Knitting

Patterns, projects and techniques

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

by 48 Comments

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!

Next Pattern:

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?

Knit a Cozy Sweater with Lots of Options

If you’re looking for a sweater knitting pattern that uses up some of your stash and allows you to make just the sweater you want, the Marlina Rib by Shay Johson might be just the thing.

It’s worked with two strands of fingering weight yarn held together to make a DK weight gauge, so you can use the same two yarns throughout or change one or both regularly for an even more colorful look.

The pattern has options to make it either a crewneck or a henley style with buttons, tapered or relaxed sleeves, and a straight hemline or a split hem with buttons (which sounds so cute if you do the henley with split hem and match the buttons on both parts).

It’s also knit from the top down so you can make the body and the sleeves as long as you want. There are 10 sizes available in the pattern, with a chest circumference ranging from 32 to 68 inches, or 81.5 to 172.5 cm. It’s meant to be worn with 4-6 inches/10-15 cm of positive ease at the chest.

The pattern page on Ravelry includes tons of measurements and yardage estimates so you can make sure you’ll get a good fit for your body before you even buy the pattern. Shay also shows a few variations of the sweater so you can see how different options look before you decide how you want to put them together.

The stitch pattern is 1×2 ribbing, which is really easy to do and gives a look almost like fisherman’s rib that’s relaxed and easy to wear.

This sweater looks like a great option for people who are somewhat new to sweater knitting or those who love to have lots of customization options (because it’s like getting multiple sweater patterns in one!).

Check out all the details and grab a copy of the pattern for yourself at Ravelry.

[Photo: Shay Johnson]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *