How to Dye Stratus Non Superwash Wool Mini Skeins In Shades of Green

Green has been one of my favorite colors for a long time. I love the variation of different colors of green. From rich emerald to zingy spearmint, the dye companies offer so many brilliant shades that I haven’t been able to test dye them all! With Knomad now offering one of my favorite yarns, STRATUS, in a convenient mini skein form, I thought I’d test out four shades of green on these babies. Each skein is 87 yards, so if I dye each color on 2 mini skeins, I believe I’ll have the perfect amount for a cute, striped baby sweater. It will even be gender neutral, so I can stash the finished sweater and have a gift ready to go for a future baby!

MATERIALS

• 8 mini skeins of Knomad Stratus yarn – 80% Extrafine non superwash merino wool, 20% recycled nylon
• Dharma Trading co acid dye for silk and wool. I used the colors CHARTREUSE, SAGE LEAF, SOUR APPLE and PISTACHIO
• A teaspoon
• 4 large cups to mix liquid dye in, that you can safely heat. I like to use mason jars that I only use for dyeing. Remember: once an item is used for dyeing it cannot safely be used for food preparation.
• Citric acid powder
• Your regular set up for heat setting yarn – I use an aluminum pan. A pot also works well, just as long as it is not one you use for preparing food.
• A spoon
• Gloves
• Plastic wrap

SOAK THE YARN

Soak the yarn in lukewarm water for about 1 hour. Meanwhile, prepare your dye.

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 or surgical mask is not enough protection to safely work with dye powder! A note about quantity and achieving the color shade you want: Because I’m just dyeing two small mini skeins of each color, I chose not to precisely measure out the dye powder. Instead, I simply eyeballed the amount of dye I needed to get the color I wanted. This ended up being about 1/4 teaspoon of each color. For production dyeing or any application where an exact color is required, make sure to test dye each color on a full skein so you can get a formula for an exact dye percentage for each color. Add 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid powder to each cup and top with hot water (about one cup or enough to dissolve the dye). Stir each cup to dissolve. Set aside and let cool

DYE THE YARN

Using gloved hands, remove the skeins from the soaking liquid, gently squeezing the excess liquid out of the yarn. You want the yarn to be slightly damp, but not sopping wet. Place two skeins into one of the four cups and use a spoon to press the yarn down so the dye completely covers the yarn. Cover each cup with plastic wrap. Place each cup in the pan. Add water to the pan until the water level reaches the level of the dye in the cups. Heat on low for 25 min. Turn off the heat and allow the yarn to cool completely. Using gloved hands, remove each skein of yarn from its cup and rinse as you normally do. Allow the skeins to dry. Enjoy your finished yarn! Make sure to tag us using #Knomadyarn so we can see all your fabulous projects.

From left to right: Sour Apple: This is a great, classic green. It can be festive at higher saturations or more resembling a granny smith apple at lighter shades. Avocado: This color is pretty, but it broke while setting and did not distribute well over the skeins, resulting in some bare spots. This is due to the dye liquid being a bit clumpy. To prevent this, dye the yarn in a bigger vessel and pour the dye over the yarn. Chartreuse: This is a beautiful and rich chartreuse color exactly as advertised! I love how much yellow is in this dye. It gives the color a zingy feel. I want to dye a sweater quantity of this color! Sage Leaf: This color is more on the blue side of the spectrum. It really does resemble its namesake, which I know well because sage grows wild all over my home state of California, and a large sage plant even dominates a whole corner of my garden! I like this color a lot, but I’m glad I tested it because I would be a bit disappointed if I dyed a big skein expecting green and got this silvery blue!