Troubleshooting Bleeding Yarn while Exploring When to Add Acid to a Dye Project (Dyepot Weekly 544)

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

This yarn is available on Etsy now! chemknitscreations.etsy.com/listing/1809691785

[@sikkasnarkyppl]

I love watching the little fingers of color crawl through the yarn :)

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

SAME!

[@louisalowry6229]

I have a commercial yarn that my daughter bought for me to make her a sweater - the swatch when washed and blocked stained the ironing board where I pinned it out. The sweater will be washed with a really good glug of vinegar when it’s done!!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

EEK!!

[@cindyrowits1536]

Gorgeous fall colors. We just did a leaf tour and I kept thinking what beautiful yarn the colors would make! You very successfully captured that feeling! 🍁🍂

[@KleintoonseBreiwinkel]

Absolutely stunning. I see Van Gogh's Sunflowers. ❤

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Yes! Thank you!

[@sabrinasnyder5685]

You should try an experiment where the lighter side is the one you lift in one container and the darker side is the one you lift in the second container. Would the skeins look similar or different? I think if you added acid first like you did here you would see a difference. Though, I am not sure if you would see much difference if you add acid the way you normally do. I love the fall colors!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Hmmmmmmmmm.......... ;) :) ;) *cough* *cough*

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I've never used an alum mordant with acid dyes, but for natural dyes I do simmer with that in advance

[@nadinedonovan989]

The yarn is beautiful! I always hold my breath when I go to wash the yarn. Bleeding yarn really upsets me. You did great!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I try to stay positive on camera, but it always bumms me out when there is bleeding. This is also why I always show the washing,s o we can see when the bleeding happens it is more rare for me.

[@HannieJacobsohn]

Beautiful colors .❤🧡💛

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you!

[@sherrikent6628]

if the test was to see at what point adding the acid to the skeins affected the bleeding then I would think that you needed to wash each set separately?

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

The test wasn't about seeing if when acid would cause bleeding - it was more about the color spread onto the yarn itself. In theory I should have washed them separately, but I didn't anticiapate the amount of bleeding I ended up with.

[@breakmydreams]

That is a very pretty colorway

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you!

[@sherryhooks]

gorgeous colors

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you!

[@MiguelMatadotcom]

facinating! so fun watch.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thanks!

[@susanarendas]

? When you add acid to the yarn in the dye bath but don’t mix it in or move the yarn, how does that affect the yarn? Does just that specific area where you put the acid adhere the dye to the yarn more?

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I haven't noticed many issues with that in the past. I've tried adding asymmetirc acid to projects to see if I could observe anything and I think my results were inconclusive.

[@13MoonsOverMayhem]

If you re-do this experiment, try adding ammonium sulfate to the dye water. I think the espresso bean is one of the “advanced “ dharma colors if I remember correctly. If it is, you may have to use a more traditional heated dye process rather than a cold one, also. The color combination is gorgeous on both!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

The heat from steaming should be enough to set the more advanced colors. The bleeding I had here was SUPER strange for sure.

[@sandry3080]

Fall leaves!! 🍁

[@AmyC-do4eo]

Those colors make me want to bake a pumpkin pie! That bleeding was awful, you must have felt really frustrated. My nine year old loves to watch me wash newly died yarn because she's always hoping it will bleed. She loves it for some reason and is always disappointed when there's little to no bleeding.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I'm giggling at disappointing non-bleeding. The silver lining is that sometimes I can see something annoying and share that. The thing that confuses me is that I still don't know why. I think these are all colors I've used a reasonable amount without issue.

[@AmyC-do4eo]

@@ChemKnitsTutorials I showed her this video after I got home from work today and she was soooooo excited. She says, "Don't be sad, it's AWESOME!".

[@catlady743]

I've personally had problems with brown colors bleeding yellow. Maybe my tap water is less acidic? I'll get some testing paper soon. I super love this color and I'll try to recreate it this week and will share pics on the Facebook page!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I was confused enough to re-test my tap water

[@desireeross9651]

The yellow bled

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I think it did, but what confuses me still is that I normally don't have issues with brilliant yellow bleeding. This was such an odd one - sometimes things just are rough for me.

[@desireeross9651]

@@ChemKnitsTutorialsmaybe too much dye powder for the project? The only other idea I have is maybe nuking or on the stovetop instead of steaming. I never steam. I find results can be iffy. I find all yellows leave a slight hint in the rinse water. I personally always rinse super hot. Hope you can work out what the issue is. The colours you used are lovely

[@AndiNewtonian]

Such a stunning colorway! Looks like a fall bonfire. On using distilled/pH neutral water to rinse with, you can't control what the water pH will be for the person who buys the yarn. So it really wouldn't be worth it as a dyer. (My tap water runs slightly basic, especially in the summer.)

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Super fair point!

[@adriannaer]

Given how dark a couple of those soaks were, I'd guess the brown was your culprit. It probably has some yellow pigment in there. What a pity since that colorway is pure autumn! I wonder if crowding in the steamer basket could have kept some parts of the yarn from coming to temp. Maybe give this combo a shot in the immersion pans to see if it still acts up?

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I'm pretty sure the total amount of dye was okay, so I'm still perplexed on what exactly happened. Could have been part of the brown, and I also could have tried to immersion heat set it again to see what came out.

[@heidiclarke2333]

It would have been interesting if you had washed them separately , if one batch was bleeding more than the other . Stunning colours though.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

In hindsight that would have been a good idea!

[@kaytiej8311]

I'd like you to retry this, addressing some of those variables - like the bright near the top.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I would like to revisit this colorway. I had considered it for Black Friday but don't want something that would need that much washing.

[@kbjazzfan]

Since red and green make brown, and blue and orange make brown, I think you should try this with red, orange, green, and blue (or maybe purple to make it more "autumn"), and see how much brown you get in the final skeins.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

These would be super pretty!

[@karensofiesorensen]

Great video! I really struggle with bleeding. Especially hot pink!!! What was the second soap you used? “Synthapull?” Thanks!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Synthrapol www.dharmatrading.com/chemicals/synthrapol-detergent.html

[@palephoenix1981]

Synthrapol is the soap.

[@mary-ruthflores4107]

I would like to see a repeat of these exact colors but keep separate the two methods. Maybe that will give some answers keep the two methods separate on each step.

[@Christine-Gallant]

I know you said to add acid when blocking, but wouldn't you need to add acid every time you wash the yarn and items you make from it? I'm been experimenting with dying myself and have huge problems with bleeding no matter what I do. I'm always just concerned that if I stop washing before ALL the bleeding is done that the finished items will always be a problem.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

The worst bleeding I ever had on a FO was a commercial yarn I bought. All of the pink came right out of it, it was sad. If you're going to do something like colorwork, I would do a strand test (knit a swatch and wash it to see if there is bleeding/ color transfer.) Otherwise, I might wash it on its own or with dark items for a while until I think there wasn't a problem anymore. This is what I do with tie dye shirts. I wash them a number of times and then wash them on their own / with super dark things for a while before I let them go in with regular laundry.

[@scathson]

As much fun it is to watch dyeing videos this experiment was a complete failure - your dyeing "technique" is embarrassing - was a subscriber at one time but couldn't handle the very rough handling of yarn whether superwash (fake wool yarn) or real wool yarn - surprised youtube popped up this video but i gave it a shot to see if your process had changed - nope