Dyeing my own yarn.

In an earlier post I mentioned that Knit Picks was discontinuing the Felici yarn I loved so much. This was quite frustrating because most self striping yarns come in 100g skein and cost a ton of $$$$ (at least for me). Felici came in 50g skeins which work perfectly for my non-sock knitting ways. A while ago I checked a book out from the library called Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece by Gail Callahan. This was a total game changer for me. Towards the beginning of the book are instructions for dyeing with food coloring, in rainbow colors. I was instantly intrigued. I have a thing for rainbow yarns. I find the color transitions fascinating.

I had a rather large skein of Fisherman's Wool left from my dryer ball experiments. I wound that off into 20 yd. mini skeins. I soaked them in warm soapy water (I used Dawn) overnight, then the next day for 30 minutes in a vinegar water solution. I also had some skeins reserved for playing with Kool Aid. Those I didn't soak in vinegar because the powder mix is already acidic. After that I followed Gail's instructions in the "Dying your own "Color Wheel"" section. All the supplies I used were yarn (has to be a protein fiber), Dawn dishsoap, white vinegar, mason jars, food coloring from the cupboard, water and the microwave. Best part is, everything was food safe so I wasn't risking ruining any dishes. Unless I broke a jar, which I didn't.

The pile on the top left is my rainbow yarns. I didn't get a good picture of them while they were drying. The pile on the right are my Kool Aid yarns and the bottom left was what I did with the leftover yarn and dye stock.

Oh! and the speckled yarn in the pile of rainbow yarns was me trying to make a polka dot yarn. I put drops of food coloring directly on the yarn that had been soaking in vinegar.

I might have gotten bored in the middle of the night and put this in my mom's purse to find the next day. I have impulse control issues.

This was my second attempt at the food coloring expirement. I used a fingering weight yarn out of Peruvian Highland Yarn. This is the same type of yarn that I use when I do colorwork. It took the dye beautifully!! Those mini balls of yarn were my first experiment, just wound up.

This has opened so many possibilities for me, I'm pretty sure part of my brain exploded from excitement.

A couple of items knit crocheted by my mom using my hand dyed yarn. She's such a good sport!