Got yarn? How to find a yarn store when you travel!

November 3, 2012

As you know, I’m spending this weekend in Minneapolis. What’s the first thing I do when planning a trip? Scope out the yarn stores!

Today, I’ll show you my favorite sites for finding LYSs. In addition to being handy when you travel, you can even use these sites for finding a store near you!

Ravelry

Oh, I love Ravelry. You knew it was handy for finding patterns and yarns, but did you know it can help you find a yarn store, too?

Click on the ‘Yarn’ tab at the top of the main screen, then look below the list of yarns on the left:

Enter a city or zip code, and you’ll get a list of results!

Once the list of results comes up, you’ll want to go to the website to make sure that it’s actually a store. For example, since Ravelry contains a database of Indie Dyers, some of the listings that come up are for Etsy shops (and the dyer does live in the city), and there’s nothing for you to actually visit.

The results give you a street address and a link to the website, as well as the distance from the address you entered… so planning your trip is easy!

Knit Map

KnitMap is a site specifically designed for this purpose! In addition being a database of yarn stores, it allows you to search by features (like ‘open now’ or ‘has spinning supplies’) and read reviews of each shop.

When you enter the city you’re searching for, a list of yarn stores comes up as well as a map with the stores on it:

Click on ‘details’ to view the reviews for a store. Seeing the reviews can really help you decide if you should put a store on your ‘must see’ list… particularly if there are oodles in a city or if you’re wondering if an out-of-the-way shop is worth your time.

Planet Purl

Planet Purl also has a yarn shop directory, just click on ‘Yarn Shop Directory’ on the top toolbar:

Type in your city, and you’ll get results!

The downside to the Planet Purl results is that you only get the name of a shop, the address and phone number. There is no website listed for the shops, and they’re listed in alphabetical order (instead of distance from the center of the city), so for big cities, you’ve got a serious sorting problem on your hands.

The upside of Planet Purl is their travel guides. For a number of cities, bloggers have written a ‘yarn guide’ to the city, which can help you sort out the great spots to hit!

Where will you search?

Are you headed anywhere that’ll get you to put one of these sites to use? Or maybe you’d like to search around your hometown… you might find somewhere new!

What is a skein? Demystifying names for yarn bundles.

October 18, 2012

Skein. Hank. Ball. Cake. You may have heard these terms thrown around by ‘yarnies’, but what do they mean?

Today, I’ll tell you! Now I’ve talked to a lot of yarn people in my time… and what folks don’t seem to admit is that there’s a little bit of wiggle room/variation in what these terms mean. Sound confusing? Yeah… it sorta is. But don’t worry about it! We’ll sort it out!

What is a hank?

A hank is a long loop of yarn that you’ll usually spot twisted into a cute bundle, like this:

Featured Yarn: Stonehedge Fiber Mill’s Shepherd’s Wool Crazy
You can’t knit/crochet directly from a hank, you’ll need to use a ball-winder, a nostepinne or your hands to wind a cake or ball (see below) that you can work from.

Why does yarn come in hanks? Since a hank is just yarn looped around, it’s how spinners and dyers work with their yarn, and it’s a real time (read: cost) savings to sell it to the consumer that way. I’m not actually sure if it’s a time saving-issue for big-production-factories, but a hank still has a ‘classy’ feel to it, so it contributes to a yarn looking high-end. Finally, from a yarn-store perspective, hanks lie neatly on the shelf, making display easy.

What’s a skein?

Ooooh… that’s the tricky one!

Most people say that a skein is an oblong center-pull bundle, like this:

Featured Yarn: Ella Rae Classic Wool
This configuration is how you’ll find most of the yarns from ‘big yarn brands’ wound. It sits nicely on the shelf and is ready-to-use (no winding!) by the customer.

I’ve also heard that once upon a time, both ‘hank’ and ‘skein’ were used to refer to the hank-like configurations of yarn, but indicated different measurements. Oh, the controversy.

In my experience, it’s very common to hear the word ‘skein’ used to refer to ‘a unit of yarn’. For example, the book One-Skein Wonders doesn’t refer to things you can make using oblong bundles of yarn… it’s things you can make with one unit of yarn, no matter how it is wound.

In my opinion, it doesn’t really matter which one of these definitions you stick to… just as long as you acknowledge that other folks might use the word differently from you!

