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Giveaway: The Modern Natural Dyer and a Yarn Dyeing Kit!

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This week I'm giving away a great book on dyeing and a kit so you can try it yourself.

Sock Hop Kit

This is such a fun giveaway I can’t even stand it. Kristine Vejar of A Verb for Keeping Warm has a new book out called The Modern Natural Dyer. It’s all about how to dye yarn and fabric with natural dyes, and it’s a beautiful book that’s sure to inspire anyone who’s ever had the least bit of interest in dyeing to try it.

And if you’ve done some dyeing before you’re going to love it, too, but it’s really great for people who might be intimidated by the process because there are really detailed, step-by-step instructions on the general processes of dyeing as well as 20 projects where she’s done the math for you and tells you exactly what you need for success.

The projects are varied and include things like tea dyeing onesies, indigo dyeing silk scarves, dyeing wool top to make felted balls for a necklace and, of course, dyeing yarn and then knitting it.

To make it even easier, A Verb for Keeping Warm is selling project kits for a few of the projects, including a sewing kit dyed with pressed flowers, a premade pair of socks, a bandanna for indigo dyeing and the Northwoods Hat kit, which includes a skein of Quince & Co. Puffin and all the supplies you need to dye it.

I got to try the kit out, and as you can see I chose purple, but there are a few different dyes you can choose from. It’s a long but not difficult process, and I had a lot of fun (and dyed mine two shade by leaving part of the yarn out of the dye pot for 30 minutes of the dyeing time). I can’t wait to get started on the hat and am sure I’ll love wearing it all winter knowing I not only knit it but dyed it, too.

So, this week’s giveaway is both a copy of this excellent book and your choice of kit. (I’d go with the hat but it’s really up to you.)

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post before the end of the day Sunday, November 15, for your chance to win. (United States only, please.) I’d love to know if you have any experience with dyeing, or which one of the kits you would choose.

Thanks for visiting, commenting and sharing, and good luck!

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Comments

  1. How exciting! The hat..all sound like fun. I’ve over-dyed yarn with Kool-Ade, and also have tried eco-dying on paper and muslin this fall- my appetite has been whetted. Some have worked, some not, but it is all fun.

  4. I would love to try natural dying, and the book seems like an excellent resource! Your test on this is beautiful.

  7. I am really intrigued by the thought of dyeing yarn. The hand dyes that you purchase are always just beautiful. I often wonder if it is something that you have to learn to do well.

  8. When my children were young, we dyed with koolaid, with tea, & with coffee.
    If I actually won, I’d want the hat kit like you because you actually get to dye yarn. I’d have picked the sock kit, but you’re dying a pair of ready made socks, not yarn to knit your own, so that wouldn’t be fun.

  11. I’ve sort of tried dyeing wool. I tried with koolaid and I don’t think I really finished it. But I’ve been dying to try again! I would love this kit! I have tons of nondyed wool that’s just waiting to be dyed!

  16. The Dyeing I have done was an adventure lol I used permanent markers and alcohol and it turned out , believe it or not, GORGEOUS! I think the hat kit would be awesome!

  17. I love dyeing yarn/fabric. I’ve only done kool-aid dye & tea, coffee, & a few vegetables. The kits look fun!

  20. This would be fun! I’ve dyed fabric before but never yarn. I think I would pick the socks kit as my favorite.

  21. The Northwoods hat kit looks like so much fun! I attended a weekend natural dyeing workshop at a farm the summer before last and it was wonderful! I learned so much and would like to do some dyeing at home too.

  22. As a teenager of a certain time period tie-dying t-shirts with koolaid or Rit dye was just done. Later I worked at a vintage clothing store and one of my tasks was to tea or coffee dye fabric pieces so that the aged fabric had a more even tone.

    I prefer the Sock Hop kit but any one of them would be fun.

