Dyepot Weekly #11 - Low Immersion Dyeing Wool Roving with Rit Liquid Dyes

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

In this video I dyed 100 g of Bare Wool of the Andes Roving shrsl.com/li8k (KnitPicks Affiliate Link)

[@ThePhantazmya]

Hey Rebecca! I was dreaming about yarn and dying this morning (lol) and it occurred to me that lemons are a natural source of citric acid. Maybe you could try replacing the vinegar with lemon juice. I'm not sure how weak the concentration of acid is but it seems like the kind of experiment you like to do on your channel, so I thought I would suggest it as a possible area of exploration. Keep up the great work! I'm really enjoying the weekly content. It's really very motivating.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thanks! Oh shoot, I'm dyeing with tea right now and I totally should have used lemon! I wish I had seen this comment sooner. vinegar is much cheaper, but the citric acid from lemons would absolutely work.

[@ThePhantazmya]

Oh yeah.. dying yarn with an Arnold Palmer hahaha

[@singingwolfdyeworks2391]

Oh my gosh those colors are gorgeous! Lucky Tanya to receive such a beautiful thank you gift :-)

[@MarieH528]

Thanks Tanya! Oh Rebecca, The colors are great,I can't wait to see this spun up! Happy Dyeing!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I so wish it was mine to spin up! I'll have to do this again for myself!

[@MarieH528]

ChemKnits Tutorials Oh, Right! I hope Tanya sends you a pic that maybe you can show sometime after she spins it up! I'd be happy if you did do it again for yourself and spun it up, You deserve it! I vote for you dyeing some up for your very own! Whoo Hoo and Why Not!! Have a great day!

[@ooohlaa13]

love the deep and jewel tones, very dramatic impact! yay!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank yoU!

[@ThePhantazmya]

I'm jelly. That roving is BEAUTIFUL!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I'm jelly, too! I wanted to spin this myself SOOO BADLY!

[@marieking-stevason1775]

I have only one word for this roving: WOW!!! This makes me want to get a spinning wheel... unfortunately, I don't have enough room to have one. Beautiful roving Rebecca!! Awesome video..as usual! I can't wait for December 19th and the speckled yarn! Happy Dying from Canada 🇨🇦 ❤️Marie

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Marie, you've seen my spinning wheel, right? It is has a tiny footprint! I'm just saying.... ;) shrsl.com/ktal (Affiliate Link)

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Although drop spindles take up almost no room. They are much less intuitive, though. I'm not sure if I could remember how to correctly use one!

[@cingibson]

The reason you're having so much dye leftover is that Rit is a union dye. It is meant to color both protein and plant-based fibers. The dye leftover is the dye that only binds to plant-based fibers. No matter how long you heat it or how much acid you add, you will always wash away the dye meant for plant-based fibers. If, however, you were dying a wool/cotton or wool/bamboo blend, you would use up more of both components of the Rit dye.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Since this video I've been able to get the Rit dyes to exhaust on wool. So I'm honestly confused about its total mechanism. I've learned since this video to not use too much of the dye and then I won't have an issue with the bleeding.

[@tyraj9301]

What a lot color. It reminds me idea the dye effect.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I need to do some low immersion with these colors and yarn. MmmmmmmM!

[@slimsslim921]

Very nice work thanks so much I have a lot of questions

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you! Feel free to leave questions on the videos - I try to reply as often as I can. New comments are easier for me to reply to than replies to other comments.

[@agathasann]

Very Pretty!

[@oedhelsetren]

Use less dye for darker dyes, particularly heavy colors like navy can cause this problem where you're not getting an even bleed. Another little tip, I keep all sorts of fiber scraps handy when I'm dyeing and any extra dye is used to dye my scraps for art yarn and felting projects.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thanks for the tips! I don't have as good of a feel for many commercial dyes as I do with food coloring, so I'm still learning a lot about the proportions. :)

[@LaynieFingers]

You clearly need lots more Rit dye!! That roving is luscious... I'm such a sucker for saturated color, and those colors are just gorgeous!!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I LOVE deep saturated colors, too! I was really nervous that this would require a ton of washing but that wasn't so bad. :) I hope the sponsor loves this as much as I do!

[@LaynieFingers]

ChemKnits Tutorials I hope so too!! I can't wait to see what else you come up with! You've definitely been on a roll... 😁

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Awe, thank you! It is a lot of fun to do all of these dyeing episodes. I'm really glad you guys are enjoying them as much as I'm enjoying filming them!

[@marilynbunzo3648]

The roving looks beautiful. With regard to the dye bath clearing, I doubt that it ever will when using RIT. The thing about RIT dyes is that they are generalist dyes, not specialist dyes. That means there is dye in the bottle that works for protein fibers, dye that works for cellulose fibers and, possibly, dye that works for man-made fibers. Since not all dyes work for all types of fibers, you would likely never get the bath to clear because you are seeing the dye that is in there for some other type of fiber. I like using the Dharma fiber-reactive dyes. You get the intense colors and you also get clearing of the dye bath. I also like it better because I'm not pouring a bunch of chemicals down the drain that would never have bound to my fiber. I have used RIT or RIT-like dyes for clothing (I recently overdyed a pair of tan shorts that met with a pair of magenta jeans to their detriment.) but I prefer to use dyes for my wool that are specialist dyes. I include food coloring in that category.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you! I want to get some Dharma fiber reactive dyes at some point, and I am much more interested now that you tell me they exhaust! I'm not a fan of tossing so much extra dye. (I tossed some food coloring today, that literally only had 2 drops of color in it from a pastel I made, and I felt like I was so wasteful!) I do plan to play around more with these RIT dyes, but I have a feeling that Acid dyes will become my favorites of non food coloring dyes.

[@marilynbunzo3648]

I think you will love the Dharma dyes (and other fiber reactive acid dye brands) once you start using them. My teacher at the weavers guild only uses a few colors of Dharma dyes and mixes the rest of what she needs to get other colors. You only need a small amount of the dye powder to get a strong dye. I have measuring spoons below 1/4 tsp on my Christmas list for use with the dyes. You do want to use a face mask while you are measuring the dye but you can remove it once you have it in solution with the water. I invested in some squeeze bottles with tops for mixing the dyes.

[@marilynbunzo3648]

The dye is sooo much better than the RIT dye that I don't think you will go back. I can hardly wait until you try the Dharma dyes.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Oh yay! I started with Rit because it is easy for everyone to find. I figured I'd ease us all into non food safe dyes. ;) I have some face masks already for dealing with the powders. :)