What is a ball?

A ball, stereotypically, refers to the sphere that results from hand-winding yarn:

Featured Yarn: Stonehedge Fiber Mill’s Shepherd’s Wool Crazy
Because it looks like a ball!

But, alas, there’s a little wiggle room here, too. Some people use the word ‘ball’ to refer to any round-ish bundle of yarn (hanks, excluded). For example, the label of Vickie Howell’s Sheep(ish) (which is a skein, as pictured in the last entry) says “1 ball” on the label.

Why don’t we see a lot of ‘balls’ for sale? A true spherical ball is usually the result of hand-winding and isn’t typically how yarns are sold (although they seem to be more popular in Germany: Schoppell Wolle -Zauberball- and Jawoll sell yarns in balls). They roll off of shelves, and therefore, are also a tricky way of storing your stash. I would recommend storing your hanks as-is or winding them into cakes (below) for storage.

What is a cake?

A cake is what comes off of a ball-winder, a cylinder with a flat top and bottom:

Featured Yarn: Cascade Eco+
These bundles are center-pull, which means that you can pull the yarn from the center for knitting/crocheting.

Some small companies are beginning to sell yarn in cakes, usually to demonstrate a long-colorway (like Freia Handpaints).

What is a donut?

I’m not sure if a donut is a technical term… but it’s something that comes up a lot in conversations with my yarn-store-owner friends. It looks like a donut:

Featured Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash
These are center-pull, which distinguishes them from ‘balls’ in the classic sense. Is this a relevant distinction? I don’t know. I just wanted to be thorough!

What is a cone?

A cone is a yarn that is wrapped around a conical cardboard cylinder:

Yarn is usually only sold in cones when it’s a large quantity. For example, in weaving, it’s important to have a long length of yarn (so there are no knots from joining skeins), so cones are sold with these long lengths of yarn.

What is this?

Just when we thought we had it all figured out… there’s this mystery:

It has a cardboard core, but it’s not a cone shape. It’s not really a ball…

Hmm…

What have we learned?

There’s lots of different names, and it’s confusing! Fortunately, there’s no ‘council of yarn dictators’ that will behead you if you use the wrong term.

It’s good to know that there are lots of different names kicking around, and hopefully, I’ve given you a resource if you want to learn them!

Where does silk come from?

September 23, 2012

From a silkworm, of course! Well, we call them silkworms, but they’re actually caterpillars…

About Silk

Let’s step back a little bit. Have you met my friend, silk?

Silk is an astonishing fiber that has many dazzling features. Silk:

  • Is super-smooth and shiny. This is because it’s a protein that is extruded by the silk worm (just like a spider makes a web), meaning the outside is perfectly smooth and reflective.
  • Keeps you warm when it’s cold, and cool when it’s warm! This is because silk is both absorbent (taking up sweat when it’s hot) and has low conductivity (which keeps warm air close when it’s cool).
  • Soaks up dye fabulously. It’s the same absorbent quality already mentioned that makes silk like a sponge… meaning you can end up with incredibly rich shades of color.
  • Is very strong. The protein structure of silk gives the fiber one of the highest tensile strengths (i.e. it takes a lot of pulling lengthwise to make it break!) of any natural fiber. It’s even used in surgical sutures!

Amazing, right?

About Mr. Silkworm and his cocoon

As I said earlier, the silkworm is actually a caterpillar. And what do we all know about caterpillars? They build cocoons and then emerge as butterflies (or moths)!

Silkworms make their cocoons by extruding (I don’t know why we call it ‘spinning’… they don’t have a spindle in there!) a long thread that has all of the coveted properties I told you about in the last section. Ever seen a silkworm cocoon? They’re white ovals about 1″ long, like you see here:

Silkworms only eat leaves from the white mulberry tree.

For a while (i.e. centuries!), the food source was one of the ways that the ancients monopolized the production of silk. Even if a rogue invader smuggled away some silkworms, they wouldn’t have known the secret to keeping them alive: mulberry trees!

The cocoon is made up of one continuous strand of thread. In the wild, the caterpillar would emerge from the cocoon as a moth, making a hole in the cocoon. This hole means that the thread is now in oodles of pieces, and is not ideal for further processing into silk fiber. (It’s possible to use, though. If you’ve heard of ‘peace silk’, it’s referring to silk taken from cocoons where the caterpillar has been allowed to emerge.)

