dyeing for the first time

[Scherazade]

hey all!!

one of my crochet students is working on a baby blanket, she used cotton yarn available in most shops here in the UAE, she didnt buy all the colors she needed and started working on the project thinking that the shops will get other new colors later on with the new stock! but they didn't! and she was stuck and for a long time! she was looking for an orange cotton yarn which she couldnt find anywhere. (sadly no other color matched her colorful 'girl' baby blanket). and buying through the internet is very costly and so i got the idea of dyeing!! ehehehehe... and i tried it today!! I LOVE IT!

anyways, i had a little problem while dyeing. let me tell u what i did. i followed dyeing instructions and all worked nicely, but inorder for the yarn not to get tangled what i did was knot all the yarn strands together on both ends. (my english is bad and i couldnt find words to explain this... i hope u understand what im trying to tell u) i didnt knot it tightly though. so after the dyeing was done, the area of knots turned out lightly colored or even white!! it was so depressing!

but im still happy for it! i didnt show it to my student yet.. our class is on wed. and i hope she wont have a problem with lightly dyed areas compared to the whole thing!

 

any suggestions about dyeing yarn and avoiding tangles without knotting the yarn together?!

[losingmymind2]

That is a hard one, I've used a second piece of yarn to tie my skeins together and there were lighter places on them. I hope someone more experienced can help you.

[Roxanne]

Yes, tie the yarn hank in about 4 different areas loosely and it should be fine. To avoid the white areas where it's tied, don't tie it too tightly so the yarn is loose enough to allow the dye to penetrate the yarn throughout even where it's together. That should do it...I had trouble with white areas the first time, loosened the tied areas and it was fine after that.

[earthwhisper]

What you did is what they called "tie-dyed" as in when you take a cotton t-shirt and tie it in spots and then dye it you will get areas of white where the ties are.

 

Just tie pieces around a lot looser. You can also you a smaller thread.

[Scherazade]

i guess tieing the yarn losely with thread is a good idea. ill make sure i do that the next time i dye.

 

thanks everyone