Hand-dyeing multicoloured yarn with speckles

Yarn with speckles is perfect if you want a beautiful play of colours in your knitting or crochet project. The advantage of dyeing the yarn yourself is that you decide which colour combinations you want the multicoloured/speckled yarn to have. If you are interested in hand-dyeing your own yarn and are not afraid to experiment with multicoloured/speckled hand-dyeing, then read this guide. We provide advice as to what equipment to use as well as to the dyeing process itself.

You can also check out our guides for grad-dyeing yarn and solid yarn dyeing if you need more even inspiration for hand-dyeing yarn.

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What you need

• 1 bowl
• 1 measuring cup
• White vinegar
• 1 microwave + 1 bowl suitable for microwave use
• Microwave cling film – important that it is suitable for microwave use
• 1 hank of yarn– see Sundsvall yarn for hand-dyeing
• Jute thread – See Jute thread
• Batik colour dye – See Batik colour dye/textile colour
• Disposable gloves or cleaning gloves
• 1 pipette
• Eucalan wool wash - See

Fremgangsmåde

1) Tie jute thread around the yarn. Tie at least 2 threads to ensure that you can control the hank during the colouring process.

2) Soak the yarn in an acid bath. The proportion is 0,3 cup of white vinegar per 1,2 cups of water for minimum half an hour. Do not pour out the acid bath.

3) Pick the yarn up from the acid bath, wring it slightly and place it on a surface that can be dirty. We have used a baking tray with baking paper. Spread out the yarn so that as much yarn as possible is exposed.

4) We have put the pipette directly into the colour bottle and rinsed it between each colour. The colours used are orange, pink, corn yellow, red, brilliant blue and lilac. However, you can experiment with colour intensity and mix them with water or mix the colours.

5) Fill the pipette with your colour mix. Don’t forget to wear gloves!

6) We have used 3 different “dripping methods”:

• If you hold the pipette above the yarn and knock on it with the finger, you create small speckles.
• If you press the pipette lightly while you move it over the yarn, you create larger coloured areas.
• If you hold the pipette still and drip straight down multiple times, you create longer colour runs.

NB! It may be necessary to turn the hank slightly during the dyeing process in order to distribute the colours evenly. Don’t be afraid to experiment.

7) Place the hank in the bowl suited for microwave use.

8) Cover the bowl with cling film for microwave use. Make sure that the film covers the bowl completely

9) The yarn is now heated up 3 times. Each round lasts 2 minutes at 900 W. Open the microwave between each heating to ventilate. Make sure that the cling film still covers the bowl completely.

10) Take out the bowl – Be careful, it’s hot! Remove the cling film and pour out excess colour.

11) Place the hank in the acid bath again for approximately half an hour.

12) Prepare a bath with lukewarm water and Eucalan wool wash. Wash the hank, rinse it with cold water until the water is clear and hang it to dry.

Other guides for dyeing yarn

If you want to try other forms of yarn-dyeing, you can find more inspiring free guides in our webshop. These include processes such as:

• Grad-dyeing yarn
• Hand-dyeing yarn with batik colour dye
• Solid yarn dyeing