This is just what I was looking for to get distinct and vibrant speckle! I have tried dyeing in the past, very fun, but now even better to watch you and learn from your experiments. Thank you!
I'm so glad that I could help! I have a whole playlist of videos for different speckling techniques: ua-cam.com/play/PLFvm3Bz7dhaXXgrjDEab8hlnGANW4abl0.html :D
I literally have never dyed yarn, nor likely every will. However, I look forward to your videos and watch them the moment they come out! For some reason, it's one of the most soothing things to me. It's been a very long day at work and I'm happy to come home to this! Thank you for making videos! :D
It is my pleasure! It is funny, I have learned so much since this video. I have some other speckling videos now in the following playlist. ua-cam.com/play/PLFvm3Bz7dhaXXgrjDEab8hlnGANW4abl0.html
I think this would be so awesome if you use this technique on a skein that you had already dyed with another method that left a lot of white but still had pools of color. Or even just over a light color that could still show some speckles. Great tutorial as usual.
I'm new at all of this and did my first two yesterday. Didn't come out to bad. One was with food coloring and the other with Brown and orange jimmies. Love that one. But I was wondering the same thing. I use to Tole paint and use a old toothbrush for spattering. So today i'm going to try that and see how it comes out.
Congrats on getting started with dyeing yarn!! Recently, I used a paintbrush to apply even smaller specks to a sock blank. I think it will be super cool when I unravel it.
As long as you have a protein based yarn (wool, alpaca, silk, etc) you can dye it with food coloring! For speckles wool (superwash wool especially) gets the sharpest speckles.
I haven't tried acid dyes (yet! hopefully someday) but I'm sure it would work with other powder dyes. I want to try this with a gel food coloring. I'm not sure if the colors would be too concentrated or what. But it would certainly be a fun experiment!
I would really like to see what you make from these yarns that you dye. It is one thing to see them being dyed and yet another to see the beautiful works of art they are made into.
Awe, thanks! I do have one video where I share some of my finished projects from hand dyed fiber: ua-cam.com/video/hE2NiMWu-h4/v-deo.html A lot of yarns end up in my stash since I dye yarn much faster than I can knit with it. Sometime soon I hope I to do a new recap of things I made out of hand dyed yarns.
I've been seeing speckled yarn with a pale background color, say a yellow yarn with speckles. Would you do the yellow first or after dye? What do you think would be the differences? Love your dyeing, results, and videos. Can't wait to try some on my own.
I think you could have more control over the situation if you dye the base yarn first and then overdye with specks, but I think it would be more fun to do the reverse. The results should be similar. If the specks bleed when put into HOT HOT water again your specks might spread... but probably only a tiny bit. (I've seen some bleeding when trying to felt hand dyed wools in boiling water)
This is so cool. Have you ever thought of spattering? We do that with watercolor for speckled effect. The most popular tool for applying speckles is a toothbrush!
How does kool aid dye hold up compared to other dyes? It wont wash out over time? and I noticed you used dawn and some dyers use Soak. no harm in dawn right?
Here is an old video of things I've made with hand dyed yarns: ua-cam.com/video/hE2NiMWu-h4/v-deo.html Hopefully I'll do another one soon but I dye yarn much faster than I can knit it up. In this video, I put a wool/nylon blend I dyed with food coloring and vinegar though the washing machine: ua-cam.com/video/oftsMXnzrug/v-deo.html
Such a great tutorial! Is there a way to do this if you don't have a microwave? I have an electric food steamer or could I put the wrapped yarn in a pan and bring it to boil? Thank you :)
This was a great tutorial! I had to try it right away. My speckles aren't as isolated as I'd like them to be... But overall it worked well. After the initial soak, how much water do you press out? I wanted yellow with speckles so I died the whole bunch yellow, let it rest, and then did the speckles. Do you think this might have something to do with the speckles "spreading"? But really, thank you ! I just did enough do knit up some swatches but I look forward to doing more. :)
I did a tonal dye that was sent to me as a kit, and I loved it! I am definitely interested in doing more dying for my own purposes, so I'm looking at what I want to do next. I know every one uses the Jaquard dyes, but I'm looking at the Rit dye and thinking about that as well. I soaked first, put the yarn in a jar and let it sit in the dye for about 3 hours and then wrap in plastic and steamed on the stovetop. It came out so beautiful! I'm hooked.
