5 Ways to use your hand dyed yarn like a pro

Hand dyed yarns are special and should be treated as such. We can be tempted to hoard them or save them for a rainy day, but I say use them and use them now! Seeing as I've convinced you to dig up those squishy colourful skeins, or maybe even go out and get some more, here are 5 ways to use that gorgeous yarn like a pro:

1. More is better!

This might seem obvious or trivial, but trust me, it bears repeating. When purchasing hand dyed yarn, you want to make sure you're buying enough, especially if you have a special project in mind. If it's too late, and you've done what many of us do, which is to purchase stunning hand dyed skeins simply because the yarn gods made you do it, just check the yardage you need before casting on, because the last thing you want is to find yourself in a stressful game of yarn chicken and lose just before you finish. If you're lucky, you might be able to get your hands on more, but sometimes you just can't. And even if you can, dye lots can vary widely enough that it can create unwanted colour variations throughout your project.

2. Rub-a-dub-dub

Indie yarn dyers try very hard to rinse out leftover dye from the fibre but sometimes we can't catch it all. Just to be on the safe side, it's highly recommended you wash your skeins in a tub of lukewarm water with a mild wool-friendly detergent, and rinse the yarn out a few times to make sure the soap is gone and that the water runs completely clear (free of dye). Hang the yarn to dry either inside or outside, but please, whatever you do, DO NOT put them in the dryer (unless you want a felted, tangled mess).

3. Make a Cake!

Now that you've washed and dried your yarn to ensure your final project won't bleed dye when you block it, (because we all block, right?...), you're going to want to take them from hank to cake. Sounds delicious, doesn't it?! If you're new to hand dyed yarn, you've probably noticed that hand dyed fibre doesn't usually come in balls like at the craft store, and you might not realize that it has to be wound up into balls or "cakes" (as they are so affectionately called) before you can use them. I've heard horror stories of newbies trying to knit straight from the hank and trust me, it didn't end well for anyone. There are a few ways to wind your yarn, and they don't all require fancy-dancy equipment, (although who doesn't love a yarn gadget?!). If you choose to do this by hand, I recommend using the back of a chair, a few cans of peas, or someone's arms to keep the hank taut while you wind. If you're an avid user of hand dyed yarn, you likely have the fancy-dancy gadget I was referring to earlier, and I have to say, I highly endorse it. A ball winder and yarn swift can be your best friend in this endeavour, especially if you are winding multiple hanks at a time for a bigger project.

4. Just Swatch it!

The dreaded S word. Many of us hate doing it and often decide to skip this step entirely. If you do chose to live on the wild side and not do a gauge swatch, you might find yourself wasting several knitting/crocheting hours just to end up with a smaller or larger garment than expected. The pattern you chose should mention gauge at the top, and I implore you to take the 15-30 minutes it takes to work up that square to save yourself hours of frogging (rip it, rip it) later. Swatching is not just for sizing though, it's also useful when working with hand dyed yarn because it can give you a good idea of how your chosen colour way will work up and if it's prone to pooling (aka blobs of colour).

5. Alternate skeins:

Alright, you've got your yarn cakes, your trusty gauge swatch, and you've read your entire pattern from start to finish (right?!). Before you get started though, there's one last tip you need to know, and it's perhaps the most important one of all. When working with hand dyed yarn, it's highly advised to alternate skeins every other row to avoid pooling or unwanted variations in colour. For example, if you're making a sweater that requires several skeins of The Cowboy in Me, you might want to knit/crochet a few rows, switch cakes for few more rows, then switch back, and so on and so forth. Alternating the yarn this way will ensure that, even with significant colour variations between skeins, it won’t be obvious where one ends and the next begins. Furthermore, if you're working with a mottled colour way (one that has unpredictable blotches of colour throughout and a higher tendency to pool), you might be disappointed with the results if that wasn't the look you were going for. However, it's not always necessary to alternate your skeins if pooling is the desired effect. Personally, pooling can be quite beautiful and I'm a fan of sometimes just seeing what the yarn does naturally. In my unsolicited opinion, it's all part of the fun of working with hand dyed yarn.