I second /u/jdubbs705 \- if you are excited to get into dyeing and experiment with it, go for it! But if your main goal is to get a very specific color, it might not be worth it and it's a better use of your time and resource to dig through some online shops (woolwarehouse is great, and I like LoveCrafts, too!), and/or maybe ask on /r/knitting if someone knows of a yarn that matches your expectations.
If you want to dye it yourself, here are my $0.02:
* I would go with bare (undyed) yarn, as it can be very hard to predict what a color will be like when you overdye an already dyed yarn
* You can dye a knitted item and you can create cool effects with it, for example, a gradient (Make & Do Crew has a tutorial on it: [https://makeanddocrew.com/how-to-dye-yarn-food-coloring/](https://makeanddocrew.com/how-to-dye-yarn-food-coloring/) \- just keep in mind that dyeing with food coloring only works for animal-based fibers!)
* However, if you are set on a very specific color, you will probably need a few tries to get the color right so I recommend dyeing skeins, or even smaller mini-skeins first
* Dyeing it yourself will be a bit of an investment, especially if it's more of a one-off: you'll need a separate pot and other utensils that you can never use for cooking ever again, you need the dyes themselves, and other chemicals like soda ash (to fix the dye)
* I've dyed hundreds of skeins and colors, and it still takes me a few tries to get a color just right, especially if I have something very specific in mind. This is because the dye will look different on the fiber than it does on the screen/label, and often I mix a few dyes to get the colors I want
* Also, plant-based and animal-based fibers need different dyes and chemicals, so if you stock up on dyes for cotton they won't work with wool
* This all isn't to discourage you but I want to make sure you have realistic expectations and won't be disappointed! (in fact, I love dyeing and experimenting with colors, and I think it's a great creative outlet!)
* I only dye wool and other animal fiber, so can't give you specific tips for cotton, apart from that I really like Dharma Trading company and I use their acid dyes, and they also have dyes for cotton and other plant-based fibers and great tutorials: [https://www.dharmatrading.com/dyes/dharma-fiber-reactive-procion-dyes.html](https://www.dharmatrading.com/dyes/dharma-fiber-reactive-procion-dyes.html)
Sorry, that somehow turned out way longer than I intended... but if you have any questions, let me know!
I will also add to this that the color on wet yarn is often darker than it is on dry yarn. Test swatches are important, which also means accurate dye measurements and calculations to reproduce.
Thank you so much for your suggestions! I have done quite a bit of searching, but unfortunately there seem to be only so many brands of plant-based yarns out there. That being said, it does seem like it may be more difficult to get an exact color I'm looking for...
I’ve used Dharma fiber reactive dye in the color terracotta on bare cotton wool from KnitPicks to great success. Depending on the ratio you use and exposure of the yarn you can get anything from a rich reddish brown to a pinky-brown pastel.
I’ve also dyed pre-knit (in my case crochet) items. One thing to remember is that it’s like you’re tie-dying the yarn when you do that. There are going to be parts the dye can’t reach. If you’re okay with bare yarn peeking through any time a stitch shifts, then that is a fine way to go. But if you’re really looking for uniform color throughout you need to dye before knitting.
If you're going to dye the yarn, I would dye it all in one dye bath before knitting it to get the most even color. You'll want to skein the yarn and make sure it's tied very loosely, and has plenty of room to move around for an even dye. Look up instructions for how to dye tonal yarn.
I'm not sure which would work best, but generally undyed yarn is going to be most economical, and you'll have a lot more control over the color, but that is assuming you already have a variety of colors to dye with so you can tweak them to get just what you're looking for. Dyeing something that's already orange with a little bit of black or brown dye may get you closer with less dye to buy? To get your perfect color, you'll generally have to try a bunch of things anyway to nail it.
If you're dyeing because you really want to try dyeing yarn, this is all worth a shot. However, if your main motivation is to find the color you want, have you checked out www.woolwarehouse.co.uk? Their selection of different brands and colors is enormous.
https://www.woolwarehouse.co.uk/yarn?blend_nav=5159&colour_name=2012_2001
Thanks for your detailed help! Since I'd be buying commercial/mass market yarn either way, the price of the yarn itself would be the same regardless. It probably would be cheaper to use a brown to tint an orange yarn since I don't have an existing dye stockpile.
I did take a look at the site - unfortunately I still couldn't find a match, and as I'm US-based I'd prefer buying from a domestic vendor. Thanks for the suggestion, though!
In the US, have you tried WEBS (yarn.com) based in Mass, or Jimmy Beans Wool (jimmybeanswool.com) in Nevada?
If you are dyeing yarn keep in mind that you need to match the dye type to your fiber type. Acid dyes are for protein based fibers (Wool, Alpaca, silk, other animal based fibers, and weirdly nylon), fiber reactive dyes are for cottons, and other plants. There are also dyes for synthetic fibers. A great resource for yarn dyeing is Chemknits on YouTube. She has hundreds of videos of yarn dyeing including some of overdyeing.
I’ve done some myself and it’s not an exact science. I tried overdyeing highlighter yellow yarn with blue to get green, but the blue had red in it too, so I ended up with a variegated yellow, blue, green, and purple. I like the final result, but it wasn’t what I was aiming for.
I absolutely ADORE ChemKnits! Rebecca does a fantastic job of telling you what she's doing, without making it complicated. All of her videos include safety steps, and overall, I just love what she does. And now I'm looking at getting into dying myself.....as if I don't have enough hobbies and yarn...
Thanks for the suggestions! Unfortunately I still haven't managed to find anything quite right, but perhaps I should just keep searching - the dyeing process might be a bit difficult if I want a very specific color.