I just don't want to mix 3 gallon batches to do the little bit of stuff I want to do. I'm just interested in playing not going into business. Do you think any white wool would work, or does it have to be something marketing especially for dying. I love the super bulky weight yarns, but they are impossible to get from places selling yarn for dying. However, Knit Picks Tuff Puff and Big cozy both have white versions. So I'm thinking about trying that.
I've been using the Rit liquid dye, so then I can just use a little bit at a time. Ihaven't tried the powders yet. I've done tuff puff and LOVE dyeing it. I think that undyed yarns might absorb color than pure white yarn (that has been treated to get that color) BUT I dye white yarns all the time. I'll even over dye other colors. It absolutely will work!
@@ChemKnitsTutorials ok, so do i soak it in just regular tap water before i do the koolaid? or doi just leave the yarn dry? thank you, so much for the advice!!
Hi i love the video :) cant wait to try it myself. I was wondering if i could use any superwash yarn for this? Here in canada all i can find is cascade 220 white superwash. Thanks :)
I've been Binge watching all your dying videos! It looks like so much fun! I've never really worked with wool before, I've always stuck with cotton/acrylic for wash-ability (sp?) but i wanna play with dye so bad now lol ((btw that fork on the plate sound is so cringy!!))
Yay! I'm glad to provide some entertainment. Wool/acrylic blends work pretty well with these techniques. I started out dyeing Lion brand Wool Ease (20% wool/80% acrylic) and got some really nice colors. Nylon takes up color really nicely, too. I'm very sorry about the plate noises. I try to avoid the metal forks but sometimes I forget. I really appreciate the feedback!
In love with this technique ! Have you ever used water inhansers? They even make koolaid kinds. They have citric acid in them as well and come in a squeeze bottle 😊 enjoying all your vids! Thank you!
Thank you! I'm glad you've found my channel. I am a huge fan with experimenting with speckles. Sprinkles give some AWESOME effects, there are some other videos here about that, too. :)
It might be hard to see on a super dark color, but you could certainly dye the yarn first and then speckle over it. The specks might be a bit more subtle, but I think it could look pretty cool.
will this work with acrylic yarn? I know and some of your other videos you say to avoid acrylic yarn with food coloring dyes but would it work with this?
I tend to try to have my wash water match the temperature of the yarn. Sometimes I use straight cold, othertimes luke warm (just enough to take the edge off.) I normally only get bleeding at the rinse step when I use a LOT of extra food coloring in the project.
I tried but mine pooled/ran as soon as I turned it over (it was barely damp) & I was even being super careful doing that. I only had pink & red shades of kool aid but that's ok 'cause I like those together but when all was sais & done it looked like pale spaghetti sauce on noodles LOL. I knew it looked too easy. I might try again in future. I'm sure it worked out fine for others...I hope! Thanx :)
Oh bummer! FWIW, I think that the superwash content of this yarn REALLY helped the colors strike quickly. Reds typically bind fast anyway, but the colors would spread out a lot more if I had used a non-superwash 100% wool.
I love your experiments, but I have a request- please don't use metal and ceramics together for this sort of experiment. I'm really interested in what you're saying, but I can't listen because of the sound of the fork scratching on the plate. It is literally worse than nails on a chalkboard for me. I'll watch with the sound off...
I'm very sorry about that. I cringed when I was editing the video when I realized that the sound would be jarring to some people. :( I switched to plastic forks in metal pots a while ago and I don't know why I didn't use plastic here.
This is just what I was looking for to get distinct and vibrant speckle! I have tried dyeing in the past, very fun, but now even better to watch you and learn from your experiments. Thank you!
