I've been thinking of dyeing my own yarn for a while now, and I just ordered 6 skeins from knitpicks to get started. For now, I'm going to experiment with Kool-Aid dyeing and see how I do with that before trying acid dyes (if I try them at all).
I've been doing some research, and I thought you all might be interested in some yarn dyeing links too, whether you plan on using Kool-Aid or something else.
- Knitpicks has a tuturial. Scroll down and click the free pattern download button.
- Knitty also has one.
- Fig and plum has some nice pictures of hand-painting.
- And here's a tutorial on using Wilton's icing dye for yarn.
- Although these are written for acid dyes, they are good instructions for doing handpaint in general.
- Pea Soup shows how to dye with regular food coloring, and the skein in the pictures is too cute!
- See Eunny Knit has a very good tutorial on tying off your yarn to make a self-striping yarn with regular stripe repeats.
- And here's another tutorial on making your own self-striping yarn.
7 comments:
Are you serious that you use Kool-Aid to dye? Hope you feel good to continue knitting.
I wish I can knit like you. I knitted two sweaters so far. But I have crochet many. Some of them are on my blog.
Cool list of tutorials. I've been thinking about trying some yarn dyeing myself but we don't have stuff like kool-aid here. I'll probably have to pick up some proper dyes.
Jesie, yep I'm serious. The "real" dyes tend to be toxic and harder to deal with. From what I understand, koolaid is colorfast once you're finished, but it may fade over time (especially in sunlight).
Since I tend to wear my socks, that's not an issue for me. I'll most likely wear them out before fading becomes an issue.
That's nice of you, but I still consider myself a relative beginner at knitting. I crochet too, and I'd like to see some of your sweaters. Can you post a link?
Lis, I think you can use any unsweetened powdered drink mix, if you have anything like that available.
I'd be glad to put some kool-aid packs in an envelope and send them to you. Just let me know if you're interested.
Jo
I have learned something here. I have a sensitive skin. Maybe I should learn to dye using Kool-Aid too.
Sorry, I checked that I posted only 2 pieces of my crochet work here. I have a couple of pieces in my closet and given many away. I have a simple piece which I knitted and will let you know when I have it posted. I could not find the other piece which I knitted.
I might be able to find some of that mix in the supermarkets. Thanks for the offer!
Jesie
Wow, the dress is beautiful. I've never attempted anything like that!
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