Dyeing Yarn with Dye Tablets Inserted into a Pre-wound Yarn Cake

[@sandysmith1973]

WOW! at first I was like, "but that's too many colours..." But it looks like a stained glass window! SO PRETTY!

[@LaynieFingers]

I always love watching your videos! I feel like I could get obsessed with dying yarn... just watching other people do it is so satisfying!

[@mammaanka4081]

I just love to watch your videos and experiments. You are so positive and seem to "let your inner child out to play".

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

That is an excellent description. ;) Thank you!

[@janetlapierre8307]

Just found your site and am VERY excited to trying to dye my own yarn. Love that your not afraid to experiment with different techniques. Love love love it.

[@dominiquemichaud7945]

The results of this experiment are my favorites so far. Thank you for taking the time to share it with us!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I'm so glad that you enjoyed it! It is so much fun to test and see where these things end up.

[@southerngirlhandmadeknit]

Dang I have to change my mind again.. THIS is my favorite end result so far. Gorgeoussss!

[@zensoulfire]

I would love to see a video of some of the items you have made with your finished yarn through the years. :)

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

This video features some of the things I've knit up. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nnaVf5yDjNpgnpY

[@menon1371]

That came out lovely!

[@globalhikingcr]

What an exciting colourway! 😍👍🏼

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you!

[@gemmaf_]

This one was a fun experiment!! Love hearing the excitement in your voice as you see how its changing :-)

[@latitude1904]

So very pretty. I would be excited to see what it looks like knitted up. Always enjoy your videos.

[@ShintogaDeathAngel]

I really love how that turned out, those colours are very nice together :)

[@fredadavenport6869]

Thank you again for another great dying podcast. I think I will try this using two 50 gm balls of yarn wind together so I could get a matching pair of socks.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Awesome! I did this with a single 100g skein that I cut in half after winding into two separate skeins. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qZfHmaqNr9OSmKc

[@kindredcottagelife]

Ok, but iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii wanna see it knit or crocheted up!!!! Love your videos and experiments! Thanks so much for sharing!!!

[@donnavolponi9911]

Hi, I bought 100% wool. They didn't have white so I got off white. I guess it'll be fine. I can't wait to try it. Thank you for the in formation

[@HollyMae55]

I ADORE this yarn! It turned out so good. It's almost Easter, so I'm sure I'll be able to find some Easter egg dye. :)

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Holly Mae plus clearance in a week. ;)

[@ooohlaa13]

i just got 20 packs for 30 cents each at Family Dollar. They were $1 originally so hope the dye is as good as the $$$ ones. They only have 6 colors, fine with me to learn the craft. thanx again.

[@wandamuise2636]

That one is gorgeous! Love your videos.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you!

[@dazydook4099]

That turned out pretty!

[@imakethings3953]

Love watching the transitions

[@glendasmith7507]

I really like the tie dye affect of this experiment

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you!

[@donnavolponi9911]

Hi, I just got finished dying 2 cake's. They came out beautiful. I can't wait to go to my spinner and weaver guild and my knitting group. I can't wait to show them off. I will be doing this again.By the way I used patons 100% wool, 3.5oz., worsted. winter white. I think I'm going to make a vest. I think I'm going to make one of those PVC pipe knitty notty when I get a chance. I have a wooden one, but I want a bigger one. Thank you soooo much for doing the videos.

[@PinkSander]

That is GORGEOUS!

[@KristinMoran]

Fun video! I wanted to drop in a hank of yarn to soak up those extra colors as they came out of the cake. Or a silk scarf underneath.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Now I know what went wrong. I needed a LOT more vinegar! The dye tablets that I used here didn't have citric acid in them, unlike the very first ones that I used. :D

[@kathleenkillen7820]

It came out very pretty!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you so much!

[@noneyadambidness_1]

I just used that same kit on some yarn. I did the pink an purple tabs an it turned out great. love watching ur videos.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Yay!

[@CharleneRichards13]

Ooooo I luv the colours of the yarn! I would like to see how the colour way knits up👍🏼 Awesome video 😊

[@gillmiller5193]

Love the final skein - will knit up beautifully - would love to see what you do with it. Thank you.

[@oksanadubickaite6479]

thats looks amaizing, i have to find this easter egg dye tablets in my country :D but it does look very nice blended colors. thumbs up!

[@ArtByKarenEHaley]

That is soooooo pretty!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you so much!

[@tweetspie06]

I would loove to buy something like this. Like, an unsuspecting white cake of yarn with dye tablets inside and instructions on how to boil it and then you get your own unique yarn that you dyed yourself

[@beanixdorf6977]

Oh that’s beautiful.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you!

