BFL Sock Yarn Dye

Dye Results for Blue-Faced Leicester/nylon (BFL) sock yarn purchased from The Black Lamb at the Woodstock Fleece Festival 2016. Colour of the undyed wool was off white or ivory coloured.

5 skeins of BFL sock yarn
1 skein is 115 g

Dye: Leftover acid dyes, various hues and depth of shade (DOS)
1 T citric acid in a pail of water

Method:
Tied figure eight ties to secure each skein in several places.
Placed in pail of warm water with 1 tsp TNA (like Synthrapol) for one hour.
Rinsed in warm water.
Soaked skeins in pail of water containing 1 T citric acid for 45 minutes. (Doesn't have to be this long, but I was busy. 15-20 minutes would be long enough.)
Squeezed water out of each one until I felt they were just wet enough.

Placed on a long piece of plastic wrap to be dyed so that it could be wrapped easily in plastic for setting the dyes.

I used the acid/water mix for diluting some of the dyes. Dyes were applied to skeins by either dipping parts of or whole skein or by syringe in different patterns.

I checked the underside of each skein to make sure there was dye all over the wool. When I was satisfied with the colours, I dabbed up any excess dye, then I wrapped each skein in the plastic it was laid on.

A couple of the skeins I microwaved to set the dye by microwaving for 2 minutes, with a few seconds break between, then microwaving in the same manner 2 more times. I let the skeins cool in the sink undisturbed.

The other skeins I wrapped and placed in a steamer for 45 minutes. I let the skeins cool completely before I washed them with a couple of drops of Dawn detergent. I rinsed the skeins in slightly warm water. No colour came out of any of the five skeins.

I'm pleased with the results.

Turquoise/brown

Shades and tints of turquoise and blue

Turquoise with some red

Yellow with black and a few orange spots

Lighter turquoise, blue, yellow and a little red