Indie Dyer in the House!

Just like the title says, a new indie dyer is in the house...not really! In the last two months my mom and I have been experimenting with dyeing our own yarn! (Not that I really needed more yarn to add to stash) It's been an extremely fun way to dive into another part of this wonderful yarn universe.

We've started off using icing dyes purchased from Michael's and blank yarn from Knit Picks (merino/nylon and merino/nylon/stellina) which have worked out perfectly for us!

I've only dyed yarn one other time before my mom and I had started. The first was with my friend Andrea, Luna Purl, who owns an etsy shop and is a dye master! So, my mom and I are essentially newbees to everything but the internet is a great resource!

This is our first time using the dye pots. We wanted Halloween yarn to make some socks! It was a success and a fail at the same time, we got some dye but not enough vinegar so it didn't set well. The colors ended up a bit light for us so I set about doing some more research.

This is try number 2! We dyed the yarn outside instead of the kitchen, added WAY more vinegar and had smashing success! We dyed sock blanks first and set the dye in the steamer, so much easier than letting it heat in the pot. While those were setting I attempted speckles but got more of a splashy effect so we tried a different speckling technique for my moms and the speckles were perfect!

The last time I used the dye pots was just me out in the backyard. This was the first time I dyed two hanks to look the same and the first time I was over-dyeing a previously dyed hank of yarn. I have to say, they turned out very close! This was also the first time I tried for variegated yarn (this is one I tried dip-dyeing with) which is the pink and yellow hank. So far the yarn dyeing adventure has been super fun! I need to purchase more blank yarn to experiment with...and maybe some new bases too!