I'm so glad that I could help! I have a whole playlist of videos for different speckling techniques: ua-cam.com/play/PLFvm3Bz7dhaXXgrjDEab8hlnGANW4abl0.html :D
I literally have never dyed yarn, nor likely every will. However, I look forward to your videos and watch them the moment they come out! For some reason, it's one of the most soothing things to me. It's been a very long day at work and I'm happy to come home to this! Thank you for making videos! :D
Awe, you're very welcome!
Thanks Rebecca! This is the most reasonable explanation of speckled dying I have seen so far! Thanks for all you do for us.!
It is my pleasure! It is funny, I have learned so much since this video. I have some other speckling videos now in the following playlist. ua-cam.com/play/PLFvm3Bz7dhaXXgrjDEab8hlnGANW4abl0.html
thanks Rebecca for all your fantastic dyeing experiments, i love those ideas to dye my self spun wool
I think this would be so awesome if you use this technique on a skein that you had already dyed with another method that left a lot of white but still had pools of color. Or even just over a light color that could still show some speckles. Great tutorial as usual.
this technique has so many possibilities! :)
Very true. Can't wait to play around with it.
My favourite tutorial of yours so far. Thx for sharing your talents.
Janine Rosenke Awe thank you!
Thank you for this tutorial! I was wanting to know how to do this technique. I am going to the store right away to get some Kool-Aide!
I'm new at all of this and did my first two yesterday. Didn't come out to bad. One was with food coloring and the other with Brown and orange jimmies. Love that one. But I was wondering the same thing. I use to Tole paint and use a old toothbrush for spattering. So today i'm going to try that and see how it comes out.
Congrats on getting started with dyeing yarn!! Recently, I used a paintbrush to apply even smaller specks to a sock blank. I think it will be super cool when I unravel it.
That turned out pretty 🥰
I would love to see you dye more yarn with a fork again soon please 🥰
Ooo thanks for the suggestion!!
Oh my God, what an awesome video. I can't believe you can do that with kool-aid 😳.
As long as you have a protein based yarn (wool, alpaca, silk, etc) you can dye it with food coloring! For speckles wool (superwash wool especially) gets the sharpest speckles.
this is fabulous!!!! you're making me want to try this at home myself now...
Awesome idea!
Thank you!
Very pretty. Kid friendly too.
I think Lucky (3 years old) would love to do this with me. I do think we'd both end up very colorful by the end, though. ;)
Do you suppose this technique could be used with acid dyes and gel food coloring?
I haven't tried acid dyes (yet! hopefully someday) but I'm sure it would work with other powder dyes. I want to try this with a gel food coloring. I'm not sure if the colors would be too concentrated or what. But it would certainly be a fun experiment!
Great idea. It's so beautiful.
I would really like to see what you make from these yarns that you dye. It is one thing to see them being dyed and yet another to see the beautiful works of art they are made into.
Awe, thanks! I do have one video where I share some of my finished projects from hand dyed fiber: ua-cam.com/video/hE2NiMWu-h4/v-deo.html A lot of yarns end up in my stash since I dye yarn much faster than I can knit with it. Sometime soon I hope I to do a new recap of things I made out of hand dyed yarns.
AmyKnits woah I was so confused when I saw your username. I was like wait... I didn't write that... 😨
I've been seeing speckled yarn with a pale background color, say a yellow yarn with speckles. Would you do the yellow first or after dye? What do you think would be the differences? Love your dyeing, results, and videos. Can't wait to try some on my own.
I think you could have more control over the situation if you dye the base yarn first and then overdye with specks, but I think it would be more fun to do the reverse. The results should be similar. If the specks bleed when put into HOT HOT water again your specks might spread... but probably only a tiny bit. (I've seen some bleeding when trying to felt hand dyed wools in boiling water)
This is so cool. Have you ever thought of spattering? We do that with watercolor for speckled effect. The most popular tool for applying speckles is a toothbrush!
Laura Dicus I have thought about it and it is on my list. (my very long list, but I hope to play with more of these techniques in the future!)