In traditional silk-making, the caterpillar is killed so that the silk can be unraveled in one continuous thread. Back in the day, this meant dropping the cocoon into boiling water. I’m told that nowadays, the cocoons are irradiated, meaning an instant death for the little caterpillar.

How do we get the silk?

I’ve had the joy of visiting both a silk exhibit at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo (Sericulture, the raising of silkworms and making silk, was a traditional past time for the Empress) and a reconstructed 1812 silk mill in Greenfield Village (where the photos from today’s blog post- including the mulberry trees!- were taken). And despite being thousands of miles (and hundreds of years!) apart, the basic process for getting silk remains the same.

First, the cocoons are boiled in water (and some chemicals) to loosen the gum that holds the cocoon together. Then, the thread is carefully picked off (I have no idea how you find the end on that one!) and spun together with other threads to make a thicker thread of workable size.

Do you see the thin threads coming up out of the hot water?

In this case, the mill was making thread spun from about 4-5 silk threads. It’s a time-consuming process… no wonder silk has always been so precious!

How many worms do you need?

Each cocoon has about 1,000 yards of silk thread, but these are very thin and need to be spun together with others to become workable for weaving. It takes about 300 cocoons to produce enough silk for a tie, 1500 for a blouse and 5000 for a kimono!

Think about that when you see a silk blouse!

Resources

This is by no means a comprehensive guide to silk production! If you’d like to read more (particularly if you’re interested in the animal rights issues involved), have a google around. Here are a few of my faves:

Tutorial: Tie-dye amazing rainbow yarn!

June 14, 2012

You remember tie-dye, right? The dye that you used to make funky-colored t-shirts when you were a kid? Would you believe that you can use tie-dye to create amazing yarn? It’s true! In this post, I’ll show you how to use Tulip Tie-Dye to create a uniquely-dyed rainbow yarn!

Materials You’ll Need

You only need a few things to get started: a tie-dye kit and a sock blank… let me fill you in on the details!

Tie-Dye Kit

Since you want a variety of colors, getting a kit (which contains a set of dyes) is the easiest way to tie-dye. I used the Luau Tie-Dye kit (made by Tulip)… but they have a range of kits available (bright colors, rainbow, neon…), so you should be able to find the combo for you!

The kit contains:

  • 5 color-coded applicator bottles (filled with dye, in colors: red, orange, lime, teal and violet)
  • 5 packets of extra dye
  • gloves (so you don’t also dye your hands)
  • rubber bands
  • a project idea booklet

Sock Yarn Dye Blank

Have you heard of a ‘yarn blank’ before? It’s a pre-knit rectangle of yarn specifically made for dyeing… that you can unravel and wind into fabulous yarn.

I got my sock blank from Knit Picks… not just because they’re one of the only companies to offer blanks, but because I happen to think theirs are pretty awesome! Their Sock Yarn blank is actually a double strand, so when you unravel it, you’ll wind up with two identically-dyed balls of yarn. How cool is that?

How to Dye Rainbow Yarn

Have your materials? Let’s get started! (of course, you should read over the dyeing instructions in the kit, first… but you knew that, right?)

Step 1: Prepare your dye

Preparing the dyes is pretty easy… since the applicators are already pre-filled with dye powder, just add water to the bottles and shake!

Step 2: Prepare your blank

I wanted soft, gently-flowing color changes (instead of crisp lines), so I began with a dampened blank. This allows the colors to bleed more freely.

I covered my table with a plastic sheet, and laid out my blank:

Of course, you could get started dyeing right away (and skip to step 3)! However, I wanted the stripes in my rainbow to be approximately even, so I did an extra step of preparation by marking 5 even segments. To do this, I measured the length of the blank:

Then I placed locking stitch markers (which don’t mind being dyed) at equal intervals:

This way, I knew where to dye to get equal stripes of color!

Step 3: Dye!

Now’s the fun part! Just squirt the color where you want it:

I applied the dye pretty evenly (fully saturating the yarn), but you can do whatever you’d like… including making fun designs with the dye!

Step 4: Let it set

The dye needs time to soak in, and the longer you let it set, the deeper the color will be.

