Gina Rockenwagner

Posted on: Alpaca yarn How to dye yarnNovember 5, 2022

How to Dye Latte Baby Alpaca Mini Skeins Holiday Colors

It’s officially mini skein season and Knomad has you covered with exciting new mini skein varieties! Whether you’re making advent calendars or working on fun holiday colorwork projects, mini skeins are the best choice when you just need a little skein, not a whole skein.

They’re just 20 grams each but packed with all the goodness of a full skein! With holiday knitting in full swing, I wanted to try dyeing some pretty holiday colors on Knomad’s new LATTE mini skeins! Check out the full tutorial below.

MATERIALS

• 4 mini skeins of Knomad LATTE yarn – 100% Baby Alpaca
• Dharma Trading co acid dye for silk and wool. I used the colors FOREST GREEN, BRILLIANT YELLOW, ALPINE BLUE and POINTSETTIA
• 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 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 a small mini skein 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 a pinch, or less than 1/8 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 each skein into one of the four cups and use a spoon to press the yarn down so the dye completely covers each skein.

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.