New line in development

So a little teaser, I'm starting a new hand painted sock line up, it's not natural dyeing, but it is green dyeing-so never fear. I ordered my dye today and my super wash sock yarns arriving soon. Once that get's rolling some natural surprises will be coming...so keep your eyes peeled for that secret to escape. 

Madder root dye bath no. 2

After letting my dyestuff soak in a fresh water bath overnight and putting two new premordanted skeins in and lightest colored skein from the first dyebath I have found two things: that changing the water out after you've dyed yarn won't yield a redder color but a paler orange rust and you can't over dye with the second dye bath. I did find however that by using little mini skeins youcan test hypotheses quick.  I get the reddest rust with the first dyebath, medium tone rust from letting yarn sit in the soaking water in the sun all day adding some 1st dye bath letting the mixture sit over night, and getting the lightest rust from the second dye bath.  I think I want to do a blue or purple next in natural dyes.  I've been reading about greener shades dyes and I might have to retract my statement about them. They are green and allow for hand painted yan to be worked encredibly.  Here's the picture of the yarns.

Madder dyebath

Natural dye number 2: madder root.  So I did two dye bath tests.  Same madder two different baths.  The first trial I used three different yarns Plymouth's happy feet, dancing toes, and Cestari superfine merino sock yarn. They yielded a brick(happy feet) to rust red, both on the orange end of red.  The second dye bath, which I'm still waiting on to finish, I put 2 Cestari 3ply dk and reintroduced the dancing toes to see what a second soak would do. So far I'm getting oranges from the Cestari and the dancing toes has deepened in its redness.  Unless I use a cream of tartar and iron mordant I'm not going to have any type of blue introduced. Even then it would be a purple brown.
I think the only way to get a red on the blue end of the spectrum I'll have to break down and buy cochineal extract, which is on the higher end of the price scale for dyes, and its crushed bugs, which I didn't really want to use anyway. But if I want to offer a proper red in my yarn line I'll have to bite the bullet and get it. Anyway here is the picture of the first dyebath.