[@LaynieFingers]

It's possible to hand-wind a yarn cake too, and if you use a thick core to start off, you can get some nice cakes with open centers! I love winding my yarn into cakes... 😁

[@jeangreenfield5993]

Very tie-dye 😍! ✌

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you!

[@bloopblerp]

Ooooooohhhhhhh you should use these in those metal ball tea strainers (different colours on opposite sides of the pot) and do a dip dye! P.s. I love your videos! What an inspiration!

[@angelacrochetsart3304]

So pretty and I really want to try this! Wow!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

It is SO MUCH fun to use these tablets!

[@kjersey6781]

wow it's beautiful

[@joanncampos7320]

That is beautiful I love it.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thanks!

[@hdouget]

Sweet colors

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you!

[@donnavolponi9911]

you always do a good job. I love watching this video and your other ones too. I'm going to try this. Could I use 100% wool yarn?

[@LaynieFingers]

donna volponi Yes, you sure can!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Absolutely!

[@Kimscrochetandknits]

love the colours:)

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you, Kim!

[@EchoatTheOakAnchor]

That is beautiful!

[@laceyj1204]

Do you think that leaving it to simmer longer would have helped more dye to adhere to the yarn?

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

No. It really needed more vinegar.

[@mommyandmissy]

thanks so cool i love dyeing things

[@lorastafford8237]

I use apple cider vinegar for dying since I almost never buy white vinegar honestly but I've noticed it does really vibrant colors with easter egg tablets

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Lora Stafford I do so much dyeing so I buy white vinegar for that. I'll have to try cider vinegar sometime. I like how it smells better. :)

[@ooohlaa13]

so glad for this share ... i was about to buy vinegar and i just realized I have 3 large bottles ACV i bought on sale a while back ... do you shake it up to include the ferment mother, or do you just use it from the top?

[@ooohlaa13]

i should have mentioned its organic, which is why the mother is in there. (this is the origin of the fermentation and very probiotic.)

[@cindymaag4212]

What do you think would've happened with dye had you started with pre-soaked yarn instead of dry yarn?

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I've dyed both presoaked and dry cakes of yarn in the past. It would be a bit messy to add the dye tablets to wet yarn, but it is technically possible. Presoaked - kzbin.info/www/bejne/jJPMhINjgs6XZtk Dry - kzbin.info/www/bejne/imWocoqIiZuLpac&t tightly wound vs loosely wound cakes of yarn - kzbin.info/www/bejne/pJmoeZmbaM1mmqM

[@cindy5562]

BEAUTIFUL!!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you! I need to do this again. I love using these tablets.

[@sobat7402]

It is beautifull!!

[@donnavolponi9911]

Hi, I'm at the store. can u use 75% acrylic and 30% nylon?

[@ThePhantazmya]

I would be very interested in seeing how that knits up. I bet it would make pretty socks.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Fern Moore asymmetrical socks. :) I did this once where I would two ends of the yarn together so in ould have two identical asymmetric yarns.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Cake dyeing with two strands wound together: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qZfHmaqNr9OSmKc

[@karleenpage5979]

A bit late to this party! Did you ever make anything with this? It's gorgeous. I love the overall turquoise cast to it!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I think that this yarn went to one of my kickstarter backers back in 2017? Was that when I did that? I think so.... Wow.

[@AntoinetteDurrette]

I would like a few skeins or cakes of this!! Imma have to try this at home! What would you suggest if I don’t have a knitty knotty machine! I have nothing but a small ball winder but I want to try this on sum I dyed yarn I have

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Do you have a large Tupperware container? Or a medium plastic box? You could wind the yarn around one of those. Since you're winding wet, plastic would work better than cardboard, but I've even used a chair for (dry) projects).

[@creationsbychristieb]

Do you have projects you can show where you've used the yarns?

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

This exact yarn, no. A lot of my yarns I have sent out to Kickstarter backers this fall. Some of the backers have volunteered for me to use pictures of what they've knit with the yarns so I can create some slideshow videos. After I get a few more submissions I should be making the first one.

[@SarahHbooksnfabric]

What would the result be if you tried this with a rolled up sock blank?

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

You mean something like this? kzbin.info/www/bejne/oZC7coF_ibWJp7M ;)

[@lorisagray]

Could you use citric acid instead of the vinegar?

