Crossed Fingers I want to dye some of this yarn. I have heard of the koolaid method, but they don’t have the colors I want. Can I use regular fabric dye? The type I bought says to add salt, but have also heard of needing vinegar. So any help would be great. Thanks
P.S. Do I need to wash the yarn first?
Dying Lion Fishermen's Wool yarn
I dyed some in koolaid. It turned out really neat and had a nice smell. The smell of wet wool or fishermans wool is really stinky btw. Would the salt with the reg dye make it felt? That’s would be my main concern. GL
Jen
Hi Jen! I’ve colored the oiled kind many times. Estimate weight of wool. Get the bottle (s) of Rit dye: Red bottl of dye! in your color and enough water and bulk to cover the weight and bulk of your yarn. Heat water to boiling in large enough pan to cover garment, Add 1/4 cup cider vinegar and 2 tablespoons Rock salt, Cool.
Dye your wool or yarn until desired depth of color pleases you. block items; flat on an old towel or sheet. Wrap dyed yarn around a disposable box
hello
i’ve dyed lion brand wool more than a few times and i just used liquid food coloring. you do need to add vinegar with that.
here are some links for food coloring and koolaid dyeing
http://pieknits.blogspot.com/2006/02/dyeing-with-wiltons-icing-dye.html
this has more than one method.
http://www.woolfestival.com/articles/koolaid.htm
http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall02/FEATdyedwool.html
i usually only soak for 15 minutes and press out air bubbles in the yarn but soaking the wool longer might give you more solid coloring.
and jens is right… it does kind of smell like a wet sheep :teehee:
but it’s not too bad
and there is also a whole section here that includes dyeing if you’d care to search around on that for even more info