What is the best way to dye yarn to avoid pooling

[whitecalx]

Bigger sections? Smaller sections of color? How long should each section be? I want to dye this Friday and plan a red (merge to make orange) yellow (merge to make green) blue and purple combo.
Help me make this great. I just got the wonderpants pattern and want something awesome!

[Lauira]

I just paint it on with a brush and there is no pooling. This was only my second time, but it came out just as I had envisioned it. Yellow and blue that come together to make green. The first time I dyed I poured it on in small amounts and I had a sopping mess underneath. This time I painted one side and it came out exactly even on top and bottom.

HTH!

[ravingcutie]

I set a few folded paper towels under each skein I'm dyeing. I use a peri bottle or a clear ketchup type bottle (got mine at walmart, but they're also available through dharma trading online) to squirt some dye where I want it. I squish it through the yarn (wearing gloves here) and flip the skein over to check that the dye made it evenly through the fiber; reapply a bit more if necessary. Then you can leave a bit of space between your colors, so they don't mix or you can butt them up next to each other and get cool color grades.

I've also poured straight out of a glass measuring cup, but it's much harder to prevent the colors from mixing, becuase you tend to use more dye liquid.

[littleturtlemama]

pooling on the skein (like colors mixing) or pooling colors when it's knitted up?

[whitecalx]

yes, pooling when its knit up.

I think you did one recently LTK that was blue and orange and turned out really well.

I don't like it when the colors are clumped together in the hips and not in the legs. As long as its the same throughout I'm fine though.

[Lauira]

Oh whoops! I thought you meant the other pooling! Ignore me please. :)

[ravingcutie]

Ah, me too. See Theresa's recent post:
http://woolywonder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1076

So far, it only works for 2 colors.... maybe you could create two skeins, like for self striping only follow her instructions for nonpooling. They have to be long skeins, though.

[littleturtlemama]

Drat, I posted about how to fix this somewhere just recently. i thought it was here (not that thread with my longies, though, it was a seperate one for multicolor yarns)

I think it must have been at MDC. I remember Karla posted on it as well. 'll go do a seach and post link :)

[littleturtlemama]

http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=177764&highlight=pooling

that's the link at MDC. My answer is the last post in the thread :)