Everything you need to know about how to dye yarn

What yarn is best for dyeing?

We want your first steps in yarn dyeing to be easy, and that means sticking with animal (protein) fibres for your at home yarn dyeing. While acrylics and cottons are great for quick and affordable knitting, these fibres don’t hold dye easily. In contrast, alpaca, merino, wool, and mohair absorb dye really well.

What can I dye yarn with?

This is the fun bit. Choosing the colours! Did you know most of the ingredients you need for dyeing yarn can be found in your very own kitchen cupboard? (I know we were amazed too!) Kool-Aid, food colouring, certain leaves and flowers, and lots of fruit and veg make great yarn dyes and can give you brilliant colours.

The great thing about dyeing your own yarn is that you can create your own totally unique shades. There’s hours of fun to be had, mixing dyes to come up with your own hue. Here’s some of our favourite things you can use to dye your yarn. This is your time to get seriously creative in the kitchen, and we have a feeling you’re going to love it.

Yellow Onion Skins

Yellow onion skins don’t need long to extract colour – these will be done giving pigment in about 30 minutes. It gives a gentle yellow-orange hue that shows up best on white yarns.

Raspberries (pictured below, left)

Raspberries should be pulped before steeping in water to extract colour, and need to be strained out of the dye bath before you drop in your yarn. Raspberries give a truly gorgeous pastel pink hue.

Blackberries (pictured below, right)

Blackberries are very plentiful in the summer, and you could pick enough to dye a whole closet of thick wintry jumpers. This dye can be a little bit sticky, so make sure you rinse your yarn well after dyeing.

Red Onion Skins

Red onion skins give a similar shade to yellow onion skins, but slightly darker. They do not give the burgundy red that you might expect! Like the other skins, you only need the skins of 2 or 3 onions per 100 grams of yarn. Blue Sky Alpacas Sport Weight yarn, which is 100% alpaca is perfect for dyeing and will absorb the colour of the onion skins beautifully.

Red Cabbage

Thanks to its chemical composition, red cabbage is a very interesting vegetable to work with. Boiled in plain water, the dye turns blue! This dye takes a little longer to adhere to the yarn than other dyes, so it’s best to let it simmer for around 3 hours.

The science of dyeing yarn

As a rule of thumb, it’s relatively easy to dye animal fibers at home, but a whole lot more difficult to dye plant fibers. This is where the nerdy (we mean science) bit comes in. The difference in a yarn’s ability to absorb dye, is all to do with the cellular structure of these fibres, and how they chemically bond with different types of dye. Still with us? Let’s get down to the knitty-gritty.

Acid and natural dyes for animal (protein) fibres

An acid dye (like food colouring and Kool Aid) reacts in an acidic environment to form strong hydrogen bonds with the proteins in the animal fibres. If you’re using natural dyes (which don’t have that natural acidity) all you need to do is add a mordant (alum powder, vinegar, salt, or even cream of tartar) to strengthen those teeny weeny Hydrogen bonds with the proteins.

All-purpose dyes for fibre blends

All-purpose dyes like Rit are great if you’re dyeing fibre blends. They contain both an acid dye, which forms a chemical reaction with the animal fibres and a direct dye, which works on the plant fibres in the blend. If only one fibre is present, the other chemical reaction is wasted and remains unused, which means it’s no good for dyeing plant fibres because it’s difficult to tell when all the dye is taken up. Direct dyes can only form weak hydrogen bonds too, so they have trouble retaining pigment when washed.

Fibre reactive dyes for cellulose (plant based) fibres

Fibre reactive dyes are the best option for dyeing plant based yarns like cotton, linen and bamboo. The fibre reactive dyes create a covalent bond, which are very strong and resistant to breaking (it’s why you can wash a cotton t-shirt dozens of times before you see any fading). If you want to find yourself a fibre reactive dye, use a tie-dye kit, which already has the soda ash additive mixed into the powder.

What basic supplies do I need?

I bet you’re dye-ing to get started now, right? First things first, here’s the basic supplies you need for any yarn dyeing project. While the specifics will change depending on what dye you choose to use, the basic supplies of dyeing yarn will remain the same.

1. A dye bath: anything like pots, casserole dishes or any kind of large container that can hold your yarn while it’s being dyed. Avoid a vessel made of aluminium as it will alter the way the dye works.
2. Dishwashing gloves
3. Toothpicks
4. Spoons
5. Mordant*
6. Your dye of choice
7. Animal fibre yarn

*A mordant is a substance used to help bind the dye to the yarn fibre. The following guides on dyeing with pantry items and dyeing with natural dyes include the specific mordant required for the dye you're using.

Hand dyed yarns

Phew! We hope that you now feel like a yarn dyeing pro, and that hand dyed yarn is in your future! Dyeing at home may not be your main thing, and even if it isn't, hand dyed yarns can still hold a place in your heart and your stash. Professional, hand dyed yarns are only a click away!