The dye instructions tell you to let your piece rest for 8 hours (and cover it with plastic so it keeps moist)… but I was aiming for a less-intense color, so I moved to Step 5 after only about a half-hour. It’s up to you!

Step 5: Rinse

Once you’ve let the dye set for as long as you’d like, it’s time to rinse your (no-longer) blank. Even if your yarn is machine washable, you don’t want to put your blank in the washing machine! It can unravel and make a big mess! So, it’s best to hand-wash:

Once the excess dye has been washed from your yarn, squeeze out any excess water, and lay flat to dry.

Step 6: Unravel

I’ll admit it… this part is a wee bit annoying, but a crucial part of getting your yarn! You’ll have to unravel the sock blank.

Since the blank is made of two yarns held together, you’ll need to simultaneously wind two balls. Hands down, the easiest way to do this is to recruit a friend to help!

At the end, you’ll be rewarded with two balls of beautiful and identical yarn!

Enjoy Your Fabulous Yarn!

I’m in love with mine… and I’ve already started knitting a pair of socks:

Isn’t it lovely?

What will you make?

I’m obsessed with rainbows… so I couldn’t help but make a rainbow-colored creation! But you could create any fabulous pattern that you can dream of!

What pattern would you create on your yarn?

I hope you enjoyed this post, and that it inspires you to create some fabulous yarns!

Grab your own kit!

Tulip Tie Dye Kits are available at Walmart, Walmart Canada, Michaels, JoAnn, A.C. Moore, Hobby Lobby, Hancock Fabrics, Meijer. Tie dye kit contents and colors may vary by store.

I wrote this post as part of a paid campaign with iLoveToCreate.com and Blueprint Social. The opinions in this post are my own.

Best,
Stacey

What does that number on the yarn label mean?

June 5, 2012

Have you been looking at a yarn label/website and seen a mysterious number inside of a cartoon ball of yarn? Like this one:

What does that number mean?

That number (which ranges from 0 to 6) is an indication of the thickness of the yarn. In our example above, the ‘4’ would indicate that the yarn is a medium weight yarn.

The symbols were devised by the Craft Yarn Council, and have a standardized usage. You can look up the exact thicknesses that correspond to each number on the Craft Yarn Council’s website.

Oftentimes, though, you won’t have to. It’s pretty rare that you’ll see the number alone… it’s usually accompanied by more information on the yarn label:

When available, you should go by this more detailed, gauge information.

Why you should pay attention to gauge, instead

Even though the number is cute and catchy, it’s not the most accurate way to categorize your yarn. Each number is actually a category that contains a group of thicknesses.

For example, ‘4’ contains: worsted, afghan and aran yarns… and the recommended needle size ranges from 7 to 9 (and hooks from I to K). That’s quite a range!

When selecting yarn for a project, you want to make sure you’re getting the right number of stitches per inch. Since the number represents a range of yarn thicknesses, seeing a ‘4’ on the yarn label doesn’t guarantee you’ve found the right thickness! You want to make sure that your yarn works up to the right number of stitches per inch.

Of course, the best way to do this is by doing a gauge swatch… but since yarn stores don’t usually make swatches with yarn you haven’t bought yet, the best shortcut is by reading the gauge info. If you’re looking for a worsted weight yarn that works up to 5 sts/inch, then finding this information on the label is a good clue you’re on track!

While the number is a helpful guide to yarn thickness, it isn’t a replacement for reading gauge information! Read the gauge info on the yarn label, and you’ll be assured that you’re finding the right yarn for your project!

Meet Craftwich: maker of delicious hand-carved crochet hooks!

May 31, 2012

I love wood. Real wood. And I’m a sucker for super-smooth, sanded wood… I’ve been known to stand in my kitchen, just holding (well, fondling, really) my handmade wooden spoons. (That’s not weird… is it?)

Anyway… a few months ago, I heard a rumor on the crochet grapevine: there was a chick up in the Pacific NW who made hand-carved crochet hooks that were divine. And I knew I had to try one.

I patiently waited until this fabled carver, Monica, officially launched Craftwich Creations. Then I grabbed one of her hooks and scored an interview with her, as well.

You’ll want one too… trust me!

