendency to pill, meaning that the shorter fibers roll up and form little balls on the surface of the yarn.
• 2-ply. Now take a 12-inch length of 2-ply yarn and observe how it behaves when you let it hang freely (B). Two-ply yarn usually does not twist in the way singles does, because the twisted strands balance each other out. Untwist the two strands (or plies), and note that you now have two lengths of singles. Plied yarns are generally stronger than singles. They are also great when you’re working textural knits, because the twist helps define the patterns.
• Marled. Take two strands of different colors and twist them together; this type of yarn is referred to as marled yarn (C). Notice how different they look from two same-color strands twisted together.
Dyeing woven, knitted, or crocheted pieces. You can dye the woven, knitted, or crocheted items after you’ve made them, of course, or you may want to dye yardage that you plan to use for rug hooking or for a sewing project. A 2-yard piece weighing about 1 pound is probably the largest piece to dye by hand. If the piece is too large and cumbersome, parts of the yardage won’t be exposed to the dye simultaneously, with the result that you’ll get white or pale spots or streaks. Rug hookers may be interested in shaded effects, but if you want overall consistency, resist dyeing too large a piece at one time. It’s also easier to handle smaller pieces when you’re rinsing.
Fabrics made from dyed yarn. The real test of whether a dye has been successful is how the color looks when it’s made into cloth, whether woven, knitted, or crocheted. The complexity of each technique — the way the threads interlace — affects the look of the colors. When you observe a woven fabric from a bit of a distance, your eyes blend the different-colored warp and weft threads in much the same way that they blend the different-colored pixels on a computer screen, “mixing” the various colors into an entirely new color (see example below).
You can also use color to create different textural effects. If you’re knitting in stockinette stitch, for instance, you may decide to change from knit to purl each time you come to a different color in a variegated yarn, creating an interesting textural effect that emphasizes that particular color on the surface of the fabric. The nature of the fiber — whether it’s rough or smooth, shiny or dull — also affects the way light is reflected from the fabric.
Seen from a distance, the colors of two intersecting (warp and weft) yarns blend, creating a third color. Close up, however, you can easily see the individual colors. (Sampler woven by Barbara Elkins using Valley Yarns 100% cotton.
You’ll find that yarn comes packaged in many ways, including balls, skeins, and cones, and the form usually fits the function. For example, a commercially packaged ball of yarn is spun, dyed, and wound into a ball so that you can easily begin to knit or crochet it without any further preparation. Yarn wound onto cones has the advantage of being available in long lengths of yardage with few or no breaks, which is particularly attractive to weavers.
When you’re planning to dye your own yarn, yarn prepared in skeins (sometimes called “hanks”) is the easiest to work with, especially if you’re handpainting or dip dyeing. In an immersion bath, water moves freely through and around the skein, ensuring more even dyeing. For these reasons, the conventional way to dye yarn is in the skein; we will discuss some unconventional methods in chapter 5.
On the other hand, spinners may wish to dye fleece before spinning, either as raw fleece or prepared as roving.
Place your skein of yarn on a flat surface. Make sure the two ends are tied together in a secure knot. Cut an 8-inch length of scrap yarn. Wrap the scrap yarn around the skein, tucking the ends through about half the thickness of the skein, then crossing the ends in a figure eight and wrapping the other half of the skein. Loosely tie the ends together (see A, below). Make at least two more ties, equally spaced around the skein, in the same manner (B).
Handling fleece fresh from the animal requires more delicate handling than yarn, because the unspun fiber is more prone to felting. Let’s assume the fiber has been washed and picked clean of hay and manure. Start with a volume of fiber about the size of a cantaloupe.
• Fleece. Loosely wrap a piece of string or yarn around the circumference of your “cantaloupe” about six times and tie securely. This wrap allows you to pick up wet fleece with minimal handling (C).
• Top or roving. Lay about 1 yard of the top or roving on a flat surface: don’t break off the rest of the piece. Turn back and lay out another yard parallel to the first. Zigzag the piece back and forth in this way about six times, then tear it off. Use two or three ties around the whole bundle to use for picking up and handling during soaking and dyeing (D).
FROM BALLS TO SKEINS AND BACK AGAIN
If the yarn you want to dye isn’t already in skein form, you must wind it into that form before beginning most dye processes. There are several ways to do this.
