Thanks for this! I want to make a two-tone tassel, and i wouldn't have thought to use a technique like this. This is something i think i might try instead of the more complex process i was thinking of!
I have some low pill 100% acrylic Yarn Bee Soft n Sleek yarn in a light variegated gray that I would like to speckle dye just to add a little interest. I have a bunch of Rit dye on hand from fabric dyeing from my quilting so I want to give this a try. I'm a bit new to knitting but just as with my sewing, I can't just be satisfied with what I buy at the store, I have to put my own stamp on it. I enjoy your channel, and I hope my experiment works!
Thank you so much I am loaded with acrylic yarn! I had seen a video once where someone used acrylic paint! Epic fail to say the least and the yarn becomes crunchy! When I finally get around to buying a steamer pan for just dying I am going to try this.
You mean this video? ua-cam.com/video/-q6JEbWVF-s/v-deo.html ;) I had a lot of requests to try acrylic paint and I HATED the results. Some people have suggested that I should have heat set the yarn... but I'm still not convinced on the whole process. I second what Donna said. You can frequently find steamer baskets at second hand shops for really cheap. The one that I use is Salt brand found at Bed Bath and Beyond. I bought it with a 20% off coupon. (I went the new route since I film videos, I got a lot of other items second hand, though.)
It is my pleasure. I do have a few other videos showing acrylic dyeing, but not nearly as much as I do wool. I started out dyeing Lion Brand Wool Ease which is 20% wool / 80% acrylic with food coloring. :D
@@ChemKnitsTutorials hello! nice video and thank you for sharing :) could you please share also some dyeing for wool and acrylic? it would be very helpful for my project that I'm working on.
Thank you! It took me a while to find some 100% polyester yarn, but I'm glad I had it on hand. I loved the results on that yarn better than the acrylic since there wasn't melting.
This was a perfect experiment for me to see. Learned a lot! Def going to try the Dyemore Synthetics Dyes on my polyester blend thrift store-harvested fabrics. Have had too many "trial and error" with other commercial dyes. Thank you, Rebecca!
Super timely! I did my first experiment with Rit recently using their all purpose dye. I hand painted some chunky cotton and the color mixing guide (in super small proportions) was pretty accurate! But I had trouble wrapping up the skein to separate color stripes and I totally lost my white sections after steaming.
If you want to maintain white sections, adding a thickener to the dye will help a lot. I don't think you can use guar gum with rit dyes since the dye might react with the thickener, but there are things out there that would help. (check out some of my guar gum videos with wool to see how it turned out.) Another thing you could try is to remove as much of the liquid from your yarn before you start adding the rit dyes. Try to add little liquid when adding the color, and you should end up with some white behind.
Thank you so much for trying this on acrylic yarn. I was hoping that the steam method wouldn't flatten the acrylic yarn like the boiling method does but no such luck . I hope someday we find a way to dye acrylic yarn without the flattening, I know I will keep trying. Great video just the same.
@@MissGroves Yes I know but I keep hoping we crafty people can come up with a way , maybe just happen to drop a spoon of mayo accidentally into our dye because we were eating on the run and eureka! It works! Lol, there has to be someway of doing it, we just haven't found it yet.
@@garbostyle1 ikr, one day someone will do something and voilà, inventions by accident. Totally get where you're coming from, would make recycling yarn so much simpler too.
@@ChemKnitsTutorials That was my thought exactly, pick a really hot day and in direct sunlight, wrap in plastic to keep it moist. One or both of us should definitely try it.
I used the RIT purple to dye a dress. It was SO hard to put it in a pot and boil it. I got the same color as your acrylic purple. I quit the boiling before the time the directions said because of the "dry cleaner fluid" smell. I did get a pretty purple dress that dyed my bras lavender in the next load of clothes!
OH no for the color transfer! I have some commercially dyed shirts that always turn me blue whenever I wear them. Even after multiple washes. It is super duper annoying.
