Dyeing

Note that all my dyeing advice is geared towards dyeing protein (animal) fibers, silk, and nylon.  I have very little experience in dyeing plant fibers and don't want to offer advice that may be wrong.

Tools

If you're going to dabble in dyeing, you need a liquid soap.  Ivory will work, but for dye-hards you may wish to use Orvus, a horse shampoo available at feed stores and over the internet, as it is more geared towards washing animal fibers.  You'll need a big sink or dishpan (to pre-soak your yarn in) and a dedicated dye "pot" large enough to fit all the skeins in your planned dye bath - and enough room for them to swim freely once the skeins are immersed.  If your yarns are packed too tightly in the pot, you will have areas with no dye takeup.  I also suggest a pair of tongs to lift hot yarns out of the dye bath when done.  Some manufacturers recommend rubber gloves, but I never have bothered and it hasn't been a problem.  More of a problem is the "oops, I accidentally dripped dye on the countertop!"  Have some paper towels handy.  Various methods require other (additional) tools, which you will find out when reading the pages below.

I just bought an 18-quart "electric oven roaster" today and it was perfect for large batches of yarn.  The model I bought is the Aroma ART-618W.  It is like a very large crock pot so I used the crock pot method below.  The test batch was 10 skeins of Schachenmayer "Alpaca" (50g each, 100 yards) plus a half-ball of white Trendsetter Aura (100% nylon) as a test.  I'd always heard that acid dyes worked well on nylon, but until today didn't have a chance to test it.  Now that I have the oven roaster my dyeing is going to take a turn for the better - no more undyed patches or burned bits!

Dyes

Louet's Gaywool dyes are the coolest dyes we know.   Dharma Trading Company sells Jacquard Acid Dyes.  I sold both these brands in the Cashmere Cat retail store and they were always very popular. 

Jacquard's colors are very vibrant and modern, whereas Gaywool's are more muted and natural.  (In Jacquard you will find chartreuse and hot pink whereas in Gaywool you find colors like Daisy, Lavender and Mushroom.) 

Jacquard requires the yarn to be soaked in an acid solution prior to dyeing (usually white vinegar and water).  Gaywool dyes include the acid crystals in the jar, so you do not need to pre-soak.  However, the cost of the Gaywool dyes is higher, presumably because the acid is included.  (Jacquard - $4.25 for a jar that dyes 2.2 pounds of fiber; Gaywool - $12.00 for a jar that dyes 2.2 pounds of fiber.)

Cushing is another brand of acid dyes that are very cheap - around $2.50 a packet, but I believe these only dye a pound of fiber and do not have the acid added.  The few times I experimented with Cushing, I got strange colors in my roving:  using burgundy, I ended up with some mustard-colored portions (?!), so I did not experiment further.

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