The Journey of a Know-nothing: Venturing into Yarn Dyeing

As I tell this story I like to remind folks that this side hustle was something that I started out of curiosity. 

Like the rest of you reading this blog, the COVID-19 Pandemic was and continues to be a time where we do a lot of self reflection and potentially start new hobbies or try new things that we have always wanted to try but never had the time. Had my husband been a gluten eater I would have probably started to make bread and it is likely that I would have a 3 yr old named Drascilla (points for those of you that understand)....a 3 yr old sourdough mother, not a child. Sorry mom, didn't mean to get you excited there. 

Instead of diving into the bread fad I actually dove head first into my long time love, knitting. I purchased SO. MUCH. YARN. But weirdly enough I still felt empty...warm but empty. I dabbled in test knitting and worked with some clients on commissioned work. But I still felt bleh! 

I started to follow a lot of yarn dyers and that's when I decided, I want to try that! 

In 2019 I squirreled away books and all of my dyeing supplies. Since I have a chemistry background I wanted to be extra prepared. Looking back now I would say that I was unnecessarily prepared by buying all the things I would use for a science experiment. I had Graduated cylinders & beakers, pipettes, weigh boats, spatulas, pH paper, temperature probes, various heating plates (you get the idea).

If you have ever dyed before you know that half of this junk is not THAT important. In fact I think I am down to my scale, spatulas (sometimes small spoons), Silicone spatulas, gallon jugs, pH paper, and paper towels. As one of my professors would say, "it's simple really." 

I want to say that during this time everyone was taking up dyeing making bare yarn that more difficult to find. I also had one hell of a time finding dye. At this time I would like to give a shoutout to my LYS for supplying me with dye from their own supply AND some undyed yarn during this difficult, yarn-barren time. But once I was able to purchase dye I purchased both Jacquard dyes and Dharma. Dharma was excellent because I could buy pre-mixed colors or primary colors if I wanted to. And Jacquard was excellent because they were small enough that I wouldn't feel so bad if I did not end up using them and giving them away. Turns out I actually loved jacquard more because I could be more creative with my colors, go figure. 

So what else did I purchase? 

1. citric acid 

2. baking soda (to neutralize water if/when needed) 

3. textile Softener 

4. a notebook for my recipes 

So this all happened around 2019/2020. 

What happened next? I had to find bare yarn, tune in to hear about this adventure later. ;)