Dyepot Weekly #25 - Dyeing a Hand Wound Ball of Yarn for a Fun Gradient

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

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[@kathleenmcquade31]

Rebecca, with the steam coming off, will that not lower the water volume below the level of the ball? Would a lid help that out?

[@KleintoonseBreiwinkel]

Oh WOW!!! That is just stunning! A thought has crossed my mind for something I want to try out to take advantage of those gorgeous colours breaking. Taking several smaller skeins and adding them one at time and removing them just as each broken colour strikes, then adding the next skein etc thereby ending up with three or four skeins of a semi solid colour each, all from the same dye bath, if that in any way makes any sense. Could be loads of fun. ❤

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I have played around with this in the past... but not for a very long time! I realized that one thing that helps with color breaking is to see the timing. So some of it is by feel by raising and lowering the yarn, but you can absolutely do something like this.

[@KleintoonseBreiwinkel]

@ChemKnitsTutorials That makes absolute sense. Thanks so much.

[@janedaniel7288]

WOW loved this fun. The colours are amazing. I honestly didn't expect the dye to get to the centre. Beautiful. xxJane

[@melissapalmer9714]

Thank you for demonstrating how you loosely wound the ball of yarn. I'm going to try this today!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Awesome! I felt it was helpful to people wanting to replicate this (and to me if I'm going to do it again... which I totally am! )

[@concettorametta9005]

My favorite one of your dye experiments so far ! Gorgeous ❤️

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

YAY! Thank you so much.

[@annetteabbott5612]

OMG!! I am so wanting to try my hand at dying yarn!! Such beautiful creations you have!!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

It is SO MUCH FUN! you really should give it a shot! Just make sure if you're using food coloring to use a wool or other protein fiber based yarn.

[@Freakiehippy30]

Wow... that yarn is absolutely gorgeous. I love your yarns that you dye- but- I am halfway thinking- this just might be the blue ribbon winner for most gorgeous colorway. Now I must attempt to replicate it lol

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Wow, I'm so glad you enjoy this one! I think it should be pretty easy to get something similar. Just make sure you wind this ball SUPER loosely and use a non superwash yarn. (I'll try this again soon with sock yarn, but I think that the colors won't penetrate nearly as far.)

[@Ahoraesquees1]

This one is my favorite of all your wool yarn, wilton colors 😍

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you!

[@mary-ruthflores4107]

Love it! Great technique!! Can’t wait to try this!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Yay! Thank you!

[@melissapalmer9714]

That is incredible, Rebecca!!!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you!

[@LunaZola]

I'm drooling. I so desperately love it. I'm going to have to give this a go.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

This was SO FUN and easy. I think that with superwash wool or blend that you might not get as vibrant color penetration to the center since the dyes start to bind really well with no vinegar, but it will certainly be worth a try!

[@singingwolfdyeworks2391]

Wow, you got very distinctive breaking color sall the way through that puppy!! It looks beautiful and of course I really love that oceany tealish blue toward the center. Really nice!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you! I was so pleased with the color penetration! I think the no vinegar at the beginning really helped.

[@singingwolfdyeworks2391]

I'm sure that did help a lot. I delay my citric acid sometimes when I don't want the dye to strike quite so quickly and it makes a difference :-)

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I need to pull out my citric acid. I keep meaning to but I'm so comfy with my vinegar volumes. :)

[@nanakate6586]

My favorite one! The colors are fabulous!👍🏻👍🏻😃

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you! I am excited to play around with this technique more.

[@marieking-stevason1775]

Amazing colors Rebecca!!! Great experiment!!! Happy Dying from Canada 🇨🇦 ❤️Marie

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

thank you, Marie!

[@marieking-stevason1775]

ChemKnits Tutorials Your very welcome!!

[@carolcorcoran9643]

I'm trying this today its in the pot right now. I just added my second round of vinger so wish me luck. I'll share results on IG n I'll try in your Facebook group which I've never done before so fingers crossed. Thanks Rebecca for doing these videos!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

YAY! I hope that you had fun! :D

[@carolcorcoran9643]

@@ChemKnitsTutorials ya was lots of fun. I was a bit bummed that i didn't get your results. I didn't get the blue center mine alternated between the pink n blue all the way through. I believe how it sat in pot had alot to do with that so ya maybe my dye abouts weren't the same just not sure but still pretty i just wanted that gradient n dont think i got it. Oh well still usable.

[@Goalema30]

Love this yarn!!! Definitely do more dyeing with adding vinegar later in the dyeing process!!!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

This is the second one that I've done recently so I'm excited to play around with it more. :)

[@attheranch873]

Love this one! I’d like to see it knitted up.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I have one of these variegated gradients in my stash still. I think it was a blue to green one that I rewound and did again.

[@ashleyclements5477]

I think this is my favorite! So pretty!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

thank you! I was so pleased how much color we got in the center of the ball. Starting with no vinegar really made a difference. I wonder if this would work as well with a superwash yarn.

[@kateryan190]

The colors are gorgeous!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you!

[@kittylevee4662]

OMG‼ That is soooooo BEAUTIFUL😍 💜💙💚💛🧡❤

[@MoonfishSparkle]

So pretty!! What a cool experiment!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you so much!

[@mezibelle5870]

Very pretty

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you!

[@crochetisgroovy9220]

Gorgeous!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you so much! This one turned out so nicely.

