Know Your Yarns: Hand-Dyed Skeins for Your Next Project

Crafters truly committed to their passion create not only with their hands. Part of their heart and soul is put into every piece they make. The artisans of knitting, crocheting, weaving, or macramé make magic, starting from their materials. And among this community of artists, hand-dyed yarns are becoming popular.

Such luxurious yarns are made from responsibly sourced wool and plant dyes. The rich and complex colors are applied in different techniques, developing different yarn types. If you are curious or a budding enthusiast, you can also explore the materials to create wonderful pieces.

What hand-dyed yarns to use?

Dyers choose to use the highest quality yarn. Creating new colorways, mixing and applying the dyes, and heat-setting take time. After that, the yarns are washed and packaged in hanks or skeins. Since so much time and effort are involved in the process, all basic materials, such as the dyes and fiber blends, should be top-grade. Dyers then develop these yarns that are both special and distinct. Here are the various yarns to check out.

Speckled or Spattered Yarn

Yarns dyed in this technique have been splashed with speckles, sprinkles, or random spots of different or a single color. Yarn skeins may differ greatly because of the randomness of the splatters. This yarn type is playful and fun, with no way to duplicate the pattern. See galleries online today, like Ancient Arts yarns, for wonderful selections.

Variegated Yarn

This type means dyed with more than one color. Sometimes, the colors are of low contrast and flow into each other. On the other hand, some variegated yarns are of high contrast, and colors just pop out. This type usually has three or more colors in a sequence. There are makers, such as Les Laines Coco Yarns, making wonderful skeins. All you have to do is do a quick online search.

Tonal Yarn

A tonal yarn is simply dyed with lighter and darker versions of the same color in one colorway. This gives it a watercolor effect since the yarn is not the same shade throughout. Projects will have a similar overall color without pooling or striping.

Hand-Painted Yarn

As the name suggests, the skeins are painted by hand and not dipped for dyeing. Hand-painted yarn repeats colors but hardly merges into each other.

Kettle-Dyed Yarn

This is done by immersing the yarn in a shallow pot of water and then putting on the colors. If one color is used, a semi-solid is produced. When several colors are utilized, the blending between them is softer because of the water. This yarn has more subtle color changes than the other types.

Ombre Yarn

Ombre yarn is dyed with the color gradually going from lightest to darkest. Ombre yarns can be one dye color across the whole skein. It can also be one color that softly transitions to another color. If you want to see amazing colorways, you may check out sites like darnyarn.ca/collections/nerds-with-needles.

Knowing More About Yarns

There is more to yarn than dyeing techniques. There is the aspect of weight and the fibers that are used. Using these can vary depending on the project, whether the crafter wishes to make lace, gloves, mittens, cardigans, etc. These factors can affect the drape, stitch definition, and overall feel of the yarn. The best method to experience the yarns is by trying to use them, and gaining all the knowledge essential can help you in your next project.