Crafty Herbal Knitter

I thought I would post a couple pictures of some of my finished diaper soakers that I knitted. Both were also hand-dyed by me. I dyed them both with Wilton’s food coloring. The purple one I dip dyed and the other one I kettle dyed. The kettle dyed one was a lot of fun because you can be as random as you want to be. I really winged that one too and it turned out pretty nice I think. I made them both from the Flirty Skirky and Undersoaker pattern found at Little Turtle Knits.

To kettle dye the yarn for one of the soakers I first started with yarn that I had soaked in water with a splash of vinegar for a few hours. I then added it to my empty dye pot. How you place the yarn in the pot will effect the resulting pattern as well as where you place the dye. To the pot, I then added some water to just cover the yarn. You don’t want to fill it too full of water because when you add your dye you will have more control over where it goes. Slowly heat the yarn and water to just below a simmer. As the yarn and water are heating up dissolve about 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of food coloring gel in a cup with boiling water. Once the water and yarn are warm enough, slowly add one color of dye to an area of yarn. I like to use a turkey baster to apply the dye because it gives me more control over where the dye goes. Let the yarn stay just below a simmer in the pot until the dye has exhausted. You will know this has happened when the water turns clear. This means the yarn has absorbed all of the dye. Once the dye has exhausted you can add another color and not worry about the two dyes blending. Continue as described above until you have completed your yarn. Once dyeing is complete let the yarn cool completely and then rinse in warm soapy water. Have fun!

Filed under: Cloth Diapers, Dyeing, Dyeing with Food Coloring, Knitting on October 19th, 2007