Glazing yarn in stages for a pearlescent microtonal effect

Bonus content: running rainbow painted Cirrus (mohair/silk) double for a pearly rainbow sheen

Featuring: Knomad Snowdrift Select (75% Fine Superwash Merino Wool, 25% Recycled Nylon)

Our Goal: To layer the dye application to get a micro tonal, multi tone pink/lavender/blue/grey yarn. Bonus: Learn how to paint Cirrus – Kid mohair silk (blog) and run it double for the ultimate iridescent rainbow halo effect.

Abstract: What happens if we layer the dye in stages so that the colors don’t fully blend together? Just like the iridescence of a pearl, we want to layer in very vivid colors (brilliant violet, hot pink and black) at extremely pale saturations to get a micro tonal, multi tonal yarn.

For those with time to read the finer details, let’s dive in!

YOU WILL NEED:

• 4 Skeins Snowdrift Select (if doing bonus, 8 skeins Snowdrift and 1 skein Cirrus mohair/silk)
• 10 ml syringe
• Heat protectant gloves
• Shower Rings
• Respirator
• Double Burner Induction Cooktop
• Acid-Reactive Dye from Pro Chem Washfast acid in Hot Pink, Brilliant Violet and Black
• 8” deep stainless steel restaurant tray 
• Citric Acid
• Gram Scale
• Synthrapol textile detergent

Attach plastic shower rings to the yarn. Fill an 8” deep tray with 2 gallons of warm water and 1 tsp of Synthrapol. Lay in skeins and let them soak for a few hours.

Mix a .10% d.o.s. black dye stock in 1000 ml water

400 grams yarn x .10% = 0.4 grams of black 

Lift the wet skeins out of the tray and pour in the black dye stock

We want a very even background grey, so I let the skeins sit in the dye for a few hours cold, without acid. 

Then we bring it up to 210 slowly, mix .5 T of citric acid into 1000 ML water, pull out skeins, add the citric acid slurry to the dye bath, and re-submerge the skeins. We are going to babysit this dye batch, turning the yarn every 5 minutes to prevent the bottom side of the skeins drawing heat and dye like a magnet and leaving the skein mottled.

Mix your brilliant violet and hot pink dye stock solution: 100 ml water to 1 gram of dye

Brilliant Violet is a stunning color, but the dye is not easily dissolved like most other dyes. It creates a sticky tar that clumps together. You will need to “paste it up” by adding a few drops of water at a time and stirring to make a paste that you gradually add more and more water to. Check out this clump of dye “tar” – if not dissolved our dye ratio won’t be as saturated as we want it to be.

When the dye is completely cleared and the dye bath is just under a boil (210), use some heat protectant gloves to pull the yarn out of the bath and add in 4 ML of brilliant violet stock.

I let sit for about 5 minutes, then I lift the skeins again and put in 4 ml of pink dye stock and resubmerge for 5 minutes. Since this is superwash, the dye is absorbing super quickly.

Now for those micro tones! Pull up 10 ML of pink dye stock and “drip” it across the skeins evenly. It’s important that every time you re-submerge the yarn you straighten it out so the skeins are even and laying side by side. If they’re tangled like spaghetti, there won’t be an even distribution of pink drops.

I do the pink first, let sit until absorbed fully (about 3-5 minutes), and then I pull the skeins out and flip them to the back side and drop in the violet stock.

It’s important we have a very high water table, so the dye stock “drifts” down through the water and marbles in a diffused manner, like a water color painting. We don’t bright purple stitches. I use the tips of my tongs to “smoosh” any drops of dye that look like they’re adhering in a drop instead of spreading out. Here’s what it looks like after the smooshing:

Let cool to room temperature before rinsing.

Let’s admire our results! This is direct sunlight. Is it grey? Is it blue? Is it lavender? I love the super soft color changes and the play between the colors. 

But it wouldn’t be a Frost Yarn dye tutorial without some bonus content, now would it? This colorway is simply too much of a minimalistic interpretation of the beauty of a pearl for my taste. So for my maximalists that want more, perhaps a rainbow aura peeking out from behind the grey? Let’s keep going, shall we?

I decided to do an even lighter version of this exact formula and also run some of our cotton candy mohair/silk double for those that want a rainbow halo peeking through. Isn’t this stunning?

Start with a lighter value pearl grey by using .10 of a gram of black per 400 grams (.025% d.o.s.). When the background grey is absorbed, lift the skeins out and add in 5 ML violet dye stock to the pan, let clear, add 1ML pink, let clear, and then drizzle in the pink one the top, then flip and drizzle violet on the back.

For the rainbow painted Cirrus (mohair/silk) please reference the Cotton Candy Clouds blog post from March 2023 here

Paint the rainbow however you want, here I did 75% of the skein bright aqua from Dharma Trading and 25% pink/orange/yellow/green/violet in the pastel painting stock. 

Here’s our lighter grey on it’s own:

And here it is paired with the mohair silk

Direct sunlight                                                                                    Indirect sunlight

Direct sunlight                                                                                    Indirect sunlight

Here’s our darker grey paired with the rainbow painted mohair:

Direct sunlight                                                                                    Indirect sunlight

Direct sunlight                                                                                    Indirect sunlight

Just like a pearl, the colors shift depending on the amount of light reflecting off the yarn and can appear bright and neon or brooding and grey with just a hint of color. I love the subtle silky sheen, it lends an aura to the yarn that makes it feel iridescent and magical.

I hope you had fun playing with color, texture and a layered dye approach! I hope to see your favorite pearl color interpretations on these luscious Knomad yarn bases in the future. 

Til next time, 

Nic