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sock dyeing
April 1st, 2012 05:41 pmI dyed socks in January. I was really impressed with myself.
I dyed socks again today. I am not as impressed, but not because of the dye job... I melted a sock during the heat set. I am still a-goggle about it.
The procedure I used for the first pair in January was to lay out plastic wrap and use ridiculously strong Kool-Aid powdered mix (in about 1 cup of hot water) and pour on stripes. I added some food coloring to get green and was quite happy with the way this came out. You can, however, clearly see the fold line and although the dye made it all the way through, the second side is weaker than the first. These were somewhat blotted, had a second layer of plastic put over top and microwaved.
The second pair I did had purple and teal mottled all over and was just tossed in the slow cooker.
Today I did one slow cooker pair and a handpaint pair and a stripe-pour pair on three different sock bases.
I suppose I should talk about the sock bases. I bought finished machine-made commercial socks from Sock Dreams. (I really like their products and their service. That is a recommendation.) Originally I bought 2 pair of "O Woollies" for the January batch. This batch was one pair of the "O Woollies", one pair of "nylon trouser socks" and one pair of Bella silk+nylon socks with a mild texture.
Today I microwaved the two thinner pair and the all nylon ones melted a hole right at the center of the dish. If I had cooked them less, had flipped the packet, or added water underneath... any of that might have saved the sock. I want to find something else to do with it, because who does not need a polka dotted nylon tube?
There will be pictures soon. I want them to dry first. There will also be after washing pictures of the handspun yarn.
I dyed socks again today. I am not as impressed, but not because of the dye job... I melted a sock during the heat set. I am still a-goggle about it.
The procedure I used for the first pair in January was to lay out plastic wrap and use ridiculously strong Kool-Aid powdered mix (in about 1 cup of hot water) and pour on stripes. I added some food coloring to get green and was quite happy with the way this came out. You can, however, clearly see the fold line and although the dye made it all the way through, the second side is weaker than the first. These were somewhat blotted, had a second layer of plastic put over top and microwaved.
The second pair I did had purple and teal mottled all over and was just tossed in the slow cooker.
Today I did one slow cooker pair and a handpaint pair and a stripe-pour pair on three different sock bases.
I suppose I should talk about the sock bases. I bought finished machine-made commercial socks from Sock Dreams. (I really like their products and their service. That is a recommendation.) Originally I bought 2 pair of "O Woollies" for the January batch. This batch was one pair of the "O Woollies", one pair of "nylon trouser socks" and one pair of Bella silk+nylon socks with a mild texture.
Today I microwaved the two thinner pair and the all nylon ones melted a hole right at the center of the dish. If I had cooked them less, had flipped the packet, or added water underneath... any of that might have saved the sock. I want to find something else to do with it, because who does not need a polka dotted nylon tube?
There will be pictures soon. I want them to dry first. There will also be after washing pictures of the handspun yarn.
