How do you get stripes instead of pools?

[averymybaby]

When dyeing skeins more than one color, how do you get it to stripe or make thinner lines when knitting in the round instead of big fat pools of color? For instance, I'm getting this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v165/julialroberts/b68d21e0.jpg

But I really wanted stripes. :moon

[CraftyMommaOf2]

Do you mean like this?
http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAOWblq1as2z24

If so, you do shorter sections of dyeing. Cass or Theresa or Jess would be able to better help I'm sure :) Shorter sections is what worked for me. If you mean like straight stripes, I don't have a clue :LOL

[averymybaby]

yeah, like that! ok, so on shorter sections... since I like to do on-the-stove-in-a-pot dyeing that gets kinda tricky when you want the sections to be the same color (ie your blues to match and your greens to match). Anyone care to share the logistics with me? Please? :LOL

[pmcgary]

I do three colors by using the slow cooker....I wind my yarn on the back of a kitchen chair (into a figure 8) I dip 1/2 in the lightest color and use the lid of the pot to hold the other half up and out of the dye....Then when that color is done I do the darker color on the other end. The middle becomes whatever the blending of the two colors is....I have done blue and yellow makes green and red and blue makes a sort of purple.

I also have an orange and black ...Need to dye some all orange so that I have enough to make a pair of shorts for dd to wear next month.

[JustLookin]

I like my "over the needle" method, LOL. I wind it onto the back of 1 kitchen chair just into a circle, tie off sections to keep yarn together then depnding on how many colors I use is to how I do it.

I just did one with 3 colors but 4 sections, I wanted more blue than the other 2 so I did 2 sections of blue. Since I wants verigated I did 2 sections across from eachother and I hung the yarn over a needle that sat across the top of my pot. I put just the right amount of liquid in there to cover how much of the section I want. Then when I did the other 2 colors I did 1 section at a time with the rest of the yarn hanging over the side of the pot.

Does that help? Do I need to do a picture illustration?

[twouglyducks]

Well, Julia, not that it helps, but *I* think that is looking pretty cool . :)

[BethyM99]

Ok, you pot dyers.... I did crock pot... it seemed to take FOREVER for the yarn to soak up the dye...

How many hours per section are we talking here?? I really preferred the way the yarn felt in the crock instead of the micro...

[JustLookin]

I use a spaghetti pot and boil, just wanted to add that. I only use fishermans and havent noticed any felting. I just boil the color right into teh yarn and it doesnt take long though you have to be very careful and have great reflexes so you dont screw up, LOL

[pmcgary]

You didn't mean that the yarn felted in the crock, right but rather the "touch" aspect, right? I thought when I did the micro that the yarn got kinda "crunchie" for lack of a better term.

A lot of how quickly the color is absorbed in the crock I think has to do with the temperature of your equipment. I personally like that it takes awhile. I can prepare it and "forget" about it for a bit. It can take a couple of hours for the darker colors. I have even done a color at night and then gone to bed. (I don't recommend that as I don't think it was sooo great for the yarn to be in the bath for 5 or 6 hours.)

[CraftyMommaOf2]

If you let the yarn rest in between nuking sessions it doesn't get crunchy. I use the microwave to do mine because I usually don't have much time :LOL When you let the yarn get too dry is when it starts to feel hard. At least IME.

[Angela_hk_n_knit]

Ok... so does some one use the crock pot for dyeing the yarn?

Also, I read a post... either on here or on Wool Soaker group that a lady "painted" the dye onto her yarn in a roaster and baked it in the oven. Does anyone recall seeing this post and can they link me to it or bump it up?

Thanks

[pmcgary]

I use the crock pot...see post earlier in this thread for more info.

Roaster stuff I think was WSG. But don't hold me to it.