Name: evelyn
Message: Hello, I sincerely hope I'm not asking a question you covered in your site. I did do a search for 'dyeing mixed yarns' and nothing came up. I have a sweater I love in an ivory color that has unfortunately received a couple of stains. It is of 62% merino wool, 15% cashmere, 13% angora rabbit hair and 10% nylon. Can I successfully dye this a dark color - brown, gray or black? And, if so, what dye and methods do you reccommend? Procion or other brands? Please help if you can. Thank you in advance for a response either way.

This is a good combination of fibers for dyeing. Every one of them - wool, cashmere, angora rabbit hair and nylon - is best dyed with acid dyes or Lanaset dyes. This means that you can dye them all in a single step. One major problem would be if the conditions of dyeing (particularly heat) were to lead to shrinkage. You might have to give your newly dyed sweater away to someone who is smaller than you! It's generally not a good idea to garment-dye wool, for this reason. Another problem is that you must dye it a very dark color, with a lot of dye, if you want the stains to blend in, as dye is transparent, so stains remain darker than the surrounding area even after dyeing. Even when heating wool to be quite hot, it is essential to avoid sudden temperature changes or excessive agitation, or felting may occur.

The very best dye for dark black on all of these fibers, wool, cashmere, angora rabbit hair and nylon, is the Lanaset black. Note that Lanaset dye is also sold under the names Sabraset and Telana; it's the same exact thing, though. Probably these dyes would also be the best for other dark colors, though you can also use any acid dye. (Procion MX dye can be used with acid, instead of soda ash, as an acid dye, but mixing it to get brown black or grey on wool can be a real challenge, as mixtures come out different colors on wool than on cotton.) The Lanaset line of dyes is a combination of premetallized acid dyes and fiber reactive dyes designed for use on wool. See towards the bottom of my page on Dyes for Protein Fibers.

Good North American sources for the Lanaset/Sabraset/Telana line of dyes include ProChem (in the US) and Maiwa Handprints (in Canada). See my list of companies that are good Sources for Dyes Supplies. You could find additional sources by doing a web search for "Lanaset" or "Telana".