DIY & Crafts
Dying to dye more yarn
DIY & Crafts
Dying to dye more yarn
A couple of weeks ago,
Austen and I zipped across town after work for a yarn dyeing class at
The Workroom. I'd been hoarding some naked fingering weight and a bunch of dye pots at home, waiting till I was ready to face them. And a live tutorial sounded like just the thing to get me started. For this class, we used simple synthetic dyes mixed with hot water and dish detergent. Yes, that's right – el cheapo dollar store dish detergent. It acts as a surfactant, which lowers the surface tension of the water and allows the wool to accept the dye more readily.
We laid out our hanks of naked fingering-weight yarn on long pieces of plastic wrap, then went to work massaging in whatever colours caught our fancy. Here's Austen working with some beautiful blues, purples and fuchsia:
When we were satisfied with our colours, we wrapped the yarn in the plastic wrap like a burrito and microwaved it for six minutes to set the colour. (You can steam your yarn in a steamer, too, but it takes around 45 minutes, and we knitters can be an impatient lot.) Then we gave the yarn a good long rinse in cool water to remove the excess dye and were rewarded with vibrant colours like these:
Beth Casey of
Lorna's Laces led the class and shared a ton of wisdom she's learned over years of hand-dyeing yarn. A few of her gems I managed to remember:
Sock Yarn Studio (Lark Crafts, 2012, $23.95) by Carol J. Sulcoski offers a number of one-, two- and three- (or more) skein projects. Mittens, hats, capes, shawls, sweaters – you name it. If it's made with sock yarn, there's a project in here. I have a lovely butter yellow skein of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn that contrasts beautifully with my hand-dyed skein. I think I'll turn those two into an Alexander Street Hat (or two) from the book.
Are you learning a new skill or craft this fall, too?
We laid out our hanks of naked fingering-weight yarn on long pieces of plastic wrap, then went to work massaging in whatever colours caught our fancy. Here's Austen working with some beautiful blues, purples and fuchsia:
When we were satisfied with our colours, we wrapped the yarn in the plastic wrap like a burrito and microwaved it for six minutes to set the colour. (You can steam your yarn in a steamer, too, but it takes around 45 minutes, and we knitters can be an impatient lot.) Then we gave the yarn a good long rinse in cool water to remove the excess dye and were rewarded with vibrant colours like these:
Beth Casey of
Lorna's Laces led the class and shared a ton of wisdom she's learned over years of hand-dyeing yarn. A few of her gems I managed to remember:
- Yellow doesn't play nicely with other colours.
- Little accidental splotches of the wrong colour are No Big Deal (they don't show in your knitting).
- Keep your eyes peeled for beautiful colour combinations in your everyday life.
- Never wrap your yarn burrito too tight (it'll explode).
- You can never use a container (or a microwave) that's been used for dyeing for food, ever again. On the bright side, everyone needs a rescued thrift store microwave for setting dye (and other crafting tasks).
- Take the big gambles, because they're worth it – both in crafting and in life.
Sock Yarn Studio (Lark Crafts, 2012, $23.95) by Carol J. Sulcoski offers a number of one-, two- and three- (or more) skein projects. Mittens, hats, capes, shawls, sweaters – you name it. If it's made with sock yarn, there's a project in here. I have a lovely butter yellow skein of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn that contrasts beautifully with my hand-dyed skein. I think I'll turn those two into an Alexander Street Hat (or two) from the book.
Are you learning a new skill or craft this fall, too?
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