Four skeins of Knitpicks dye your own yarn + Easter Egg dye = dyeing fun!My recent stash organization turned up 2 skeins of sock and 2 of laceweight yarn cream yarn from Knitpicks. And seeing all the Easter Egg dyeing kits in the store reminded me I have some I bought last year after Easter. I solar dyed some yarn in glass jars on my patio last summer. It was fun and easy!
Since it's too cold to use that method, I went through my notes for inspiration. I had written an article about it last year. I decided to try the microwave method with a bit of a twist. Here's what I did:
1) Soak the yarn in hot water and vinegar for about 10-15 minutes.
2) Mix the Easter egg dye tablets in drinking glasses per the package directions.
3) Carefully squeeze most of the water out of the yarn.
4) Place each skein in a glass casserole dish in a single layer, coiling some and making Z shapes with others.
5) Apply the dye to the yarn as desired.
6) Fill each casserole dish until the yarn was almost covered with water. (This blends and mutes the colors so they aren't so strong.)
7) Cover with a lid, and zapped in the microwave for 5 minutes until very hot.
8) Remove dish to stove top. Checked to see if the water was clear or almost clear.
9) Let cool; dump into the sink and carefully squeeze water out of the yarn.
10) Hang to dry.
The first picture is the yarn cooling on the stove top. The other pictures show the yarn after I dumped the water out of them. I love the colors!
This would be an easy group project to do outdoors in the summer time. I may have to suggest this as a project for my fiber arts group. You could buy your Easter Egg dye kits in the after Easter clearance sales or you can use other types of food safe dyes. Order a bunch of inexpensive dye your own yarn from Knitpicks. Collect a lot of glass canning jars with l
ids (they can take the heat) or plastic storage containers you can reheat food in. Presoak your yarn or place it in a container and cover with a vinegar and water mix. Mix up dyes; add to yarn. Cover; set out in the sun and let cook until the water is clear or almost clear. Cool; rinse; hang to dry. If still damp, place in a plastic bag until you get it home, and hang to finish drying.
Hey Vicki, thanks for the great "recipe!"
ReplyDeleteThe yarn looks really pretty. I've never tried the microwave for dying but now I think I'll go out and get some Easter Egg Dye! Great instructions. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHi! I was Googling dying yarn with Easter egg dyes and came across your site. I just bought some packages of this, but I don't think they are in tablet form (more of a liquid you squeeze out). I was just wondering if you would mix the vinnegar in with the dye (like when you use Kool-Aid) or if mixing it with the water when soaking is enough to help the colour not to fade? I've not used Easter Egg dyes before, but would like to give it a try. I have some Patons wool that I will be using (more than likely for a scarf) and I'm just hoping that I'll have enough of the egg dye. If I mix it in with water, would that help stretch it, or would it thin the colour out too much?
ReplyDeleteYou can email me (on my profile), or leave a note on my knitting blog, Kitten Knits Yarn, if you'd like.