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Hand Dyed, Hand Painted Yarns
by Heritage Yarns
Affordable luxury yarns and dramatic, hand painted, hand dyed colorways are
the trademarks of Heritage Yarns. I hope you enjoy the arrangement of hand dyed
yarns and that you find the perfect yarn for your
project. Yarn types have been
spread out over several pages to make pages easier to load and your visit more enjoyable.
When I put a lot of time into a
knitting or weaving project, I like some guarantees that the
finished item is one that I am going to enjoy for years to come and I'm sure you
feel the same.
The yarns I buy are based on the desired finished project as I believe one
can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear or turn straw into gold. So, I
buy the best quality, affordable yarns available.
Hand Dyed and Hand Painted Yarns Menu
The Process
Rich, saturated color is what I love
and what I dye. To insure consistency of color repeat in the finished
project, I dye each skein by a direct application method;
they are not dyed randomly, hit-or-miss. In dyeing circles, the method I
use is often described as hand painted rather than hand dyed.
Because of our warm, southern climate,
I specialize in hand painted yarn spun from cellulose fibers and
occasionally exotics, like silk. Cellulose fibers are plant fibers
like cotton, rayon and tencel. Even though rayon and tencel are
man-made, the raw products are plant fibers.
By dyeing or painting colorways around the skein in a
directional fashion rather
than across the skein in a non-directional fashion, I can control the amount and placement of color.
Lengths of color vary from one colorway to
another and within a colorway as most fiber enthusiasts find smaller
amounts of some colors, like yellow or other highlights, more pleasing.
Consistency in
color and the arrangement in which the skein is painted insures that your finished
object will be predictably beautiful and with no muddy spots.
I think you will
find that the projects you see knitted, handwoven or crocheted from Heritage Yarns will give you the
same results.
Packaging/Put-Up
Most yarns are fingering and laceweight
and put up on 8 oz. skeins with high yardage. As a result, your
finished handmade item will likely cost less than when made with some hand dyed
yarns. All yarns
are labeled with weaving sett and knitting gauge, (with few exceptions) when
applicable, for planning purposes.
Most skeins are longer
than the industry standard of 54" (up to 72"). Longer skeins give
me an opportunity to paint more colors with longer repeats. In fact, long
repeats and up to nine colors are in each Heritage hand painted yarn.
Dyes
and Washing
The fiber-reactive dye that I use is for cellulose or plant fibers such as
cotton, rayon, tencel and linen but also
works well for cold-water, direct application dyeing of silk. Of all the
many dye types, fiber-reactive dye produces the most colorfast, lightfast color.
However, there is some fugitive or excess dye that washes out, particularly if
the colors are rich and saturated.
I've been asked the question many times as to whether the yarns I dye are
washable. Well, yes, they are. They are washed once prior to dyeing
and go through three complete machine cycles of washing after they are dyed to
remove most of the dye. Just continue to wash your article (based on
finishing techniques such as fringe) until the water runs clear. Then,
block or finish as desired.
All hand
dyed yarns shrink a little in the dyeing and washing out process. Plan
a little extra for your special project to insure receiving the same dye
lot. All are hand washable with very little
dye residue in laundering; however, wash separately for a few washes and care
for your handmade item like any other fine fabric.
Synthrapol is a detergent I recommend as it suspends fugitive dye or alternatively, use a dye magnet
available at most grocery or discount stores. All fabrics benefit
from the addition of fabric softener to rinse water to return the hand that
detergents remove. Another added benefit of fabric softener is the removal
of soap residue.
12/31/2007 update: Synthrapol has been replaced by the supplier
with Professional Textile Detergent - non-toxic with the same great
results.
Availability
Current
colorways in stock are shown with the yarn type and are ready to ship. Yarns are no longer
available by special order. Stocked quantities are limited so you
may want to check with me by email at
Margaret@heritageyarns.com
for quantity available.
Hand painted
skeins are also available at
Colorway Collections,
where you may also read about the inspiration for some of the colorways.
Gift
Certificates
Looking
for a gift?
Gift certificates
are available in increments of $25 and sure to please the fiber enthusiast on
your gift list.
The yarns below are either "resting,"
retired or special edition yarns. This list was made so that you
will know that, yes, it was a yarn from Heritage Yarns that
you saw or purchased and
chances are you will see it again. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, if you
would like to see a small gallery of a few of these yarns and colorways,
visit the
Patrons' Gallery.
Resting Yarns
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5/2
Mercerized Cotton
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Alpine
Cotton
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Southern
Breeze
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Southland
Cotton
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Textured
Cotton
Retired Yarns
Special Edition Yarns
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20%
Silk/80% Rayon
-
25%
Silk/75% Rayon
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