  28. I have (not very successfully) tried dyeing fabric in the past to make some curtains. It was AWFUL!!! I don’t really know what I did wrong, I went over the directions repeatedly and it still came out horrible, I pray it was me or the fabric itself. I would love to try the bandana kit (my niece would too!)

  31. I’ve dyed some fabric using synthetic dyes, and some yarn with Kool Aid, but that was pre-kids, so a long time ago. I’ve never done any natural dyeing at all but would love to try some.

  36. Hat, please! I have done microwave dyeing. I guess we all knew KoolAid permanently stains anything.

  37. What a great giveaway! I’ve never tried dyeing fabric or textiles before, outside of a couple of tiedye shirts when I was a kid. And I love all of the kits, but would most likely get the most out of the bandannas or the hat. Both would make awesome Giftmas gifts for my other half.

  38. I would love the Northwoods Hat Kit. I’ve seen so much about hand dying yarn I would love to try it.

  41. I have not tried to dye my own yarn yet, but I want to try dying yarn in the near future. I would chose the Northwoods Hat kit, it sounds interesting.

  42. What a beautiful purple!! I have made an extract from walnut hulls collected in my backyard. The cotton that I dyed turned a bit dingy, but I put in some bit of wool yarn too and it came out a very nice, warm pinky brown. I would love to experiment more!! I think I’d like to try printing directly with flowers and making a lovely little sewing kit. Thanks for hosting the giveaway!!

  44. Yes, I have been wanting to try some of the techniques and would love a book to show me the way. Thanks!

  45. I’ve never dyed yarn before; it seems very intimidating. I have done tie-dye as a kid and always enjoyed it.

Have you read?

Book Review: No Fear Sock Knitting

I feel like when it comes to things that people are afraid to knit, socks probably top the list. I’ve heard people say they would never knit socks because they look too hard, but really you just need to know a few basic things (and trust the pattern even though it sounds wrong the first time you do it) to master socks. 

Denise DeSantis aims to take the worry out of knitting socks with No Fear Sock Knitting. Based on a class on her YouTube channel, it includes all the basic information you need to make sock knitting feel easier, along with eight patterns for both top down and toe up socks. 

The book generally covers types of needles and yarn you might use to knit socks, as well as other supplies you will need. It looks at the parts of the sock, different knitting needle configurations used to knit socks, how to read a pattern (including abbreviations and terms you might find in sock patterns), discussion of ease, how to measure your foot and choosing the correct size to knit.

It includes two options each for casting on cuff down and toe up socks, as well as four options for cuff treatment. It explores the heel flap and turn method for top down and toe up socks, as well as short row heels using a shadow wrap (worked with a leg from the stitch below) and a square heel. There’s a discussion of avoiding holes and fixing other problems in heels.

Likewise with toes there are several options, including a wedge toe, round toe and anatomical toe (different on each foot) for both cuff down and toe up socks. There are also tutorials for grafting and Jeny’s surprisingly stretchy bind off, depending on which direction you’re going. There’s also a tips section that covers things like avoiding ladders, changing colors. matching stripes and more. 

After all that preparation, there are eight patterns to choose from: short socks worked from the top down that are a perfect first-sock sock, a basic ankle-length toe-up sock, a DK weight sock worked from the top down with different length options, a “vanilla” sock with a short row heel worked top down, an ankle sock with a garter stitch cuff, one with a leg worked in alternating colors with a contrasting heel and toe, a sock worked in a helical stripe pattern and a striped sock with a garter stitch heel. 

Three of the patterns are rated at skill level two on a scale of three, while the rest are level one. They’re all pretty straightforward, they just use different techniques you might not have tried before. Since only one is made to be toe up, there are also tips for converting the other patterns to toe up if you’d rather work that way. Each pattern includes three size options. 

This book is a nice introduction to sock knitting, with lots of techniques to reference and simple patterns to take the fear out of the process. I’m not sure these are patterns you’ll come back to time and again but they are a good place to start if you’ve never knit socks before. 

About the book: 128 pages, paperback, 8 patterns. Published 2025 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $24.99.