Oh Gosh… I’m DYEING!!

I figured that there was no better way for kicking off the month of June than to attend a morning class of dyeing-your-own yarn at Fresh Purls in Providence, RI. The class was taught by the ever-cool Dani of Sunshine Yarns. I have always admired her colorway combinations and was looking forward to meeting her in person.

Dani began with an introduction of the various yarns. She explained the differences between hand-painted and hand-dyed techniques, and demonstrated how different colorways can look after re-skeining. For those folks who were unaware, Claudia of CHP and Dani re-skein their yarns so that they will appear closer to how the fabric will knit up. Lorna’s Laces, Schaefer, and BMFA are examples of companies who do not re-skein their yarns. Their unwound hanks will show the dyed amounts along each length of the skein. Finally we discussed the various colors that were going to be put into use. We learned about how different concentrations of the same dye can affect how a skein looks. The whole session was a very cool lecture that we eagerly snapped up.

While we were listening to the information download, owner Karen and Sherry were getting the bottles of dye ready for us. A bit of checking later from Dani, a donning of our gloves, and covering the table and chairs with plastic — we were ready to go! Each of us chose various colors to try. Being the stiff mechanical type, I used a set pattern of 4 colors in my skein.

After we painted our skeins of Natural Trekking, we then extracted as much water as possible by gently squeezing each unwound hank down its sides. Dani carefully rolled up our newly made pretties in plastic wrap with deft hands. These heavy “sausages” were cooked in the microwave for the dye to set. Waiting 24 hours later, we were to wash them (preferably in wool wash) and hang the out to dry. I am quite please how mine turned out, and I truly appreciate the work that goes into making hand-painted and hand-dyed yarns. Big thanks to Karen for hosting, Dani for such a wonderful class, and Sherry for all the help. I am so glad I went! =:8