I try (but don't always) keep the recipes for the different colours that I dye. And usually I am able to replicate certain colours without too much difficulty. However there are some colours that misbehave. For example, I have a gold dye which hardly ever looks exactly the same, no matter how careful I am with the measuring spoon. Now most knitters understand that if something is hand dyed they are buying a product that is unique and which cannot be guaranteed to look the same even when the same dye recipe is used. However ..... last week I dyed this hank:
And I wrote down the recipe ...... but can I replicate it? No, is the empahtic answer. And I dearly want to replicate it as I want to dye enough for a cardigan. But no matter how much I've tried, I cannot get it to look like this hank, of which there are only 2. I have got varying shades of pink, purple, lilac and a mix of all of them, but I cannot get this shade to return to the dye pot. Now I think I know why this is the case, and I can't spill the beans and let the secret out, but I think it has to do with me coming to the end of the dye solutions in certain shades when I was dyeing this, but as yet the mystery recipe remains just that. A mystery.
So ..... there are 2 hanks of the mystery shade, and while I want to keep these for myself and perhaps knit a Rock Island Shawl, or Rhombus socks, I will, reluctantly, part with the yarn if you feel you have a better idea of how to use it. It isn't up in the shop, but if you think you'd like it, get in touch or leave a comment. The yarn is a High Twist 100% Pure Falkland Merino yarn. It is very soft, and there is approximately 365m in a 100g hank. And there are 2 hanks.
Sometimes being a dyer can be extremely frustrating!
4 reactions
1 From Libby - 11/05/2011, 22:33
xxx
2 From Irene - 12/05/2011, 09:49
3 From Libby - 15/05/2011, 22:00
xxx
4 From Helen_at_RipplesCrafts - 15/05/2011, 22:03