Thank you for experimenting. I’m surprised at how faint the speckled yarn came out. I’d love to see you do that again with larger dots with say blue and green! Or the dishpan method where you squirt some dye in the pan and move the yarn around in the dye. You did that on some cotton yarn before that came out great. I love watching your experiments .
Thank you for experimenting for us! I saw the pooling and was a little heartbroken for you, but saw it was okay. I will try and get my hands on some of this dye now! I've been wanting to dye some yarn or a hat but can't use most natural fibers.
Unfortunately I don't think there is a way to both set the color properly and prevent it from melting. The temperature of steam will cause some amount of melting to happen. (Just like if you want to "block" acrylic yarn you use steam to kill it a bit.)
Nice, I would like to see how, after knit up [maybe with your crank knitting machine?] how they wash, maybe knit up 2 and wash 3 or 4 times then compare with the non washed. How does the color last? I know... I am not a patron... but I am curious! Nice colors on these. ~Marie I am mostly interested in wool but I do have a whole bunch of acrylic from a few baby projects so I might dye it.
I would like to see a video of how to take a skein of yarn, hank it up to dye, then put it back into a skein! There are NO videos anywhere on how to hank your yarn to dye!!!
I’m really enjoying your videos! Thank you for making them! I’m super new to dyeing yarn and I have a question, I apologize if you’ve already addressed it in another video. But what would happen if you dyed a synthetic yarn like acrylic that already has color? I have a lot of acrylic yarn that was given to me, but I hate the colors.
I'm trying to think if I've overdyed already colored 100% acrylic and I don't think I have yet. I think that you could get some color coverage, but it would depend on how much pigment was there already. For example, a black yarn would be nearly impossible to overdye, but a highlighter yellow... you could use blues to shift it more green.
@@ChemKnitsTutorials Thank you for the reply. I would most likely be using darker colors like the Rit Dyemore Graphite or Royal Purple to cover brighter colors. I'm looking to create more of a gothic color pallet. I wish they would add black to their line. Also , did you find that the yarn flattened less with the steaming method when compared to the boiling process? Or was it about the same? How do you think setting the dye in the microwave would turn out?
Have you done a wash test on these? I'm looking into dying acrylic because I can't find the hue I want for a baby blanket, but baby blankets have to be washable. Thanks!
great question! It has to do with the type of dye. Acid dyes (which includes food coloring) can bind completely to the yarn - often called "to exhaustion." Other types of dyes might react with water - which results in bleeding and washing - or might need a certain concentration of dye for some of it to bind, which also results in some excess dye.
I'm honestly not sure. I think it depends on what the paints are made out of. You could always test it on a little miniskein and see how it turns out. :D
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Glad you are working with acrylic yarn! I cant really afford wool or alpaca on my budget. Wish we could see more with acrylic. Thanks!!
I really appreciate this feedback and will try to do more experiments.
Thanks for this! I want to make a two-tone tassel, and i wouldn't have thought to use a technique like this. This is something i think i might try instead of the more complex process i was thinking of!
This is so helpful. Thank you!
I held my breath when you started to rinse.
me too!
Thank you for this video. It was very helpful.
You're very welcome!
This was really intriguing
Thank you! This was on my list for a LOOONG time!
I have some low pill 100% acrylic Yarn Bee Soft n Sleek yarn in a light variegated gray that I would like to speckle dye just to add a little interest. I have a bunch of Rit dye on hand from fabric dyeing from my quilting so I want to give this a try. I'm a bit new to knitting but just as with my sewing, I can't just be satisfied with what I buy at the store, I have to put my own stamp on it. I enjoy your channel, and I hope my experiment works!
Thank you so much I am loaded with acrylic yarn! I had seen a video once where someone used acrylic paint! Epic fail to say the least and the yarn becomes crunchy! When I finally get around to buying a steamer pan for just dying I am going to try this.
Dye pots and supplies I always find at the 2nd hand store for cheap.
