Caring for hand dyed yarns
We dye our yarn with light- and washfast acid colours. During the dyeing process, these are preserved by heat and acetic acid. Sometimes skeins still loose some colour afterwards, this goes especially for speckled yarns and intense coloured skeins as well certain colours.
You should keep this in mind, particularly when combining them with lighter colourways, otherwise you might find coloured spots on the lighter parts.
Therefore we always recommend to swatch. And to wash your swatch in cold water with a little wool detergent.
And if a skein bleeds, give it a wash. First wash it under running water and then leave it for a few minutes in a bin with cold water and just a bit of detergent (keep in mind, that some wool washes may leech out colour). Then rinse again and hang to dry.
Cold, please!
Coloured fabrics often have a note on the label to wash them separately from other colours. Normally you should do the same with the hand knitted or crocheted projects, especially if you made them from hand dyed yarns. But sometimes you may want to use colour-intense and bright colours TOGETHER in ONE project. If you do so, handle the FO with extra care. That means: cold washing with a high-quality wool detergent (just a wee bit!).
Note: Preventing bleeding with vinegar is only effective in conjunction with heat – and you want avoid to avoid heat, won’t you?!
Swatching rules!
When you start a project and use different colours together, make a swatch! Not only to figure out how the colours match, but also to test for possible bleeding. This is highly recommended if you use dark and/or colour-intense yarns together with brighter colourways.
The factors
We do our very best to prevent the bleeding of my yarns (there are many steps in the dyeing process, this includes fixing the colour for a long period at the highest possible heat). But there are factors that make it impossible for me to prevent bleeding in any case. Different yarn qualities take and hold colours differently. Also certain colours tend to bleed more than others. The pH value of the water plays a role, as well as the used detergent (which may cause the leeching out of colour). These are factors on which I have no influence. Therefore it may be that a skein doesn’t bleed in my sink, but it does in yours.
Bullocks, my hands are blue!
Especially with dark-coloured yarn (intense grey, black, blue, purple, etc.) it may be that the yarn stains your hands while knitting or crocheting (caused by the pH value of your skin). That does not necessarily mean that it will also bleed heavily, but it could. To prevent back staining rinse the skein or your project under cold running water before soaking it.
Sometimes a skein bleeds so heavily that the colours fade. This is not supposed to happen, but it can. If it does happen, the colour has not been properly fixed in the dyeing process. Several factors may be responsible: the temperature in the dyeing process was too low or the fixing time too short. But sometimes the skein itself is the reason. (Black sheep are everywhere ;). If your skein bleed heavily, do not hesitate to contact me (info@garnstories.de).