Success in yarn dying!

Good morning! 

I've been busy as of late with my personal life and real job. I apologize for not posting anything...

I wanted to share my success with dying my cotton yarn! 

I am pretty sure I'll be doing more of this!

 

First, I washed it. Making sure I had a clean "palette" to work with. 

Then I made certain to rinse it very well, leaving behind no soap residue. I used the blue Dawn dish detergent. I figured it works on oil covered ducks surely it won't harm my yarn. :)

Next, I filled a stainless pot with hot water and added the dye packet.

I wanted a variegated result so I only put a portion of the yarn into the pot.

Using a wooden spoon I slightly stirred the dye and yarn, making sure the yarn was completely saturated. I then left it to soak for about 30 mins. 

After rinsing in cold water for about 15 mins to make certain I got out any left over due I hung it over a clothes hanger and let it dry for about two days.

I was extremely pleased with the results!

The dye I used was Tulip fabric dye in the powder pouches. It's the same stuff you use to tye dye t-shirts. I have since dyed two more skeins and am using them for washcloths. :) 

Trial and error: Yarn Dyeing

Ok so I've been itching to dye my own yarn. I went out and bought four skeins of acrylic only to discover it's pretty difficult to hand dye. 

So, I dug out a cone of cotton that I've had for ages. 

I washed it.

I rinsed it.

Then I proceeded to dye it. Now, I'm using food coloring and the nice lady in the YouTube tutorial said use vinegar. You can imagine what my house smells like. However, ain't nere a soul eatin' greens up in here today. 

Apparently, you are only supposed to let it come to a boil. I did not. This my friends is what I ended up with...

It is a very pretty shade of green though right??

You'd think after it sat in dye over night the end result would be a lusicous shade of green...wrong.

The good thing is this was fun. I'm going to try again this weekend. It turns out cotton yarn only accepts fiber reactive dye. Like the stuff you use to tye dye tshirts. Animal fibers, like wool, alpaca and mohair, are the only yarns that accept food coloring and kool aide.

 As far as acrylic goes...well I probably won't be dying acrilyc. 😊