[@luckysinclair7327]

Hi Kate thanks for demonstrating your skills to us, are you planning to sell your yarns when you hand dye them? If so I hope you will be able to ship to Jamaica

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I just opened up my Etsy store this week! I have added Jamaica to the list of places where I can ship, so YES I ship there! Here is the shop: chemknitscreations.etsy.com This particular yarn isn't available any more but there are some other worsted weight gradients.

[@KnowMyCats]

Beautiful!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you so much!

[@sandrapolichino8806]

Yeah ... That's pretty !!!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you so much, Sandra!

[@mirandavikanderson6958]

Love this one

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you! This one is a stunner. :)

[@leetravathan]

That is beautiful!!!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thanks, Lee! I really love how it turned out.

[@hannievanballegooy7180]

Great colour. Are you knitting to.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you! I haven't knit this into anything yet, but if I do I'll share it in a video of finished projects.

[@gagaloo83]

I tried this because of a dyeing tutorial I saw on yt. I feel like it affected the yarn. It was a #4 but now it feels really thin. So I probably wound it too tight. I did let it cool before I wound it up again.....will have to experiment

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Winding the yarn loosely is key. Wool has great memory, but you can sort of block it if it is pulled to tight when you wet it. I try to let the yarn dry for a few days before unwinding hte ball to prevent pulling the fibers too much.

[@gagaloo83]

That's my plan this time. Today I rolled it in to a loose ball and am letting it dry before I wind it back up. In the video she rolled it and dyed one end one color, then while it was wet she rolled it and dyed the other end. I think that messed with the fiber too much. My yarn from that looks really neat, but I don't like that it made it smaller and it splits. It looks fine worked up, but still a big disappointing. Also today I tossed one in in the hank, just to see what would happen. It's cooling off now. Excited to see how it will turn out

[@amyp3346]

This. Is. Awesome. 💙💜💙

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you so much!

[@calcrules]

I'm wondering if I could do the same with 300 grams of Felici Fingering. I have a feeling the dye wouldn't penetrate the whole way to the center of a ball that big.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

It might be hard to get the dye to go through all the way. With superwash wool the dye doesn't always go as far into the cake either since the dye starts striking to the outside. What I would do would be to make 3 balls and dye them at the same time. Then I'd alternate between the 3 every couple of rounds to make a super big gradient.

[@GrapeApe2018]

I would love to see this exact same process repeated with a deep green, like a dark emerald or pine. If it turns out like I think, I would buy out the diphenhydramine stock at Walgreens just to be able to wear socks or a headband made with it. I'm going to find someplace to buy some special gloves like the veterinarian wears, if you know which ones I mean, and try this myself. Since you can't do this method with plant fibers, I can't think of a way to replicate the result using the dyes that will work ( now that I know what to use thanks to you and your viewers ) with the cotton/ bamboo yarn I prefer. Any suggestions?

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I think that you could do something similar with tie dye, it would take some more steps. I'll have to try this myself, soon. Hand roll a ball of yarn and use one color of tie dye (or any fiber reactive dye) on the outside. When it is done, rinse out the excess dye, and roll into a skein. Re roll into a ball with the darkest color in the inside, and apply dye to the white side. You could probably get a fun gradient this way. Some fiber reactive dyes break. Some blacks do, I had a blue in my most recent video that broke.

[@paulinetravis9994]

So nice

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you!

[@marilynbunzo3648]

Love it!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you!

[@katemedley3057]

You need to start selling them on etsy! I have a shop and I've done pretty well on there

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thanks, Kate! I plan to have occasional destash sales of the yarns that I dye in these videos. I don't think I want to transition to full on running a shop becuase I want to focus on making videos. Plus, I share all of my secrets with everyone! ;) I do know that a lot of you want to support me so I'm working on ways to set all of this up.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Hi Kate! I just started selling on Etsy! chemknitscreations.etsy.com (I think I might have chatted with you last night, but just in case that was another Kate then I wanted to share the link.)

[@katemedley3057]

ChemKnits Tutorials that was me you talked to last night

[@sometimesiwander7146]

Gorgeous! I love those colors together.

[@dianacrutchfield923]

Do you think hot pink and black would work this way ?

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Black food coloring tends to break into a purply/red and blues. BUT if you were using black acid dyes, I wonder what would happen. Probably a gradient of grey, and hten you could rewind into a second ball and do the other side with pink and it would be really cool.

[@nolamcneely7857]

Is this acrylic? Would it work with wool? It's food dye? I can't wait to try it!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

This is 100% worsted weight wool (the link to the yarn is in the video description) and food coloring based dye. This would not work on acyrlic or cotton unless you used dyes designed for those fiber types.

[@jodiekingsley5181]

How hi heat do you boil your pot of water

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I try to keep it below a boil but I usually end up a bit hotter that at a low simmer.

[@GrapeApe2018]

You can hand wind a center pull ball some videos here on yousss tubes

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I really should check that out! I've never tried before. It stands to reason that it would be possible. :) Thanks for the tip!

[@soniabettini9449]

Ciao , i tuoi video sono magia !!!! Bellissimi , sottotitoli in italiano è possibile ? Complimenti per la fantasia sei contaggiosa ☺☺

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Grazie! Unfortunately I do not speak italian (Thank you google Translate for helping me out) so I cannot put subtitles in Italian.

[@luckysinclair7327]

I would really appreciate it, if you do

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you for your interest!