My Hook

My hook is a piece of art. It’s a size H hook carved from a stunningly beautiful piece of domestic wood. It’s as smooth as a baby’s butt. And it feels like it was made to fit in the palm of my hand.

Did I mention it’s smooth? (I just spend the time waiting for that picture to upload stroking the hook against my cheek. I swear… that’s normal behavior!)

Monica isn’t just a carver… she’s a wood-whisperer. And I trusted her to pick the right hook for me. So, I told her that I held my crochet hook like a knife (instead of the pencil-hold) and that I wanted a size H hook.

The handle is curved perfectly for the way I hold my hook, the tip is a little pointy (but not too pointy!) and the groove is nice and deep (making it easy to catch your yarn). How did she do it? It’s all that wood-whispering!

I couldn’t be happier!

The Process of Carving a Crochet Hook

I love making things with my hands: I sew, I knit, I crochet, I bake… but I have to admit, the idea of carving something out of wood seems both amazing and baffling. I was delighted that Monica was willing to give me some insight into her process.

Choosing the Wood

It all begins with selecting the right raw materials. Monica says, “I collect wood from my backyard, neighbors, friends, walks in the parks, etc. I also purchase some exotic woods so I can carve smaller sizes, usually for the sizes F, G, 7, H. I go through it and determine if it’s suitable – it can’t have a soft “pith”, or middle. Then I trim down to a good hook length, depending on the features of the wood – where knots are, scars in the bark/wood, neat looking bends that I think will be comfortable, etc.?”

“I use a bigger knife to strip away the bark and see what’s underneath – the whole process is SO cool to me, every step, the wood changes!”

Dyeing

Monica has a line of dyed crochet hooks, and this is the stage where she dyes the wood into brilliant colors:

Carving

The next step is the rough-carving. “I’ll do some light sanding, then start roughing out the neck /shaft area, trim the bottom, always looking to see what the wood wants to do. Sometimes the hook-to-be wants to have more curves, sometimes it wants to have a thumb or finger holds, sometimes it just has a big attitude. Once in a while they tell me a name (I swear, I’m sane..really..) They’re all different.”

“Before I completely sand and fuss with the handle, it’s time to carve the actual hook part, because if the wood doesn’t want to be a hook, I don’t want to waste the time on the handle! It’s happened. Sometimes the wood ends up being too soft, or cracked, or some other fault that turns it into a shawl/hair stick instead, or even kindling. Ah, well.”

Sanding

Then comes the part that made my hook oh-so-smooth: the sanding. Monica says, “If we get a good strong hook, then it’s time to use my small knife and give it some finesse. And lots of sanding. I use six different grades – from 150 to 1500! I find that using the really fine grade gives it a good polishing, and that’s very important especially on the working parts of the hook.

Finishing

Although a ton of work has already gone into the making of each hook, it’s not done, yet! “The last step is the wood preserver. I found one I really like which is vegetable based and smells great. It has soybean and coconut oils, carnuba and bees wax, tangerine and sandalwood oils. All natural – just like the hooks! I like it that way – I feel like it really brings the art of crochet back to nature, in a sense. And it truly makes each one a one-of-a-kind piece.”

Of course, Monica measures each hook before it goes out, to make sure her unique, hand-carved creations are a standard hook size:

Isn’t it just fabulous when you find a piece of art that you can use every day?

Selecting a Hook

Since Monica hand-carves each piece, every hook is unique: taking on the natural shape and characteristics of the piece of wood. So, how do you find the hook that’s right for you?

Know Thyself

I recommend reading Crochet Hook Anatomy in Action to discover which features of a hook are important to you. Do you hold your hook like a pencil or a knife? Do you split your yarn often? Maybe a more rounded tip is for you. Do you want a thick handle, or one that’s thinner?

Get a little advice

Once you have an idea about your crocheting style, you can browse Craftwich to select your hook.

Monica can help you select the hook that’s right for you, and is happy to rounding the tip off of (an existing) hook to suit your taste. There’s no excuse for not getting the perfect hook!

A handmade hook is only a step away!

I just adore the passion that Monica brings to her craft. She says, “I think my most favorite part of the whole process is actually the bark stripping and initial carving right afterwards – that’s when I discover the beauty of the individual pieces; the colors of the rings, whether bugs carved paths into it or interesting discolorations – if I found a particularly old piece of wood, you can see the effects weather has had on it, and so forth. Quite a process of discovery.”

