Something New!

OK, I'm back on the horse!

The friend who got me dyeing used either Cushings acid dyes, which come in little packets and need the addition of vinegar, or Gaywool dyes, which come in jars and have citric acid and so forth put right in. (So forth may mean salt as a leveling agent, or else not.) The Gaywool instructions say that "One capful" will dye 1/4 lb; "one capful" turns out to be 2.5 tsp.

Gaywool dyes are hard to get in usefully large quantities, besides, there's something very stupid about importing a jar full of mostly citric acid from Australia. Cushings dyes are lovely, but I don't want to mess with little paper packets.

Jaquard Acid Dyes are available in one-pound bottles of pure dye powder. One pound dyes a lot of wool (1/2 oz. dyes two pounds). But, something this concentrated is difficult to measure accurately. Some people pre-mix them with a set amount of water, but sometimes the mixtures act up when they stand, they gel or separate.

Ta-dah! I have come up with a new answer! Turn the Jaquard powder into Gaywool; mix it with an appropriate amount of powdered citric acid; 1/2 oz mixes with 2 tablespoons. I tried it. It works. I'm going to be doing it this way going forward.

Behold thickl'n'thin yarn New Direction, the first Jaquard experiment!