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Lorisa Gray absolutely! I'm not sure how much you'd need to add but citric acid works great for dyeing yarn

[@TarotLadyLissa]

I know this is an older video but I was watching all of your Easter egg dye videos and it got me thinking. I wonder if those kids bath coloring tablets would work similarly? If you’ve tried it let me know!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

A lot of those have similar ingredients to the egg dyes. They will fizz which makes me a little worried for agitation, but I think the easter egg tablets can fizz, too. One thing that really bugged me was the marketing on those kids bath tablets. Some of them have no ingredients lists on the packages at all! I did find one brand with ingreidents and so know there is food coloring in there. I once used a fizzy bath ball and it stained the tub so badly. I started making my own without food coloring so I could have the fizz without the food coloring ring. :D

[@marydebo-brehm9088]

I love watching your videos! How do you calculate/determine the ratio of vinegar to water?

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Hi Mary! In general I just chose the amount of vinegar based on my experience with how quickly colors absorb. For food coloring that I'm mixing myself, I like to use anywhere between 1-3 tablespoons of white vinegar / 8 cups water. Blues need a little more vinegar and time to strike than reds. With Easter egg tablets, you need to use a LOT more vinegar. It turns out that a lot of dye tablets do NOT have citric acid in them at all, and the sodium bicarbonate in the tablets raises the pH. (The first batch of tablets I ever used had both citric acid and sodium bicarbonate, so I didn't need quite as much vinegar as I needed in some of the mroe recent experiments.) If you pH is neutral or basic, the colors will not bind to the yarn, so you want to make sure you use enough citric acid or vinegar for the solution to be acidic.

[@marydebo-brehm9088]

Wonderful, thank you for the information! I'm thinking of branching out into the world of dyeing after a bit more research :)

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

You should! I'm always happy to help. :) Members of the ChemKnits Lab group are also really fast to answer questions if I'm away from the computer for a while.

[@elizabethramirez5216]

That was AWESOME! I have a ton of easter egg dye pellets I bought for almost nothing last year and I'm going to try this. You have the best videos on youtube, thank you so much! One question: was the yarn a knotted mess when you were winding it to the niddy noddy?

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Elizabeth Ramirez no, not a knotted mess. just a wet mess. I will try to wind onto the niddy noddy from the center out next time since it would be easier. but the reveal is more fun the other way. it may be a little bit of a mess after the second washing since I didn't tie it down well but that is my own fault. ;)

[@latitude1904]

I tried this and my yarn ended up really muddy colored. I think I fiddled with it too much trying to get it to sink. When I put the dry yarn in it floated so that only about 1/2 an inch was beneath the water. I pushed it down as in the video, but when I did, the colors quickly came out, mixed and I got a horrid, muted color. I wound my cake loosely, maybe too loosely. I think that was the problem. I'm heading out to buy another skein of bare sock yarn and another egg coloring kit to try this again. This time, I will cake the yarn more tightly, and I'm considering even soaking the ball a bit before adding the pellets, so I don't have to push it down so many times trying to get it not to float. That way, there will be hardly any movement which should help to alleviate the muddying of the colors. I will overdye my muddy cake with some dark green acid dyes - I think that will work.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Lori Carson try also adding more vinegar. then the colors will strike to the yarn sooner. I'm going to play around with this more to try to optimize it. :)

[@latitude1904]

Hi Rebecca. Thank you for the reply. Just got back from the store with a dye kit and wool. I've caked it up, and was just re-watching your video to make sure I wouldn't do it wrong this time. Whatever you did, it was so-so perfect and the yarn you came out with was absolutely delightful. Keeping my fingers crossed it will work out this time. Wondering if I should pre-wet the skein so it won't float so much. Thinking I should instead do just as you did.

[@donnavolponi9911]

Hi, how long do you simmer?

[@dianacrutchfield923]

I just found your videos . I have a electric stove , how would this work on electric stove ?

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Welcome to the channel, Diana! I have used an electric hot plate to dye yarn, so you could absolutely use an electric stove. It is a little harder to adjust the temperature on an electric stove than a gas stove, so this is the one thing you will need to keep in mind as you are planning out your projects.

[@rakeshchaurasia5878]

Which tablet has been used for dying from where I can purcjasef

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

These are tablets from Easter egg dyeing kits (brands like Paas)

[@roxannenelson8094]

Have you ever tried JELLO or would the gelatin cause trouble?

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Roxanne Nelson I haven't. I think it would be a huge pain to wash the geletin out of the yarn, especially since it would set with heat! I used rice once and that was a huge pain.

[@roxannenelson8094]

thank you I knew the gelatin would cause a problem but had forgotten about the heat.