As a person who takes great care to make beautiful crochet pieces, I think it’s almost poetic to have a hook that was crafted with the same care!

Find Craftwich

A HUGE thank-you to Monica for coming by the blog and giving us a peek into her process… all of the lovely in-progress photos are hers!

And reward all of her hard work by stopping by her page and giving her a visit!

How to ply your Kool-Aid dyed yarn for an awesome look!

May 12, 2012

Ready to learn yet another cool technique you can do with Kool-Aid?

Today, I’m going to show you how to get great barber-pole yarn by plying already dyed yarn!

Remember how we dyed multi-color skeins? Now we’re going to go one step further! I learned this technique in Spin Off Magazine, and had to give it a try!

Materials

You’ll need:

The Process

We’re going to ply our already-dyed yarn together… and it results in a great effect!

Step 1: Start plying!

Pull one strand from the center and one from the outside of your ball:

This way, you’ll always have two strands of equal length!

And then, begin plying! I’m using my spindle…

That’s all!

Swatches

This yarn is beautiful!

The advantage to this technique is that it obscures some of the ‘splotchy-ness’ that can happen with the simple multi-colored skein. Here’s how it looks in knitting and crochet:


Having fun?

I’ve been having a blast showing you new techniques for using Kool-Aid to dye yarn! I hope you’ve been enjoying it! Come back tomorrow to have a peek at some projects!

Best,
Stacey

How to dye long colorways with Kool-Aid, part 2

May 11, 2012

Alrighty, folks! Remember, we’re in the middle of dyeing a fabulously long colorway?

If you missed it, check out yesterday’s post to catch up. I’m in the middle of showing you how to get a fab yarn like this:

And we left off with our yarn in bowls, like this:

Okay, so let’s keep going!

Step 5: Completely dye each section

When you’re dyeing lots of pieces, you want to make sure each part soaks up the color. You might need to use a spoon (or your finger, if you don’t mind an orange finger) to press the yarn into the water:

Here’s where we are:

Notice that there are little bits of white yarn between the bowls? If you leave those, you’ll have white between each stripe. So, to get rid of those, gently dunk each bit into a color:

Step 6: Rinse

(from here on, the photos get a little crappy… since I had to re-locate to the bathroom. Sorry!)

Now you need to rinse and squeeze water out of your yarn. This is harder than it looks… you can not just dump all your yarn out, or you’ll end up with a tangled mess!

You need to lift out each section gently (this is the time-consuming part I warned you about!) and place in the tub (since it’s still soaking wet):

Remember, the goal is to avoid tangles!

Now, begin at the start (the center of your first ball), and wind your yarn around something large (I’m using the lid of a storage container). As you wind, you can squeeze the extra water out with your fingers.

If you’ve been careful, one ball should go right to the center of the next ball… and tangles will be avoided.

Avoid the temptation of using a ball-winder, here… the yarn needs to be in a skein to dry completely.

When dry, you can wind it up:

Are you going to give it a try?

Isn’t it fabulous? Don’t forget that we’re all going to be flashing our Kool-Aid projects on this Sunday’s blog post… so I want to see what you come up with!

Best,
Stacey

How to dye long colorways with Kool-Aid, part 1

May 10, 2012

Squee! Can you believe there are so many ways to dye yarn with Kool-Aid?

Today, I’m going to tell you how to dye yarn go get long colorways, or self-striping yarn. It’s the technique I used to get the colors for this shawl:

Don’t you love the stripes? It’s a time-consuming technique, but in my opinion, well-worth the result! I’ll be showing you the technique over two days, since it’s a lot of steps… but follow along, because I know you’re going to want to try it for yourself!

Materials

You’ll need:

  • yarn made from natural animal-fibers (undyed is best), wound into a center-pull ball
  • a few packets of Kool-Aid (see yesterday’s post about testing colors)
  • a glass bowl or dish for each different color
  • boiling water

The Process

Like I said, this process takes quite a few steps… but none of them are very difficult. Besides, you already know all the basics!

Step 1: Add packets to your bowls

You’ve seen this step before! Add your color to your bowls… in this case, I’m doing orange and blue stripes, so I have a bowl for each:

Add boiling water to your bowls.

