Nicole Frost

Posted on: Alpaca yarn MistiMarch 24, 2025

Dyeing our new Alpaca and untreated Merino yarn Misti

Featuring: Misti, a 60% Fine Merino Wool 21.5 mic, 40% Baby Alpaca blend.

Our Goal: How do we get a solid, rich, even saturation on a non superwash/alpaca blend?

Abstract: Non – Superwash and Alpaca fibers take dye differently than their superwash counterparts, and thus, we approach how we dye them differently to compensate for that.

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

YOU WILL NEED:

-4 Skeins Misti
-Respirator
-Double Burner Induction Cooktop
-Acid reactive dyes in Lollipop Red and Black from Pro Chem, Extreme Blue from Dharma Trading
-4” Deep stainless steel restaurant tray
-Citric Acid (fixative for dye to adhere to wool)
-Gram Scale
-ML Measuring Cup
-Synthrapol Textile Detergent

To Start: Today, we’re going to focus on how to take this wonderful non-superwash blend and ensure that we get a nice rich tone and even dye application. Alpaca fibers are known for taking the dye differently than their superwash chemically enhanced sheep cousins’ fibers do. I suspect it’s to do with the uptake and refraction of color as perceived by our eyes, but I’m a ‘recreational chemist’ so I’m not qualified to speak on the scientific process that’s happening that makes different fibers take the same dye colors so differently. If you’d like to see a breakdown on the differences in dye uptake between superwash and non-superwash, see this blog post.
I’m gonna pop a photo from that dye experiment here so you can “see” what I’m talking about.

Do you see how the superwash fibers are brighter and more intense? And how much the non-superwash colors “bled” to the stitches around them and reduced the amount of visible white space? While superwash dyes like gangbusters, we do have the drawback of the fiber not being great in the pouring rain, as it’ll get soaking wet immediately and can grow as much as 30% in size due to the chemical alteration removing the scales that trap warmth and resist moisture. The beautiful thing about the 60% Non-Superwash Merino is that it adds structure and crimp to the straight alpaca fibers, so you have the softness and the warmth from the alpaca with the crimpy memory of the wool. For my Snowbirds and PNW rain folk, this is a base you want in your rotation for sweaters in the winter months.

Now let’s pull a photo from the deep deep Frost Yarn archives from February 2019. It’s logged under #frostyarndyetutorial for those that want to replace Doom Scrolling with Bloom Scrolling, where we fill our heads with ideas and feed off the creative energy of our fellow artists 🌹

Here, I custom formulated an eggplant dye from a red, violet and black stock mix like we will do today, and each of the different bases took and refracted different elements of the dye differently. I feel that any good dye tutorial first has to acknowledge that these results are heavily dependent on the base fiber being dyed. I remember in the first couple years I started dyeing, being so disappointed that a silk yarn speckled poorly, or that a near-black color recipe just looked purple on an alpaca base. I can’t force the fibers to take and refract color identically, but I can adjust my technique to inch them closer together. Which is what we’re doing here today!

To start, we’re gonna have a long soak in a warm synthrapol bath so that the fibers are fully saturated. I use a teaspoon of synthrapol to 3 gallons of water. I put the yarn on shower rings so it’s easier to put them into and pull them out of the bath without tangling.

Since I am very impatient, I do this at night so I can wake up and it’s ready to dye. We’re looking for a deep wine red, and the target shade is simply outside the shade range available pre-formulated. I used to use Dharma Cabernet but it’s no longer a well performing color (solubility issues and bleeds now) so we’re making our own!

We’re first starting out with 1.5% degree of strength of Lollipop Red from Pro Chem. It’s the best performing red I’ve ever used, and I’ve tested every red from Jacquard, Dharma/Dharmaset, Aljo, Standard Colors, Greener Shades, Ashford and Pro Chem Washfast Acid/Sabraset.

400 grams of Misti x 1.5% degree of strength Lollipop Red is 6 grams of dye
400 grams of Misti x 0.25% degree of strength Black is 1 gram of dye

I tested that mix out on a paper towel, and it was a little bit too orange and not “deep” enough. I decided to add in some violet leaning cobalt blue to add depth instead of increasing the amount of black. Why? Black just muddies anything you mix it with past a certain point, and we still want the clarity of the red to be our focal point. Bottom color is after adding 0.25% Extreme Blue from Dharma to the mix, and it’s perfect!

I’m using a 4” deep stainless steel restaurant tray filled almost all the way to the top, and I’m putting the dye stock in first, then gently laying in the skeins without any acid or heat to continue soaking for a few more hours.

I then set my induction cooktop to 200 degrees and mixed up an acid slurry of 1 tablespoon citric acid to 1000 ml of water. Pull the skeins out, add in acid slurry, then put the skeins back in and bring up to 200 degrees.

Once the yarn is hot, but not boiling, I will pick up the yarn by the rings with heat protectant gloves and switch from side to side, then top to bottom, every 5 minutes for 30 minutes. The heat acts like a magnet and will “pull” dye particles to the hottest part of the tray and create dark spots if we don’t do this. If you want more variegation, just set it to 200 degrees for 30 minutes and let it cool to room temperature. Rinse and spin out the excess water and lay on a rack in the sun to dry!

And there you have it! A scrumptious wine red, ready for a sip n’ knit night with your pals 🍷.

As is true of most saturated deep reds, this one is unphotographable to how it looks in real life. In the photo, it’s almost like a faded maroon, but it’s so much deeper and redder than any camera or photo editing software could capture. You’ll have to trust me on this one 😉

Til next time!

Nic Frost ❄️