How I dye my wool yarn

This Should be a fun post!

So, I'm not sure if ya'll know it, but I DO dye my own wool yarn when I get the chance. My first OOAK colorway was called "Southern Candy", and was a mix of green, purple, and pink...and wasn't a complete dye job so there was white in there too. It was SUPER cute, and made a wool skirtie for my daughter that she still wears to this day :)

So I start out with glasses (no stains to deal with..), and put about 1/4 cup of white vinegar in each glass. Drench your wool skein in warm water to get it ready! I filled my casserole dish up about 1" of water, and placed the skein in it, and pressed down 

 

Then I put one or two packets of Kool-Aid in each glass, and stir until it is dissolved (Cherry and Grape here..)

I poured my grape on the ends, and my cherry in the middle. Do NOT slosh the dish around after this! It may look like the dyes mixed, but they really didn't mix very much, as you'll find when the process is over. Its amazing!

Microwave on high for 3 minutes, let it rest for 1 minute, then microwave for another 4 minutes (7 minutes total). When you look at the water with your wool it should look like this: CLEAR! The wool has soaked up all the dye and all that is left is clear water in the bottom of the casserole dish!

I let it cool a little, and then picked the hot yarn up with some kitchen tongs, and placed in a prepared bowl of cold water in my sink, to set the dye, and rinse. 

I just left mine in for a little bit to cool off more, and then I used my hands to really rinse it good! (Note the casserole dish with the water in it still...isn't it amazing how clear that water got when it was so muddy before?)

And here is my colorway! Just Grape and Cherry :)

I did 2 skeins this day, to try out a few new methods. This second skein, I removed half of the skein of yarn (Pulled the whole center half out..). Then I did the wetting, and placing it in the casserole dish. I did 3 colors this time! I meant to grab lime, but accidentally grabbed watermellon which is just a pale pink compared to cherry...boo! Its okay, I got 2-toned pink which was really pretty!

Cherry, Watermelon, Grape! All ready to pour in, just like above :)

I rolled my skein in a towel after I took it out of the cold bowl of water in the sink where it was setting the dyes. I then proceeded to remove portions of the skein from the center, and place over my drying rack to let the wool rest and dry! It took a couple days cause the weather was already cold, and then I balled it up by hand.

I will be posting pics of the skeins and the items that I crochet them into, once I am done with them!

Have fun dying your own wool yarn! Patons "Natural" is a good place to start because it is soft and manageable, and not as expensive as other raw/natural yarns can get :)