Well, I Could Just Dye!

I'm not ashamed to admit it: I don't always "get" color. Every once in a while, I go on a dyeing kick, though and this is usually a time for me to fight my urge to pretend that I have anything remotely resembling a clue. My best bet is to either go with one solid color and revel in the beauty of the values that can result. Or go the other way and pick random colors with a haphazardness that would make the professional dyers cringe.

Too much thought, too much analyzing, or any references whatsoever to a color wheel will result in disaster. I have the same problems with choosing coordinating yarns. It's not that I don't have a little education in color theory. Did anyone happen to notice that I managed to use the word "value" in the first paragraph? Didja? Didja???? See...I have the technical knowledge. I just don't have the "eye." Best to not think about it too much. Best to let Hysterical Mind take over the process, just dump a bunch of colors in the pot and hope to sidestep disaster.

There was a third roving that made it to the crock pot last weekend. Jeanne commented that I seem to have pretty good luck with color when I use the crock pot method. And I have to say that the results here were pretty good for the most part. The colors were rich and took like magnets on every single fiber right down to those little whispies lurking in the bottom of the pot. In all honesty, though, the crock pot is really more about the amount of fiber than it is about the technique. The color you get is the color you see once the fiber is saturated, albeit a tiny bit darker due to its being wet and all. The use of the crock pot is more about neatness and having small fiber amounts than it is about color. Had I been working with larger amounts, I would have gone with the gi-normous lobster pot.

Having had reasonably good luck doing single colors in the wee, little crock, I decided to try some rainbow dyeing with a bit of Corriedale X Columbia that came in the box of fibery fun that Susie sent me. I've rainbow dyed many, many times since it speaks to my need for instant gratification and tendency to forget that I have something "in process." You soak the fiber in water and vinegar, dump a bit of dye over random sections, push it down with a spoon and walk away. No thinking, no nothing...you're done. Come back later and see how things turned out. And if you are using the crock pot, you don't even have to worry about how long it sits there...crock pots are born to just sit there.

I like that.

But, the crock pot didn't seem to like this methodology as much as I'd thought it might. In fact, its cramped quarters made the process something of a mess. Some parts took oodles of color, some were greedy and took more than one color, others rejected the dye out of hand without even giving it a chance. This wasn't really what I expected....

Tie Dye? Far out, man...

Oddly enough, I don't really hate it. In fact, I think it will spin up rather nicely. The thing about dyeing your own fiber is that you have to accept that it is only marginally within your control. Less so if you happen to be a Sheep with attentional issues who likes dumping dye on fiber then going off to watch cartoons or nap. If you happen to be this Sheep or one just like her, then you learn to live with things that are surprises. You call them "artistic" and "one of a kind." You embrace the flaws...

And, after repeating the process ten or twelve times in a row, you sometimes even learn a little something.

SA