Remember how last week’s dye experiment had so much dye left over? I used it up on this project. I don’t like to dump unused dye down the drain because first off, its money that is just being washed away. Second, I don’t want the dye getting into the water supply and harming marine life. (Did you know the Puget Sound in Seattle has so much caffeine in it from our wastewaters? It’s true, look it up!)
I frequently have glass jars of unexhausted dyes that I use on yarns to make mystery colorways. I’ll have to write a post on that in the future, but for now, I have two pots of dye using Jacquard Acid Dyes in colors Turquoise and Hot Fuchsia. I’ve done a bunch of gradients before, but I wanted to see how it would work in pots.
This week’s yarn of choice is Kinky Yarn, a 100% Superwash Wool that comes in a nifty tube, which is just perfect for dyeing gradients because you don’t have to make your own. The coil of yarn was soaked in water for 2 hours before starting. I unrolled half of the coil and started dipping it into the dye bath.
I draped the yarn over the edge of the pot, made sure the coil was nowhere near the flame, and let the dye (finally!) exhaust.
The pink end was pulled out of the hot water and cooled to the point I could touch it. Then other end was uncoiled, and I repeated the same dipping into the Turquoise. I made sure the Fuchsia and Turquoise overlapped to create lovely shades of purple.
Once I was happy with the overlap, I let the coil hang out in the dye bath until the dye had exhausted.
Using this method, I highly suspected that there was unexhausted dye inside the coil, so I put it all (and the Twisted Skein from last week) into the water and let it heat for another 15 minutes until the water was completely clear. The yarn was rinsed, patted dry with a towel and hung up to dry.
I’m pleased with how this yarn turned out. I should note the Hot Fuchsia is so intensely bright that it blew out on my camera. I’m okay with the near glowing brightness. I do wish there was more of a gradient overlap. I think this isn’t my favorite way of getting smooth color changes. But I’m glad I tried it because now I know!
To keep the kinky texture, the yarn should be kept in its tube form. You can knit directly from this tube. However, I wanted to show you how the yarn looks as a cake, so I wound it up. (Pictures below are not to scale.)
Stay tuned for next week when it’s October and I show you some Halloween inspired yarn!
We also have several other tutorials on how to dye Kinky Yarn!
Ready to make your unique colorway? Hop on over to Makers' Mercantile® and pick up your undyed yarn and supplies. We can’t wait to see what you make, so tag us on social media with #makersmercantile!
About Tara
Tara Warburton is the former graphic designer for Makers' Mercantile® and a fine artist. She specializes in watercolor and colored pencil illustrations. She lives with her two cats, who are not helpful when knitting.
