Dye Speckles on MAGNOLIA

Magnolia reveals its beauty in layers, much like an onion. Upon first glance, I immediately noticed the beautiful shimmering quality of MAGNOLIA, thanks to its 20% mulberry silk content. By gazing closer at MAGNOLIA, I spy a glowy halo of superkid mohair. Getting up close and personal with this stunning bare yarn, I substance and familiar softness of fine superwash merino wool. This beautiful undyed yarn surpasses the subtle complexity of the humble onion. It sings with the fully glory of a symphony! The fine superwash merino in MAGNOLIA allows it to absorb dye easily, no surprises there! Yarns with superwash merino just beg to be painted with a dappling of crisp speckles. The superwash content ensures sharp speckles with minimal fuss. Follow our simple tutorial for perfect speckles on MAGNOLIA and you’ll be on your way to dyeing perfect speckles in no time!

MATERIALS

2 skeins of Knomad MAGNOLIA yarn – 60% Fine Superwash Merino Wool, 20% Super Kid Mohair, 20% mulberry silk. We designed this project for MAGNOLIA, but it would also work well on any of our yarns with superwash merino, like STEAM, SNOWDRIFT, EGG SHELL, SALCANTAY, and SANDSTONE.
Dharma Trading co dye for silk and wool. This color is TRUE BLACK
Gram scale
A cup to mix the dye in, preferably a cup with a lid. This allows the extra dye powder to be stored for a later use!
Citric acid powder
Metal chafing pan at least 3 inches deep – We need to dye in something with a lot of surface area in order to get nice speckles.
A measuring spoon. Any size will work.
Your regular set up for heat setting yarn
Optional: zip ties

SOAK THE YARN

Loop a zip tie around each skein of yarn, if you are using them. Soak the yarn in lukewarm water with a dash of citric acid for about 1 hour.

MIX AND MEASURE THE DYE

Make sure to always protect yourself with gloves and a respirator whenever you work with dye in its powder form. A dust mask is not enough protection to safely work with dye powder! Use the gram scale to weigh out the dye and citric acid in a cup. I used 1 gram of dye and 5 grams of citric acid powder for each skein of yarn. Since I used two skeins, the total amount was 2 grams of dye and 10 grams of citric acid powder. Use the measuring spoon to mix the dye powder and citric acid powder together

DYE THE YARN

Remove each skein from the soaking liquid, gently squeezing the excess liquid out of the yarn. You want it to be damp, but not sopping wet. Place the two skeins side by side in the pan, pressing them down and spreading out the skeins so as much surface area as possible is exposed. Your yarn should look like the image above. Add 2 cups of the soaking liquid to the pan with the yarn. Lightly sprinkle the dye powder over the yarn until you have the desired amount of speckles. Cover the pan and heat the yarn for 10-15 minutes. Remove the cover and allow the yarn to cool completely.

FLIP THE YARN

Using gloved hands, flip each skein over so the other side is facing up.

Lightly sprinkle the dye powder over the yarn until you have the desired amount of speckles on this side. For even distribution, aim for the same amount of speckles on this side as you had on the other side of the skein. I don’t measure very precisely, I just roughly eye ball it. Cover the pan and heat the yarn for 10-15 minutes. Remove the cover and allow the yarn to cool completely.

RINSE AND DRY

Rinse and dry the yarn as you normally would. Enjoy your finished yarn! Make sure to tag us using #Knomadyarn so we can see all your fabulous projects.