Friday, April 24, 2015

How I Tie Dyed Cotton Yarn Picture Tutorial!


One of my new favorite things to do is experiment with dying yarn! I have tried dying yarn with Kool-Aid, a lot of fun but a limit on colors, and now I'm ready for something new! 
For my picture tutorial on How I Dyed Yarn With Kool-Aid And Loved It! Click here.

A couple of weeks ago I was looking through my yarn stash for more yarn to crochet Kayla's Stars with and I found some natural and white balls of Lily Sugar n Cream organic cotton yarn which is what I am using to crochet the stars with. I didn't really want to use white for stars so I decided to dye it. I did a little bit of research and found that a tie dye kit would be an easy way to dye cotton yarn and I happened to have a tie dye kit! I was so excited to get started!

For more information on Kayla's Stars, click here.

I knew that I wanted to make a picture tutorial on how I dyed my yarn and since no one else was home to help me and I did not want to get dye on my camera, I set my camera to smile detect and started smiling as big as I could so that the camera would detect a smile and take a picture when I needed it to. I tried to jump out of some of the pictures, but that is why I am in a lot of them and I am smiling so big. hehe

Okay let's get started! 

Materials:

Cotton Yarn (I used Lily Sugar n Cream) 
- Tie Dye Kit (I used a Tulip Tie Dye Kit)
    Included in the kit - Dye
                                   - Bottles
                                   - Gloves
- Paper towels
- Trash bags
- Plastic Wrap
- A Large Bowl
- A Sink
- Water
- Plastic Hangers (or something else to hang the wet yarn on to dry)
- Grocery Bags
- Tape 
- Dish Detergent (I used Dawn)
- An Old Towel

Step 1: I wound the yarn into hanks (a hank looks like a large circle) with my yarn swift to make the yarn easier to paint with the tie dye. (I twisted the yarn into skeins for the picture.)

Tip: If you do not have a yarn swift you can use the back of a chair or a friend can help. Click here for a video tutorial by Megan Lacore.

Step 2: Soak the yarn in luke warm water for about 30 minutes. 


Submerge all of the yarn by pressing down on it until it sinks.


Step 3: While the yarn is soaking, lay trash bags flat on a table and tape them to the table so they will not move. This is to protect the surface from the tie dye and allow clean up to be a lot easier.



Step 4: Lay squares of plastic wrap into a ring on top of the table that has been covered with trashbags. 


Step 5: After the yarn has soaked for about 30 minutes, squeeze out the excess water. Do not wring out the yarn. Lay the yarn on the plastic wrap on the table.



Step 6: Mix the dyes in the bottles. 

Tip: Wear gloves, old shoes, and old clothes and pull long hair back. 


Pour in the dye.


Fill water to the line.

Put the cap on and shake until mixed.



Step 7: Start painting! Have fun with it too! 






Tip: Either measure or mark out where you want the colors and lightly paint. Then go back and add more dye, press on the yarn to allow the dye to soak all the way through the yarn, and smear/mix the colors that are side by side.



Tip: Have a bowl of water for rinsing gloves in between colors.



Tip: For the first rainbow yarn that I created, I used Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Violet. For the second rainbow yarn, I used Pink, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Violet. And for the last hank of yarn I made a speckled yarn with Violet, Pink and Yellow. For the rainbow yarns I wanted yarn that would change colors really quickly because the stars are only 2 rounds and I wanted all the colors in each star. To do that I made short stripes with the colors.
For the speckled yarn I let the dye drip out of the squeeze bottles randomly all over the hank with the 3 colors that I picked. 

Step 8: Use paper towels to soak up excess dye on the plastic wrap.



And this is my 2nd rainbow yarn with pink instead of red.



Step 9: Wrap the yarn with the plastic wrap that it is laying on.

Tip: Try to keep the colors from touching each other.



Step 10: Place gently in a grocery bag or 2.


Tip: Lay on top of an old towel in the floor in case of leaks.

Step 11: Let the yarn soak for about 8 hours. I let mine soak overnight.


Step 12: Carefully take the yarn out of the plastic wrap and rinse out some of the excess dye.


Add a small amount of dish detergent and wash.



And rinse.



Tip: Rinsing by hand took me about 30 minutes for each hank. Next time I will try washing it in the washing machine. 

Step 13: Squeeze out the excess water. Do not wring out.


Step 14: Hang till dry.

Tip: I use plastic hangers and hang in the shower.








Step 15: Take pictures of the pretty yarn!


Kayla's Perfect Rainbow



Kayla's Impossible Rainbow



Kayla's Speckle




Step 16: Wind and start crocheting or knitting!

Tip: For my picture tutorial on how to wind yarn with a yarn swift and yarn winder, click here.
You can also wind yarn by hand. Click here for a video tutorial by Crochet Geek.









I had a lot of fun dying cotton yarn with a tie dye kit and I really hope ya'll like this picture tutorial and ya'll use it to make your own beautiful yarn! I would love to see pictures if you do! You can post them to my facebook page. Click here to go to Crocheting Thru Chronic Diseases With Alex on Facebook.

For my picture tutorial with all of my tips on How I Dyed Yarn With Kool-Aid And Loved it! Click here or on the image below.


Coming Soon: Dying Wool Yarn With Wilton's Icing Food Coloring!
I just tried it last night and it was so much fun too!



Soft hugs <3