Step 2: Divide up your yarn

Remember I said to wind your yarn into a center-pull ball? (You may want to have a ball winder.)

That’s because a center-pull ball will make it super-easy to divide up your yarn into small sections. I’ve used dividers to mark off where I want each color to be, but you can eyeball it, if you’d like.

Step 3: Dye the first section of yarn

So, here’s what do to… pull out your first little section of yarn, and put it in your first color:

Keep in mind that the size of this section will determine your color repeat! So, if you pull out 20 yards, your stripe will be 20 yards long. If it’s bigger, your stripe will be longer.

Step 4: Continue dyeing each section

Now, pull out the next little bit and put in your 2nd color of yarn:

Continue doing this with each subsequent section of yarn.

And keep going…

Things to keep in mind:

  • It sounds obvious, but the order that you put your yarn in colors is the order they’ll be in the yarn! I’m using 2 colors and want alternating stripes, so I’m putting a ball in blue, then orange, then blue…
  • If you want do use more colors (like the shawl I showed at the start), then plop one ball of yarn in your first color, the next in your second color, then your third…
  • The length of the stripes you want depends on what you’re knitting. If you’re making socks, then the color repeat doesn’t need to be as long as it does to get stripes on a shawl.
  • It’s very important to not get your yarn tangled. Be careful, be neat… and just don’t get it in a knot!

Okay folks… we’re only halfway through. I’ll give you a sneak peak of the end result:

Come back tomorrow, and I’ll show you how to finish up! Update – here’s the link to Part 2. 🙂

Best,
Stacey

How to dye multi-color skeins with Kool-Aid

May 9, 2012

I’m loving all the fun techniques you can do with Kool-Aid… are you having a blast?

Today, I’m going to tell you about how to dye those multi-color skeins you so often see from Indie Dyers! It’s a great chance to play around with color!

I’ve dyed my skein red, orange and yellow (and left a little bit white!). I’ll show you how to do it, plus show you how to calculate the length of the color repeats that you’ll get in your final yarn.

Materials

You’ll need:

  • yarn made from natural animal-fibers (undyed is best), in a skein
  • a few packets of Kool-Aid in any colors you want! (see this post about testing colors)
  • a glass bowl or dish for each different color you’re using
  • boiling water

The Process

Step 1: Prepare your color

Remember how I told you last time that you had two choices for setting your color? You could either use boiling water, or regular water and then microwave the yarn. Since this technique requires dunking sections of yarn in different posts of color, I’m going to recommend the boiling water technique. It makes life easier… and we all want that, right?

To prepare, mix your Kool-Aid packets in boiling water… one color in each dish.

Step 2: Dye your first section

In this technique, you’re starting with a skein of yarn (you know, that big yarn loop?):

Chances are, if you’re purchasing undyed yarn, it’ll come this way. If not, it’s no big deal. Just wind it around a box and make your own!

To dye your first section, dunk a part of the skein in your first color:

You can dye as much or as little of a section of the skein as you want, but keep in mind that the more colors you want to use, the smaller each section will have to be.

Step 3: Keep going!

Now, dip an undyed section of your skein in your next color:

In my yarn, I try to keep the dyed sections from overlapping- which will result in a nice, crisp color changes!

Keep doing this for as many colors as you want to use!

Step 4: Rinse and let dry

Hooray, you’re done!


Determining Color-repeat Lengths

This technique is great for getting lots of colors, but it doesn’t result in very long lengths of color. You can tell this when I wind my yarn into a ball:

So, how do you tell how long each color repeat is going to be? By measuring your skein!

Here, I’ve laid out my (dyed) skein, and set a ruler to the length of red:

My length of red is 12″ long.

I know from experience that when I single crochet, I use 1.8″ per stitch. This means that using this yarn, I’ll crochet about 6 stitches before the yarn turns to a new color.

This is helpful info to know when planning a project! It means that using this technique, you won’t get stripes, but small puddles of color. (Tune in tomorrow, where I’ll show you how to get stripes!)

You can alter the length of your color repeats either by dyeing larger/smaller sections of your skein, or by winding your skein into a larger/smaller loop. The possibilities are endless, so give them a try!

Best,
Stacey