Self Striping Yarn - How To

Okay. I just wrote out this big long post about how and what I used to make my self striping yarn.

Then Typepad FROZE UP on me. *blink*

Post. Lost.

Will to go on. Over.

It's like that song about the cake that got left out in the rain. I don't think that I can take it, cause it took so long to make it, and I'll never have that recipe AGAIN, Noooooooooooo Ooooooooooooooh Nooooooooooooooooo!!!!

Well I didn't have to bake and it was mostly just trying to remember what the hell I did more than a month ago. I really should have posted sooner. So here is the abridged version of how I made Self Striping Yarn. It worked for me. If you do it a different way that's cool too.

Step  One: Get some stuff (In the previous version before typepad ate my post this was a long list of stuff and an explanation of why you need it. Maybe next time eh. *sigh*) (Hey Cookie, look at my kitchen counters. *L* That's why I don't roll my own pie crust. o.0 Who thought stone tiles would be better than one solid piece??)

Step Two: Make a big long thingy. Mine was just over 21 feet long or 7 yards of you want to think of it that way. I tied bit of waste yarn every yard.

Step three: Set up area for dyeing. Put down a vinyl table cloth and get your cling wrap ready and all that jazz. Paper Towels are your friend.

Step four: Mix your colors in small 9oz clear plastic cups. Use wooden craft sticks to stir. I had a total of 14 sections and although I only wanted to use three colors I went crazy and wanted to play with lots of colors so I used 7 colors. I used 2 packets of Kool-Aid per yard of yarn. (Not sure how many ounces that was though.)  They say one packet per ounce, but I like vibrant colors. Although the grape went too dark I felt.

Step five: Start with your first section of the 14. Take the foam paint brush and start painting the color on in the middle of the section. That way you can see how the yarn absorbs the color so when you get to the ends you can  paint up the end without having so much bleed over. Then paint the next six sections in the other colors in the order that you want them. In between each section sealing that area off with the cling wrap you are bundling each section into. Now redo your colors again as you may need more, I did. Then I started over with the last 7 sections in the 7 colors to finish up. In retrospect I will be making a shorter skein. The main thing is the length of section you are dyeing, not imho the length of the total skein. If you know you need x amount of yarn for a row or two on your socks or whatever you can make the section you are dyeing that length to get the effect you want. Simple as that.

Step 5.5: Have a drink. That took a long time. You may have even started pouring the dye into the middle of each section because it was taking so long. That is fine just so long as you are careful with the ends and you don't have too much liquid in your bundle or it will be squishy and make a mess as well as spill over onto the other bundles.  If you don't use 7 colors and hand paint 14 sections it won't take so long though. ;)

Step 6: Making sure your cling wrap bundles are all nice and sealed stick into your already boiling steamer basket. No need to cover the bottom of the basket in cling wrap. Just make sure the water isn't coming up onto the bottom of the steamer. This is also a good time to say don't leave the in between sections white unless you want them to stay white or turn a muddy color. I did thinking the steam heat would make the colors bleed into one another. Didn't happen as much as I thought it would. That's why in the picture it looks so white going in, but a bit grey coming out at the joints. See I panicked and dumped the bundle into the hot water. Not sure why, but I did, but it's okay so no big dealie. Cover your steamer with the lid and let it be 40 minutes or so.

Step 7: Removed from heat and let cool.  Place the cooled bundle of cling wrapped yarn into a not too warm basin/sink of water and rinse while removing cling wrap. Once you have the wrap off and the water rinses pretty clear next do a wash/rinse with your wool wash. I used Brown's Top Of The Lamb Shampoo for this.

Step 8: Place hank on a towel and light squeeze out excess water. I did this and it dried in no time after that and I didn't have any dripping to worry about. :D

Step 9: Hang Dry so that it's not stretched out but not just getting wrinkled up or anything.

Step 10: Ball or cake up yarn then get to making something funky with your self striping yarn. :D

I may come back later and add in more detail. Actually I think I may just dye again and take better notes as I go along. *L*

I need a drink after loosing the original post now though. o.0 Yes it's only 9:30 or so here. What of it. :P

So that's what happened the first time I dyed yarn back on June 10th. I haven't had a chance to take a second go at it yet. Very Busy over here. Lots of first going on. ;)

Comments

[Bonnie]

Your rainbow striped yarn is exactly what I want to do with my last skein of undyed sock yarn! I can't find every color of kool aid at the market, I'm lucky if I find lemonade and punch flavored only. Beautiful job!!

[Cookie]

Aren't tile counters fun? o.0 Do you have room for a butcher block?

Thank you so much for this wonderul tutorial! I'm sorry TypePad ate your first one. It's been that kind of week with them. :?

Do you remember what flavor got you that pink color? So far all we can get is reds over here. :?

*huggles*

[Dave Daniels]

That's actually a great and detailed tutorial! And the yarn looks pretty darned fantastic!
Regarding writing in TypePad: DON'T! Something this important deserves to be written in Word at least, so you can save it, edit it, email it, etc. (Don't even ASK how I know this. That's why I have my own domain. Control issues.)
But this is really great!

[Ann]

I am not sure what part I like best, make the long thingy or have a drink. I got quite a chuckle out of it...but I understood it, we speak the same language.

Thanks for sharing!

Ann

[Kirsten]

Thanks for the tutorial. I wandered over here from "The Amazing Lace". I've been wanting to try self striping yarn, so I guess I visited on the right day! :) Your yarn is lovely!

[ms. knitzalot]

Awesome walk through of dying!!!! Thank you for sharing step by step....including drinkie breaks.

[Knitster Chelle]

I am amazed at how vibrant koolaid colors are. I'm also amazed you're dyeing your own yarn. You go girl.

Um... how's the lace coming?

[Sue]

Hey! Look at you go, dyeing yarn and all that fun stuff. Joy! It looks great. I haven't tried to dye my own yet, but I am hoping to very soon. Now you've inspired me. :-)

[Jen]

Holy moly you used so many fun colors. I've done koolaid dying in the past but was only brave enough to use 2 colors :)