How does kool aid dye hold up compared to other dyes? It wont wash out over time? and I noticed you used dawn and some dyers use Soak. no harm in dawn right?
Omg loved this video now I want to try this technique. Thanks for sharing. 🤗
Thank you for the fabulous free hat pattern!
Can you do a video showing us what you've made with the yarns? I'm dying to see how they knit up! Also, how do these fare in the wash?
Here is an old video of things I've made with hand dyed yarns: ua-cam.com/video/hE2NiMWu-h4/v-deo.html Hopefully I'll do another one soon but I dye yarn much faster than I can knit it up.
In this video, I put a wool/nylon blend I dyed with food coloring and vinegar though the washing machine: ua-cam.com/video/oftsMXnzrug/v-deo.html
Such a great tutorial! Is there a way to do this if you don't have a microwave? I have an electric food steamer or could I put the wrapped yarn in a pan and bring it to boil? Thank you :)
A steamer basket would work PERFECTLY! I steam set all the time like this and will do 30 minutes
This turned out beautiful!!!
Can you use easter egg dye for dyeing yarn as. Well from jodie
Yes! I have a number videos using Easter egg dye tablets to dye yarn ua-cam.com/play/PLFvm3Bz7dhaVey-CHtq4273tuZSbgH8JQ.html
So cool! I love dying yarn!
This was a great tutorial! I had to try it right away. My speckles aren't as isolated as I'd like them to be... But overall it worked well. After the initial soak, how much water do you press out? I wanted yellow with speckles so I died the whole bunch yellow, let it rest, and then did the speckles. Do you think this might have something to do with the speckles "spreading"? But really, thank you ! I just did enough do knit up some swatches but I look forward to doing more.
:)
Beautiful!
This came out so good!!! I want to try this out, myself!
It was really super easy to do!
I did a tonal dye that was sent to me as a kit, and I loved it! I am definitely interested in doing more dying for my own purposes, so I'm looking at what I want to do next. I know every one uses the Jaquard dyes, but I'm looking at the Rit dye and thinking about that as well. I soaked first, put the yarn in a jar and let it sit in the dye for about 3 hours and then wrap in plastic and steamed on the stovetop. It came out so beautiful! I'm hooked.
OOOO! I've used rit a little bit and I really like it.
I just don't want to mix 3 gallon batches to do the little bit of stuff I want to do. I'm just interested in playing not going into business. Do you think any white wool would work, or does it have to be something marketing especially for dying. I love the super bulky weight yarns, but they are impossible to get from places selling yarn for dying. However, Knit Picks Tuff Puff and Big cozy both have white versions. So I'm thinking about trying that.
I've been using the Rit liquid dye, so then I can just use a little bit at a time. Ihaven't tried the powders yet. I've done tuff puff and LOVE dyeing it. I think that undyed yarns might absorb color than pure white yarn (that has been treated to get that color) BUT I dye white yarns all the time. I'll even over dye other colors. It absolutely will work!
so since the koolaid has citric acid. does that mean i wont have to soak my yarn in vinegar . or can i still soak it just to be safe?? thanks so much
You don't need to soak the yarn in vinegar, unless you want to. There is enough acid in the koolAid for the colors to bind.
@@ChemKnitsTutorials ok, so do i soak it in just regular tap water before i do the koolaid? or doi just leave the yarn dry? thank you, so much for the advice!!
Omg! Now that is really beautiful I love it.
Thank you! These days I'm a fan of using a small paintbrush vs a fork, so I think my technique is evolving. ;)
I really like this one!❤❤❤
Thank you!
Hi i love the video :) cant wait to try it myself. I was wondering if i could use any superwash yarn for this? Here in canada all i can find is cascade 220 white superwash. Thanks :)
Cascade 220 would be PERFECT for this! The yarn in this video is 75% superwash merino and 25% nylon. I use 100% wool a lot on the channel, too.
Thank you :) looks like ill be dyeing soon :) cant wait.
