Yarn Dyeing
I love hand dyed yarn. It's so unique and pretty and you never know how it's going to knit up. My friend Sara is hosting a speckle-along on Ravelry and you know I jumped at the chance to break out my one hoarded skein of speckle yarn.
But then, suddenly, one skein of speckle yarn just wasn't enough. I wanted more speckles! So I looked around and was immediately disappointed to find that all the prettiest colorways were sold out. No matter where I looked. I was so sad, I might have been feeling just a tad sorry for myself...okay, if I'm being honest I was pretty sure it was the universe's way of telling me I wasn't good enough and didn't deserve speckled yarn.
It was during this dark moment that I though "just how hard would it be to dye my own speckle yarn?" I spent hours watching videos on wool yarn dyeing. And it all seemed pretty easy and fun! I mentioned it to Sara and when I was literally 30 seconds away from buying some dyes online, she offered to sell me her wool dyes and equipment.
HECK YES!
And when the box got to my house, I was blown away by the number of different dyes inside. There must have been 50? I don't even know. But what I DO know is that dyeing yarn is so, SO fun!
While the camera doesn't capture the true depth and intricacies of the colors, I wanted to show you all my first attempts at yarn dyeing anyway. I'm officially hooked!
I started by making mini skeins from a cone of undyed yarn that Sara sent. Most I dyed open like the skeins on the left but two I dyed wound up, one tightly (middle) and one loosely (right).
I wanted to replicate a sunset I saw the other day, steely gray with hints of apricot.
So, I started with an apricot dye bath. When they were finished, I re-twisted the two mini skeins and put them in a gun metal gray dye bath. The skein that was twisted tightly was mostly white, the one twisted loosely was mostly dyed.
After that experiment, I just tried whatever I felt like. I tried two different (but similar) colors in one pot to create variegated skeins.
I did some gradients.
And I tried speckles!
And for all that, I only used 6 colors! I'm looking forward to trying all of the colors and creating my own combos and making pretty things with my own yarn. I may never buy hand dyed yarn again!
But then, suddenly, one skein of speckle yarn just wasn't enough. I wanted more speckles! So I looked around and was immediately disappointed to find that all the prettiest colorways were sold out. No matter where I looked. I was so sad, I might have been feeling just a tad sorry for myself...okay, if I'm being honest I was pretty sure it was the universe's way of telling me I wasn't good enough and didn't deserve speckled yarn.
It was during this dark moment that I though "just how hard would it be to dye my own speckle yarn?" I spent hours watching videos on wool yarn dyeing. And it all seemed pretty easy and fun! I mentioned it to Sara and when I was literally 30 seconds away from buying some dyes online, she offered to sell me her wool dyes and equipment.
HECK YES!
And when the box got to my house, I was blown away by the number of different dyes inside. There must have been 50? I don't even know. But what I DO know is that dyeing yarn is so, SO fun!
While the camera doesn't capture the true depth and intricacies of the colors, I wanted to show you all my first attempts at yarn dyeing anyway. I'm officially hooked!
I started by making mini skeins from a cone of undyed yarn that Sara sent. Most I dyed open like the skeins on the left but two I dyed wound up, one tightly (middle) and one loosely (right).
I wanted to replicate a sunset I saw the other day, steely gray with hints of apricot.
So, I started with an apricot dye bath. When they were finished, I re-twisted the two mini skeins and put them in a gun metal gray dye bath. The skein that was twisted tightly was mostly white, the one twisted loosely was mostly dyed.
After that experiment, I just tried whatever I felt like. I tried two different (but similar) colors in one pot to create variegated skeins.
I did some gradients.
And I tried speckles!
And for all that, I only used 6 colors! I'm looking forward to trying all of the colors and creating my own combos and making pretty things with my own yarn. I may never buy hand dyed yarn again!
ahhhhmazing! These are gorgeous! So is the yarn soft? I may have to buy some undyed yarn for you to dye for me!! I much rather pay you to send me some of your gorgeous dyed yarn creations! These turned out so so so beautiful!!!!
ReplyDeleteLooking at your yarn again here. My favorite is the blue (in the 5th and 6th picture). I also love the 2 on the left in the 4th picture. and all of them in the 9th picture. So yeah, pretty much all these. They are so pretty! I can't wait to see more that you create!!! (you can play with some purples for me! hint hint! I know it's you're least favorite color but I can only imagine how gorgeous they will be!)
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