I had great success yesterday with my first attempt at hand painting/dying yarn. I'd done a bit of research but was slightly unsure of what to expect ? However, everything worked out well and I'm now very keen to try more !
Take a look at the finished 'painted yarn' :
Here are a few images to illustrate the very simple process I used :
Initially, soak the yarn in water. Mix the dye liquid and prepare a layer of cling film. Spread out the yarn and 'paint', in my case pour dye in random places. Very quickly, I ran out of Kool Aid (my initial chosen dye colour - it's a kind of dilute drink in powder form) and was reduced to looking into the baking cupboard for some simple food colouring. I liked the deep colours of the Kool Aid but ........ I think, I favour the flexibility of the food colouring re mixing different colours and subtle shade developments. After 'painting' my yarn, I covered the whole thing in cling film and places on a plate. Then, microwave in stages of 2 mins until the yarn is heated (total of 4 mins) - hot to the touch. I waited until the yarn cooled completely before rinsing. All the colour had taken and there was very little colour in the rinse water.
The colours turned out well, vibrant and varied.
I'm hugely impressed with this dying technique. I'm looking forward to knitting a pair of socks with the yarn. I'm also planning my next dye colour combinations - it's my new favourite obsession.
Thanks for calling in.
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