How to Hand-Dye Yarn with Easter Egg Dye

Have you ever thought about creating your own hand dyed yarn?  I discovered a simple way to do it with non toxic dyes in your kitchen!  This is a simple way to hand-dye yarn using Easter Egg Dye!  And now is the time to do it – when all the stores are carrying boxes and boxes of Easter Egg Dye!

hand dying yarn with egg dye

When it comes to color, I have a tendency to gravitate towards lots of it.  And since I cannot ever seem to choose just one color, I love the variegated yarns and self striping yarns when I want to knit something.  Usually, the brighter the better.

To me, color is such an amazing thing and I simply can’t get too much of it.  Yes, I’m a child of the 60’s, can’t you tell?

hand dying yarn with egg dye

And because I’m a crafty individual, I simply can’t stop at just buying the yarn.  I wanted to hand-dye my own yarn!  I had read that it could be done rather easily using Kool-Aid, food coloring or egg dye.

Since I just snapped up a bunch of egg dye at 50% off; egg dye it would be.

hand dying yarn with egg dye

 For this project I used:

Superwash Merino Wool (found at Hobby Lobby)*
White Distilled Vinegar
Easter Egg Dye (2 kits)
Crock Pot

*It is important that you use Animal fibers — wool, mohair, alpaca, or any other fiber that comes from an animal — are one of the most simple fibers to dye because the dye clings quite easily to the fibers.  

If you want to dye anything that is plant fiber such as cotton, you would need to use a much stronger acid dye.

You have many options here.  You could undo the strings and wrap the yarn into a longer loop.  This would create longer areas of each color.  Or you could do what I did and keep it this way.  In either case, be sure to tie it in several more places to keep it from knotting when you work with it.

It is suggested that you use an acrylic yarn for tying as the acrylic will not take the color.

hand dying yarn with egg dye

Soak the yarn in a vinegar/water solution (1 cup vinegar to 2 gallons water) in your sink for about an hour.  Vinegar is used because an acid is needed to bind the color to the yarn.

If you were using Kool Aid, the vinegar would not be necessary as Kool Aid has an acid base.

how to dye yarn with easter egg dye

Mix up your preferred colors using two tablets of each color and mixing with vinegar and water per the instructions from the Egg Dye Box.

hand dying yarn with egg dye5

Lay out a trash bag or sheet of plastic to protect your counter.  Lift the yarn from the water/vinegar bath and carefully lay it on the plastic.

Sitcom 2 step option

Use a turkey baster to saturate sections of the yarn with color.  (Use two to three colors at the most- too many colors may result in brown yarn).

how to dye yarn with easter egg dye

After the yarn is fully saturated, move it to your crock pot.

Yep, you can use your kitchen utensils on this project.  Unlike acid dyes, these dyes are safe to work with in your kitchen!

Do not stir.  Put the cover on the crock pot and set the crockpot on high.  Allow the yarn to steam for about an hour.

how to dye yarn with easter egg dye

After an hour, carefully lift your yarn out with tongs and allow it to cool.  Because it is wool, it can felt and you don’t want that.  So don’t mess with it too much until it has cooled.

Sitcom 2 step option

Once it has cooled, rinse in luke warm water (the same temp as the yarn) and then place between two thirsty towels and press out as much of the water as you can.

how to dye yarn with easter egg dye

Here I have it drying on my make-shift yarn dryer rack. Ol’ Venus finally came in handy. All this time, she’s been hanging out in my dining room, showing off her nakedness and sponging off of me. Finally, she earns her keep. And if you ask me, she looks pretty darn good in my yarn.

Work it, girl.

how to dye yarn with easter egg dye

The final product. A little more on the green side than I wanted, but an awesome first attempt. I can’t wait to see how it knits up.

This is a nice safe project for the kiddos too.  Remember, Kool Aid or food coloring can be used.

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