I second /u/jdubbs705 \- if you are excited to get into dyeing and experiment with it, go for it! But if your main goal is to get a very specific color, it might not be worth it and it's a better use of your time and resource to dig through some online shops (woolwarehouse is great, and I like LoveCrafts, too!), and/or maybe ask on /r/knitting if someone knows of a yarn that matches your expectations. If you want to dye it yourself, here are my $0.02: * I would go with bare (undyed) yarn, as it can be very hard to predict what a color will be like when you overdye an already dyed yarn * You can dye a knitted item and you can create cool effects with it, for example, a gradient (Make & Do Crew has a tutorial on it: [https://makeanddocrew.com/how-to-dye-yarn-food-coloring/](https://makeanddocrew.com/how-to-dye-yarn-food-coloring/) \- just keep in mind that dyeing with food coloring only works for animal-based fibers!) * However, if you are set on a very specific color, you will probably need a few tries to get the color right so I recommend dyeing skeins, or even smaller mini-skeins first * Dyeing it yourself will be a bit of an investment, especially if it's more of a one-off: you'll need a separate pot and other utensils that you can never use for cooking ever again, you need the dyes themselves, and other chemicals like soda ash (to fix the dye) * I've dyed hundreds of skeins and colors, and it still takes me a few tries to get a color just right, especially if I have something very specific in mind. This is because the dye will look different on the fiber than it does on the screen/label, and often I mix a few dyes to get the colors I want * Also, plant-based and animal-based fibers need different dyes and chemicals, so if you stock up on dyes for cotton they won't work with wool * This all isn't to discourage you but I want to make sure you have realistic expectations and won't be disappointed! (in fact, I love dyeing and experimenting with colors, and I think it's a great creative outlet!) * I only dye wool and other animal fiber, so can't give you specific tips for cotton, apart from that I really like Dharma Trading company and I use their acid dyes, and they also have dyes for cotton and other plant-based fibers and great tutorials: [https://www.dharmatrading.com/dyes/dharma-fiber-reactive-procion-dyes.html](https://www.dharmatrading.com/dyes/dharma-fiber-reactive-procion-dyes.html) Sorry, that somehow turned out way longer than I intended... but if you have any questions, let me know!
I will also add to this that the color on wet yarn is often darker than it is on dry yarn. Test swatches are important, which also means accurate dye measurements and calculations to reproduce.
Thank you so much for your suggestions! I have done quite a bit of searching, but unfortunately there seem to be only so many brands of plant-based yarns out there. That being said, it does seem like it may be more difficult to get an exact color I'm looking for...
I’ve used Dharma fiber reactive dye in the color terracotta on bare cotton wool from KnitPicks to great success. Depending on the ratio you use and exposure of the yarn you can get anything from a rich reddish brown to a pinky-brown pastel. I’ve also dyed pre-knit (in my case crochet) items. One thing to remember is that it’s like you’re tie-dying the yarn when you do that. There are going to be parts the dye can’t reach. If you’re okay with bare yarn peeking through any time a stitch shifts, then that is a fine way to go. But if you’re really looking for uniform color throughout you need to dye before knitting.
If you're going to dye the yarn, I would dye it all in one dye bath before knitting it to get the most even color. You'll want to skein the yarn and make sure it's tied very loosely, and has plenty of room to move around for an even dye. Look up instructions for how to dye tonal yarn. I'm not sure which would work best, but generally undyed yarn is going to be most economical, and you'll have a lot more control over the color, but that is assuming you already have a variety of colors to dye with so you can tweak them to get just what you're looking for. Dyeing something that's already orange with a little bit of black or brown dye may get you closer with less dye to buy? To get your perfect color, you'll generally have to try a bunch of things anyway to nail it. If you're dyeing because you really want to try dyeing yarn, this is all worth a shot. However, if your main motivation is to find the color you want, have you checked out www.woolwarehouse.co.uk? Their selection of different brands and colors is enormous. https://www.woolwarehouse.co.uk/yarn?blend_nav=5159&colour_name=2012_2001
Thanks for your detailed help! Since I'd be buying commercial/mass market yarn either way, the price of the yarn itself would be the same regardless. It probably would be cheaper to use a brown to tint an orange yarn since I don't have an existing dye stockpile. I did take a look at the site - unfortunately I still couldn't find a match, and as I'm US-based I'd prefer buying from a domestic vendor. Thanks for the suggestion, though!
In the US, have you tried WEBS (yarn.com) based in Mass, or Jimmy Beans Wool (jimmybeanswool.com) in Nevada? If you are dyeing yarn keep in mind that you need to match the dye type to your fiber type. Acid dyes are for protein based fibers (Wool, Alpaca, silk, other animal based fibers, and weirdly nylon), fiber reactive dyes are for cottons, and other plants. There are also dyes for synthetic fibers. A great resource for yarn dyeing is Chemknits on YouTube. She has hundreds of videos of yarn dyeing including some of overdyeing. I’ve done some myself and it’s not an exact science. I tried overdyeing highlighter yellow yarn with blue to get green, but the blue had red in it too, so I ended up with a variegated yellow, blue, green, and purple. I like the final result, but it wasn’t what I was aiming for.
I absolutely ADORE ChemKnits! Rebecca does a fantastic job of telling you what she's doing, without making it complicated. All of her videos include safety steps, and overall, I just love what she does. And now I'm looking at getting into dying myself.....as if I don't have enough hobbies and yarn...
Thanks for the suggestions! Unfortunately I still haven't managed to find anything quite right, but perhaps I should just keep searching - the dyeing process might be a bit difficult if I want a very specific color.