You mean this video? ua-cam.com/video/-q6JEbWVF-s/v-deo.html ;) I had a lot of requests to try acrylic paint and I HATED the results. Some people have suggested that I should have heat set the yarn... but I'm still not convinced on the whole process.
I second what Donna said. You can frequently find steamer baskets at second hand shops for really cheap. The one that I use is Salt brand found at Bed Bath and Beyond. I bought it with a 20% off coupon. (I went the new route since I film videos, I got a lot of other items second hand, though.)
Thank you so much for showing us red heart and Carron! I can't afford wool to play with and I have always wanted to dye some yarn!
It is my pleasure. I do have a few other videos showing acrylic dyeing, but not nearly as much as I do wool.
I started out dyeing Lion Brand Wool Ease which is 20% wool / 80% acrylic with food coloring. :D
@@ChemKnitsTutorials hello! nice video and thank you for sharing :) could you please share also some dyeing for wool and acrylic? it would be very helpful for my project that I'm working on.
Super interesting to see the difs between the two types of fibers! Thanks!
Thank you! It took me a while to find some 100% polyester yarn, but I'm glad I had it on hand. I loved the results on that yarn better than the acrylic since there wasn't melting.
This was a perfect experiment for me to see. Learned a lot! Def going to try the Dyemore Synthetics Dyes on my polyester blend thrift store-harvested fabrics. Have had too many "trial and error" with other commercial dyes. Thank you, Rebecca!
You're so welcome! I do a lot of trial and error over here myself. ;)
Super timely! I did my first experiment with Rit recently using their all purpose dye. I hand painted some chunky cotton and the color mixing guide (in super small proportions) was pretty accurate! But I had trouble wrapping up the skein to separate color stripes and I totally lost my white sections after steaming.
If you want to maintain white sections, adding a thickener to the dye will help a lot. I don't think you can use guar gum with rit dyes since the dye might react with the thickener, but there are things out there that would help. (check out some of my guar gum videos with wool to see how it turned out.)
Another thing you could try is to remove as much of the liquid from your yarn before you start adding the rit dyes. Try to add little liquid when adding the color, and you should end up with some white behind.
Thank you so much for trying this on acrylic yarn. I was hoping that the steam method wouldn't flatten the acrylic yarn like the boiling method does but no such luck . I hope someday we find a way to dye acrylic yarn without the flattening, I know I will keep trying. Great video just the same.
Sadly I think that's the nature of acrylic, the heat needed to set the dye is going to effect the plastic in the yarn
@@MissGroves Yes I know but I keep hoping we crafty people can come up with a way , maybe just happen to drop a spoon of mayo accidentally into our dye because we were eating on the run and eureka! It works! Lol, there has to be someway of doing it, we just haven't found it yet.
@@garbostyle1 ikr, one day someone will do something and voilà, inventions by accident. Totally get where you're coming from, would make recycling yarn so much simpler too.
Love the drop of mayo comment. ;)
I'm not sure if you could sun dye acrylic with these dyes.... now I'm curious.
@@ChemKnitsTutorials That was my thought exactly, pick a really hot day and in direct sunlight, wrap in plastic to keep it moist. One or both of us should definitely try it.
I love this I can't wait for you to do more with synthetic yarns :)
I'm so glad that people enjoy this! I really appreciate the feedback and will absolutely do more dedicated synthetic videos.
I used the RIT purple to dye a dress. It was SO hard to put it in a pot and boil it. I got the same color as your acrylic purple. I quit the boiling before the time the directions said because of the "dry cleaner fluid" smell. I did get a pretty purple dress that dyed my bras lavender in the next load of clothes!
OH no for the color transfer! I have some commercially dyed shirts that always turn me blue whenever I wear them. Even after multiple washes. It is super duper annoying.
Thank you for experimenting. I’m surprised at how faint the speckled yarn came out. I’d love to see you do that again with larger dots with say blue and green! Or the dishpan method where you squirt some dye in the pan and move the yarn around in the dye. You did that on some cotton yarn before that came out great. I love watching your experiments .
Thank you so much, Sandy!