• Human aids. You can enlist a volunteer to hold out his or her outstretched arms about 2 feet apart, so you can wrap the yarn around them to form the desired loop.
• Furniture aids. You can drape the yarn around the back of a chair or two to form the loop.
• Purpose-designed tools. You can use equipment especially designed for winding skeins. For centuries, fiber workers have used a tool that bears the delightful name niddy noddy (at left, below). Niddy noddies are available in both wood and plastic and often can be taken apart for easier storage. Most niddy noddies are designed to wind a skein with a 2-yard circumference. As you can see, this tool isn’t absolutely necessary because you can always employ the back of a chair or a volunteer, but if you find yourself catching the dyeing bug, a niddy noddy is a relatively inexpensive and handy tool to help you make skeins for dyeing.
Another tool some fiber workers use is a skein winder, but this is more costly and not really necessary unless you’re going to dye and spin lots of yarn.
Just as you need to create skeins to prepare yarns for dyeing, you also need to wind skeined yarn into balls, once you’re ready to use it in a project. For this purpose, you might want to purchase a swift (at right, below), which adjusts to different sizes and folds umbrella-fashion for easy storage. Traditionally, skeined yarn is placed over the swift, making it easier to wind the skein into a ball, but you can now find swifts that can be converted to yarn winders: two tools in one!
Most commercial yarns and other prepared fibers (such as top, for instance) have already been thoroughly cleaned, but just to be safe, a little bath won’t hurt them. If you’re working with fibers that you’ve gotten directly from a farm, however, it’s particularly important that you clean them well. Lanolin from sheep, or oils from other animals, forms a barrier that can prevent the dye from penetrating the fiber. Even if what you have is handspun yarn, rather than raw fleece, be aware that some spinners spin their yarns “in the grease,” meaning that the fiber has not been washed but only picked through to remove materials such as hay and manure.
Whether the fiber is a fleece, roving, or yarn, it needs to be free of dirt and oils before dyeing. This process is often referred to as “scouring,” though it’s not as harsh a treatment as that word might lead you to believe. It simply means soaking the fiber in a solution of tepid water and dishwashing liquid, such as Dawn (the original formula, without bleach), with a neutral pH. (Do not use soap, which tends to be alkaline, or any product that contains bleach.) Shampoo also works because it’s formulated for protein fiber — your hair — or you can purchase a product called Synthrapol, which is a concentrated, low-sudsing, neutral pH detergent.
Fill a basin with enough body temperature water to cover the fiber, then add the dishwashing liquid and a dash of white vinegar, which helps prevent too many suds from forming. I sometimes also add 3 tablespoons of a dishwasher rinse agent, which can encourage absorption.
Once you’ve cleaned the fiber, rinse it with tepid water. Always take care not to let water run directly on the fiber and not to agitate any fiber while handling it when it’s wet — unless you’re aiming for felt! Remove the fiber from its soak, run a fresh basin full of water, and gently submerge the fiber in it. Squeeze excess water from the fiber.
Silk requires special care. It can be a most uncooperative fiber, because it doesn’t like to get wet (see page 35). Silk is contained in the cocoon of the silkworm, which extrudes a substance called sericin along with the silk fiber. Because this substance may inhibit the dye’s penetrating the fiber, it must be removed before the dye process. Giving silk a bath in the dishwashing liquid should remove the sericin, but more than one cleaning is often necessary to adequately prepare silk to receive dye. You’ll discover, too, that silk often has a distinctive odor when wet, but this fortunately dissipates once the fiber is dry.
In preparation for dyeing with acid dyes, it’s important to thoroughly presoak your fiber in a vinegar-and-water solution. I use 1 part white vinegar to 3 parts water. To avoid pouring liquid over the wet fiber, mix up your vinegar-water solution before adding the fiber. As surprising as it sounds, the energy of running water striking the fiber can felt it. You should have enough vinegar-water solution that the fiber can move freely, with every bit of it submerged.
Place the washed and rinsed fiber in the solution, gently pushing it under the surface. Let it soak for about 30 minutes. To avoid tangles when you remove the fiber from the soak, pick it up by one of the ties, then squeeze the water out of the fiber. You can save the vinegar-water soak for reuse by placing the fiber in a colander or on a screen over a container to catch the excess. Allow the fiber to sit until it is damp to the touch. If the fiber is too wet, it will repel the dye.
