Dyeing Yarn with Children

The pictures don't necessarily go with the words, because this isn't a tutorial. And because I didn't get pictures of all the steps. Ha!

I followed the directions from the Autumn 2009 Living Crafts. This is an amazing and beautiful magazine!

First we began with plain, undyed wool. Ours was in a ball so we wrapped it around two chairs, backs nearly pushed together to create a big yarn circle. I sat on one chair and held the other still with my feet, to keep even (as possible) tension on the yarn.

After the appropriate amount of yarn (read: my children were getting annoying) I tied a nifty figure-eight on 4 or more places in the yarn. The Living Crafts shows you how to do this very important step - it keeps the yarn from tangling.

oooh, I love this picture!

A little vinegar bath for our yarn acted to open the wool so it is receptive to the dye. We used a pretty cut-glass serving bowl. I don't know, but glass would probably be the best thing for this. I don't think I would use metal because the vinegar might react with it. ?

Laurel

The next day, we drained the water from the yarn. The kids had so much fun with this part. It's amazing to see how much water wool can hold! We actually very, very gently squeezed the yarn (too much squeezing could felt it) to remove as much of the water as possible. A previous yarn we dyed turned out a little dull, I think because there was too much water.

Liv

We put the yarn on plastic (I cut a trashbag in half) and the girls began spooning on the dye! So much fun! We used food coloring - the proportions are in the magazine, though I did make it more concentrated than recommended. Rule breaker that I am. When we paint watercolor, we only use one color at a time. This time, I had our three primary colors (red, yellow and blue) sitting inside the yarn circle. The girls took turns with each color. They had so much fun mixing the colors.

Through trial and error and error again we learned that, for us, the yarn should be spread apart and as little dye as necessary used. Too much meant that it ran onto the plastic and caused the yarn to be muddied, though still beautiful. My husband noted, during our late evening dyeing session together, that a few white or whiter spots in the yarn is nice - I agree.

Steam the yarn for a while (we did 20 minutes) then when it is cool enough, hang out to dry! The steam helps set the color.

Lela

I didn't know it would take so long to dry, but then again it was a huge mass of yarn, probably around 200 yards. Ours took 48 hours, but that just contributed to the anticipation.

We spread it out on the grass to admire. On the left is what the kids did - the right is the one that Mike and I did.

When completely dry, I rolled into a ball - man, I wished I had one of those fun yarn winders like our local yarn store, Close Knit.

macro shot by Lela

Here is the scarf (again) for my mom. The girls were so proud that they had helped.

And of course - some tips! I will be sure to refer back to this post for when we do this again, because I need my own advice. Maybe you will be able to see my pitfalls through my advice. ;)

- The yarn will need to soak overnight before dyeing it. So don't get them all excited to dye yarn right away because you won't be.

- Gather all your materials ahead of time - prepare the dyes as well if your children are young (read: 2yo twins who squirt food coloring everywhere).

- Have everything neatly laid out, because once you set jars of food coloring in front of (three) excited children, they will not wait for you to get your camera.

- Try to do this yourself before doing it with your children. Or at least go through it in your mind. We actually got this one right, and my husband and I dyed some yarn the night before over good conversation and mediocre wine.

- Don't worry about the food coloring! After we had diluted it (but really not that much) for the dye process, it washed off their hands (and faces and arms) within two handwashing. I didn't notice about the clothing, because they were wearing old clothes. And no one had any in their hair, so I don't know if it would stain such blondies as mine.

- Do wear old clothes and be outside if at all possible - aprons add to the aesthetic as well.

- Allow them to help with all the steps. Even if it means the yarn comes out muddy from overdyeing - the purpose is for you all to enjoy the process and want to do it again. Because each time you do it, they will become calmer and calmer and when the newness wears off, they will begin to appreciate it even more. And whatever comes out of it will be lovely just because they did it.

Peace,

Carrie