Dyeing Commercial Yarn to Match Handspun Angora Yarn

 

 

 

 

 

 

Betty says,

I have been knitting fingerless gloves for a while.  In the beginning, I use Angora yarn for the entire glove.  It's nice looking but after a while the cuff part became very loose.   Angora yarn are notorious for not having any memory, when stretched, they stay stretched.    To improve the wearability, I went to yarn stores to find wool yarn that would match my handspun Angora yarn.  I'd spend hours looking up and down the isles to find compatible commercial yarns.  

One day, it dawned on me: if I can dye my own handspun Angora yarn, why can't I dye the commercial yarn?

I bought 100% white wool yarn and measure the approximate length I'd need for the edges and put it in the dye bath with my handspun yarn.   Though there is a slight difference in the shade of the color because sheep wool and Angora do not absorb the dye exactly the same way but it's as close as it gets, sure closer than the store bought colored yarn. 

In the above photo, the pair of pink fingerless gloves are made from white English Angora handspun yarn, the edges are 100% sheep wool yarn and both are dyed together using pink Easter egg dye.

 

The cuffs are made of 100% sheep wool yarn, the rest of the fingerless gloves are chocolate tort handspun Angora yarn, the skeins were dyed in the same pot with KoolAid black cherry flavor.


 

The handspun Angora is originally tort and wool yarn is from the same batch as the pink and black cherry above.   The plum color is created by using two packs of KoolAid grape and one pack of KoolAid black cherry, they were dyed together in the same dye bath.    These two balls of yarn are to be used for another pair of fingerless gloves.