Thank you for experimenting for us! I saw the pooling and was a little heartbroken for you, but saw it was okay.
I will try and get my hands on some of this dye now! I've been wanting to dye some yarn or a hat but can't use most natural fibers.
I hope to play more with synthetic dyes in the future!
Wooo that green is pretty 😂
I wonder if you can dip dye synthetic yarns the way you can with cotton or wool. That would be interesting to see
This is 100% on my list!
Tips for steaming the acrylic without melting it?
Unfortunately I don't think there is a way to both set the color properly and prevent it from melting. The temperature of steam will cause some amount of melting to happen. (Just like if you want to "block" acrylic yarn you use steam to kill it a bit.)
Those are pretty :)
Thank you!
P.S. It is fun to see what videos you're watching this morning as I go through and reply to comments.
Nice, I would like to see how, after knit up [maybe with your crank knitting machine?] how they wash, maybe knit up 2 and wash 3 or 4 times then compare with the non washed. How does the color last? I know... I am not a patron... but I am curious! Nice colors on these. ~Marie I am mostly interested in wool but I do have a whole bunch of acrylic from a few baby projects so I might dye it.
I 100% welcome suggestions from EVERYONE! Always! Wash tests are an interesting idea...
I would like to see a video of how to take a skein of yarn, hank it up to dye, then put it back into a skein! There are NO videos anywhere on how to hank your yarn to dye!!!
How to twist it up? Like this: ua-cam.com/video/W-R9rXGnIcw/v-deo.html
Have you had any experiments using an electric pressure cooker to steam yarns?
I have used a slow cooker to dye yarn (ua-cam.com/video/TMtbYwGjF2k/v-deo.html) but I do not own a pressure cooker so havne't tried that before.
I’m really enjoying your videos! Thank you for making them! I’m super new to dyeing yarn and I have a question, I apologize if you’ve already addressed it in another video. But what would happen if you dyed a synthetic yarn like acrylic that already has color? I have a lot of acrylic yarn that was given to me, but I hate the colors.
I'm trying to think if I've overdyed already colored 100% acrylic and I don't think I have yet. I think that you could get some color coverage, but it would depend on how much pigment was there already. For example, a black yarn would be nearly impossible to overdye, but a highlighter yellow... you could use blues to shift it more green.
@@ChemKnitsTutorials Thank you for the reply. I would most likely be using darker colors like the Rit Dyemore Graphite or Royal Purple to cover brighter colors. I'm looking to create more of a gothic color pallet. I wish they would add black to their line.
Also , did you find that the yarn flattened less with the steaming method when compared to the boiling process? Or was it about the same? How do you think setting the dye in the microwave would turn out?
Have you done a wash test on these? I'm looking into dying acrylic because I can't find the hue I want for a baby blanket, but baby blankets have to be washable. Thanks!
I haven't done an extended wash test beyond the washing of the yarn here in this video.
Any tips on hand dyeing an apple solo loop braided band?
No, I'm not quite sure what the fiber content is and I'm not sure if heating it would damage it.
I wish I could help more!
Why does the rit dye rinse out so much compared with the koolaid and food coloring dyes?
great question! It has to do with the type of dye. Acid dyes (which includes food coloring) can bind completely to the yarn - often called "to exhaustion." Other types of dyes might react with water - which results in bleeding and washing - or might need a certain concentration of dye for some of it to bind, which also results in some excess dye.
Do you have a link to what you use to make them into hanks?
I show how I use the niddy noddy in this video: ua-cam.com/video/W4NDnMrTPHw/v-deo.html I try to exaggerate the motion. I hope this helps!
Can you dye with kids powder paints x
I'm honestly not sure. I think it depends on what the paints are made out of. You could always test it on a little miniskein and see how it turns out. :D
Thanks Rebecca x
They have this dye at my local Walmart.
This is one of the reasons why I picked this dye to work with. A lot of stores with large craft selections carry them.
Cringe.... all that dye going down the drain into our water system.......