I've been Binge watching all your dying videos! It looks like so much fun! I've never really worked with wool before, I've always stuck with cotton/acrylic for wash-ability (sp?) but i wanna play with dye so bad now lol ((btw that fork on the plate sound is so cringy!!))
Yay! I'm glad to provide some entertainment. Wool/acrylic blends work pretty well with these techniques. I started out dyeing Lion brand Wool Ease (20% wool/80% acrylic) and got some really nice colors. Nylon takes up color really nicely, too.
I'm very sorry about the plate noises. I try to avoid the metal forks but sometimes I forget. I really appreciate the feedback!
In love with this technique ! Have you ever used water inhansers? They even make koolaid kinds. They have citric acid in them as well and come in a squeeze bottle 😊 enjoying all your vids! Thank you!
I have! At least with Mio so far. ua-cam.com/video/cjkg6ohz5Kw/v-deo.html
ChemKnits Tutorials how awesome! Thank you for the link!!❤️
My pleasure! I love it when someone asks a question and then I'm able to deliver right away. ;)
I like the spotted colors
Thank you! I'm glad you've found my channel. I am a huge fan with experimenting with speckles. Sprinkles give some AWESOME effects, there are some other videos here about that, too. :)
Do these turn out soft?
I wonder if this technique will work on dark colors.
It might be hard to see on a super dark color, but you could certainly dye the yarn first and then speckle over it. The specks might be a bit more subtle, but I think it could look pretty cool.
will this work with acrylic yarn? I know and some of your other videos you say to avoid acrylic yarn with food coloring dyes but would it work with this?
steponne ya no, acyrlic won't work with food coloring based dyes (including Kool aid and other drink packets.)
ChemKnits Tutorials what are the best yarns to use again?
steponne ya wool and other protein based fibers (silk etc) work great. ive had great success with wool nylon blends.
steponne ya cotton yarns and other cellulose fibers won't work well with this technique. you really want a wool based yarn.
Does the colors stay or do the fade with time?
The colors stay a really long time. I still wear a winter hat dyed with koolaid + food coloring that was the first 100% wool yarn I ever dyed. :D
Shouldn't you wash and rinse the yarn with cold water so you don't wash out some of your color?
I tend to try to have my wash water match the temperature of the yarn. Sometimes I use straight cold, othertimes luke warm (just enough to take the edge off.) I normally only get bleeding at the rinse step when I use a LOT of extra food coloring in the project.
Wonderful, thanks.
I tried but mine pooled/ran as soon as I turned it over (it was barely damp) & I was even being super careful doing that. I only had pink & red shades of kool aid but that's ok 'cause I like those together but when all was sais & done it looked like pale spaghetti sauce on noodles LOL. I knew it looked too easy. I might try again in future. I'm sure it worked out fine for others...I hope! Thanx :)
Oh bummer! FWIW, I think that the superwash content of this yarn REALLY helped the colors strike quickly. Reds typically bind fast anyway, but the colors would spread out a lot more if I had used a non-superwash 100% wool.
I will keep the fiber content in mind next time...thanx :)
My pleasure!
Cool. Thanks
THANK YOU
When I did yarn in plastic wrap in the microwave it popped like popcorn and scared me. Did this happen to you??
If it pops then I stop the microwave. I always use intervals and check to make sure things don't overheat.
I love doing new things and tie dying
And this🎈🎈🎈🎈
I love your experiments, but I have a request- please don't use metal and ceramics together for this sort of experiment. I'm really interested in what you're saying, but I can't listen because of the sound of the fork scratching on the plate. It is literally worse than nails on a chalkboard for me. I'll watch with the sound off...
I'm very sorry about that. I cringed when I was editing the video when I realized that the sound would be jarring to some people. :( I switched to plastic forks in metal pots a while ago and I don't know why I didn't use plastic here.
ChemKnits Tutorials It's ok... it's probably because you're out of the groove of video making. No big deal! 😁
I will try to avoid this in the future. Dyeing should be soothing to everyone! :)
ChemKnits Tutorials 💙
Get a grip!