Hand-dyed wool – the process

Of course, you can also do that with us.Buy hand-dyed woolThere are several methods for hand-dyeing: Generally, the yarn is dyed in skeins. Either the wool is dipped section by section into different dye baths, or it is laid out in a skein and painted by hand. Therefore, hand-dyed yarns usually have very short color gradients. Only a few centimeters are dyed in a particular color at a time, resulting in only a few stitches in that color. Because dyeing can only be done in small baths, hand-dyed wool isn't exactly cheap. Often, several passes are necessary to achieve the perfect color. And because each skein lies differently and absorbs the dye differently, each skein is essentially unique. An innovative method involves knitting the yarn into a tube, then painting the knitted tube, unraveling it, and flattening it. This process is also used in hand-dyeing and, as you can imagine, is very time-consuming.

Long color gradients and bobble yarn

Long color gradients in hand-dyed wool are created either by printing a specific pattern on the wool using a computer program, or by twisting or plying several thin strands of different colors together and gradually replacing them with strands of a different color. This is also how the popular "bobbles" are created, which, for example, gradually change color from one color to another across an entire knitted piece.

Knitting with hand-dyed wool

Knitting with hand-dyed yarn is especially fun because you're always surprised by the effect and interplay of the different colors. If youBuy hand-dyed woolIf you'd like, you'll find a nice selection at soul-wool.com. From the Fair Trade projectManos del UruguayWe have many yarns in our assortment, including hand-dyed gradient wool such as theSilk BlendorAlegria Grande. AlsoCowgirl Bluesproduces unique, colorful yarns – hand-dyed yarns like theMerino Twist Yarn Solids