[@britnichurch8245]

soooooo pretty!!!!!!!! :D

[@michellewohlgemuth8847]

Does the yarn stay after you crochet/knit into a project, and wash.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

It does! Here is a video where I put a swatch through the washing machine (on cold. Warm water washes can cause some of the dye to bleed for yarn dyed with acid dyes, including food coloring.) kzbin.info/www/bejne/pZfXpICOo9-lq8k

[@donnavolponi9911]

Thanks for the info

[@leetravathan]

I love the content of this video... but the out of focus shots made it hard for me to keep watching. But I did love how you did this. Thanks! xo

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I'm so sorry about the focus issues, I was super angry when I noticed those as I was editing. :(

[@leetravathan]

I've had it happen too on my videos. Not to worry... I still got a lot out of it... just had to come back to it to let my old tired eyes adjust. lol xo

[@desireebarhorst-weller1767]

Did you get your coloring tablets from the Netherlands? Because Paas (or Pasen) means Easter in Dutch

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I didn't, but that is AWESOME. I wondered where the name Paas came from. They sell this brand all over the US.

[@alonabergmane3170]

Hi! Sorry, my english is so bad. But I with love look your video and bless you - I understand every yours word!

Amazing

[@kj-sf4md]

I kept thinking...put in a strainer and let it drip/cool

[@jodiekingsley5181]

Love

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you!

[@lindabj13]

What is the name of this that you use to get the yarn up on

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I used a niddy noddy (the H shaped thing) to wind the yarn on. kzbin.info/www/bejne/epLRhYCnp8erqrM

[@mommyandmissy]

if u go to my page u can see what i do thanks

[@donnavolponi9911]

Hi, I just got finished dying 2 cake's. They came out beautiful. I can't wait to go to my spinner and weaver guild and my knitting group. I can't wait to show them off. I will be doing this again.By the way I used patons 100% wool, 3.5oz., worsted. winter white. I think I'm going to make a vest. I think I'm going to make one of those PVC pipe knitty notty when I get a chance. I have a wooden one, but I want a bigger one. Thank you soooo much for doing the videos.

[@donnavolponi9911]

Hi, I bought 100% wool. They didn't have white so I got off white. I guess it'll be fine. I can't wait to try it. Thank you for the in formation

[@donnavolponi9911]

you always do a good job. I love watching this video and your other ones too. I'm going to try this. Could I use 100% wool yarn?

[@donnavolponi9911]

Hi, I'm at the store. can u use 75% acrylic and 30% nylon?

[@donnavolponi9911]

Thanks for the info

[@donnavolponi9911]

Hi, how long do you simmer?

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

donna volponi 20-30 min.

[@donnavolponi9911]

Hi, I just got finished dying 2 cake's. They came out beautiful. I can't wait to go to my spinner and weaver guild and my knitting group. I can't wait to show them off. I will be doing this again.By the way I used patons 100% wool, 3.5oz., worsted. winter white. I think I'm going to make a vest. I think I'm going to make one of those PVC pipe knitty notty when I get a chance. I have a wooden one, but I want a bigger one. Thank you soooo much for doing the videos.

[@donnavolponi9911]

Hi, I bought 100% wool. They didn't have white so I got off white. I guess it'll be fine. I can't wait to try it. Thank you for the in formation

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Off white is perfect! Sometimes I dye on white yarn but non-pure whites ("natural or bare colors" actually dye better. White yarn has usually been bleached at some point since sheep aren't usually pure white. I'm so glad that you're going to do this!

[@donnavolponi9911]

you always do a good job. I love watching this video and your other ones too. I'm going to try this. Could I use 100% wool yarn?

[@donnavolponi9911]

Hi, I'm at the store. can u use 75% acrylic and 30% nylon?

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Acrylic won't take up food coloring at all, so it will work best with 100% wool or a wool blend.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I've done 20% wool, 80% acrylic but this results in more muted colors. I've never tested 100% nylon before. I wool nylon blends (75% wool, 25% nylon) work AMAZING. That is what I used in this video.

[@donnavolponi9911]

Hi, I just got finished dying 2 cake's. They came out beautiful. I can't wait to go to my spinner and weaver guild and my knitting group. I can't wait to show them off. I will be doing this again.By the way I used patons 100% wool, 3.5oz., worsted. winter white. I think I'm going to make a vest. I think I'm going to make one of those PVC pipe knitty notty when I get a chance. I have a wooden one, but I want a bigger one. Thank you soooo much for doing the videos.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Yay! I'm glad that you had a lot of fun. :) The best part of the PVC niddy noddy is that I can adjust the size really easily, just swap out the middle pipe for a longer one. Best $6 I ever spent.

[@latitude1904]

If you go to Lowe's, the worker will cut the pvc for you, so all you have to do when you get home is put it together. I think I paid less than $4 for mine and ended up with an extra-long piece remaining for long gradient dyes. Caution: if you leave the T-connector connected to the pvc for too long, you may never be able to remove it (though they are cheap to replace). That's what happened to mine, in my closet drawer. Best to take it apart between uses, I think.